PHOENIX — An accused serial rapist appeared in Maricopa County Superior Court Friday for an hours-long evidentiary hearing. James Estep was indicted on 30 counts and is accused of sexually assaulting, kidnapping or attacking at least six women in Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix from 2018 to 2023.
Prosecutors also want to include two uncharged alleged victims as they make their case against Estep so a judge oversaw a hearing where multiple detectives testified about Estep's alleged crimes in their jurisdictions.
Each detective provided new disturbing details about the alleged sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults Estep is charged with committing.
Indictment lists out six alleged victims of accused serial rapist
Court records show the alleged crimes Estep is charged with date back to September of 2018. He was accused of sexually assaulting a woman.
In May of 2021, there was another alleged assault in Mesa. Police said Estep approached a woman claiming to be a pastor and asked if she needed a place to stay. Records show he drove them to an abandoned lot where he attacked her.
In April of 2023, there was another sexual assault case. Estep was accused of putting a woman in a chokehold and assaulting her.
Estep was arrested in May of 2023 and released after the Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to file charges.
Another alleged victim came forward in June of 2023 saying Estep forcibly pulled her into his truck and took off. Less than a week later, he's accused of attacking again. This time, it was a woman he met on Mill Avenue in Tempe. She went back to Estep's home where after reportedly having a consensual encounter, he forced himself upon her. She went through a forensic exam and Estep was arrested a second time.
He was, again, released after the county attorney's office failed to file charges.
“I spent 25 years of my career doing these types of cases and I believe that additional work needs to be done," said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell when asked about the case last year.
Less than a month after the Tempe report, Tempe PD said Estep violently sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl after offering her a ride home from a light rail stop.
That case prompted police to show up to Estep's home and after he barricaded himself in his attic, he was arrested.
Two uncharged cases detailed in court
The two alleged uncharged incidents happened in 2017 and 2020. Both alleged victims were tenants in Estep's home.
One of them had autism.
The state's attorney is asking the judge to allow information from those two cases in the current case against Estep, while his defense team is opposing that motion.
After a full day of testimony, Judge Mark Brain continued the hearing to next Friday.
Estep's defense team has also filed a motion to sever the counts in the case. If granted, there would have to be a separate trial for each alleged victim.