(Originally appeared on Nebraska Radio Network)
A South Carolina man has been sentenced to at least 15 years in prison for raping a minor at a Nebraska college in 2008.
30-year-old Joshua Keadle of Swansea remains under a cloud of suspicion in the disappearance of a coed from another Nebraska college.
Dodge County District Judge Geoffrey Hall, during a court hearing in Fremont, Nebraska, sentenced Keadle to 15 to 20 years in prison for first-degree sexual assault of a minor. A jury earlier convicted Keadle of raping his 15-year-old victim while she slept in a dorm room on the campus of what was then Midland Lutheran College in Fremont. Keadle, a student there, had claimed he was impotent and never penetrated the girl.
Authorities have interviewed Keadle about the disappearance of Peru State College student Tyler Thomas of Omaha. Keadle is the last person known to have seen Thomas before she disappeared on December 3, 2010. Keadle has claimed he picked Thomas up and they drove to a secluded boat ramp on the Missouri River where they had sexual contact. He claims he left her there after she threatened to accuse him of rape.
Police arrested Keadle five days later, but never formally charged him in the Thomas case.
