Miami man eluded police for hours then abducted, raped 14-year-old girl, records show
Miami police officers were one step behind a homeless man who first allegedly stole a car and proceeded to go on a spree of violent crimes Tuesday.
Police weren’t able to catch up to him before it took a turn for the worse: he abducted and raped a 14-year-old girl, arrest reports read.
Around 8:15 a.m., a woman stood outside her Overtown apartment next to her car, running with the keys in the ignition. Akil Cousins, 27, was walking nearby and jumped in, locking the door, according to an arrest report.
When she went to open the locked door, Cousins sped off. Miami officers were called and given a full description of him — what he looked like, his approximate age, and what he wore. Police noted there were no cameras in the area.
The report indicates an officer was investigating the car theft at 9 a.m. when he was told by another cop that the woman’s stolen car was involved in a hit-and-run about an eight-minute drive away, just two streets from loanDepot Park.
Heading over to the new crime scene, the officer learned from witnesses that the car crashed into a fire hydrant, and a man matching Cousins’ description hopped out and ran away.
Around the same time police were investigating the hit-and-run, the report shows a 14-year-old girl was sitting on a bench near the stadium just about a 10-minute walk from the crash site, in the area of Northwest 14th Avenue and Seventh Street.
She later told detectives she’d been kicked out of her home the previous night. Her parents contended to authorities that did not happen. According to them, an argument led her to leave, which she’s done before but always returns.
Cousins approached the young girl and grabbed her hand, walking her across the street to a parking garage, the report read. They were then able to get into an apartment building’s lobby.
While waiting for an elevator, he raped her. He continued to rape her once they entered the elevator, according to the report.
Getting out on the sixth floor, the pair helped a woman put her groceries inside her apartment. The young girl whispered to the woman to call the police — but she did not.
Meanwhile, around 9:30 a.m., police were informed and rushed to a possible reported abduction of a child in the area of Northwest 13th Avenue and Seventh Street, a street away from where the apartment Cousins and the young girl were.
Again, a man who looked like Cousins was described to police as the culprit. Officers spread out and canvassed the area, but Cousins was already gone, the report read.
On their way out of the apartment building, Cousins raped the young girl again. She then walked to a nearby church, the Iglesia Camino De Fe, with Cousins in tow. A man there told him to leave, and a woman inside called the police.
By 10:50 a.m., police were told a man, again matching Cousins description, was exposing himself at an elderly community at 850 NW 13th Court, several streets from the church. Arriving officers found Cousins and arrested him.
Detectives say Cousins admitted to abducting and raping the 14-year-old. Later, while being processed at the Miami Police Department, police say he boasted about the rape and was found masturbating shortly after.
Cousins was charged with three counts of sexual battery of a victim 12 to 17 years old, one count of kidnapping, one count of indecent exposure and one count of grand theft auto.
