Man accused of kidnapping, raping DoorDash driver denied bond by Tampa judge

TAMPA, Fla. - After hearing evidence, a Tampa judge wasted no time denying bond to a suspect accused in the violent attack of a DoorDash delivery driver. 

Judge Catherine Catlin had biting words for defendant Joseph Killins during his court appearance Wednesday. 

Joseph Killins mugshot courtesy of the Tampa Police Department. 

"You are a coward sir. A coward for attacking these women you’re a coward with a propensity for violence, there’s no way I would release you," said Catlin.

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Just minutes earlier, Catlin heard from the victim involved in this case. She explained that on the night April 18, she was working as a DoorDash driver, delivering a pizza in Tampa. 

She said Killins approached her with a gun and tried to rob her. Then she says, Killins forced her into her vehicle and made her to drive to an apartment complex parking lot. 

Exterior of the Belara Lakes Apartments. 

Once there, he began to sexually assault her while she begged for her life.

"I started crying. I started telling him ‘please, don’t make me do it. I’ll just leave and never tell anybody about it. You can take my jewelry, you can take my coat bag. I just wanna go home, and I’m not gonna tell anyone,’" explained the tearful victim. 

But, she said Killins forced her to perform a sex act at gunpoint. 

"He was basically telling me that if I didn’t do that he was going to kill me and rape me," she recalled. 

Detectives said what possibly saved the victims life is the fact she was wearing AirPods and on the phone with her girlfriend when the attack began. They said the girlfriend was able to call for help. 

The victims family was also able to track her phone to the apartment complex where they tried to rescue her. That’s when they said Killins pulled out a gun and fired a shot, striking a family member of the victim's girlfriend.  

Ring video of the suspect accused of robbing a woman at the Belara Lakes Apartments and an attack on a DoorDash delivery driver. 

The suspect then fled the scene, but he didn't go far. Investigators say he violently attacked another woman hours later at the same apartment complex.

According to court documents, he threw that victim to the ground, punched her repeatedly in the face and stole her bag. It was a bold robbery considering police were still on the scene. Officers reportedly heard the victim screaming and responded immediately.

Killins told detectives during a police interview, the sexual encounter was all consensual, that in fact, the victim asked for it. But the judge didn’t buy it, Killins will be held without bond until his trial date. 

Prosecutors say they have a mountain of evidence linking Killins to the crimes. They say he left DNA evidence behind and he was seen on surveillance video at the crime scenes and detectives say he has admitted that it is him in those videos.

Killins is facing charges of armed sexual battery, armed kidnapping, and robbery with a firearm.