Police responded to the emergency call at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at the house on Kesey Lane. There they found the side door to the garage had been pried open at the bolt by a sharp instrument, probably a knife. Wood chips from the door jam sprinkled the cement. The door to the house inside the garage was still locked and untouched. Walking around to the backyard, the police noticed herringbone tennis shoe impressions in the ground. Tracing the intruder, they saw that after he had left the garage he went around the backyard to the window of the guest bedroom. Evidently he had opted not to pry the wood door into the house in the garage and had then tried to enter the house via the guest bedroom window. The glass was broken by the lock. The window was slid open, but a wood dowel had prevented the window from opening more than a few inches. Following the footsteps the police went to the patio sliding glass door. The window next to the glass slider had a small break in it and, apparently, the intruder had slid his arm in and unlocked the glass slider, slid it open and quietly entered.

     While surrounded by police, the victim sat in a chair and recounted her terrifying ordeal for the officer generated report.

     Victim spoke of how she and her husband were awakened by a flashlight beam in their eyes. Victim awoke first and saw a man standing at the foot of the bed. He was wearing a ski mask, dark blue windbreaker. Victim screamed.

     “Shut up or I’ll kill you!” he snarled through clenched teeth.

       Her husband jolted awake and looked over. The dark figure shined the bright light in his eyes. “Don’t look at me,” he then growled.

     Husband threw covers off,  and swung his legs out. Before his feet could touch the carpet, the assailant was by his side and hit him twice on the shin with the barrel of a pistol. “Don't move, motherfucker,” he threatened. “You try that again, motherfucker, I’ll shoot you. All I want is food and money and I’ll leave in my van.”

     Husband laid flat.

     Assailant kept the gun on the husband. Victim now noticed that shoelaces dangled from assailant’s hand, the hand that held the flashlight. He tossed them to her. “Tie his hands,” he ordered. “Behind his back. Tight.” He looked down to the husband. “On your stomach, motherfucker.”

     Husband rolled over. Victim tied her husband’s wrists.

     After this, assailant growled at her: “On your stomach.” He tied her wrists painfully tight. He then tied her ankles loosely. He went around the bed and retied the husband’s wrists to the point circulation stopped. The police investigators could appreciate the victims’ agony as their hands were still purple as they sat there.

     To continue. . . .

     Assailant then tied husband’s ankles tightly.

     When finished the assailant whispered threateningly at them: “Don’t move. Shut up and don’t move or I’ll fuckin’ shoot you both.”

     Assailant then left and they heard him ransacking through the house. After a while he padded back into the bedroom. “I only want money and food because I’m hungry,” he deceived them through his clenched teeth.

     Victim told them that the food was in the refrigerator in the kitchen. The husband said: “Our money is in the hallway under linen closet. That’s all we have.”

     Once again the assailant left the room. They heard him rummage in the hallway. They thought he was taking the money. However, now he returned, but he said nothing. Instead they heard him tearing linen towels. He blindfolded them with one strip and then gagged them with another.

     None of this made sense in order to rob them. They didn’t know why he hadn’t left. Strangely, he started to remove the ligatures from victim’s ankles. She jolted. He then pulled her up. Husband felt the wife pulled off the bed. Though blindfolded, he looked over. “Don’t move, motherfucker,” the assailant growled in response.

       Victim was pushed into the hall and into the living room.

     “On your stomach,” he hissed.

       She heard him walk away from her. He rummaged in the kitchen at the cupboards. She heard plates and bowls being stacked. She then heard him pad past her back to the master bedroom.

     Here the assailant set them in one heavy heap on the husband’s back. The husband, of course, was clueless. The assailant rattled them a bit, conveying they were plates. “If these fall, I’ll hear them. I’ll kill you if I hear them fall,” he hissed with sinister intent.

     Victim heard assailant padding about her. She heard a lamp turned on and then the shade made strange sounds. From the evidence, at this time the assailant was putting a towel over the shade to filter and dim the light.

     Soon the victim could tell the assailant was standing over her. He was lubricating himself. “I’ve been watching you for a long time, [name],” he said through his clenched teeth. “I’ve been wanting to fuck you for a long time.” He straddled her and sat down on her numb, purple hands. She could tell that the offending organ in her hands was aroused. “Play with it!” he demanded.

     After a while of this awkward torture, he yanked her into a sitting position. Then he hit her on the side of her head and knocked her down. He pulled her back up. “You better not hurt it!” he growled through clenched teeth. He emphasized this by putting the point of a knife to her neck. He pushed the offending organ into her face. “You better make it feel nice or I’ll cut your throat.” He orally sodomized her.

     A minute or so later he pushed her to the floor. He lifted her nightgown. He removed her red underwear. He pressed a gun barrel against her head. “If you scream,” he hissed wickedly, “I’ll blow your brains out.”

     He raped her. 

     By victim’s estimation it was only for a few seconds. Then he left and she heard him, of all things, crying in the kitchen. Deep sobs. “You motherfucker. You motherfucker,” he repeated while he cried. “You motherfucker.”

     [There was more roaming of the house and ransacking.]

     It was quiet for some time now. Victim hoped he was gone. She struggled to her feet. Relief was limbering her as she thought the nightmare was over. She had barely gotten to her knees when she was pushed back down. “Lie still,” the snakelike whisper threatened, “or I’ll kill you.” 

     At that moment the dishes crashed onto the floor in the bedroom. Assailant leapt back down the hallway. Husband told the police how he heard him running to the bedroom down the hall. He was sure it was over for him.

     “Just try that again, motherfucker,” snarled the assailant through his clenched teeth. “I’ll shoot your wife first, then you.” He piled the dishes back on.

     Victim began to shake as she heard assailant returning down the hall. She was sure he was coming to torture her more.

     [Victim was raped again.]

     He went back into the kitchen and paced back and forth, sobbing.

     She heard him returning. But he padded past her. She heard him wander the house. The feeling was he was retracing his steps and checking to make sure he hadn’t left anything.

     Then it was silent.

     Time passed. Victim’s hands were in excruciating pain. She finally risked it again. She got up and staggered down the hall. They were able to get free.

     Finished with her account, the victim was taken to the hospital for her long and arduous rape examination.

Investigation

Investigation uncovered that the assailant had taken $70,  a six pack of Coors beer, the husband’s gold nugget wedding ring, and a General Electric digital clock. The house was ransacked. Dishes covered the side of the bed. Strips of towel littered the floor, lint was peppered about where he had torn the strips. Lubricant bottle was found. The shoelaces, the red panties. All the tokens of a house violated. Suspect had also eaten a box of Nabisco crackers, the empty box was on the counter.

Description

Victims could not identify their attacker to any extent.

Geography

   Kesey Lane is located just a little north from the location of Attack 41, just up North Capitol Avenue. 

Analysis

There was some question about whether the East Area Rapist was responsible for the earlier Havenwood attack. However, this attack removed any doubt. The actions and dialogue of the perpetrator confirmed it. Within each community along the 680 corridor EAR had grouped his attacks and remained close to the highway. The same rings true here. Havenwood was close by down North Capitol Avenue.

     The fact that both victims in San Jose were Asian is very significant. EAR had limited himself to the northeastern area of San Jose, which is northeast of Japantown, but this does not wholly account for it. There were many areas in these new developments offering parks, two canals and even a CAT corridor, but rather he limited himself to communities quickly accessible off North Capitol. A highway onramp was close to each.

     The only answer appears to be that EAR was far from his base of operations in the Contra Costa Corridor. He didn’t remain in the houses in San Jose for as long as he did in some other victims’ homes. He seems to have selected the most desirable victims he could find first after a briefer than usual period of stalking.

     EAR was probably led to this second community by noticing it from the onramp at North Capitol. After his usual casual stalking period, he would have left this area to go north again, back to Contra Costa County along 680. The easiest way to get back on the highway is the North Capitol onramp. The uncultivated park made for an unobstructed vista to his right. Beyond that it was easy to see the new housing development. He saw before him two communities separated by an open field, and this was conducive to his typical prowling MO. He could return, park off Agua Vista, jog about and cross the field (not yet a park) onto Bethany and jog about. He could return in the early morning and stealthily scout the yards.

     While this was his MO, he clearly had not done much house specific prowling here. He was unaware the family locked the inner door to the house from the garage. He was also unaware of dowels protecting the windows. Yet he remained ever-undeterred. This was pretty gusty. He must have known enough to believe there was no gun in the house, or he was sure he could handle it. Like with some previous victims, nothing stopped him here. 

     In regards to his prowling MO, EAR no doubt had indeed parked on Agua Vista at one point, but on the night of the attack his habit was to come in close. The problem here is that Kesey is in a rather tight community. The only ways out go to the same two roads, and neither of them connect to the highway. Agua Vista is a quick way out to North Capitol and the northbound onramp to 680. Yet due to the fact that EAR stole an entire six pack of beer and digital radio, it seems unlikely he had parked on Agua Vista this night. It wouldn’t be wise to walk around the street to Bethany, then cross the open field carrying stuff. He also didn’t jump fences with them in hand. He must have left the side gate and walked to his car, parked close by.

     With hindsight there is little reason to take the sobbing seriously. EAR did not regret his actions. He continued to calculate many more attacks, and when it would finally come to murder he would be even more careful. Rather the newspapers had been saying he was a paranoid schizophrenic, and this may have been his way of dovetailing upon those theories. He certainly wanted the victim to hear him and thus repeat it to the police. Sobbing, like the other things he said, should simply be chalked up to red herrings. He needed these, just like he needed to disguise his voice, to protect his true identity.   

     Another reason might be ventured here for the sobbing. It, in fact, identified the perp as him. And this perhaps was his intent now.

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