WARNING: This story includes depictions of explicit violence and sexually explicit content that may be considered profane, vulgar or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Much of the first two days of testimony in Austin Rodhouse’s Pike County Circuit Court trial centered around his wife and their children, but the jury of eight women and four men on Thursday heard testimony from three women who claimed they were sexually assaulted by Rodhouse.

Rodhouse, who turns 31 next month, is on trial for 19 domestic violence and sex offences.

• 3 counts of aggravated domestic battery, a class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
• 1 count of criminal sexual assault involving force, a Class 1 felony punishable by four to 15 years in prison.
• 4 counts of felony predatory sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony punishable by six to 60 years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison.
• 2 counts of child pornography, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison.
• 3 counts of indecent solicitation of an adult, a Class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated battery on a child, a class 3 felony punishable by two to five years in prison.

Testimony in the trial before Judge Charles HW Burch is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Friday. Rodhouse, a native of Pleasant Hill, pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Each of the women who testified Thursday was in their 20s.

The first woman, referred to here as JaneDoe1, said she remembered seeing Rodhouse and his sister, Autumn, while visiting the home of Matt Rodhouse, Austin’s father, when she was 6 or 7 years old. When Pike County State’s Attorney Walker Filbert asked if she remembered any touching that Rodhouse allegedly did of a sexual nature, JaneDoe1 said she called it “Austin’s massages.”

She described the activity as Rodhouse “just rubbing private areas” on the outside of a woman’s clothing, going “top to bottom”. She could not remember how many times Rodhouse gave her “massages” and could not remember if he ever put his hands inside her clothes.

JaneDoe1 recalled going to another house that Matt Rodhouse owned in Summer Hill when she was about 10 years old and watching Austin continue to give her “massages.”

During cross-examination by defense attorney Casey Schnack, JaneDoe1 said she did not remember when she first saw the massages or the room where the massages took place.

“But you come here to court and you know for a fact that all of this happened,” Schnack said.

“It was,” JaneDoe1 replied.

A second woman, referred to here as JaneDoe2, said she went to Ohio to camp with friends in the summer of 2017 after ending a 3 1/2-year relationship with another man. She met Rodhouse – who at 24 was seven years her senior – on the site and had sex with him on either their first or second date.

JaneDoe2 later found out that Rodhouse had another girlfriend at his “he didn’t want me to know” camp.

During a second trip to Ohio, JaneDoe2 visited Rodhouse at his camp, and his other girlfriend was there. He tried to get the two women to have a threesome, but JaneDoe2 refused.

“She kept bringing it up all night… until it happened,” JaneDoe2 said.

She said she drank coolers of wine and vodka for several hours before agreeing to the threesome. After that night, Rodhouse said he wanted to be in a relationship with both women — a “thrupple,” JaneDoe2 said. She didn’t agree to it, but agreed on a few occasions to have sex with him.

Rodhouse tried to talk JaneDoe2 out of going back to high school for her senior year, but she did. He drove to Pike County and met her at a local park on September 2, 2017, and took her to the Green Acres Hotel in Pittsfield, where some of Rodhouse’s family members were staying. The family members left and JaneDoe2 said she wanted to take a shower before going to a local football game.

When she was in the bathroom, Rodhouse also came in and said he wanted to have sex. When JaneDoe2 said no, she said he picked her up and put her on the bathroom floor to have sex.

“Are you doing anything like kissing or something romantic?” asked Assistant District Attorney Leecia Carnes.

“No, I was looking at the toilet to my left,” said JaneDoe2.

Rodhouse and JaneDoe2 went to the soccer game. Afterwards, she said they were riding in Rodhouse’s truck when he pulled his penis out of his pants and pushed his head into her lap, demanding oral sex. She said her head was stuck between his lap and the steering wheel and she was afraid she would wreck the vehicle if she tried to move.

“What have you decided to do?” Carnes asked.

“Do it,” said JaneDoe2.

She said the relationship ended after that weekend and they never saw each other again.

A third woman, identified here as JaneDoe3, said she met Rodhouse through an ex-boyfriend and about a year later on Facebook Messenger in December 2021. During their first meeting at a McDonald’s in Quincy, she said that Rodhouse gave him a ring.

“He told me he wasn’t going to keep me waiting,” JaneDoe3 said.

She said she continued to see Rodhouse occasionally for several weeks after their first date. She said they would meet at her mother’s house. She said Rodhouse often wanted to talk about BDSM, described as a variety of often erotic practices or role-play involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission. Asked by Schnack, JaneDoe3 said that Rodhouse described BDSM as “the language of love.”

JaneDoe3 said she was going to change the subject when Rodhouse brought it up because “I had no interest or desire to do it.”

She said Rodhouse showed up at the house one day when she was in the basement and her mother and stepfather were upstairs.

“He didn’t even take the time to ask me how my day was,” she said.

Instead, she claims Rodhouse forced her to have sex on a couch. She said she couldn’t speak. She said the two never even kissed before.

“Did he say anything?” Carnes said.

“No,” said JaneDoe3.

Carnes asked JaneDoe3 if she saw Rodhouse in the courtroom.

“I didn’t look around,” she said.

“Would you be willing to look around?” Carnes asked.

“Should I look around?” said JaneDoe3.

Carnes said no.