Police make arrest in northeast Fresno kidnap, carjack and sexual assault

Fresno police Wednesday announced the arrest of Joseph Ward, 35, in the kidnap and sexual assault of a woman abducted while she was taking an infant for a walk in northeast Fresno in June.

“This is the third strike for Joseph Ward,” Chief Jerry Dyer said of the suspect. “I’m very confidant in our District Attorney’s Office (that) he will receive multiple life sentences for what he’s done to this woman.”

Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp attended the news conference where the arrest was announced.

The victim was with the 1-year-old near North Friant and Fort Washington roads on June 22 when she was followed by Ward, police say.

Ward asked for water before he pulled a 10-inch butcher knife and forced the victim inside of a home where he forced her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her while she held the child, according to Dyer.

After ransacking the house, he forced the woman to drive him to an ATM at North Cedar and Shepherd avenues and withdraw money. He tried to get the victim and the child to go with him in the SUV but ended up driving off in the vehicle, which was found two days later in northwest Fresno.

Dyer said more the 20 detectives from the department’s sexual assault unit worked on the apprehending a suspect in the case, “sometimes seven days a week, around the clock.”

Ward was on parole at the time the crime was committed, Dyer said. Previous convictions include assault with a deadly weapon that involved a firearm. He was arrested in 2001 on charges of rape and kidnap but was not convicted.

“It was very apparent that (Ward) was walking through that neighborhood looking for a victim,” Dyer said.

“There was nothing this victim could have done to prevent (the attack).”

Dyer urged citizens to remain vigilant as a defense against crime.

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 12:16 PM.