Investigators believe Victor Stevens stalked a Powhatan Point girl for days before he allegedly crawled through her bedroom window, placed a knife to her neck and raped her.

The 43-year-old Powhatan Point man is facing first-degree felony counts of rape and aggravated burglary. He is accused of raping the teen in the early morning hours of Aug. 13. Belmont County Sheriff Fred Thompson said the alleged victim in the crime managed to stab the suspect in the chest with the knife he used in the commission of the rape. The teen's subsequent scream woke her mother before Stevens left the home, according to the sheriff.

According to Thompson, deputies responded to the area on reports of a bloody man walking nearby. Deputies later found Stevens in his trailer hiding between the mattress and box spring of his bed. At that same time, the victim and her mother were reporting her rape to authorities at the Powhatan Point Police Department.

Thompson said Wednesday that Stevens' home is separated from the alleged rape victim's home by about a quarter of a mile. He said investigators believe Stevens was watching the girl in the days leading up to the rape. According to the sheriff, investigators believe the suspect had seen the victim with her boyfriend and knew when the two were not together. Thompson said Stevens knew where the girl slept and that she was alone when he entered that bedroom.

"We feel he was stalking," Thompson said. "He knew when the boyfriend walked her home. He knew what bedroom window to slither through."

Thompson said Stevens was a sex offender prior to the most recent allegations of rape. The sheriff said Stevens was convicted of gross sexual imposition for inappropriately touching a 13-year-old, mentally handicapped girl in 2007.

Thompson said Belmont County investigators are confident in the case against Stevens. He said the victim and her mother knew the suspect prior to the alleged rape. The sheriff said Stevens even spoke to the girl's mother regarding the commission of the crime.

"He asked (the mother) where the front door was," Thompson said.

Thompson said Stevens was transported to Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling following his arrest. He now is being held in the Northern Regional Jail at Moundsville, but Thompson said Stevens is fortunate that he was able to leave the hospital.

"He laid the knife down, and that was a big mistake for him," Thompson said. "The doctor said another inch-and-half, and it would have got him in the heart. (The alleged victim) yelled, and the mother came in. She found him on top of her. He got out of the house."

Thompson said the teen has been released from a local hospital as well. The sheriff said he has been told the alleged victim and her mother are doing as well as can be expected.

Investigators never recovered the knife. Thompson said he believes Stevens took it from the crime scene and threw it somewhere in the area.

The Powhatan Point Police Department investigated the gross sexual imposition allegations in 2007 and prior domestic violence reports involving Stevens. Chief Chet Oldfield and Thompson both said they consider Stevens to be a sexual predator. Thompson said Stevens will spend the rest if his life in prison if he is convicted of the rape and burglary allegations - and he believes that is where Stevens belongs.

"You cannot rehabilitate sexual predators," Thompson said. "Once they're a sexual predator, they will always be a sexual predator. If they get the opportunity, they will re-offend."

Thompson said Stevens is awaiting extradition at the Northern Regional Jail. He said the suspect is being held in West Virginia because he was treated at a Mountain State hospital following his arrest.