It was the middle of the night. Victim was home alone. She was sound asleep. She was awakened by assailant grabbing her shoulders and yanking her arms behind her. He hissed in her ear through clenched teeth, threatening he’d kill her if she resisted. He bound her tightly, then blindfolded her. He rummaged and ransacked through the house, building a sense of terror in her. He returned to her bedroom and raped her. Between his ransacking the house, he would return and check on her. During these moments he would speak in obscene ways and then tell her to “Shut up!” if she tried to answer his questions. He threatened to jam an ice pick in her neck numerous times. He used her name several times, but she didn’t believe that he knew her at all. He returned again. While lubricating himself, he demanded she guess what he was doing. When she’d try to speak he would snarl “Shut up!” He raped her again. In all, he spent about an hour and a half in the house, subjecting her to more terror than rape.   

     As in other cases, the assailant partook of the victim’s food in between his ransacking. He also drank 2 cans of beer before leaving, and left the empty cans behind.

   After assailant left, victim was able to get to the phone and call the sheriffs.

Investigation

Sheriffs discovered the two empty beer cans and noted that the assailant ate the victim’s food. He left a block of cheese on the bar counter by the kitchen. His tooth marks were in it. Several tennis shoe prints were found in the neighbors’ yards. (Richard Shelby, one of the detectives, said they were waffle stomper prints and found in the neighbor’s yard but not in the victim’s yard.)  Victim’s side gate had been left open. Both the sliding glass back door and garage door had been pried.

     Victim expressed her feeling that the assailant was not that interested in sex much at all. Rather he was more interested in terror. Assailant always sounded angry, threatening, and speaking through clenched teeth. He lifted her gown only once, to briefly expose her breasts. Other than that he showed little interest in her body.

     Atypical of previous EAR strikes, phone line had not been cut.

     A blood hound followed assailant’s trail two blocks from the victim’s house, where apparently EAR had parked (on Guenivere Way).

Description

Victim did not get a good view of the attacker, but noted he had a small penis, narrow and about 3 or 4 inches long. Victim had noticed that the assailant had reeked of BO.    Victim estimated he was 30 to 40 years old.

Geography

The EAR had not struck in this neighborhood before. Larchmont lies northwest of Madison and Sunrise. Several features, however, are common to EAR strike areas. For instance, the school, the blind area where he parked and back then much on the other side of Primrose was open field. See pictures.

House

The house was a single story, detached middleclass home like the others in previous attacks.

Analysis

The photo essay above highlights repeatedly the area of the blind spots on Primrose Avenue.  A sheriff canvas of the elementary school revealed that EAR was most likely the young man who had parked at the corner of Kingswood and Primrose in front of the school. This young man had parked there several days in a row before the attack. Children passing on their way to class paid little attention to him, since many people park here on Primrose.

   Not only would parking in a blind spot become a signature of the EAR, it begins here most clearly. This is significant, for this is right after the attack in La Riviera where there were no shortages of witnesses beforehand who reported a man prowling. That is not the case here. Rather EAR’s stalking and prowling seems more sophisticated or, at least, any crudeness in it was shielded by the fact a busy school was nearby and he simply did not stand out during the day.

     Kingswood and Primrose are a couple of blocks from the house he struck. Therefore he was maintaining his MO to prowl from afar but on the night of the attack come in close, park in a blind spot, and move in. In this case, he seems to have parked on Guenivere Way on the night of the attack.

     Interestingly, this is the second time that an older age is accorded to the EAR. One of the neighbors in the La Riviera area thought that the man prowling her side yard was about 35 years old.

   The lack of cutting the phone line is unusual, though not the first time. Previously, this had been a tactical move, delaying the victim from calling the police should she get free quickly. Although the rapist parked only 2 blocks away, the lack of cutting the line is still not explainable except perhaps as growing confidence or “victory disease.” Perhaps, too, he did not have the means. He used an ice pick to threaten the victim, not a knife. He could, of course, have taken a knife from the kitchen or even just ripped the phone out, but he didn’t.

   How to interpret the BO? Had he been working on a job all day in the area and hung around to do his raping? Was he indeed in construction? Perhaps this explains his use of an ice pick rather than a knife or gun. He could not be carrying such weapons of death around with him if just on a job. Too risky. This will become significant, for the ice pick will turn up in future rapes.

     Being in the area for work supports the assertion that the shoe prints found in the neighbor’s yard were probably waffle stompers and not tennis shoes. Did this indicate that EAR worked in a job where such high top hiking-type books were necessary?

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