For 3 weeks prior to the date of the attack, victim (age 15) received hang-up phone calls. At 6:15 p.m., night of the attack, victim’s parents left for a Christmas party. Victim had a cold and decided to remain at home. Victim was playing the piano when a sharp crack coming from the yard caught her attention. No further sounds were heard and victim continued to play the piano. Moments later, she heard something, turned and looked over her left shoulder. There was a masked man with a knife to her throat. He had padded silently into the house through the garage.

   The typical language of the perpetrator followed. He told her he would kill her if she moved; and then he asked if she had any money. “You better not lie to me,” he warned through a clenched hiss.

   After she said no, he asked a significant question: “When are your parents coming back?” Before she could reply, he cautioned her: “You better tell me so I’ll know how much time I have.”

   She didn’t know, so he ordered her up with a curt “Get up!”  He put the knife to her neck and a typical line followed. “Get moving. If you say anything or flinch, I’ll push this knife all the way in and I will be gone in the dark of the night.”

   He pushed her through the garage and into the backyard. She saw him remove a cord from his pocket. He tied her hands behind her. She winced t the pain. He told her he was going to tie her to a post. “If you try and look at my face I’ll kill you.”

     He then gruffly pushed her onto the picnic table and tied her ankles. Then he tied her feet to one of the patio’s overhang post. He shoved cloth in her mouth and gagged her. He also blindfolded her by tying towel strips around her head.

     He warned her: “I’ll be watching you every ten seconds from the window.”

     Victim then heard assailant rummaging in the house, opening draws, cupboards, etc. Several times he muttered: “Oh, damn.”

     Then he silently returned. She was not aware he was there until he hissed through clenched teeth: “Have you ever fucked a guy?” She said no. He threatened that she better not be lying. He wanted to know if he ever felt a penis before. He wanted her to “play with it.” He then inserted his penis in her tied hands and moved it about. He stood her up, removed her pants and cut her bra with his knife. He then tore the blouse off her.

   After he finished with the preliminaries, he untied her, took her back to her parent’s bedroom and raped her. He brought her out to the family room, turned on the gas fireplace, and raped her again. He raped her twice in the family room and once in the master bedroom. He put the knife to her throat and demanded she say that she liked it.

Investigation

Sheriffs discovered something quite peculiar here. The fence between the neighbors had been pushed over. It held a clear shoe print of the assailant. He had pushed the old fence over with his right foot. The print showed he wore tennis shoes. This is only the second time he was known to wear tennis shoes. The pattern of the sole was zigzag.

     Curiously, victim’s clothes was found in the neighbor’s yard, including a white shoelace dangling from their tree.

     The living room furniture had been moved for some unknown reason.

     After the cracking sound had been heard by the victim, which seems to have been the fence going down under his foot, there was little time before he was in the house and by her side. However, investigation proved that he had tied up the victim with her sister’s shoe laces. Thus the sounds that caused the victim to stop playing were either him in the house preparing things in advance, or, more likely, he had entered the home before and took the shoelaces before coming back this night.

     Investigators noted that the victim was the first with hair above her shoulders. All previous victims had long hair. However, a portrait for the victim on the wall showed her with long hair. She had only recently had it cut. The picture, according to the parents, had been moved. They had no explanation for this.

     A Band-Aid was found on the picnic table. It contained a blotch of blood. It did not belong to victim. The blood was tested. It was Type A.

   Assailant had lubricated himself with some lotion prior to accosting victim. Victim could smell the lotion.

     Black and brown shoelaces were found on the family room floor, and a strip of tower in the bathroom.

     As in Case #9, victim’s neighbor also had a daughter similar in age. Both residences had been receiving hang-up calls for three weeks.

     He did not cut the phone line. Victim had gotten free after assailant left and dialed neighbors, who came over and cut her bonds.     

Perpetrator Description

Victim said assailant wore a dark red mask, and a dark jacket. He was regular build, about 6 foot. Assailant spoke with clenched teeth in an angry whisper. From the footprint left on the collapsed fence, assailant wore tennis shoes, size 9, zigzag pattern on sole. The penis of assailant was small. In fact, despite being raped three times, victim was still technically a virgin.

Geography

Several parks, schools, and the Schweitzer Grove checkerboard with housing subdivisions.

House

The house is a single story, middle-class home, with a garage entrance through a utility room by the family room.

Analysis

In stark contrast to the last 2 victims, nothing stopped EAR here. Apparently, this victim, as was the case with the last victim (No. 9) was not the original victim planned for this night. Yet when the other was not available EAR boldly stepped on the fence and brought it down and moved in to enter the house via the open garage side door.

     The hang-up phone calls, ongoing for weeks in advance, testify to what extent EAR called a number of residences in the immediate vicinity, no doubt to ascertain the movements of the neighbors as well but also to assess the availability of alternate potential victims. Stollwood Park is quite removed from the locations of his previous attacks. However, he was obviously sticking to his modus operandi to stalk a community for weeks in advance and select more than one victim, then to return and strike them at different times.

     As a result it is logical to deduce that EAR knew the victim and her family would be away this evening. When he heard the piano music, he realized someone was indeed home. Nevertheless, kicking the fence over was a dicey move to make. How did he know only the girl did not go but remained home? Piano music will not tell him this. Had he stalked this house first that night but preferred to hit next door instead? When that intended victim was not there he returned back to this home? If so, we know how carefully he surveyed the neighbors just before an attack. This victim or her sister was most certainly an alternate choice for another night. He most definitely had been in the house here prior, as noted by the shoelaces being those of the victim’s sister.

     When the neighbor’s girl was not at home this night, as expected, EAR basically was faced with his third failure. This may account for his angry determination not to be thwarted. He doesn’t bother to jump the fence. Instead he pushes it over and is quite aggressive in this rape.

     Pushing down of the fence with a single foot is unique, but it shows the unrelenting nature of the assailant. The print on the fence told investigators he wore tennis shoes, size 9.

     In cases 3 and 7 he did not stop even after being seen beforehand, and while dogs barked. On both occasions he was naked from the waist down. He was here, however, fully dressed but equally unrelenting.

   EAR knew the parents were gone. Thus he had been watching. Thus he had entered the house before and knew of the party or was already in the shadows and saw them go. The only surprise was that the girl, being sick, did not go with them and was home. That made her tonight’s ultimate target. His question “when will they return?” underscores this. In other rapes, he was aware the parents or males of the house were either on vacation for days or at work, and thus he had no need to ask when they’d return. Unlike work or vacation, the duration of an evening party is variable.

     The Band-Aid with Type A blood did not belong to victim, as she had another type blood.

     Curiously, this was his third relatively early evening attack. At Victim 8 it was 11 o’clock at night, but he must have been prowling much earlier. For the last victim (9) it was only 7: 30 p.m. Tonight it had been at only 6:30 p.m. He had not faired well in attacks prior to midnight. He had avoided these during the summer no doubt because it was still light. As as the new year dawned he would not revert back to the safer hours of early a.m. He would continue to strike late at night but now remain boldly unstoppable.

   The Year of the EAR and county wide panic was at hand.

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