Investigation of assault cases may widen to murder, disappearance

Wednesday, February 20th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ What began as an investigation into the assault of an Oklahoma City college student has widened to a probe of possible links to other violent crimes against young women, including the high-profile, unsolved murder of an Arkansas ballerina.

Oklahoma County prosecutors filed six felony counts, including kidnapping, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, robbery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle against Kevin Lee Cassil on Tuesday.

The charges stem from the Feb. 11 attempted abduction and assault of an Oklahoma City Community College student and the alleged attack on a teen-age girl Jan. 16 outside an Oklahoma City tanning salon.

Police now are looking into whether Cassil, 24, is connected to the death of Jewell ``Juli'' Busken, of Benton, Ark.

Police believe Busken was abducted the morning of Dec. 20, 1996, from the parking lot of her apartment complex in Norman. She was taken to Lake Stanley Draper in southeast Oklahoma City where she was raped and shot in the back of the head.

A bullet and DNA evidence were removed from the crime scene.

Cleveland County prosecutors have filed murder charges against a suspect whose DNA matches the sample, but the killer has never been found.

``Certainly, it is part of our investigation right now to submit his DNA against the Juli Busken unknown DNA sample to see if it matches,'' Capt. Jessica Cummins, a police spokeswoman, said. ``Basically, if Kevin Lee Cassil did commit the Juli Busken homicide, the DNA will let us know that.''

Processing of Cassil's DNA profile is expected to take about two weeks, Cummins said.

Investigators point to similarities between the murder of Busken and the way OCCC student Tam Minh Tram was attacked in a campus parking lot.

A police officer spotted a man using strapping tape and a black necktie in an attempt to subdue the 21-year-old, who remembers being zapped with a stun gun as she was about to get into her vehicle and being repeatedly choked.

``The first time he choked me, I passed out,'' said Tram, who recounted her harrowing experience to The Daily Oklahoman. ``He choked me with two hands outside the car, then he kept choking me with one hand inside the car. He kept choking me so many times.''

When Tram awoke and realized that the assailant was driving her off-campus in her car, she decided to fight. Tram said she hit her attacker, broke his glasses, honked the car horn and pulled the emergency break.

A bystander who witnessed the disturbance called 911, and an officer arrived in time to find Tram's car, Cummins said.

``He put that tie around my neck and pulled on it,'' she said. ``I put both my hands under it to try to breathe.''

The teen-age girl told police a man approached her as she sat in a friend's car outside the salon and flung a black necktie around her throat. The assailant used the tie to drag her about 20 feet down the sidewalk before she escaped.

The girl picked Cassil from a photo lineup, said police Maj. Ted Carlton, who noted similarities between the attacks on Tram and Busken.

``There is the obvious similarity of an abduction from an outdoor environment, from a parking lot, him taking the victim away in the victim's car and leaving his car near the victims,'' Carlton said.

``There is some similarity of victim type _ a young female college student. Certainly none of that proves anything, but ... we have looked at other suspects in (the) Busken (case) that had far fewer similarities.''

Investigators also say that Cassil worked in Norman at the time Busken was killed and left for the Army about two weeks later.

An FBI profile of the Busken killer describes him as a white male in his late teens or early 20s with voyeuristic tendencies. The killer is believed to be familiar with the area and to have left town shortly after the slaying.

Cassil also is being investigated for the August disappearance of OCCC student Mayuko Kawase.

Oklahoma City police also plan to present evidence against Cassil to Cleveland County prosecutors about the rape of a woman, investigators said. Parts of Oklahoma City fall within Cleveland County.