The suspect in the Nov. 29 rape of a UF student turned himself in on Christmas morning.
Tommie Howard III, 25, of Hawthorne, called University Police on Sunday morning and said he would come into the station. He arrived around 10 a.m. and was arrested, said Maj. Brad Barber, UPD public information officer.
Howard was identified as the suspect last week after DNA evidence from the rape linked him with a previous battery case, Barber said.
He is charged with sexual battery, a second-degree felony, and is being held at Alachua County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.
The victim in the case, a 20-year-old UF student, told police she left 101 Cantina with a man she didn't know on Nov. 29.
He raped her in his car somewhere between the bar and campus, and she escaped around 1:45 a.m., according to the police report.
A fellow student driving on Fraternity Row noticed the victim being chased by a man. She told the victim to get in her car and took her to Shands at UF.
Police are also investigating the possibility that Howard was involved in the attempted rape on Dec. 9 near Sorority Row, based on matching descriptions of the attackers, Barber said.
In this case, the victim, a UF student, was getting in her car parked near Norman Hall, when a man wearing a ski mask jumped in and held her at knifepoint, according to the police report.
The victim faked an asthma attack, and the man ran away. Police have been unable to positively identify or locate the suspect.
According to public records, Howard has been charged with battery, assault and drug posession in the past.
Tommie Charlie Howard III, 25, of Hawthorne, surrendered to police Christmas morning. He was wanted in connection with the Nov. 29 rape of a UF student.
