Suspect Arrested in Alleged Sexual Assault on University of Alabama Campus
A suspect has been arrested and jailed without bond for the alleged sexual assault of a University of Alabama student, though state law bars authorities from releasing almost any information about the person charged.
The student reported the assault to the University of Alabama Police Department, according to Capt. Jack Kennedy, who commands the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. She told officers the person who assaulted her was an acquaintance.
The VCU investigates homicides and assaults, but also maintains a Sexual Assault Section that handles most rape investigations in the county.
According to a University of Alabama crime log, the incident happened last Saturday in a residential area of the UA campus.
After the report, VCU Investigators took their findings to a magistrate, who issued a warrant charging rape in the first degree and sexual abuse in the first degree.
The suspect was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail. Kennedy said the suspect is being held without bond under Aniah's Law, the 2022 constitutional amendment that lets judges deny bail outright to defendants charged with certain violent offenses.
The suspect is younger than 18 but is being prosecuted as an adult, and that combination triggers a state law that shuts off nearly all public information about the case.
Under Alabama law, photographs, likenesses, and personal identifying information held in law enforcement records about a juvenile charged as an adult are not public records. The statute says that material may not be published in print or electronic media.
That means no name, no booking photo, no age, and no other identifying detail, and the restriction binds law enforcement rather than leaving the matter to departmental discretion.
The suspect has not entered a plea and is presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
For more exclusive coverage of crime and courts in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.
All Homicides Investigated in Tuscaloosa County in 2026
Gallery Credit: (Stephen Dethrage | Tuscaloosa Thread)