Southeast Missouri teenager charged with rape of 89-year-old woman

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- A Doniphan teenager is to make his first court appearance today after being charged with raping an 89-year-old woman.

Christopher Casteel is to appear at 9 a.m. today before Associate Circuit Judge Thomas D. Swindle for arraignment.

Casteel, who is being held in the Doniphan City Jail on $500,000 bond, was charged Saturday by Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Miller.

At about 4 p.m. Thursday, Deputy Earl Wheetley was contacted by staff at Ripley County Memorial Hospital about a woman who was reporting she had been raped.

The woman, according to Wheetley's probable-cause affidavit, reported she had been staying with a relative at a rural Doniphan residence.

Wheetley said the woman told him Casteel, who had been holding her on the floor, threw her onto the bed, causing her head to hit the window sill, and she lost consciousness for several hours.

When asked why she hadn't contacted authorities earlier, the woman said her relative did not believe anything had happened and would not allow her to call anyone, Wheetley said.

During a Friday interview at the sheriff's department, Wheetley said, Casteel admitted to having sex with the woman without her consent and voluntarily provided a swab for DNA comparison to the items taken from the crime scene.