It was about 4 a.m. June 18, 1976. Victim was awakened from sound sleep by methodical tapping. She noticed the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway to her bedroom. He was tapping with something against her door frame. Before she could clear her eyes, the light switched on. There stood a man tapping a large knife against the door frame. He was wearing a mask and gloves, dark T-shirt, but was naked from the waist down. He was aroused. He continued to tap while she, horrified, watched. The mask was dirty gray, with holes only for his eyes. The eyes stood out by contrast, as they prowled her. She drew the sheets over her face. He darted toward her, jumped on her, straddled her, ripped the sheets off her face and then placed the tip of the knife at her temple and drew blood.
He now spoke through clenched teeth in a sort of angry whisper.
“If you make a move or sound, I’ll stick this knife in you.” Pause. “I want to fuck you.”
He got off her and stood by the bed. He commandingly pointed the knife at her nightgown and growled: “Take it off!”
He paced the room while she undressed. Once done, he stood over her. It was her period. He notice a sanitary napkin in place. “Take it out.”
When this was accomplished, he commanded: “Roll over!”
He must have placed the knife down or inserted it in a sheath, for she felt both of his gloved hands pull her arms behind her back and cross them over. He then tied her wrists tightly with precut rope. He then rummaged about the room and came back and tied her wrists again with one of her own cloth belts.
He commanded: “Roll over!”
He then raped her. She opened her eyes only when he was finished. She saw him wipe off his penis with the bed sheet, drop it to the floor and then, standing there, he demanded: “Do you have money?” She tried to answer, but he snarled through his clenched teeth: “Shut up!” It was a sort of whispery snarl.
He searched about the room, found her hair dryer and returned. He stared at her for a moment. Despite wanting to close her eyes, she couldn’t. To her, it seemed as if he was intentionally trying to instill fear.
He then tied her ankles with the cord. Then he tied her bra around her ankles. Once again he wandered the room until he found what he wanted— her slip. He approached her again, staring at her. While he twisted the slip around in his hands, he breathed heavily through his clenched teeth, causing the tight hood around his mouth to blow out and suck in. He then tied it around her as a gag.
She continued to hear him wander and rummage through her bedroom.
He returned and pointed the tip of the knife near her right eye. “Don’t make a move while I am here or I will kill you.”
He left the bedroom and soon started rummaging through drawers in the kitchen. She heard him talking in a low whisper. She thought 2 people were actually whispering back and forth. This seemed confirmed when he spoke in a louder whisper, saying “I told you to shut up!”
After this it was quiet. There were no sounds for quite some time. Finally the victim struggled and loosed the bindings and dryer cord on her ankles so that she could get up and hobble down the hallway. She discovered the backdoor was open. She slammed it with her feet, but the dead bolt was, strangely, engaged and this prevented the door from closing. She went for the phone on the kitchen wall, knocked off the receiver from the cradle, but she could not reach the dial. She rushed down the hall to her father’s bedroom, knocked the receiver off the cradle, dialed from numb fingers, and then from the floor spoke into the receiver.
Perpetrator’s Description
The assailant wore a light colored dirty white or gray mask with as noticeable seam down the front. It had holes only for the eyes. It was tight fitting. He wore a black T-shirt. He was not a large man, about 5 foot 9 inches, lean. He weighed about 160 pounds. He might have had dark hair, as the hair on his legs was dark. His legs were muscular, but lean muscular. His penis was unusually small. The gloves were dark. He never took them off in her presence. She estimated he was about 20 to 25 years old. He spoke as though he had laryngitis: angry whisper through clenched teeth, barely moving his lips under the mask.
She estimated he remained in the house only 20 minutes.
Note: He touched her breasts only once and briefly, with his gloved hands while he raped her.
Investigators discovered several telltale clues. The house had been ransacked: papers and other items strewn about from the drawers. The victim’s purse was on the back patio, and its contents scattered about the lawn. Strangely, a block of wood and an ornamental birdbath had been moved and placed under the phone line that leads from the house to one of the telephone/power poles at the back fence. The assailant had stepped on it and attempted to cut the phone line. Cut marks were evident on the wire. He was unsuccessful. There was a fresh crack in the birdbath, which indicated it started to give way underneath him and he had stopped. From here he went to the back door, where he worked the wood of the door jam to pry the door open. Fresh wood chips were on the patio underneath the knob area of the door.
Inside in the hall bathroom 2 towels were found to be balled up and there was a Johnson’s Baby oil bottle on the counter. The assailant had been in the house long enough to find them (or brought the bottle) and lubricate himself before approaching the bedroom to stand in the doorway and intentionally wake his victim by rhythmic tapping of his knife on the frame.
Despite the ransacking of the house, nothing of value was taken.
The assailant brought 2 pieces of pre-cut rope with him for the bindings.
Subjective impressions of victim
Victim believed she had been stalked for sometime. Beginning in May a medium sized, older dark American car (make/model unknown) occasionally drove through the neighborhood. Every time the car drove past while she was outside, and when she would then look to it, the driver looked the other way. The car eventually stopped cruising the neighborhood. Two weeks after, hang up phone calls began. On each occasion, it was obvious someone was on the other end, but said nothing, and then hung up in a normal manner.
Other
Victim was a 23 year old white female adult. She was an insurance adjuster living with her father, a retired US Army Air Force Serviceman, having been stationed at nearby Mather Field. Father was away at the present time, back in Boston where the family came from, taking care of business after a family death. Father had been gone for about a month, and was due back in a couple of days.
Subjective Impressions of Investigators
Due to the bungled attempt to cut the phone line outside, yet no attempt to cut the phone wires inside or even rip the phones out of the jacks, there was little reason not to think this was a beginner. It was suspected this was a neighborhood kid.
Geography
The incident occurred in the general area of Malaga Way and Paseo Drive, Rancho Cordova. This development was about 20 years old, primarily small middle-class one story ranch-style homes. Malaga and Paseo are main residential roads in Rancho Cordova. Though not a long street, Paseo is significant for leading directly to nearby Folsom Blvd, a few blocks over. The boulevard is a main artery from Sacramento into the eastern suburbs of La Riviera and Cordova. For much of its distance here Folsom Blvd is paralleled by the railroad tracks. Folsom Blvd. is largely lined with businesses or is open space, some industrial. South of Folsom Blvd, Paseo Drive is named Mather Field Drive, and leads into Mather AFB.
Rancho Cordova is a decidedly blue collar/ middle-lower middle class suburban community on the east side of Sacramento. The main road linking RC to Sacramento is Folsom Blvd. The other arteries lead north/south over the American River, and they are Watt Ave. and Sunrise Blvd. Due to Mather Field nearby, there were many retired Air Force personnel.
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