Rio Vulinovic 

By Josh Lanier From Daily Voice

A 20-year-old Connecticut man is facing a litany of charges after a 13-year-old girl told investigators he violently sexually assaulted her in his car after they met on Snapchat, authorities said. 

Rio Vulinovic was 18 at the time of the alleged assault, but he reportedly told the girl he was 16, Connecticut State Police said. 

Troopers began investigating the incident after the 13-year-old told a guardian in April 2024 that she feared she was pregnant. She wasn't, but the guardian contacted the police. 

The girl told investigators that she snuck out of her home to meet up with Vulinovic in February or March 2024. She believed they were going to smoke, but he drove her to Chaplin, where he forced himself on top of her and assaulted her over the course of two hours, a police report said. 

At one point, she said he put his arm on her throat and choked her. She told police he forced his fingers into her mouth to pry open her jaw. "I thought I was going to die, like I thought he was going to break … snap my jaw because that's how hard he was opening it," he report said. 

The girl told investigators that Vulinovic tried to meet up with her again and harassed her online following the alleged assault. 

State Police investigators used Snapchat data to connect the account interacting with the girl to Vulinovic, and she picked him out of a photo array, authorities said. Cell phone GPS data and social media information supported the 13-year-old's account. 

Vulinovic turned himself in to the police last week. 

He is charged with;

  • Risk of injury to a child
  • Strangulation 3rd degree
  • Sexual assault 1st degree use or threat of force
  • Sexual assault 2nd degree victim 13 to 15 years old actor greater than 3 years older
  • Sexual assault 4th degree victim 13 to 14 years old actor greater than 3 years older

Vulinovic was released on a $175,000 bond, police said.