ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man appeared in criminal court Monday and pleaded guilty to several charges in connection with a 2023 rape in the city’s Old North St. Louis neighborhood.

Octavius A. Whittaker, 33, was scheduled to go to trial this week at St. Louis Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, and two counts of armed criminal action. The Circuit Attorney’s Office dismissed seven other charges as part of a plea agreement.

The violent attack happened just after 10 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2023. The victim was at a bar in the 1300 block of St. Louis Avenue with her twin sister when she stepped outside to get something from her car.

As she leaned into the passenger seat, a masked Whittaker pointed a gun at her head and demanded her car keys.

When the victim said she didn’t have her keys, Whittaker forced her to a nearby alley at gunpoint and raped her. After the assault, Whittaker told the woman to walk away without looking back at him.

She went back into the bar, where she told her sister and contacted the police.

According to detectives, a rape examination revealed DNA belonging to Whittaker.

About two weeks prior, Whittaker held another woman at gunpoint, just a mile from the bar. In that investigation, police said Whittaker a woman into an apartment on Preservation Place near North 16th in St. Louis. He grabbed the woman’s keys and phone but dropped everything and fled after discovering another person in the apartment.

Court records also show Whittaker was convicted in 2017 for felony aggravated battery in St. Clair County, Illinois.