Man arrested for sexual battery

By Kaleigh Maher, news editor
Posted on October 25, 2007

Wilbur Alton Comer, a 60-year-old resident of Harrisonburg, was arrested Monday on charges of sexual battery, abduction and kidnapping a female JMU student.

Rockingham County Sherriff’s Department spokeswoman Sgt. Felicia Glick said the police used information and a description from the victim to identify the suspect.

“Once we identified the suspect, officers investigating the case determined there was sufficient evidence to place charges against Comer,” Glick said.

On the evening of Wednesday Oct. 17 the victim accepted a ride home from class in Memorial Hall from a man in a white jeep. She described the suspect to the police as a white male, short and heavy-set with medium-length white hair and an “abnormal” eye.

The victim said the man was someone she had known and accepted rides from before, according to a timely notification from campus police. 

Instead of driving toward the victim’s home, the man drove south, into a rural area of Rockingham County near Swope Road located near the town of Dayton. The man reportedly committed several acts of sexual battery before the victim escaped from the slow moving vehicle.

Comer is being held without bond at the Rockingham County jail. He will go for a preliminary hearing and judge will determine when the case will be heard.