For the past 15 years, a Lexington woman who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted near her State Street home said she has feared for her life as the person who attacked her remained free.
The survivor said her life has been affected in every way possible since that day in 2009. Her mental health has deteriorated, and her ability to work and her relationships have been negatively affected.
In 2023, when 54-year-old George Wayne Aldridge was arrested after DNA tied him to five sexual assaults across Kentucky, the trauma resurfaced, and the woman was diagnosed with PTSD-induced fibromyalgia.
There was relief that justice could prevail with the man accused of attacking her now behind bars, she said.
But now, Aldridge could go free a year after he was arrested if his bond is lowered in the three counties where he faces these sex crimes allegations. His bond has already been lowered or dropped in two of those counties.
“This has impacted my life in numerous and enormous ways, and I despise that,” the woman said.
“I despise that this person was able to come in and destroy and shatter my life.”
The Herald-Leader does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Aldridge was arrested in February 2023 in relation to three Fayette County abductions and sexual assaults between 2009 and 2016, the Lexington Police Department previously said. Police used DNA technology to “connect the victims and identify the suspect.”
For those attacks, Aldridge is charged with two counts of first-degree rape, first-degree wanton endangerment, two counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of adult kidnapping and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
In August 2023, Kentucky State Police announced Aldridge was indicted in Jefferson County for a 2005 sexual assault in Louisville. The testing was done through the state Sexual Assault Kit Initiative investigative team, which receives federal grant funding.
Subsequent KSP laboratory forensic genetic genealogy confirmed his DNA matched the profile found in the sexual assault evidence.
Aldridge was most recently charged in Jessamine County in February 2024 related to another sex crime and charged with first-degree attempted rape, court documents show.
How Aldridge could be released
Now, the dominoes are falling in all three counties for Aldridge to be released on bond as he awaits his next steps in court.
In Fayette and Jessamine counties, Aldridge’s bond has been lowered and posted — or eliminated altogether.
“This has been hanging over me like a dark cloud and we are all seeking some type of validation or closure,” the Lexington survivor said. “So, for someone to even allow the possibility of an escape, regarding the situation to be less of a danger and a threat than what it is, that is somewhat of a mockery of the situation.”
At a June 24 hearing, Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman said, based on a pretrial services report, Aldridge was considered a low-flight risk and low danger to the public.
Goodman said she felt legally bound to lower his bond, which was originally $150,000. It was lowered again, and Monday’s hearing allowed him to pay only 10 percent — or $5,000 — to post bond.
His upcoming status hearing in Fayette County is scheduled for July 18.
Because he faces charges in two additional counties, Aldridge would not be let out of jail unless the other two courts ordered a reduction.
In Jessamine County, a grand jury has not yet been called to indict Aldridge, which eliminated his $25,000 bond altogether.
In Kentucky, the grand jury must indict the defendant within 60 days, or the defendant is discharged from bond and either released from custody, or their money is refunded. This is called the 60-day rule. He could still be indicted.
Aldridge is now facing a bond hearing in Jefferson County, where he is charged with first-degree rape, and his bond is presently set at $25,000, according to court documents.
On Monday, Jefferson Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith will hear arguments about whether to reduce his bond.
Aldridge’s attorney, Anastasia McKettrick, cited the two “significant changes” in the other two jurisdictions bond decisions, according to court documents. As an indigent client, she said the $25,000 bond was “unreasonably high.”
A person is referred to as indigent when they are unable to afford a defense lawyer.
McKettrick is requesting the bond be lowered to an unsecured bond — simply the promise that the defendant will pay a certain amount of money if they do not follow the precise conditions of their bail. There is no requirement to pay this sum in full or in part.
Survivor ‘appalled’ at judge’s decision
When the Lexington survivor heard about Goodman’s decision to lower the bond, she said she felt “disgusted, sickened and appalled.”
“I couldn’t believe she said verbatim that he was not a flight risk, and not a threat,” she told the Herald-Leader.
“What are we going to consider a threat? Multiple victims, a serial rapist, in multiple counties with DNA evidence. That isn’t going to be a threat?”
Goodman has recently been at the center of other controversial decisions, including tossing a murder indictment against a defendant over allegations of racial bias in December. In June, she ordered a new trial for a man convicted of murdering his son and cited alleged prosecutorial misconduct as the reason.
Goodman was elected to the Fayette District Court Bench in 1980 and served in the position for 11 years, according to her candidate profile on Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. Prior to that, she was a trial lawyer for 28 years and practiced as a national litigator. She has also served as an assistant attorney general, and worked for the Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office under Ray Larson. Goodman was first elected to the circuit court bench in 2019, and re-elected in 2022.
The survivor mentioned Aldridge’s bond and likelihood of fleeing has come up before.
In one of his first court appearances, prosecutors asked Fayette District Judge Bruce Bell to increase his $150,000 bond after Aldridge made statements in a jail phone call about attempting to flee.
“If I get out of here, I am leaving and not coming back,” Aldridge reportedly told his family while on a phone call from jail, prosecutors said in court documents.
Aldridge’s former attorney, Edward Thompson, argued the context of his statement was that he “wanted to get out of Lawrenceburg,” which was where he lived. Bell ordered his bond remain at $150,000.
“That tells you right there the man is going to cut and run,” she said. “All he has to do is remove the monitor and head for the hills and be left unaccountable for all those atrocities he has committed.”
The Lexington survivor said she believes more victims will be identified.
“These aren’t just allegations at this point,” she asserted. “I understand presuming innocence until proven guilty, but when DNA is involved, how can you presume someone to be innocent at that point?
“There is a danger. He is a danger. This judge just made this ruling, and allowing someone who is a threat and serious danger to be loose and get out once again,” she said.
“It has proven (judges) don’t have a safe, rational mind and do not regard society and community in a safe manner.”
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