PANAMA CITY BEACH — Authorities investigating an alleged rape case have changed their focus after inconsistencies began to arise between victim accounts and evidence at the scene, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
BCSO officials said they now are downgrading their investigation into an alleged sexual battery in the North Lagoon area of Panama City Beach on Dec. 19 — a case initially thought to be a repeat of an earlier home invasion. Though the investigation is ongoing, BCSO has decided to change its focus with the discovery of conflicting evidence, BCSO officials said in a press release Friday.
“Since the original report of the event, investigators have developed some concerning and questionable inconsistencies with statements and evidence gathered at the scene,” BCSO officials reported in the release. “This has somewhat redirected our investigation into this matter.”
Officials did not respond to requests for further explanation Friday.
However, the Dec. 19 incident is still being worked as a sexual battery. Initially, investigators believed it to be linked to a Dec. 16 home invasion at Edgewater Crossing Apartments where a woman was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police have said the woman was attacked during the home invasion but have not released other details in the case. The first case is not being investigated as a sexual assault.
On Dec. 19 a similar incident occurred in North Lagoon. Investigators have not said why they initially believed the two were connected, but BCSO went on to pursue the case as a sexual battery. With conflicting statements and evidence developed during their investigation, BCSO has downgraded their urgency in the case.
“Even though the case remains open, our sense of urgency is slowly diminishing,” BCSO officials said. “We will release more details as they become available.”