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This page distills the clues that set the criterion for the type of person who, from my investigation, warrants further interest in the case of The Night Predator, more commonly known as the East Area Rapist and/or Original Night Stalker.
No investigation or analysis can have any other desired outcome but the exposure of the villain involved. This is a daunting task in the case of The Night Predator. Despite how prolific the crime spree (over 65 victims and 10 years) the face of the serial predator known as EAR/ONS was never seen in perpetration. Only once was a cutout seen, features distorted by the balaclava ski mask being pulled back under his chin, and he was seen from a difficult angle by the victim. The features were recalled only with the help of hypnosis.
Right, EAR/ONS as seen from an upward angle by Victim 15. A phantom given form only in outline. Another victim, this one seeing him through a distorting nylon stocking, would contradict this sketch— the nose was Roman and the neck short.
Police sketches exist of a young man seen in the respective neighborhoods some days before-the-fact. These or this young man was unknown to the residents and hence after an attack regarded as a naturally suspicious character. These sketches were never released at the time for public consumption due to the lack of certainty they represented the perpetrator. Only within the 21st century were they released, as the files were being made public. These varied sketches have come to inspire or deceive investigators. Investigators have sought their combined image in a real person— this combined image being of a young man with blondish hair. They have sought this image through photographs in old yearbooks, mug shots, madhouse inmate photos.
Yet EAR/ONS existed only at night. Victims only saw an outline at best. His head was covered in a ski mask, his body in a variety of dark clothes and jackets, his figure often hard to identify. Some tried to gauge his weight and height. This tops at 5 foot 6 inches or a little better. In perpetration his eyes were described most frequently as hazel, glimpses of his hair as dark brown.  He was completely clad. Gloved hands never left a print. This is it. It is an image of the night. Today he exists only as a string of DNA and in the old photos of the imprint of a size 9 tennis shoe. His DNA is a genetic fingerprint that has never been matched.
Investigation of persons of interest both then and now, often both by official investigators and amateur or private detectives, have relied on the results of daytime canvassing, not on the nighttime phantom. On the face of it it would seem the nighttime phantom committed the perfect crimes, repeatedly and ad nauseum for years. No one can follow a nighttime phantom. There would seem no clue that emerges from the dark to follow.
There is actually one, and only one, clue that he left at night that merges with the dawn. Bloodhounds traced his scent from the scene of the crime to tire tracks or to a location where an older car or jalopy had been parked in the previous days or weeks. Each scent traced, each canvas executed confirmed a different, older car had been used. The circumstances in some cases make it irrefutable that this was EAR’s car. As a result, it is unavoidable to deduce that EAR had access to a variety of used and sometimes quite decrepit old cars. This can be added to less reliable but still intriguing reports from victims who heard a car start up after the attack. The engine sounds ranged from a large model car, to a VW, to a van. Add now the daytime canvassing report: neighborhood canvassing revealed the repeated visit to the neighborhood before-the-fact of an old jalopy or used car. Sometimes plates were remembered. Those that could be traced went nowhere or to a different car, one that had been wrecked and taken to a wrecking yard.
The clues indicating auto-wrecking as EAR/ONS’s profession are therefore not limited to daytime canvassing and therewith are not likely to be false clues, leads or coincidences. The clues indicating EAR/ONS was working within the car dealing/auto-wrecking business are more consistent than the various ages, height, and hair color, preserved by daytime canvassing. The combined evidence tells us that EAR had access to wrecked cars over northern California and to the wrecking yards where he could switch out plates in order to consistently and adroitly hide the identity of the car he used to prowl neighborhoods.
The success of such a prolific villain over a period of 10 years should instill in us that he was very careful to cover his tracks. Combined with all the various old cars associated with him, the only way to achieve not being traced is to have the ability to switch plates, then sell or dismember the car in question at the wrecking yard. It is a completely disposable modus operandi for prowling. The specific clues in the case of EAR/ONS indicate just such an ability.
As a result, for my own investigation, I follow no physical appearance other than those obtained at night and by victims— actual eyewitnesses to EAR in action. These stats are: short, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, short neck— a sinister effigy with size 9 shoes. The only trustworthy clue is used car dealing and auto-wrecking.
I canvass through history and ghost town wrecking yards in search of the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker. Over 40 years is a lot of time. Three Persons of Interest have been submitted to the official task force. One has been eliminated. Two are going through the systems. If more are needed, they will be submitted.
One thing I have learned with time— you do not fail if you do not quit.
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