Out-of-state man charged with 2003 Rock County home-invasion rape

BELOIT, Wis. — An out-of-state man was extradited to Wisconsin this week for an initial appearance related to a 2003 sexual assault investigation in Rock County.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office said a woman was home in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2003, when a man came into her house, pushed her into her bedroom, forced her on the bed and bound her hands together. The invader sexually assaulted her and demanded money.

According to the report, the man was armed with a knife and became angry when the victim told him that she didn’t have any money.

The man wandered around the house during the incident while occasionally checking on the victim, the sheriff’s office said He eventually told the victim he would let her go, instructing her not to move until her alarm went off. The woman waited until she didn’t hear the attacker in the house anymore, then hid in the closet until her alarm went off. She then called her ex-husband and notified the sheriff’s office of the assault.

A few items were reported missing from the house and several evidentiary items were collected and sent to the state crime lab for DNA analysis. A DNA profile was developed and later linked to a 2005 burglary case in Green County, according to the report.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office received a State of Wisconsin crime lab report in August 2017 related to the 2003 assault that indicated that a DNA profile was associated to a suspect identified through the national Combined DNA Index System, a database also known as CODIS.

The suspect DNA was found on material used to bind the victim during the Beloit assault that was previously submitted for testing. The DNA profile was linked to 42-year-old Joseph Ostrowski through an arrest in Nevada, officials said.

Ostrowski was living in Las Vegas and was arrested in May 2017 by Las Vegas PD on drug-related charges. An arrest warrant was issued for Ostrowski in late August for the 2003 sexual assault and Ostrowski was arrested by Las Vegas PD three days later, on Aug. 24. Ostrowski was brought to Wisconsin and taken to the Rock County Jail, where he arrived Wednesday and remained in custody Thursday, authorities said.

Ostrowski had an initial court appearance scheduled at 3 p.m Thursday. Cash bond was set at $50,000, according to online records.

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