SF Chronicle articles on serial rapists/Berkeley serial rapist
James Wooten
Doesn't sound like the cops are very close to catching the Berkeley serial
rapist based on the tone of this article. Sounds like they are just going
to wait for him to screw up during future attacks/attempts. Oh, and our
prolific perp has a moniker now; the "east bay rapist". The second article
is about the current level of tension surrounding the college communities
and includes a few self defense tips. Careful out there, ladies.
JW
Tips, Slipups Help Nab Rapists
Experts say luck has a lot to do with capturing attackers
This article was written by:
Kevin Fagan, Henry K. Lee, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
The ``Ski Mask'' rapist of San Jose was caught after the victim of an
earlier burglary remembered his mask. The ``Peninsula Rapist'' suspect
slipped up when he kept driving the same van during his alleged attacks.
Pittsburg's ``Creeper'' rapist stayed too long in his last victim's room.
A lucky tip, or a sloppy mistake by the rapist -- that's how most serial
sex attackers are caught. And that's probably what will bring down the East
Bay rapist or rapists responsible for 12 attacks since July 16, experts
said yesterday.
Hollywood movies might make criminal manhunts look easy, with everything
wrapped up in two hours by computers and supersleuths, but in real life,
serial rapes are maddeningly hard to solve. Fewer than half ever are, and
luck has a lot to do with it, said Robert Hazelwood, a former FBI special
agent who studies serial rapes.
The average serial rapist is highly intelligent, can come from any walk of
life and tends to blend seamlessly into his community, Hazelwood said. He
likes the publicity he gets, but is careful about keeping his mouth shut
and his trail covered.
Even the cases that are solved often go a long time before they are
cracked.
``Ski Mask'' rapist George Sanchez, now in state prison, went unapprehended
from 1984 to 1987 while he raped 26 women. Romel Reid, the accused
``Peninsula Rapist,'' allegedly attacked nine women over five months in
1995 and 1996. He is awaiting trial. Melvin Carter confessed to terrorizing
more than 100 women over nine years in the 1970s in the College Terrace
rapes in Palo Alto, Berkeley and other cities. He was paroled to public
outrage in 1994. And convicted Pittsburg ``Creeper'' Albert Britton raped
six women in a year before police got him as he fled the bedroom of a
15-year-old girl in 1991.
Berkeley's notorious ``Stinky'' rapist of the 1970s, so named because of
his bad smell, was never caught.
``These cases are extremely difficult to solve,'' Hazelwood said from his
office in Virginia, where he is part of the Academy Group of criminology
consultants. ``The rapist could be anybody: the owner of a business, a
member of a church or an ex-convict.''
San Jose police Sergeant Bob Nallett, who helped snap the string of
``Berryessa'' rapes along the Milpitas border in 1995, said, ``Basically,
what you need is a lucky break; either a great tip or a screwup by the bad
guy.''
So far, the East Bay rapist or rapists have given investigators no breaks.
In the dozen attacks reported from Hayward to Berkeley, the attacker has
usually worn a mask, robbed the victim, stripped her and then beaten and
sexually assaulted her. But other than the similarity of attack methods,
there isn't much for police to go on.
More than 200 tips have been phoned in to police this month, including
several calls yesterday from residents in the Oakland hills who found a
black ski mask. The mask -- the fourth one found in recent weeks in Oakland
and brought to police attention -- was on the ground near the corner of
Grass Valley and Golf Links roads. It had eye, nose and mouth holes cut by
hand, was wet and covered with debris.
``We really don't have any conclusions on what it is,'' Oakland police
Captain Pete Dunbar said. ``We don't know who put it there or why it was
there.''
Police were also questioning costume shop employees throughout the area to
see if anyone had recently bought monkey or elephant masks like those worn
in two of the attacks along Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and Oakland.
``That's a pretty slim lead, seems to me,'' said Nickie Chaney, a designer
at Stagecraft Studios in Berkeley, which lent police the ``Planet of the
Apes''-style monkey mask they displayed as a model of the one they are
seeking. ``The guy who wore such a mask could have gotten it from a garage
sale, a shop anywhere, or had it as a kid decades ago.''
Police released a sketch of a suspect based on one victim's account, but it
provided few details. The suspect in some of the attacks has been described
as African American, about 24 years old, 6- foot-2 and wearing a dark shirt
and dark pants.
``The best weapon you can have in these cases is some way of getting police
departments to communicate with each other and to link similarities of any
clues,'' said Brent Turvey, a Connecticut-based police consultant
specializing in serial rapes and murders. ``And the sooner the better,
especially in a case like this California rapist, because he seems to be
the angry type who may want to kill soon instead of just rape.''
Cooperation is indeed the main tactic for now in the East Bay hunt. A task
force was formed Thursday with investigators from police departments
throughout the county, those in Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, the University
of California and BART. Officers from the state Department of Justice have
also joined the effort, which was expanded from a sex crimes task force
already begun earlier this summer, before the rapes began.
``The number, the frequency, the unpredictability of these attacks have
really brought up the fear factor,'' said Dunbar, head of the task force.
``And we want to do everything we can as a county to bring this to an
end.''
Berkeley officials announced a $5,000 reward last night for information
leading to the conviction of the person responsible for the Wednesday
attack on Telegraph Avenue. ``We need to send a message that we're not
afraid,'' City Councilwoman Polly Armstrong said. ``No sleazy urban
predator is going to make us change our lifestyles.''
Attacks Prompt Women To Prepare Defense
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
The specter of one or more serial rapists on the loose in the East Bay is
prompting large numbers of women to buy pepper spray and enroll in
self-defense classes where ``groin strikes'' are part of the curriculum.
Retailers say an increasing number of people, including college students
and teenagers, are seeking to protect themselves as a result of the series
of sexual assaults that began July 16.
At Siegle's Hunting and Fishing in Oakland, canisters of pepper spray were
in such hot demand this week that the store ran out of them and had to
order more.
``I would say that 99 percent of them are buying it because of the
attacks,'' said Bob Clenner, a store manager. ``The demand is somewhere
around 10 to 20 units a day.''
Known chemically as oleoresin capsicum, pepper spray causes excruciating
pain for about five minutes, with targets suffering involuntary closing of
the eyes and shortness of breath.
``It's very effective,'' said Tony Cucchiara, president of Traders Sports
Inc. of San Leandro, where sales of the spray have increased 100 percent.
``If they use it correctly, they may take one or two of these people out of
circulation for a while.''
The canisters range in price from $10 to $20 and can be placed in a waist
pouch for easy access.
Cori Couture, director and instructor at Bay Area Model Mugging, cautioned
that the canisters also can be used against the victim. She said a safer
weapon against a rapist is a loud scream.
``Your voice is the best noisemaker you've got,'' Couture said.
The Model Mugging curriculum includes having women attack a male instructor
dressed in a 35-pound padded suit and playing the part of the assailant.
Participants learn how to strike the head and groin ``full force,'' stomp
on feet and elbow the assailant's chest.
``He's looking for someone to subdue quickly and easily,'' Couture said.
``The idea is if you knock him out, he won't be looking for a fight.''
Lori Dobeus, owner of the Women's Safety Project in San Francisco, said the
series of assaults has prompted many women who had put off enrolling in a
self-defense class to sign up without further delay.
The number of phone calls the project received has increased 100 percent as
a result of the East Bay attacks, Dobeus said. A 16-member self-defense
class that began Thursday in San Francisco includes six East Bay residents.
Usually there are one or two.
Beverly Drever of Oakland enrolled in the course a day before she heard
about the attacks. ``It's extremely frightening -- I don't want to be alone
ever, day or night,'' she said.
``Taking this self-defense class is making me more scared because I'm
thinking about it more,'' she said. ``I always suppressed it, like it would
never happen to me, but these are tools that are useful in life as well as
in emergency situations.''
The number of women requesting escorts at night has increased dramatically
at East Bay college campuses, including the University of California at
Berkeley, where uniformed students with flashlights and radios walk
students to their homes or cars after dark.
``They've had some nights that were much heavier than expected,'' said UC
Berkeley police Captain Bill Cooper, whose department offers self-training
classes and safety lectures.