Troopers look for more victims after couple charged with rape at Lake of the Ozarks

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is asking more possible victims to come forward after a Kansas couple was charged with raping a woman at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Troopers sent a news release Thursday asking people to come forward with information about any sexual assault that occurred over the past five years in the Lake of the Ozarks region.

Specifically, the patrol is interested in cases where a man and woman befriended a victim, provided the victim with drugs or alcohol, took the victim to a boat and sexually assaulted them.

That sequence of events is what authorities believe happened to a woman on July 7 at the hands of Carl Mort, 42, and Cassandra Wedeking, 39, of Overland Park, Kansas.

Mort and Wedeking are facing first-degree rape charges in Morgan County in connection with that July encounter.

According to a probable cause statement in the case, a woman said she met Mort and Wedeking in July at Coconuts Bar and Grill on the lake and they introduced themselves as brother and sister.

The statement says the woman hung out with Mort and Wedeking at the bar for a while and then agreed to get on a boat with them to travel to a different bar.

Instead of going to a different bar, the statement says Mort and Wedeking went to their dock, where they convinced the woman to get onto a different boat with them and offered her cocaine, according to the statement.

Once on the other boat, the woman allegedly told investigators that Mort raped her while Wedeking held her hands above her head.

She was able to escape later by requesting a bottle of water and then running away, according to the statement.

Mort and Wedeking allegedly told investigators the sexual encounter was consensual.

Authorities say they found cocaine and possible ecstasy on the boat where the incident took place.

The highway patrol is asking anyone with information on sexual assaults in the Lake of the Ozarks area to contact the Troop F Criminal Unit at 573-526-6329, ext. 3632.

Online court records indicate Mort and Wedeking have each been released on bond.

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