Mother escapes with 2 children after being sexually assaulted at Richland home

A Richland woman staged a daring escape for herself and her children after being sexually assaulted in her home late last month.

She was handing her children through a bedroom window to waiting officers as Luis B. Palomo-Olmedo, 23, burst into the room and was met by Richland police.

Palomo-Olmedo remains in Benton County jail on $300,000 bail after pleading innocent to first-degree rape with a deadly weapon in connection with the June 27 attack.

The victim told police she had long-term memory issues after a November car crash left her with a brain injury. She did remember being friends with Palomo-Olmedo sometime between 2020 and 2022, but didn’t remember having any intimate relationship with him.

Palomo-Olmedo started messaging her recently, and had come to her apartment for about 10 minutes the week before the attack.

During the conversations he told her that they had been intimate before, but she told him she didn’t remember having any relationship with him or want it now.

He allegedly reached out again about 10:30 p.m. on June 26. He brought along a coworker and a case of beer. They hung out at the dining table drinking for several hours

“Luis kept trying to kiss her and touch her and even tried putting his hand down the back of her pants, but she reported repeatedly told him she wasn’t doing that and didn’t think of him like that (she estimated she said something to that effect around 20 times),” according to a police report.

Some time later in the night, Palomo-Olmedo allegedly sent his friend to the car. The victim told Palomo-Olmedo to get his friend because she didn’t want to be alone with him.

She allegedly went into the bathroom and came out to find Palomo-Olmedo standing in front of the front doorway alone.

He allegedly attacked then, grabbing her hair and holding a folding knife to the back of her neck. He then directed the victim to her bedroom where he raped her multiple times.

She was able to escape to her son’s room after the child started crying and called 911 from her cellphone.

Police found her at the bedroom window and she began handing her two children through the window to officers while Palomo-Olmedo was in the living room.

“During this time, Luis barged into the bedroom to which officers contacted him at gunpoint and gave him commands,” police said in the affidavit of probable cause. “Luis complied with their commands.”