Victim was awakened by flashlight beam shining in her eyes. It was held by a man about 5 foot 9 inches tall, 170 lbs. He was wearing a tight nylon stocking over his face, which distorted his features. He was also wearing a dark cap on his head. Flashlight was in his left hand and a revolver in his right hand.

     She awoke her boyfriend.

     “Shut up! Don’t make a move or I’ll kill you! I want your dope. I know you have some and I’ll look until I find it.”

     An interesting standoff now happened. Victim’s boyfriend, 21 years old, turned to the assailant. The assailant hadn’t moved from the doorway. The assailant coasted the flashlight beam from the boyfriend’s face and then over to the boyfriend’s shotgun leaning against the wall. He played the flashlight beam back and forth, as if to challenge the victim into going for the shotgun. Boyfriend would not do so.

     “Roll over!” finally commanded the assailant. “Get on your stomachs.” The assailant then threw shoelaces onto the foot of the bed.

     The events that followed were typical of The EAR. After he tied the victims he placed dishes on the back of the boyfriend. He came and went from the bedroom a number of times. In one instance the phenomenon of “the silent dog” repeated itself. The boyfriend’s seven-month-old pit bull jumped on the bed while assailant was out of the room searching the house. When assailant returned to the bedroom the dog growled only once but would not bark. Assailant picked the dog up and put it in another room.

     After assailant led the 17-year-old victim to the living room, he raped her twice. He had put a knife to her throat and threatened to slit it if she didn’t do what he said.

     Several times the assailant placed his revolver against the victim’s and boyfriend’s head, cocked it, and threatened to kill them.

Investigation

Investigation uncovered that the couple had had a violent argument earlier in the evening and the boyfriend had as a result driven the victim back to her apartment. However, they made up and she returned.

     Investigation also uncovered something quite unnerving. The shotgun was found to have been unloaded and the shells neatly lined up under the bed. Sometime during the part of the night when the boyfriend and victim were at her apartment the assailant must have entered the duplex and unloaded the shotgun. It is possible then that the East Area Rapist was baiting the boyfriend to go for the gun so he could finally kill somebody.

   This is the first time that the victim was Hispanic. The boyfriend is listed as a “biker type.” No. 17 was part Hispanic.

Description

   Victim estimated the assailant’s age to be between 21 and 35. He was about 5 foot 9 inches tall and weighed about 170 pounds. He wore a nylon stocking and a dark knit cap.

Geography

This area of Tuolumne and La Riviera is in between the other La Riviera strikes and the Rancho Cordova strikes, but it is much closer to the La Riviera area of Watt Avenue than the Rancho area. There is a school nearby and a minor park. However, this park is of no significant in stalking the neighborhood. It does, however, act in concert with a significant tactical ally The EAR would use again. It connects with a pedestrian over-crossing. This over-crossing spans Highway 50 and allows one to park in an entirely different part of town and merely cross it to the Salmon Falls area where the school and eventually the duplexes are at Salmon Falls and La Riviera. Another advantage is a large apartment complex, which allowed EAR to park with the many other cars and go unnoticed.

House

The house was a duplex. This is the first time that The EAR struck a duplex.

Analysis

Despite the fact that this was the first time EAR struck a duplex, the duplex was situated in a community that fit his required method of prowling the community. It was accessed by only a couple of main roads and had the proximity of a pedestrian overpass, a school, and an apartment complex. Thus he could come and go unnoticed.

     This is a second time that EAR used a tight nylon stocking to cover his face. Curiously, the last time was No. 20. This was the Merlindale attack in Citrus Heights. This is indeed a peculiar bit of headgear to wear. It doesn’t really hide the features, but it does distort them. Nylon stockings are, however, a safer thing to carry in the car at this time as opposed to a ski mask. If stopped, EAR could merely say they were a gift. He would remove them from the package only before exiting the car to go to his victim. But there is something far more coincidental here that bears contemplation. Both this attack and the Merlindale attack were heavily dependent on the location of apartment complexes nearby. And on both these strikes, he wore a woman’s nylon rather than a ski mask. I don’t like coincidence, and this is an obvious one.

     There can be no doubt from his language and behavior in the house that this was EAR.

     Much has been made out of The EAR wanting to kill people this time, based not only on how sadistic he was but on how he warned both No. 21 and No. 22 that he was going to kill. Entering the duplex beforehand and removing the shells, then neatly lining them up under the bed, was certainly a new addition to EAR’s terror campaign, but it does not necessarily mean he was looking to kill the boyfriend. Not only would a gunshot have alerted the neighborhood, the rape and everything else he intended would have ended immediately as EAR would have to promptly flee. Rather he may have looked forward to the boyfriend going for the gun and then finding it was empty. At such a supreme moment of let-down, EAR could giggle or laugh, but finally order the terror-stricken boyfriend back on the bed. It would have been a new height of terror for a victim.

     Boyfriend was described as a biker type. Lt. Larry Crompton in Sudden Terror says that the objects of EAR’s attack in this case were rather below his usual food chain.     

Night Predator
Files on the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker