Man charged with violent rape

BY ANDREW WELLNER
Frontiersman
Published on Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:35 PM AKDT

PALMER — A 33-year-old man has been charged with the violent rape of a 25-year-old woman.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper investigator Curtis Vik filed in the case against Carl Brattain, troopers were alerted to the case about 12:30 a.m. Sept. 3 when a woman called dispatchers to say she wanted to speak about domestic violence and that her neck was bruised.

Vik said he interviewed the woman in Anchorage where she was undergoing a rape exam.

She told him that she and Brattain had met in 2006 and started dating later that year. She said they lived together for two years but broke up in February of this year. They were trying to work through some of their differences but weren’t getting very far.

The day before she called dispatchers, the woman told Vik, Brattain hung out with her at work. She gave him a ride home shortly after midnight.

The woman told Vik she drove Brattain to his home in Wasilla and accepted an invitation to come inside. They laid in bed and talked about their relationship. She rebuffed a mild sexual advance and he left to smoke a cigarette.

That’s when things took a turn, the woman told the investigator.

“When Carl returned to the bedroom, he closed a window, came over to (the woman) and grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the top of the bed,” Vik wrote.

The woman told Vik that Brattain started asking questions about a man who’d given her a ride home from the Mug Shot Saloon the day before. The woman told troopers Brattain started trying to beat the answers out of her but she wouldn’t talk.

At some point along the way, he started trying to force sex on her and eventually digitally raped her. She was thrown up against a wall and choked until she started seeing flashes of light, Vik wrote based on the woman’s account.

Finally, she made up a name, the woman told Vik.

“(She) made up more information about the male to satisfy Carl. Carl then took (her) blackberry cell phone and checked her inbox but found nothing in the inbox. Carl then threw the cell phone against a wall,” Vik said.

The woman told Vik that Brattain later smashed the phone with a hammer. He eventually let her leave, Vik wrote, but followed her outside and threatened to break her car window if she didn’t open the door. He took her keys and bent one of them so it wouldn’t work, the investigator wrote. She said Brattain finally let her go — for real this time — at about 2:15 a.m.

Vik wrote that he listened in on a phone call between Brattain and the woman in which Brattain seemed suspicious but, “admitted that he had put his hands around (her) neck and strangled her, he had hit her, broken her cell phone, and caused injury to (her).”

The woman’s medical exam turned up signs of rape. Her face and neck were bruised, swollen and reddened, the trooper wrote.

On Sept. 10, Vik wrote, he tried to interview Brattain, who declined to speak without an attorney present. Troopers searched Brattain’s home, Vik wrote, and found the battered cell phone and a pair of boxer shorts the woman said Brattain was wearing at the time.

Brattain was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $10,000 bail, charged with sexual assault, criminal mischief and three counts of assault.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

Comments

18 comment(s)

    unknown wrote on Oct 18, 2009 8:13 AM:

    " I wish people wouldn't be so naive about this. Just because you haven't seen his violence, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Consider yourself lucky. Carl knows what he did and he will have to atone for it one day. It really makes me sick the way people actually go after the victim and try to discredit her- even when there is physical evidence. This type of mentality may be the reason Alaska is number one for rape and domestic violence and why so many women never file reports. This girl is lucky to be alive! "

    Unknown wrote on Oct 15, 2009 1:01 PM:

    " This article is disturbing to me. Why is it that it states this woman made a call to discuss domestic violence and said her neck was bruised at 12:30am but no police arrived at all? Later it goes on to say that's when they started discussing working their relationship out, laying on his bed and then it all happend and he 'let her go' around 2:15am? Doesn't make sence or add up. I use to date this guy for a very long time and not once did I ever encounter any sort of behavior that comes remotely close. "

    Anonymous wrote on Oct 7, 2009 1:52 AM:

    " I m the victim n I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this ordeal. I have prayed every night for the strength to get through this. I just want people to think about if this was your daughter who this had happened to would you have the same opinion? I m so work for the people who have been there for me n checked on my wellbeing n my best friend who makes sure I m safe at night and I fall asleep. I want any woman who is going this to know your not alone. "

    t wrote on Oct 1, 2009 6:04 PM:

    " Carl's family is supportive? Huh-the jerk admitted to beating up a woman, strangling her, destroying her property, and causing her injury. What a wonderful thing to support! Next thing you will be trying to get us to buy is that the VICTIM deserved it or that Carl was drunk and didn't mean it. Oh! I know, the VICTIM asked for it-yup that is it! I'll bet Carl was the kid in school whose parents thought he did no wrong no matter what anyone said. He is a loser. Throw away the key. "

    D.G. wrote on Sep 30, 2009 12:02 PM:

    " Having been the victim of domestic violence myself, it is often a very gradual and progressive thing. Also it is often a case of the abuser seeming like the most charming a nicest individual around people and in public, then turn into something completely different when at home and behind closed doors. I can not and will not believe the victim would purposely put herself through an exam to prove rape, let alone be subject to all those who think they "know" the alleged abuser, making her out the be the bad guy, for the sake of doing so. "

    Why wrote on Sep 30, 2009 9:00 AM:

    " Why did the victim date Carl for years if he is such an abuser? I'm not defending his actions at all, because it's disgusting, but there are 2 sides to every story. Yes, they caught him on a call admitting he beat her up, but not that he 'digitally raped' her. How can they prove that with no DNA? Perhaps they were starting to get romantic and he 'digitally' had relations with her before the beating. Especially since these 2 were in a relationship.
    They both have mental issues in my book. "

    Nancy H wrote on Sep 30, 2009 8:14 AM:

    " Two people live together for 2 years and when they break up it gets out of hand. Yes it is not good to have violence but she is calling him a rapist and she never had that opinion of him before. There are always two sides to every story. Lets hear his side too. Having another person say he abused them could be someone making up stories to support the accuser. Not everyone who is accused is a rapist. This is not cut and dried. The Brattain family loves Carl and stands by him. Why is that not honorable? "

    Tori Marquard wrote on Sep 29, 2009 12:47 PM:

    " To Becca.. It clearly states in the article that the victim was just getting off work so that should answer your question about her drinking. Second, a mother has the right to defend their child to an extent. But accusing the victim of lying when she knows the truth and that he is an abuser is enabling him to keep doing it. She should have got him help a long time ago, then maybe there wouldnt be 2 victims already. How many more women need to be abused by him before its not ok for her to defend him?? "

    anonymous wrote on Sep 29, 2009 3:20 AM:

    " The newspaper is under no obligation to protect anyone's privacy. The police department obviously released this information, so your complaint should be with them. To the person who said this is "he said, she said", I'm sorry but you are obviously wrong. There is concrete evidence and an admission of guilt by the defendant (phone call). I'm sorry you feel that things should stay "buried in the past." Is that because you think more women deserve to be abused?
    I can't believe the bail was only 10k for a violent rape- that is disgusting. I'm praying for the victim. "

    Becca wrote on Sep 29, 2009 12:57 AM:

    " I am really curious why people are attacking the accused mother? Shouldn't she have just as much right to believe her child as the victims mom believes her? Also to the friend of the victim the article does not mention alchohol but you are right anything Is possible when alcohol is involved so isn't it possible the victim was drinking... Or just the accused? To the other victim since you wished you would have come forward then I am curious will you be coming forward now? I suspect these comments are left by the same person. "

    A friend of the victim. wrote on Sep 28, 2009 8:26 PM:

    " Being a mother myself i learned alot about not putting my child on a pedistule. There for they will not fall off!!!!!!!!!!! The mother of the assulter needs to open her eyes and put her self in the victims shoes no matter the circumstances no one has the right to put their hands on anyone the way he hurt her. I cant imagine what she as a mother must be going thro.But anything is possible ecspecially when alcohol is a factor.Sounds to me mommy needs to cut the apron strings and come to the conclusion anything is possible. "

    Tori Marquard wrote on Sep 28, 2009 6:32 PM:

    " Im trying to get in touch with the anonymous person that posted about also being abused by Carl. My cousin is not doing well at all with everything that happened to her. And I was hoping that you could get in touch with her and talk to her since you went through it too. Maybe it will help her feel less alone. My email is tori_lee_87@hotmail.com if you could please email me so you could get in contact with her. Thank you so much for coming forward, and it will be greatly appreciated by our family if you could. "

    Anonymous wrote on Sep 28, 2009 4:10 PM:

    " I'm really shocked at how much detailed information the Frontiersman displayed. Especially since the case hasn't even been adjudicated yet. Public information should include the charges that are being filed and that is it until the accused is found guilty. "

    Woman in the valley wrote on Sep 28, 2009 2:08 PM:

    " funny how he is defended....keep on defending him and see where it gets you, dumb lady. "

    anonymous wrote on Sep 28, 2009 7:03 AM:

    " It is sad to see his mother is still making excuses for him and enabling him. She of all people should recognize an abuser.
    Carl is deeply emotionally disturbed and is an extremely violent man. I was abused by him many years ago for a long time. I wish I would have come forward then but I was just a girl and very afraid.
    I hope the victim and her family get justice and that Carl is put somewhere where he cannot continue hurting women. My thoughts are with this girl- whoever you are- you are not alone. "

    Anon wrote on Sep 28, 2009 12:55 AM:

    " This is a really sad case. For now it's she said-he said. There will come a time though, when the whole truth is revealed. During that process friends will be pitted against friends, family against family, and past history better left burried, will be dug up. Everything will be put under a microscope and alot more people will have to be involved and will also get hurt. I hope this ends well. "

    Tori Marquard wrote on Sep 27, 2009 3:37 PM:

    " Thank you to the frontiersman for publishing this article and letting the valley residents know the truth about Carl Brattain. Maybe the attention this article is bringing to the community will save some other innocent women from dating Carl and enduring the pain my cousin was subjected to. Due process of our justice system will show that he is a sick individual that should be locked up for good so there wont be another victim. She will have to live with this pain for the rest of her life, nothing Carl has to go through will compare. "

    Kathy Brattain wrote on Sep 26, 2009 9:39 AM:

    " Tthe "alleged" victim, A. D., can make accusations that can destroy a man's life and her name is protected by law. The "accused" is slandered, assumed guilty, deprived of freedom and put before the communities scrutiny. I believe the story was sensationalized and mocks fairness. I hope the Frontiersman will be as quick to print the truth when it is revealed through due process. Then the "victims" name will be before the community. Printing this could reach the same # of readers as the damaging article. Carl's supportive family and friends. "

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