Minnesota man charged in rape of Uof M student

A suspect has been arrested in the sexual assault of a University of Minnesota student near the Minneapolis campus on May 4. Christopher Edward Karls, 24, has been charged with three counts of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct, three counts of burglary, and a count of kidnapping.
According to the criminal complaint, Karls entered the victim’s 15th Ave. SE apartment through a window. While investigating the crime scene, police found blood on the bent aluminum frame of a storm window. A blood sample was collected as evidence, which matched the DNA profile of Chris Karls.

The woman told police she heard someone in the apartment, but thought it was a roommate. When she went into her room, she saw a man, slammed the door and locked it. The man kicked down the door.

The woman hit the intruder with a curling knife but stopped after seeing his knife. When the man, asking for money, saw she did not have any, she tried to appease him by offering her computer and curling iron instead.

According to the complaint, the man put a knife to her throat and told her to take off her clothes. He ordered her to perform oral sex, put on a condom and sexually assaulted her in multiple ways.

When he finished assaulting her, the man told her to take a shower. The victim took a comforter from her bed, hiding a cell phone inside to call police. She dialed 911, but the man heard her, took the phone and removed the battery.

After the man left the bathroom, police say the woman, wearing only a towel, jumped from a second floor window to the deck below. She broke her ankle in the fall and had injuries on her body from the knife.

Christopher Edward Karls has several past burglary convictions in Stearns County and Dakota County. He is currently being held at the Hennepin County Jail for the Minneapolis rape charges.

A second assault involving a U of M student, at Pioneer Hall on the University of Minnesota campus, remains unsolved. Karls is not currently linked to that assault.