Kaitlyn Bennett survived a brutal attack by Charles Warren – Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda recounts the case

Kaitlyn Bennett survived a brutal rape and attack by Charles Warren. The latest episode of Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda on Investigation Discovery explores this distressing case.

At around 11:00 p.m. on September 12, 1977, a family drove on Gold Camp Road in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in hopes of hearing the ghosts of minors from the 1800s.

Instead, they encountered a naked, blood-covered woman running in the road before she collapsed.

That woman was later identified as 20-year-old prostitute Kaitlyn Bennett. 

She told investigators that as she was standing on a corner, she was approached by a red-haired, white man in a white pickup truck with a camper shell.

Bennett got into the vehicle after they arranged to have sexual intercourse. 

The man told her that his wife was at his house, and he was going to drive to a nearby park for privacy.

When they got to a secluded area on Gold Camp Road, he pulled over and told her to get in the back where there was more room.

She obliged.

As she was climbing into the back of the truck, she was struck on the head and lost consciousness.

When she awoke, she was laying naked against a large rock about 100-feet down from a ravine, far from where she was last located. 

Bennett had been stabbed six times, brutally raped, thrown from a cliff, and a chunk of her hair had been chopped off with a knife.

She was left for dead but managed to survive.

Colorado Springs conducted an investigation and determined the assailant was a plumber because of the large, professional tools he had in the back of his truck.

Further investigation led them to Warren, who was 23 at the time and had no criminal record; therefore, police officials did not have a photo of him.

Police got a court order to snap a picture of Warren at his family’s plumbing business.

After Bennett identified Warren as her assailant, police obtained a warrant to search his home. 

In his bedroom, behind the second drawer of his dresser was the victim’s hair inside a plastic bag.

Police placed Warren under arrest for kidnapping, attempted murder, and rape.

After a six-hour interrogation, Warren confessed to the crime. 

He said it was a sexual fantasy of his to have sex with women in their own blood while they’re dying. 

Warren also admitted that he would awake in the middle of the night and touch the victim’s hair. 

When he found out that Bennett survived the attack, he said next time he’ll make sure she’s dead, according to police.

Officials said he was going to plead guilty to the charges, but after a panel of psychiatrist found him to be insane, he was sent to a Colorado state mental hospital.

Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda — The Case That Haunts Me, airs at 9:00 p.m. on Investigation Discovery.