Police: Suspect in Centerville bike path attack ‘was there looking for someone to attack’

CENTERVILLE — New court records obtained by WHIO reveal a possible motive for a September attack on a Centerville bike path.

A neighbor called 911 around 2:15pm on Sept. 24 reporting a man hitting a teenage girl with a mallet. That neighbor helped get the 17-year-old victim to safety, and other neighbors' calls to 911 helped police track down the suspect, 33-year-old Johnny Hansen of Kettering.

According to a search warrant affidavit for the case, filed in Kettering Municipal Court, Hansen told Centerville Police the day of the attack “he is into hardcore porn and likes the domination aspect of it.” Records show officers found lubricant in Hansen’s pocket, bought that day, which he reported he intended to use to perform a sex act.

The next day, according to the affidavit, Hansen, in a follow-up interview with police at the Montgomery County Jail, “admitted to being on the bike path well before he observed the victim and that he was there looking for someone to attack.”

The officer went on to write, “Hansen admitted that he had a sexual motivation that was connected to attacking someone and that he wanted the victim to feel his pain so he could feel better and aroused.”

Dr. Frederick Peterson, clinical psychologist, expert in sexuality and faculty member at Ohio University and Wright State University, told News Center 7′s Sean Cudahy, based on his review of the affidavit and WHIO’s previous coverage of this case, it appears Hansen suffers from antisocial, impulse control and “sexual sadism” disorders – a combination Peterson called “very rare.”

He said the admissions from Hansen alleged in the affidavit suggest “that he took pleasure in seeing the pain and hurting somebody else and wanting to have some sexual gratification from inflicting pain and humiliation and hurt on another individual.”

Peterson added, without treatment and supervision, he sees Hansen as someone who would be likely to attack another victim.

“This person would be of danger out in the community and they need to be highly supervised if not incarcerated until there’s a thorough evaluation done for risk factors,” Peterson said.

For now, though, Hansen remains in the Montgomery County jail on $750,000 bond. A grand jury indicted Hansen Monday on two counts of felonious assault charges with sexual motivation specifications, two counts of tampering with evidence, and two counts of kidnapping.

WHIO’s review of court records in Kettering and Montgomery County did not reveal any past cases involving Hansen.

The victim in this case had what police described as “significant” injuries, but officers told WHIO last month they expected the teen would recover, crediting a neighbor’s intervention for stopping the attack in progress.

Hansen has pleaded not guilty to the charges he’s facing.

Cox Media Group