Three women describe during third day of testimony in Rodhouse trial how they were sexually assaulted

WARNING: This story includes descriptions of explicit violence and graphic sexual content that may be considered profane, vulgar or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Much of the first two days of testimony in the Austin Rodhouse trial in Pike County Circuit Court has centered around his wife and their children, but the eight-woman, four-man jury heard testimony Thursday from three women who alleged they were sexually assaulted by Rodhouse.

Rodhouse, who turns 31 next month, is being tried on 19 domestic violence and sex-related felonies.

• 3 counts of aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of between three and seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. 
• 1 count of criminal sexual assault involving force, a Class 1 felony with a sentencing range of between four and 15 years in prison.
• 4 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 60 years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.
• 2 counts of child pornography, a Class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.
• 3 counts of indecent solicitation of an adult, a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of three to seven years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated battery to a child, a Class 3 felony with a sentencing range of two to five years in prison.

Testimony in the trial before Judge Charles H.W. Burch is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Friday. Rodhouse, a Pleasant Hill native, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Each of the women who testified Thursday were in their 20s.

The first woman, referred to here as JaneDoe1, said she remembered seeing Rodhouse and another family member while visiting the home of Matt Rodhouse, Austin’s father’s, when she was 6 or 7 years old. When Pike County State’s Attorney Walker Filbert asked if she remembered any touching that Rodhouse would have done of a sexual nature, JaneDoe1 said he called it “Austin’s massages.”

She described the activity as Rodhouse “just rubbing private areas” on the outside of a female’s clothing, going “from the top down.” She didn’t remember the number of times Rodhouse gave his “massages,” and she didn’t remember if he ever put his hands inside her clothing.

JaneDoe1 remembered going to another home Matt Rodhouse owned in Summer Hill when she was around 10 years old and watching Austin continue to perform his “massages.”

During cross-examination by defense attorney Casey Schnack, JaneDoe1 said she couldn’t remember when she first saw the massages or the room where the massages happened.

“But you’re coming in here to court, and you definitely know that all of this happened,” Schnack said.

“It did,” JaneDoe1 replied.

A second woman, referred to here as JaneDoe2, said she went to Ohio to stay at a campground with friends during the summer of 2017 after ending a 3½-year relationship with another man. She met Rodhouse — who at 24 was seven years older — at the site, and she had sex with him on either their first or second meeting.

JaneDoe2 later learned Rodhouse had another girlfriend at his campground “he didn’t want me to know.”

During a second trip to Ohio, JaneDoe2 visited Rodhouse at his campground, and the other girlfriend was there. He tried to convince the two women to have sex as a threesome, but JaneDoe2 balked. 

“He kept bringing it up the whole night … until it happened,” JaneDoe2 said.

She said she drank wine coolers and vodka for several hours before agreeing to the threesome. After that night, Rodhouse said he wanted to be in a relationship with both woman — a “thrupple,” JaneDoe2 said. She did not agree to it, but she did agree on a couple of occasions to have consensual sex with him.

Rodhouse tried to convince JaneDoe2 to not go back to high school for her senior year, but she did. He drove to Pike County and met her in a local park on Sept. 2, 2017, and took her to the Green Acres Hotel in Pittsfield, where some of Rodhouse’s family members were. The family members left, and JaneDoe2 said she wanted to take a shower before going to a local football game.

When she was in the bathroom, Rodhouse came in as well and said he wanted to have sex. When JaneDoe2 said no, she said he picked her up and put her on the bathroom floor to have sex.

“Are you guys doing anything like kissing or anything romantic?” Assistant State’s Attorney Leecia Carnes asked.

“No, I was staring at the toilet to my left,” JaneDoe2 said.

Rodhouse and JaneDoe2 went to the football game. Afterward, she said they were riding around in Rodhouse’s truck when he took his penis out of his pants and shoved her head to his lap, demanding oral sex. She said her head was lodged between his lap and the steering wheel, and she was scared she would wreck the vehicle if she tried to move.

“What did you decide to do?” Carnes asked.

“Do it,” JaneDoe2 said.

She said the relationship ended after that weekend, and they never saw each other again.

A third woman, referred to here as JaneDoe3, said she met Rodhouse through a former boyfriend and, about a year later, on Facebook Messenger in December 2021. During their first meeting at McDonald’s in Quincy, she said Rodhouse gave her a ring.

“He told me that he wasn’t going to make me wait,” JaneDoe3 said.

She said she continued to see Rodhouse occasionally for a couple of weeks after their first meeting. She said they would meet at her mother’s house. She said Rodhouse often wanted to talk about BDSM, described as a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission. Under questioning from Schnack, JaneDoe3 said Rodhouse described BDSM as his “love language.”

JaneDoe3 said she would change the subject when Rodhouse brought it up because “I had no interest or desire in doing it.”

She said Rodhouse showed up at the house one day when she was in the basement and her mother and stepfather were upstairs. 

“He didn’t even take the time to ask me how my day was,” she said.

Instead, she claims Rodhouse forced her to have sex on a couch. She said she couldn’t talk. She said the two of them hadn’t even kissed before.

“Did he say anything?” Carnes said.

“Nope,” JaneDoe3 said.

Carnes asked JaneDoe3 if she saw Rodhouse in the courtroom.

“I haven’t looked around,” she said.

“Would you be willing to look around?” Carnes asked.

“Do I have to look around?” JaneDoe3 said.

Carnes said no.