A 55-year-old man will spend decades behind bars after a jury found him guilty of raping and mutilating a woman in Orlando in 2022.
On Thursday, June 27, Orange County jurors found Bruce Whitehead guilty of sexual battery with a deadly weapon, attempted first-degree murder with a weapon, kidnapping with intent to inflict harm/terror with a weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
According to court records, Whitehead kidnapped, assaulted, stabbed, and tried to kill a 22-year-old woman near Pine Hills Road in Orlando on December 10, 2022.
On that date, Whitehead approached the victim, and she willingly got into his car. At some point, Whitehead stopped the vehicle in a shopping plaza and forced the victim into the back seat at knifepoint.
After Whitehead ordered the victim to lie down in the back seat, he covered her with a jacket and drove her to a wooded area where he proceeded to physically and sexually batter her, causing serious injuries.
When Whitehead attempted to stab the victim in her chest, his knife “malfunctioned,” and the victim grabbed his arm in an effort to stop the attack. She kicked him in his face and chest, and she was able to run out of the woods towards a nearby street.
The victim then rang several doorbells in the area before eventually making contact with someone who called 911.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation. Witnesses identified the vehicle that Whitehead was driving at the time of the incident, and detectives were able to confirm the victim’s “path of travel” using GPS cellphone data, surveillance video footage, and photographs.
Five days after the incident, on December 15, 2022, OCSO deputies located and arrested Whitehead after he was spotted walking down a highway.
Court records state that a little over a year after his arrest, Whitehead attempted to hire a fellow inmate at Orange County Jail to assist him with convicting the victim not to prosecute.
During the seven-day trial, the prosecution presented evidence of Whitehead’s violent history. In the 1980s, Whitehead was sentenced to 40 years, but completed 20 years in prison for a rape and attempted murder that he committed in Jacksonville.
The trial concluded with a guilty verdict on all six counts. He is facing a 50-year minimum mandatory sentence, and he could face up to life in prison as a prison release reoffender.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 2.