Sexual assault can begin when a drug is slipped into a drink.
Now, suspects are using new products to drug drinks. They are products that can be found in most homes.
Faith Walker had never passed out until the night she became a victim. She was a college freshman. After a couple months on campus, Faith made plans to spend her Friday night with a boy she was dating.
“I was going to his dorm room, and we were just going to hang out and watch a couple movies,” said Walker.
His older brother stopped by with vodka.
"We weren't 21 at the time. I was only 18. So he's the one who got us the alcohol and made our drinks and everything."
Faith says after one and a half drinks, she blacked out.
“I could remember seeing the guy who I was dating on the top bunk, watching as his brother was standing behind me, raping me."
Since our story aired last night, women are coming forward to tell what happened to them and want to help other women from becoming victims. At 6 pm, 10 Investigates Nathan Baca talked to one Clintonville woman who is sharing her story.
It's stories like hers that have triggered an alert from the Ohio Investigative Unit.
"We want them to be aware of the dangers of drugged drinks,” says Eric Wolf of the OIU.
This summer, police amped-up patrols at Ohio's popular get-away spot, Put-In-Bay.
“Just be observant of your surroundings. Don't accept drinks from people you don't know. Don’t be afraid of asking the bartender what they put in your drink, know what they are putting in there,” says Ottawa County Sheriff’s detective Amanda Cross.
More than a dozen women there reported being drugged and sexually assaulted since May. The sheriff's office calls it part of a serious uptick. Columbus police say they're also alarmed by what they're seeing.
“It's no longer just a couple of drugs. We used to think about drug-facilitated sexual assault, immediately we went to Rohypnol or GHB. That is no longer the case,” said David Pelphrey, Columbus Police.
The frightening fact is that what's being slipped into drinks at a bar or a house party could be stuff you have in your own home.
“So we're talking about Visine, Benadryl, Sudafed - any type of substance, whether it be over-the-counter or prescription that can be surreptitiously placed in a drink that would lower someone's inhibitions,” added Pelphrey.
Officers say be aware, even if you simply notice someone with Visine.
“You would think they were just using it to clean up their allergies, clear up contacts and if you squirted that in a drink, that would be something that would induce a drug-facilitated sexual assault,” he added.
“Even our most efficient labs can't go looking for all of the hundreds of possibilities that could be in someone's drink,” said Sue Wismar, Sexual Response Network.
Because there are so many new drugs being used, it is harder to identify which substance laced a victim's liquids. Columbus police are getting ahead of criminals with new technology: they've now identified a lab in Indiana that they'll be using to test for many of the chemical combinations found on the list.
Currently, Columbus Police don't test rape victims for these substances.
The new testing can only help when victims come forward. State officials say as many as 80 percent may not report the crime.
“The victims feel embarrassed or ashamed that they put themselves in that kind of a situation,” added Wolf.
“If you get home and the next morning you feel like, wow, I only had two and it sent me for a loop, that is something we would like to see get reported,” said Pelphrey.
Faith Walker took a rape test but didn't file a report.
“I was really afraid. I was afraid to even go to the police. So now that it's years later, I have gone through post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety,” she said.
After battling long lasting effects, she's changed her mind and gone to police. She hopes to empower other sexual assault victims to use all the new tools, technology and even your own voice.
"Have the strength I didn't have. Make him pay for what he did."
Ordering up a device that serves date rape detection on the rocks could take while, most devices aren't yet to the market. Police remind you the products don't alert you to the most commonly used drug in sexual assaults - alcohol itself.
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