As violence grows, fear spreads across Northern California (Part 4/6) | Forensic Files

[Music] this series deals with horrific sexual assault offenses and there's a lot of
them we feel it's a very important story to cover but it won't be suitable for all listeners so please use your
discretion if you decide to keep listening we will be releasing a map with each episode to help as you go
along or for you to refer to afterwards you'll find a link to the map in the show notes on our website all you should
be able to access the link from the show notes in your app part three began with
an emergency press conference in mid 1977 a composite sketch as well as a physical and psychological profile of
the East Area rapist was released the public were warned to be vigilant police received thousands of tips and there
were countless sightings of the rapist unfortunately these sightings weren't always reported at the time many persons
of interest made the suspect list some even look like prime suspects due to many similarities but these turned out
to be nothing more than strange coincidences and most were eliminated from the investigation the east area
rapist enjoyed communicating with police the press and survivors in August 77 the
Sacramento County Sheriff's Office received a letter known as the afraid letter from someone claiming to know the
east area rapist was the letter writer requested to be contacted through the press if the police wanted further
information the police did what the letter writer asked but they never heard from the person again the rapist started
calling survivors ranging from hang-up calls to obscene calls and threats to kill a local TV station received a poem
called excitement's crave claiming to be from the east area rapist after a dentist went public and added more to
the reward offer for the east area rapist Capshaw he attacked the survivor who lived close to the dentist's office
in South Sacramento the further south he had attacked up to that point police had another close call when they
set up a covert operation in a Rancho Cordova 7-eleven store this backfired when the suspicious mail they were
waiting for called the store and asked to speak to the officers Brian and Katie Maggiore was shot dead in Rancho Cordova
in February 1978 with the exception of one further attack in South Sacramento after the shooting the attacks moved
outwards to Stockton Modesto and Davis Sacramento was not hit again [Music] in Sacramento the fear was immense after
the shooting murders of brian and de katie Maggiore people wondered if the east area rapist had now escalated to
murder although the murder wasn't officially linked with the attacks moving out of sacramento after the
shooting police considered that the east area rapist may have moved because it was now on murder suspect surveillance
in the city was at an all time high helicopters were now in use the California Highway Patrol used their
patrol helicopters to scour the streets every night pilots would swoop if they got a call of possible East Area rapist
activity in an area when no calls came in they cruised the air over East and South Sacramento shining their
floodlights below hoping to catch him when the helicopters flew overhead homes below were filled with floodlights the
dull constant drone of the helicopters would become a sound that many would associate with the east area rapist for
years to come people remembered lying in their beds in total fear as soon as night fell many would leave all their
lights on radios and televisions would also be left on to make homes seem busy before going to bed people would check
all the locks on their doors and windows some many times over as people climbed into bed the fear of the long night
setting many tide wind chimes to curtain rods on the inside of their windows this
way if he broke into their house they may get a warning any gust of wind or noise outside sent people into a panic
rumors were circulating that the exterior rapist broke into homes prior to attacks and unloaded guns
so people rechecked to their guns under their beds or kilos every night to make sure that was still loaded
people slept in shifts so that someone in the house was awake at all times and ready to take action constant rumors
into the need for police to withhold many details of the attacks caused widespread confusion of the facts what
color were his eyes his hair did he walk with a strange gait or was he putting it
on did he really have a stutter the fact that the a stereo rapist seemed to be using different vehicles for
almost every crime added to the confusion of people for what to look out for was at the station wagon a Chevy a
Fiat a Mustang a Volkswagen a van a bike was at primed resprayed whatever it was
he seemed to have access to many different vehicles none of them showed up as stolen as far as it's known so
it's possible that he had unquestioned access to them maybe through a job another theory was that he broke into
car body shops and borrowed vehicles only to return them before anyone suspected whenever he was doing it
didn't seem suspicious to anyone else anyone who would report him anyway none of the items stolen from the survivors
homes had been located the Asteria rapist likely kept them as mementos a way to relive each attack many of the
items were of more sentimental value to the survivors than financial meaning they could be easily identified if found
homemade coin earrings other costume jewelry cufflinks that were a family heirloom with the letter n engraved on
them and many more items that could be easily identified including photos of survivors the last five attacks we
covered in part three whether to in Modesto and three in Davis attacks 33 to 37 June 5th to July 6 1978 sergeant Jim
Evans Lieutenant ray route and to the rest of the Sacramento Sheriff's Task Force came to the conclusion that these
attacks were not just random attacks outside of Sacramento they felt this new cluster of attacks
running between Modesto and Davis were planned and targeted in the same way he targeted those in Sacramento they
strongly believed he was on the move and they had to work out where his next strike was going to be there was always
the chance he would continue to prowl and strike in Sacramento but after weighing it all up the task force
determined the most logical place for the east area rapist to strike next was Contra Costa County they believed he
could be headed south to Los Angeles and Contra Costa County was an ideal next target that was on the way the primarily
middle-class suburban area of Contra Costa County is located east of San Francisco the name is Spanish for
opposite coasts which refers to its location on the other side of the bay from San Francisco to the northeast of
Contra Costa County lies the border of Sacramento County but unlike its neighbors Contra Costa County had no
experience in serial rapists certainly not of this caliber sergeant Jim Evans and Lieutenant Ray route prepared to
hold a briefing with their counterparts in Contra Costa County and they were expecting some pushback the City of
Concord in Contra Costa County is just over an hour southwest of Sacramento and an hour directly west of Stockton in
1978 it had a population of around 100,000 people on the morning of August 14th 1978 chief criminalist Dewayne
Gillan held the weekly meeting with his crime lab at the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department in Martinez just
west of Concord also in the room that day was crime scene investigator detective Larry Crompton crompton had
just been selected for a transfer to the sheriff's crime lab after two years in narcotics and three years in Patrol
Dewayne Dillon addressed the crime lab quote Sacramento Sheriff's Office investigators will be there at Concord
PD tomorrow to talk about the rapist that has been terrorizing their County for the last two years they believe he's
heading our way and the sheriff wants us to be represented at the meeting we don't know
much at this time but apparently their investigators have not been able to come up
with anything of value and do they think we had better be ready Dwayne Dillon requested that Larry Compton attend the
briefing at Concord PD on behalf of contra Costa sheriff's crime lab the Sheriff's Department would also send
representatives from Patrol and detectives just like our Sacramento Sheriff's and Sacramento City Police are
two different departments so to work on cord PD and Contra Costa Sheriff's Department there were only about 15
minutes away from each other but two separate police departments entirely the Contra Costa Sheriff's Crime Lab where
Larry Compton worked was the largest lab in the county some other city police departments had their own lives but they
were small and couldn't run as many tests so most specimens were sent to the Contra Costa sheriff's lab if the east
area rapist did strike in Contra Costa County that was important Crompton and his lab was informed as they would
likely process the evidence the following day August 15th just after 8:00 a.m. in the morning sergeant Jim
Evans and Lieutenant Ray Route arrived at the Concord Police Department it became immediately clear to all officers
in attendance why they had chosen Concord to hold the briefing based on the city's geography and a lot of
intuition the Sacramento Sheriff's Task Force believed Concord was the place the
east area rapist would hit next with its vast canal system trails and open spaces
admitting to many of the areas previously hit by the rapist to the Sacramento detectives had seen the
logical place for him to strike representatives from all of the central Contra Costa County law enforcement
agencies were present at the briefing Concord PD Walnut Creek PD Pleasant Hill PD Martinez PD and the Sheriff's
Department some law enforcement agencies from other parts of the county like Antioch PD and a Pittsburgh PD were also
present but law enforcement agencies from other parts of the county not considered potential targets of the east
area rapist didn't attend Larry Compton spoke to us about the meeting quote I went to the meeting and
listen to what they were talking about and even though Sacramento was not that far from Contra Costa County we knew
nothing about the attacks they started telling us about the rapist and that they felt it was coming down into our
area at the time we all thought why would it be coming to our area they went over the things that were happening
during the rapes when we heard the things that this person was doing during those attacks we thought no way he's not
coming to us we don't have any serial rapists like that but what you have to understand is back then if the crimes
were not happening in your area and you were not getting the newspaper from other areas you didn't hear about any of
these things today it's a little different but then we knew nothing about it we were told that he was very violent
and that he had threatened to kill the big thing is that before we even knew about this there were almost 40 attacks
that's the difference between how things were then compared to today today you would know about it it made it very hard
they told us they thought he was coming to our area but they thought it was going to Los Angeles or Southern
California and in order to get there he had to come through our area that was very difficult for us to imagine why if
that was the case that he was going there why would he even stop in the area we left that meeting thinking that we
wouldn't hear any more about him lieutenant root told those in attendance of the meeting quote we think he's ready
to move and we believe he is coming here you'd better be prepared we think he might come to your area
you're going to need a task force all the agencies need to work together unless you cooperate completely with
each other you were going to lose I strongly suggest you form a multi-agency task force before he hits the
psychological profiles that we have each say that he will kill and that he will kill a cop if cornered we believe it and
we suggest that you believe it too [Music] lieutenant route offered all of the different
contra costs and law enforcement agencies the reports and evidence they had as well as an offer for any
assistance they needed day or night he finished with this quote we have invented the wheel but we can't seem to
fit the spokes when he hits and he will we would appreciate a call the Contra costs the law enforcement agencies heard
the details of his MO and to the signs to look out for but the sentiment in the room matched what Crompton was feeling
not in our county what color Kron sure but a serial rapist never Compton wasn't alone in thinking it was a joke to
imagine all agencies cooperating either not only that but cooperating on a task force for something that hadn't even
happened yet this is a quote from Larry Crompton's book sudden terror cooperation multi-agency task force get
real some cops cooperate even some agencies cooperate but most cops don't most agencies don't only when it's too
late and the damage is done there's any real sense of cooperation kick in and then only because the
outside pressure comes to bear egos politics budgets laziness incompetence human nature all play a part in the
phenomenon known as lack of cooperation another thing lieutenant route made clear to the Contra cost the law
enforcement agencies in that briefing was that the rapist often said and did things they believed were a deliberate
attempt to throw off the survivors in police pull holes is an investigator for the District Attorney's Office in Contra
Costa County he was previously chief of forensics at Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department he discussed this
point with us I will tell you that this offender did verbally stage Wyckoff verbal staging or
even behavioral staging you can stage a crime scene right you want to make a homicide look like a suicide so you you
place you know the person you just shot the gun in their hands and you kind of change things up to make it look like a
suicide that's called staging he was staging these scenes but he's staging it verbally as well as behaviorally he is
telling the victims bits of information because he knows they're going to be talking to law enforcement but he's
telling them bits of information to mislead law enforcement away from what he is and you know little examples such
as you know don't tell the pigs you saw my van outside or I need to take food and money out to my van says that
multiple times I guarantee he was never driving a van he's verbally staging that
he's this transient individual that is just scraping by in the first Modesto attack he steals $1,500 they had a
dry-cleaning business they had their business proceeds and in a bank where you were bag it's a little zippered bag
and he takes that well over $1,300 if that was cash two days later he's up and Davis attacking a 19 year old girl and
he when he first walks in I need food and money right no he doesn't he just got $1,300 cash that's $1,300 in 1978
this is showing he's following a script he's decided I need to have the victims think this is the type of person I am
behaviorally some of the victims would say he'd sit there and shiver like he's withdrawing from drugs or he'd be asking
for drugs and like one time he finds the victims codeine pills if she hears him run over to the sink and he's on the
faucet he's making all sorts of noise it's like he's taking a bunch of these pills this is Hall Park
his act and so when you start to see what he's trying to make the victims and thus law enforcement believe he's this
semi transient just dredge a society guy well he's obviously trying to make law enforcement think completely opposite of
what he really is in Sacramento task force detectives were continuing to receive tips and continued to review
possible suspects when detectives had a suspect that would pull up any information they could find if they had
a military record it would show the blood group of the person which made it easy to determine if they were type-a or
not what they didn't know was at the time military records were not always correct so there is a chance that some
suspects may have been eliminated based on an incorrect blood type on their military record Paul holes confirmed
that at the time they mostly used saliva samples to determine a suspects accreta
status that would help to either eliminate the suspect or keep them on the list he had this to say via email
about secretest status and blood type to eliminate suspects quote the suspects blood was obtained either via consent or
search warrant military records have also been used but we have concerns about the accuracy of the military's
determination of the soldiers blood type a small percentage of suspects had their
blood type determined but most suspects were eliminated based on secretor status
as it was easier to get a saliva sample than to get a phlebotomist out each time
a suspect was contacted the use of the secretest status was an unfortunate misstep in my opinion as there are a
subset of individuals who do not neatly fall into the secrete our non-secretor groupings and there is the potential of
someone with poor dental hygiene having bleeding gums throwing the secretest status determination off it is possible
that someone was falsely eliminated based on secreta status today we completely ignore the previous
determination of secretor status and go for DNA if we find a suspect that had previously been eliminated by it
there was no slowing down of the Sacramento Sheriff's task force extensive patrols surveillance and
inquiries were still being conducted the yeast area rapist lasts trucking Davis on July 6th 1978 he hadn't struck in
Sacramento since mid-april no attacks were happening but there was a reason the helicopters were still hovering
every night the east area rapist was still present in East Sacramento he just wasn't attacking he was prowling
he was doing the reconnaissance missions he had always done and first select the
group of residents he was leaving the early warning signs that he was coming for them Sarah and James moved to
Carmichael around this time that's not their real names they were building a home outside of Sacramento but needed to
rent in Carmichael until the build was finished they had just bought their first daughter into the world and they
rented a home on st. Lynn night Carmichael in the pocket just east of Arden arcade Sarah spoke to us about her
time in Carmichael the articles in the newspaper local TV news and conversations with friends kept the
crimes of the East Area rapists on the front burner helicopters flying at night with large spotlights focused on
sleeping neighborhoods filling backyards and darkened streets with blinding light
as they searched folks in the area had taken to painting their house numbers on their roofs big white numbers to help
law enforcement as they flew overhead during the night we were happy to know we would not be staying as it really was
a fearful situation in Carmichael with the rapist on the loose it was the end of September in 1978 and we had been up
working on the new house was dark point parked in our carport and we could see right away that the kitchen door to the
house was open we went in and looked around the screen was removed from my daughter's room and our dog was still in
the backyard and had been given a couple rib bones we called the police it seemed
like they filled the house with in minutes sitting on the couch we answered their questions and listen to
their cautions I was told to make note of things that may be missing as they explained that the rapist would break
into homes like a reconnaissance for his later crime the police finally left and
we were still sitting there sleeping child and two adults that would not close their eyes until the next night
when we started staying with a relative in Fair Oaks we never went back to that house and stayed with relatives until
our house was finished later in October the police sent us a postcard saying that they were not able to gather any
forensic evidence about our intruder regarding the missing items a snapshot of myself that was on our kitchen
bulletin board and a piece of my lingerie that went missing and was never recovered you know at the time it felt
to our community that it must be somebody we know somebody you see on a regular basis because obviously he did
not stand out in 1978 around 100,000 people lived in the City of Concord the largest city in
Contra Costa County Concord police had taken the warnings from the Sacramento Sheriff's Department seriously but it
had been over seven weeks since the briefing and to the chatter and the rumors had subsided officers went about
their jobs just like they had done before nothing changed the Concord PD just like the other
departments in Contra Costa County when you are confident NOAA right no serial rapist was coming their way
the interstate 680 is a north-south highway that links Concord to San Jose San Jose being an hour south of Concord
if the Sacramento task force was right and to the east area rapist was about to strike in Concord as he moved south
towards Los Angeles then towns and cities along the interstate 680 could also be in his sights some of the major
ones were Walnut Creek San Ramon Fremont and San Jose in 1977 the east area rapist took a break after attack 22 on
May 22nd he didn't strike again until September 6th a three and a half month gap now a year later in 1978
he had taken another break the last attack he committed attack 37 in Davis was on July 6th 1978 attack 38 occurred
three months later on October 7th 1978 around 11:30 p.m. a 26 year old woman was driving home with her husband after
an idea they lived in billion quart Concord which came off Manor Road as they pulled into Balian court they
noticed the vehicle parked on Manor Road they didn't recognize possibly a Volkswagen they weren't concerned by it
they just remembered seeing it what the couple didn't know was that three nights earlier a resident on
Manute Road was awoken by his 17-year old daughter at 1:30 in the morning she had seen a prowler standing in their
backyard in an instant the girl's father was standing at his bathroom window pointing a rifle at the Prowler who was
about 20 feet away the father yelled out what the [ __ ] are you doing here the Prowler replied he was looking for a
friend when the father yelled get out of my yard or I'll blow your [ __ ] head off the Prowler ran the father ran
through the house unlocked the front door and went after him but he was gone the girl and her father returned the bed
after that they didn't call the police after all it was Concord not Sacramento the east area rapist hadn't struck in
Concord yet after the couple arrived home to belying court on October 7th they put their sleeping baby to bed the
husband had noticed the door closed that he was sure he had left open when he checked the other doors he found the
front doors deadbolt unlocked he checked with his wife but she hadn't unlocked it
they must have forgotten to lock it when they went out he thought they hadn't the
east area rapist had been inside while they were out he had tried to pry the outside guards door lock with a knife
leaving mix around the doorknob but the deadbolt held he then tried numerous window screens before having success
with the living room window the glass was found with an 8 hole in it right near the lock just like other crime
scenes in Sacramento it's believed he did this by holding a screwdriver to the glass and lightly tapping it
he got inside unlocked the front door and left leaving it unlocked before returning to the back yard to replace
the living room screen to avoid suspicion this enabled him to lay in wait for the couple to return home
then enter the house again and complete silence the couple had been asleep for some time when the husband was awoken
with a flashlight in his eyes and something touching his foot I just want food and money I'll kill you
if you don't do what I say my main man wants gold and silver he was panting almost hyperventilating as he
said this the attack followed the same script as previous attacks the threats to kill the woman tying the man up only
for the east area rapist to retie him then tie the woman up the shoelaces the ransacking the plates on their backs it
was all the same he dragged the survivor out of the bedroom to the living room he
said he wanted her to find her purse but really he was just getting hairy out of
the bedroom to rape her he turned to the TV on put the volume down and threw a blanket over the screen
he cut the survivors nightgown off and threatened to cut her baby's ear off as she didn't give him what he wanted
she said he smelled musty before he raped her he called her by name and said I've been seeing you for a
long time after the rape he cried in the corner before leaving police arrived within 20 minutes but the rapist was
long gone the attending patrol officer had not been involved in any discussions about the east area rapist so the attack
was initially treated as an isolated burglary and rape the rapist had taken thousands of dollars worth of jewelry
and other items including kitchen utensils dishes and appliances it was anyone's guess why he stole these items
but if Sergeant Bevan sent a lieutenant route from the Sacramento task force were correct and to the east area rapist
was heading south towards Southern California maybe he was in need of household goods for his new place semen
and saliva samples were discovered at the crime scene it would take four days for the Sacramento task force to be
informed of this latest attack sergeant Jim Evans made his way to Concord as soon as he heard after looking at the
case he told Concord Police quote your rape was committed by the east area rapist
and he's going to hit again he's going to hit you soon and he's going to hit you in the same general area we think he
uses different cars and different disguises when he checks out neighborhoods and it appears that many
of those times are during the day as we've had neighbors tell us later that they had seen suspicious people and cars
in the area he shot a teenager who chased him so we know he's capable of murder if confronted the east area
rapist will have no qualms about shooting and killing a cop the survivors husband agreed to be
hypnotized and revealed the following the rapist wore gloves talked through clenched teeth and had a revolver with
four or five bullets in the cylinder he also remembered a white or awkward green box shape Deven parked near the
house the night before the attack the type of van with only two small windows at the back standing by the van was a
white male with dark hair he was wearing light blue pants and a white t-shirt a security officers badge was found in a
neighbor's backyard a state of California seal was in the middle of the star shaped badge the words special
officer were around the leading edge it was traced back to a manufacturing company called hook-far specialties in
Providence Rhode Island with the model number be - six one seven the badge appeared worn with scratch marks on it
consistent with being kept in a wallet the company provided a list of 3,000 salesmen who worked for twelve different
companies that had the task of selling that specific badge but no further leads came from this information
numerous neighbors came forward during the canvass with the usual stories of backyard prowlers hangout calls as well
as obscene calls they didn't stop after this attack either neighbors continued to get them numerous strange cars were
seen in the area and many neighbors found pry marks and drill holes on their own window screens the survivor
mentioned to police that in a lead-up to the attack a Mormon couple knocked on their door this sparked the interest of
police because Mormons weren't known to do their rounds in male and female pairs
at that time as well as the Sacramento Task Force Concord police contacted Stockton Police for assistance Stockton
Police were able to provide them with information about a vehicle of interest a survivor from one of the Stockton
attacks had since gone under hypnosis she described an early sixties model 10 or beige Toyota or Dotson seen in the
area at the time of her attack the car had the old-style California license plates and two
stickers one said milk drinkers make better lovers and the other said I'd rather be sailing
the license plate was remembered partially possibly being bi K BT K will be a key but no matches were found on
the system despite contacting Stockton and Sacramento Concord police hadn't thought
to inform the Contra cost the Sheriff's Department of the attack the sheriff's knew nothing about it
the Sacramento task force had been right they correctly predicted where the east
area rapist would strike next and they knew it was just the beginning attack 39 occurred only five days later
in Bryan caught Concord only two blocks from the previous attack the 29 year old
mother and her 30 year old boyfriend put their young daughter to bed they had only moved to Concord two months earlier
and we're getting used to their new neighborhood they hadn't seen the little scratches on nearly all of their window
screens outside these scratches didn't seem to be pry marks as the screens removed easily there were small markings
on the bottom left corner of the screen likely made by the east area rapist while prowling in the neighborhood the
same scratches appeared at the crime scene the week before in the first Concord attack and they would be later
found on many neighbors screens as well little marks which secretly indicated the east area rapist had set his sights
on the house the couple didn't know anyone in a new neighborhood well if they did they may have heard the local
talk of prank calls backyard prowlers sight gates being left open window screens being removed and windows being
pried open if they had heard that talk and didn't knew anything about the east area rapist
they likely wouldn't have gone to sleep with the bedroom in the living room windows open the house was silent as
they slept the couple of woke to the sound of their bedroom door hitting the wall as a burst open a flashlight shot
straight in their eyes don't move I'll blow your heads off the ski mask the angry whisper nothing
had changed the woman screamed if you scream again I'll kill you the east area rapist pointed a gun in the face of the
boyfriend I don't want to hurt you I just want food and money for my girlfriend and me roll over and put your
face in the pillow put your hands behind your back he told the woman to tie her boyfriend's
wrists with white shoelaces he had brought himself he told her to tie them really tight or he would kill her he did
his usual thing of untying and retying as he threatened to kill them both their young daughter heard the commotion and
walked into the room she screamed when she saw the east area rapist he walked the girl towards the bathroom telling
her to be quiet before shutting her in and propping a piece of furniture against the door so she couldn't get out
then the rummaging began the bedroom cupboards the kitchen the garage he returned and placed dishes on the
boyfriend's back and made more death threats he hid the boyfriend in the head with his gun he walked the survivor to
the living room he put his face close to hers and whispered if you want to live then this had better be good between the
rapes the survivor heard tales tearing and plastic bags rustling as he walked in and out of the garage several times
at one point she heard him say he put this in the car but she didn't hear a reply this confused the survivor as
there were no other footsteps or anything else to indicate there was another person present the house soon
fell silent they got free and opened to the bathroom door to get their daughter out before calling the police the
neighbor was woken up by the beeping sounder car makes when the door is opened into the key is still in the
ignition he heard it again five minutes later Concord Police responded they found two
strips of a blueprint towel each approximately two to three inches wide on the floor in the garage the
television had been unplugged into the cable was missing another strip from the tower was lying
on the survivors bed and debris on shoe with the laces missing was near the foot
of the bed several white and brown shoe laces were scattered around the room the
yeast area rapist had brought the white ones with him but taken the brown ones from the shoe in their house on the
floor near the front door they found two metal shavings which matched the scratches on the window screens the
California Highway Patrol sent a helicopter up and two spotlights with the area until dawn broke at 7:00 a.m.
that morning a woman in the same street found her side gate open and a bicycle missing it was recovered three days
later in bushes just around the corner it wasn't until Larry Compton received evidence in his lab from the second a
Concord attack that he even knew the east area rapist had struck in Contra Costa County another special meeting was
held at Concord Police Department with briefings from Concord Police Chief Jim chambers and Contra Costa sheriff Harry
Ramsey Concord Police Chief Jim chambers got himself into hot water at the meeting when he suggested that women
shouldn't wear short shorts or bathing suits in their front yards the Mount Diablo rape crisis center who were
helping the concord survivors of the east area rapist were quick to respond quote that is a sexist approach to the
problem that says women are inviting rapes Larry Compton spoke to us about this second meeting quote after the first two
in Concord there was another meeting with us and they said you better put a task force together but when he hit
Concord the first time we knew nothing about it they didn't tell us then the second time the only reason that we
found out was that they brought evidence over to the crime lab because of that we
started looking at it and then the Sacramento detectives came back down again to remind us that we better be
ready for him we had nothing to go on other than the way he did his attacks the things he said to the victims and
the way he handled the victims we knew it was the same person each time several tips were called into police after the
Concord attacks a Concord investigator received a call from a woman who thought her ex-boyfriend could be the a stereo
rapist she felt one of the composite sketches looked like him plus he had been acting strangely descriptions of
his recent behavior raised alarm bells however it was discovered that he was 6 foot 2 too tall to be the east area
rapist he was eliminated based on his height a second caller suggested that police look into one of their own a
California Highway Patrol officer who had been working in Sacramento during the attacks there had just been
transferred to the Martinez office near Concord right before the first Concord attack the anonymous caller said the
officer also owned ski masks the officer was questioned but it was discovered that he was on patrol and
made a DUI arrest the night of the first Concord attack plus he was a blood type
oh so he was eliminated they also received a call about a grocery manager who had work in Sacramento then stopped
him before recently making the move to Contra Costa County he fit the description of the East Area rapist and
he had been in the military for one month before being medically discharged but it was just another promising tip
that led to nothing when it was found that his blood type also didn't match the geography of both Concord attacks
was very familiar a canal system ended nearby walking trails the following is quoted
the website cuesta files.com he was thus following the deacon to retreat mo of striking deep in a community from the
point from which he accessed it then retreating a bit in striking a victim closer to his point of entry the nearly
identical method is followed here as with the to Modesto attacks this had become the east area rapists mo
everywhere stalking from a distance and becoming in close the two crime labs of Sacramento
County and Contra Costa County had quite a few good quality forensic evidence swabs from the crime scenes at the time
there was not much they could do with them but they were aware forensics was changing rapidly
they had done the right thing by preserving as much physical evidence as they possibly could with the early
version primitive style of rape kit they had at the time by the late 70s more women were coming forward to report
sexual assaults many jurisdictions still didn't actively investigate rapes by men
unknown to the survivor but that was changing forensics was about to shift to a place that made identifying offenders
possible rapes were receiving a lot of media attention especially with the countless serial rapists popping up and
with the recent arrest of Ted Bundy rape was being taken more seriously at the time many crime labs fell short when it
came to keeping the evidence preserved and free from contamination in that year 1978 martha goddard headed up a chicago
organization called the citizens committee for victim assistance with the goal to spread the word of the benefits
of a brand a new rape kit that had been created she was a survivor of rape herself she had approached police
stations all over the Chicago area visited hospitals prosecutors judges and politicians determined to find out what
was needed to best collect and preserve evidence but she needed funding to make the rape kit a reality she got it from
her friend Christie Hefner the daughter of Hugh Hefner the initial funding for the new rape kits came directly from
Hugh Hefner's Playboy Foundation according to the Chicago Tribune quote the kit was first utilized in September
1978 when 26 Cook County Hospital emergency rooms made it part of their standard practice for gathering trace
evidence when rape victims came through the doors from there the new rape kit became standardized across the country
there was a cardboard box which held items like swabs slides a small comb and a set of instructions Larry Crompton
knew he needed to find out a little more about the mind of the East Area rapist so he sought out the help of a
psychologist Larry Crompton told us quote I went up to the Vacaville Medical Center where
they hold certain prisoners Charles Manson was there at the time dr. Emily issue was known by the
prisoners was the psychologist who dealt with rapists at the facility Vacaville Medical Center is an adult
facility for prison inmate felons incarcerated within the California Department of Corrections who need
medical psychiatric care some of the worst are there I left a couple of reports with dr. Emily and she said to
come back in a week when I returned she said to me you had better catch him she told me her rapist patients told her
that he wants to kill and he will dr. Emily told me that he just needed justification and then he would begin
killing I asked her why he hadn't started and she said he had not got that justification yet but he would it was
already known that when things didn't go according to plan the east area rapist escalated the violence he didn't cope
when things were out of his control Crompton felt something would eventually happen to give him his justification
[Music] 20 minutes south of Concord down the interstate 680 past both Walnut Creek
and Danville lights the city of San Ramon prior to the mid-60s San Ramon had been a tiny village but
when the interstate 680 was built when developers saw the opportunity for a new city in 1970 Western Electric purchased
700 acres of land and over the next eight years a variety of housing stores and the light industry was built in 1978
a further five hundred and eighty five acres of land opened up which became Bishop Ranch Business Park there was a
lot of construction work going on that year into the city was growing further from 75 to 78 the population of San
Ramon grew 15% the community was mostly upper-middle class attack 40 occurred in
San Ramon on October 28th 1978 a married couple into their young son were preparing the movie out of their rental
home on Montclair place into a new home they just purchased they had already moved most of their belongings to their
new home it was their last night in the house on Montclair place at 4:30 a.m. in
the morning the couple woke caught me and standing directly over them shining a flashlight in their eyes he had
entered the home through the unlocked garage door the attack that followed mirrored previous attacks when he forced
the survivor out of the bedroom he told her he had seen her at the lake she didn't know what he was talking about so
she asked him what like to which he replied we spa we spent [ __ ] it was walking around the house wearing
no pants he went to the thermostat and turned it down to 63 degrees which is 17 degrees Celsius when she told him she
needed a glass of water he got one and threw it in her face the rape was brutal he commented on a ring the survivor was
wearing which he ended up stealing from her before he left through the back sliding door the description on the
police report red light Olek skin dark hair medium build large upper body a little extra weight on his stomach legs
white complexion not muscular especially dark hair moderately hairy close-set eyes small distinctive nose Romanesque
small not full lips possible mole on the left side of his chin he had a double chin and a short neck but not a neck
like a football player when he walked he kind of scuffled his feet he seemed very
confident and sure of himself he was unafraid five-ten to six-feet tall the east area rapist had cut the phone line
in the bedroom but they had another phone in the living area that he didn't cut with that phone the survivor dialed
9-1-1 the first time the emergency service has been mentioned in this case at the time some areas were serviced by
9-1-1 in someone the couple paid 28 cents extra per month for the 9-1-1 service but when the civil had dialed
the number she was greeted by a recording telling her that 9-1-1 didn't service her area she hung up and rang
the switchboard for the local police this time the San Ramon Police responded they were unaware of the East Area
rapist they treated the scene as an isolated burglary and rape they found two straight marks on the
board fence when the rapist had entered the yard in several shoe prints with his
exact pattern casts were made and they showed a shoe size of nine and a half torn tails were found in strips and
white shoelaces were found to me the kitchen floor more shoelaces were found in the bedroom there was an empty Coors
beer carton on the kitchen counter the carton didn't belong to the household cupboards and drawers were open
everywhere but the house was nearly empty due to the move so there wasn't much to see in them several finger
prints were collected from the scene and San Ramon police began comparing them to
those of friends and family no match was found it was hard to deny the east area
rapist had chosen this location for a reason the interstate 680 was just two blocks to the west
Montclair place was a quiet court which backed onto an open strip of land for the power pylon corridor across this
strip the cross Valley Trail ran along the edge towards a middle school a resident who lived between the powerplay
long corridor into the middle school saw a man jump his fence after the attack leading police to believe the exterior
rapist had parked his car in this area almost ten minutes walk away this theory was bolstered when they discovered the
cut phone line in the bedroom he always cut the phone line and when he needed extra time to get away he may not have
seen the other phone line in the living room four days after attack 40 a woman who
lived six blocks south of the attack watched out her window as a man entered her backyard quote I saw this fellow
jumping over our six-foot fence approximately five foot ten and a hundred and sixty pounds with hazel eyes
and sandy hair very muscular in the arms and shoulders after that he walked towards the patio
he didn't see me I went into the kitchen and my dog jumped up and hit the screen
door he almost went through it there was no response from this fellow he didn't flex a muscle didn't walk or step faster
I yelled what are you doing here he turned his head and in a phony date voice said just passing through was he
nervous no absolutely not he was very composed and unafraid of dogs in short a cool customer
when police attended they found one of her window screens had been pried open someone was supposed to attend and draw
up a composite sketch of the men but no one ever turned up it would take nine days for attack 40 to be officially
linked to the east area rapist the survivor underwent hypnosis she described a vehicle in her Street
leading up to the attack it was a Toyota Celica cream color with shawnee hubcaps and two
red stripes down the side but the license plate was registered to a 1973 Chevrolet Vega that was junked a year
earlier it was junk that Casteel Auto Parts in Windsor California junked cars were known to be kept in fairly secure
locations protected by guard dogs only two people were allowed to remove plates the owner being one of them a composite
was developed that the person driving the car seen by the survivor not only was the east area rapist using many
different types of vehicles he was changing the plates on the vehicles if this was in fact him around to this time
a suspect came to the attention of contra Costa detectives according to detective Compton a man who worked for a
major newspaper contacted a deputy and told him about a guy who delivered papers for them who previously lived in
Sacramento he was delivering papers in the Concord area at the time of both attacks there and he was also delivering
papers in the San Ramon area during the time of that attack on all three nights of the attacks the men had taken off
from work he was 5 foot 10 185 pounds when investigators looked into him they found he had been in the Marines and two
his highly athletic and light-footed he had been diagnosed with having a split personality and felt women were
subservient it was wanted on a felony wife baiting charge from Los Angeles they arrested him checked his blood and
found him to be blood type 8 another promising lead in a long list but again at amounted to nothing
he was later eliminated as a suspect in early November members of the Walnut Creek PD Concord PD and to the Contra
Costa County Sheriff's Department met with the California Highway Patrol to discuss using their helicopter in the
event of another attack the California Highway Patrol agreed and the helicopter remained in the area for three days over
the weekend of November 9th 1978 they didn't have the means or funds to have the helicopter on standby permanently so
it was agreed that they would follow the pattern of the East Area rapist today and use it over a weekend it was made
available from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. for the three nights that weekend everyone held their breath and waited
for the east area rapist to strike but he didn't as November became December contra cost the law enforcement agencies
breathes a sigh of relief it had been over a month since the east area rapist had attacked in their County but
niggling in the back of their minds was the fact the Sacramento police had also seen breaks between attacks before was
this the calm before the storm detective Larry Compton made arrangements to go to
Berkeley 30 minutes southwest of Concord as they were dealing with a serial rapist of their own who had been labeled
stinky Compton was interested to learn how they were doing things down there Berkeley had a task force set up in
search of stinky who is known for his foul breath body odor and a gasoline smell he had raped over 47
women and although he hadn't been arrested they believed they knew who he was they just didn't have enough
evidence to charge him at the time while Compton was in Berkeley an investigator
mentioned two rapes to him that had just been committed in San Jose California Larry Crompton's ears pricked up when he
heard the details of the two rapes he knew immediately that the east area rapist had not taken a month off
he had just traveled 40 miles south from San Ramon where he had last hit into Santa Clara County if Santa Clara County
had heard about the east area rapist they didn't know to pick up the phone to alert Sacramento or Contra Costa
counties Larry Compton on why agencies were not working together quote in the 70s in the
early eighties when things were occurring he didn't really get two agencies involved
whichever agency was working that case they pretty much kept it to themselves back then agencies were not used to
working closely together departments then did not have the manpower to get involved across many things what would
happen is if someone like this was hitting in one area and then moved to another area it was usually a case of oh
they've gone we don't need to worry about it anymore but the point we got to with this case
was that we would be thinking no wait he heard people in my area so wherever he is he's still my concern I was
supposed to catch him that is hard to get out of your head Crompton also made it clear that in those days some
agencies didn't even investigate rape if the survivor didn't know who the rapist
was San Jose was one of those departments Crompton quoted they just put it off to the side so for this
reason I didn't know about the San Jose rapes until that conversation in Berkeley
a tax 41 and 42 occurred four weeks apart in San Jose the largest city in Santa Clara County and the spot where
the interstate 680 ends from which he can either continue south towards Los Angeles or Northwest toward San
Francisco in many ways the area mimicked the geography profile seen before both attacks occurred just off exit 5
providing an easy escape onto the interstate an elementary school large park in the numerous walkways were in
the vicinity of both attacks attacked 41 occurred on November 4th about 3:30 a.m.
a woman was home with her young son her ordeal mimicked to those of the survivors before where no man was
present the east area rapist kept her in the bedroom having no reason to drag her
from the bed he didn't approach her son the insults and threats were the same and when
Crompton finally read the police report in December he noticed that the rapist told her not for the survivors throat
and told her he was only after food and money he said he was hungry and just wanted to eat the survivor reported that
the rapist had a smaller than average penis but she wasn't able to describe what he looked like
attack 42 was on the same side of the interstate 680 and only 10 minutes by foot from attack 41 4 weeks earlier that
occurred at 4:30 a.m. on December 2nd 1978 this time the east area rapist attacked a young Japanese couple he came
prepared with his own pre-tied ligatures he tried prying a door into the garage but he couldn't get into the house so he
knocked a small hole in the glass of a bedroom window right near the lock like he had done many times before that's
clear this was the work of an experienced burglar breaking a fairly small neat hole in a pane of glass is no
easy feat it was also something that the exterior rapist would do prior to his attacks or no on his home
it was discreet enough to go unnoticed and allowed him to quickly and easily enter the house later but during this
attack when the rapist attempted to remove the rod from the window I only get in that got stuck he then
went to the sliding glass door leading into the living room he broke the glass near the lock reached him unlocked it
and entered he wasn't deterred by the several failed attempts he wanted to get in and he didn't stop until he succeeded
this time when the rapist wiped them with the flashlight the survivor screamed and her husband jumped out of
bed and lunged towards him the husband felt the full force of the barrel of the rapists gun hitting him twice on the
shin don't move [ __ ] you try that again [ __ ] and I'll shoot you all I want is food
and money and I'll leave in my van he stood in front of them holding shoelaces in his gloved hands he hit the husband
on the legs again with his gun and he ordered the survivor to tie him up after which he angrily retied him they told
the rapist there was food in the refrigerator and money in the hallway under a cupboard he left the room then
started rummaging he ripped towels in the kitchen and returned to blindfold both of them he dragged the survivor out
of the bedroom to the lounge kitchen area and then placed dishes on her husband's back they both felt he had a
really low voice but they found it difficult to determine if it was real or if he was putting it on in this attack
he showed a strange tenderness towards the survivor and was concerned as to whether or not she could breathe with
the gag in place this was not the first time Crompton had read these notes in an
East Area rapist attack he was constantly changing between death threats and kindness he then addressed
the survivor by name whispering I've been watching you for a long time after raping the survivor he continued to
threaten to blow her brains up he walked to the kitchen and started pacing up and
down then he started crying and sobbed you [ __ ] you [ __ ] everything fell silent and she thought
he had gone so the survivor made a run for her husband lie still or I'll kill you
she fell back down to the ground dishes fell to the floor in the bedroom and the
rapist ran down the hallway towards her husband just try that again [ __ ] and I'll shoot your wife first then you
this happened twice both times the husband got a gun to the side of his head and another threat the rapist went
back to the kitchen and continued crying before the house fell silent again this
time he was gone he had eaten a packet of biscuits and stolen the husband's gold nugget wedding ring the six-pack of
Coors beer and a digital clock radio zigzag tennis shoe footprints were found when Crompton read the police reports of
these to San Jose attacks there was no doubt in his mind the Asteria rapist was responsible both cases were marked
inactive by San Jose police almost straightaway due to the survivors not knowing their attackers but when Compton
discovered them they were added to the east area rapist investigation shortly after attack 42 in December 1978 an
early survivor of the a stereo rapist received a phone call would you be interested in speaking to me while I
masturbate the east area rapist was still terrorizing early survivors when word about the to San Jose attacks got back
to Concord Police Sacramento Sheriff's and Contra Costa Sheriff's it seemed to the whole of Northern California went
into high alert a full feature article with the title rapes aftermath raises issue of suburban safety was rung in the
Contra Costa Times a neighbor to the survivor of attack 40 in San Ramon was interviewed quote I figured you can get
hysterical or you can get locks I got locks I wasn't going to let the rape take over my life other neighbors
felt very differently one described to the rape is feeling like a death in the family the neighborhood was close-knit
and family orientated and before the attack she described it as one where you felt you didn't even
have to lock your doors another neighbor with teenage daughters admitted they never locked their doors
as she felt having her husband home was the best deterrent she had since changed her mourning over
the next seven months between December 9th 1978 and July 5th 1979 the east area rapist yo-yoed up and down the
interstate 680 he never returned to Concord and he never returned to San Jose he avoided those areas but stayed
on the same path never veering far from the exit of the interstate 680 it was just seven days after attack 42 in San
Jose that the east area rapist returned to Contra Costa County Compton had only found out about the San Jose attacks
days before when the call came in for attacked 43 the first attack in Danville in 1978 Danville had a population of
just over 25,000 people it had only seen structured housing development since 1947 and had experienced rapid growth
for its small area just after 5:00 a.m. on the morning of December 9th 1978 Danville police received a call a 32
year-old woman had been attacked in her home Danville police immediately alerted
Contra Costa Sheriff's Department and 20 deputies plus Larry Compton and his team
attended the same the survivor was preparing to move out of her home which had been for sale for two months she had
gone to bed around at midnight leaving her stereo on in the living room most of the items in the house were packed in
boxes which mimicked attack 40 in San Ramon the survivor was careful to lock her doors before going to bed he had
been broken into a couple of months earlier but that burglar had actually been caught detectives found her story
no different to those before she was awoken with a flashlight and tied up while hearing don't scream don't make
any noise I won't hurt you all I want is money and food for my bed put your hands
behind your back if you make a sound I'll kill you then the ransacking began followed by
the rape he called the survivor by name the survivors patio door had been pried in the cord to her phone in the bedroom
cut suggesting he had parked a little further from the house on this occasion they found strips of orange tile nodded
at both ends and white shoelaces cut and knotted the house wasn't ransacked to the degree of others but it still
clearly been gone through the survivors driver's license was missing from her purse possibly how he was able to call
her by name the survivor was also missing two rings an antique stick pin brooch into two pendants they found the
stereo unplugged and next to the court they found one of the missing rings two bloodhounds were dispatched and they
immediately picked up the yeast area rapist scent when the dogs entered the bathroom
they both behaved erratically in the same way that the bloodhound had in Sacramento this type of behavior
indicates they had picked up minut chemical changes suggesting that the person they were tracking had either a
serious disease or was a heavy drug user both dogs followed the trail half a mile
from the home in a side street by the railway track both dogs lost the scent at the same spot a criminologist saw
some pages lying on the ground at that spot they were all torn from the same spiral notebook and had holes punched
down the margin during the neighborhood canvass investigators found that residents had seen a suspicious vehicle
parked in the exact spot where the dogs lost the trail and the pages were found on the pages were two long pieces of
writing and one map these are known as the mad is the word essay the general custer essay into the punishment map
sometimes they are referred to together as the homework it's believed the east area rapist dropped them either from a
bag or from his car the mad is the word essay his hand written in fully joined copperplate handwriting it runs over two
pages with the first page a little messier than the second it appears to be a personal journal or
note written in anger about the writers 6th grade teacher if the HVAC area rapist was thought to
be is correct he would have been in the sixth grade in the 1960s a time when male teachers were relatively rare it
reads as follows mad is the word that reminds me of sixth grade I hated that year I wish I had know what was going to
be going on during my sixth grade year the last and worst years of elementary school mad is the word that in my head
about being a sixth grader my madness was one that was by disappointments that hurt me very much
disappointments from one teacher such as field trips that were planned and then canceled my 6th grade teacher gave me a
lot of disappointments which made me very mad and made me built a state of hate in my heart now I never let me down
that hard before and I never hated anyone as much as I did him disappointment wasn't the only reason
that made me mad in my sixth grade class another was getting in trouble at school
especially talking that's what really bugged me was writing sentences those awful sentence that my teacher made me
write hours and hours but sit and write 50 100 150 sentence day and night I write those dreadful paragraphs which
embarrassed me and more important had made me ashamed of myself what in turn deep down inside made me realize that
writing sentence wasn't fair it wasn't fair to make me suffer like that it just wasn't fair to make me sit and wait
until my bones ached until my hand felt ever horrid pain had ever had and as I wrote I got madder and madder until I
cried I cried because I was ashamed I cried because I was disgusted I cried because I was mad and I cried for myself
who kept us having to write those lame sentences my from sixth grade will scar my memory for life and all will be
ashamed for my sixth grade year forever the General Custer essay clearly torn from the same notebook and written in
the same handwriting appears to be an essay written on the general possibly for a school project this type of essay
is consistent with those written in middle school or early high school on the other page was a map it is referred
to as the punishment map because the word punishment appears to be scrawled on the back upon first looking at the
map it's clear it's a sketch of a neighborhood detailed with curved roads houses park lands a lake and
watercourses it includes symbols and some parts have been rubbed out this is not a quick
drawing it's very detailed here is contra Costa District Attorney investigator Paul holes describing his
investigation into these pages it will be handy to access the show notes and click on the links to look at these
items as we go over them the mad is the word essay you know you start reading it and you start to see
well this is this is a kid that has some some psychological issues and you know he's very very upset about what his
sixth grade teacher did and having to write sentences and he just kind of devolves emotionally as he writes this
essay this is somewhat psychologically consistent with who our vendor might be and then this diagram I didn't know what
I was looking at with the diagram but on the back of the diagram there was some writings and there is one word that had
been scrawled on the back of it and I'm looking at it I'm trying to figure out what it says and I just happen to have
one of my clerks come in I say hey what does this word say if she immediately goes all that says punishment I was like
huh and then pretty soon you start to recognize why he's writing girls names down like Melanie or Jan or Jerry then
come from maybe spellin E or Snelling or something like that and you start to start to see
this guy's thinking this looks like he's fixating on girls he's starting to plan
I'm going to come from here these daring rapists that's what he was doing in terms of his victims as he was punishing
his victims I mean he's an anger retaliatory offender and he's punishing him so psychologically that was making a
lot of sense and it added up between the murders of the mad is the word so I call
on the TV this thinking that he's doing and he's doodling on the back of the paper on the back of the diagram but it
really wasn't until I started looking at that diagram that things started to add
up even more because initially what I did is I decided well this diagram must be somehow associated with construction
thinking the guy that could have been a carpenter or something along those lines
I ended up reaching out to the a victim in Stockton because in the the case file
it said that her husband had reported she would frequently go out construction sites and so I thought well
maybe she's out there on construction sites and the offender sees her and follows her home in a pack sir when I
finally got in touch with her and there's a whole story behind getting in touch with her but I finally get in
touch with her and I send her that diagram she ends up sending me back a written analysis of the diagram she
absolutely dissected it turns out she was a high-level person for a development company in Stockton and she
even looked at this diagram and started to point out how this is not something that an amateur would do these take a
look at the curvilinear fashion of the roads look at how he's interspersing single-family multi-family housing
taking advantage of water drainage and and she really got into some significant analysis of this diagram and pulled out
a lot more detail than I ever thought was there and then her boss I ended up putting the diagram in front of him and
there's two little symbols in the lower right hand corner which just looked like
stick houses and I just thought yeah I just thought there was some stupid little juvenile no type of attempt at
drawing a stick house and then he wrote back and he laughed at me and he goes no
those are two different side elevations of a gable roof two-story house with an attached garage
these were industry specific symbols and then you look at some other things I had
a civil engineer point out drainage markers that cross the road as well as some shading that was going on
indicating sloped features within the diagram saying this guy is taking into account drainage issues on this
particular parcel of land and pretty soon different things added up to where there is more sophistication in the
diagram than what it looked like to me at the beginning there industry-specific if their practitioner specific this is
not something that's necessarily taught in school something that you pick up by working on
the job sites or in that field and there's symbols the symbol that's furthest to the right in the lower right
hand corner he draws that symbol without picking the pencil off the paper there's another
symbol which would be a truck that's backed into the strip mall in the upper part of the diagram
he draws that symbol without picking the pencil off the paper he's showing that he's done this before and he start
looking at the shading and some of the flourishes that he puts in the shading the artistic aspect again it appears
that this is something that he's somewhat practiced that he's probably not drawing this diagram to the fullest
extent of the skills that he has because that's not the purpose of this diagram this diagram is merely a brainstorming
session he may have been doing for himself however I think there's some markings on the diagram that might
indicate he was collaborating with somebody you know for example the most obvious is the two different
handwriting's in the lake now could that be the same person yes but it also could
be one person writing and another person writing and then you start paying attention to some superfluous marks with
the pencil like under one of the commercial buildings you see the pencil being drawn over and over like a circle
and you're imagining why would he do that well that's somebody talking to somebody
else saying and right here you know so you start seeing this there's possibly an exchange of ideas
what's going on with between two people now what setting that is you know somebody online was like I can't believe
you know something out of a spiral notebook would have been used in a professional presentation well that's
not what this diagram was this is and when you talk to people it's like my contacts and stalked and I've got this
one woman who's just I mean she knows everybody she was in the market and marketing for subdivisions back in the
day she also worked for savings and loan companies that loan to developers money
and he would say hey this is how we did business back in the day is we would go to the bars
or we'd go to restaurants you know like people do today right and they're having
drinks and dinner and they're talking concepts you know a lot of business was conducted at each other's houses so you
can imagine you know let's say let's say our offender is at his house and he's got a business partner probably a friend
but they're you know in business together hey I've got this idea I've got this plot of land and he grabs an
old-school spiral off the shelf opens up to the next clean page and now they're talking about how to lay out a
subdivision and then they're done with that our offender happens to be somebody I believe was taking notes when he's out
prowling we have two cases in Sacramento where pens are dropped and recovered by
law enforcement at the crime scene why does he have ballpoint pens because he's taking notes so he probably has a pad of
paper that he's taking notes on which would mean that well the reason why he has possibly a spiral with them is
because he was using that for notes and he grabbed that spiral with that diagram
that he had done previous tour those three pieces of paper the two essays and the diagram folded him up probably
tucked it in the pocket of the spiral and then as he's escaping he always wore masks
yet gloves now he's approaching his vehicle he's taking those off and he would typically have a duffel bag or a
doctor's bag or something like that he opens that up and puts those items in as he's approaching his car and the paper
fall inadvertently falls out that's the theory that I think is going on there and that's kind of explains why he would
even have it in the first place so that's that's how I think that all that evidence has kind of manifested itself
immediately following a tech 43 in Danville newly appointed contra Costa Sheriff Richard Rainey set up his own
task force to handle the east area rapist Larry Compton was promoted to Sheriff sergeant the task force included
officers from Concord Walnut Creek in Pleasant Hill Police Department's the California Highway Patrol and the
Alameda County Sheriff's Office they continued to communicate and consult with the Jim Evans and the Sacramento
task force at the time Contra Costa County was dealing with at least 30 reports a day relating to the east area
rapist very competent quote airplanes equipped with powerful searchlights were sent aloft to search neighborhoods the
elusive rapist inked a favor the Sheriff's Office and affected police departments issued lock light and look
warnings to fearful residents seminars on rape prevention and self-defense for women sprung up throughout the county
the fear that he put into people he just emanated fear it was knowledge that he wanted to kill somebody and
these victims realized that that's why nobody fought him with news of the attack in Danville breaking police
became aware of three other incidents linked to the east area rapist within hours of the Danville attack three
houses for sale were visited by a suspicious male who matched the description of the east area rapist at
midday he visited an open house in San Ramon he introduced himself to the real estate agent as Greg Pippen and said he
worked for a San Jose property investment firm he said he was looking for a house for a friend he had no
business card and did not behave the way the agent expected a property investor to behave he pulled a ring de notebook
from his pocket and took notes as he checked window and door locks he left after making a low offer the real estate
agent was glad to see the back of him in this orange BMW three hours later the same man attended a different open house
in Dublin ten miles south of Danville he introduced himself in the exact same way
but this time said he was looking on behalf of his brother and sister-in-law who lived in Concord
he mentioned he worked for sunshine investments the age of watched as he went to the backyard where he checked
the lock on the side gate and looked over the fence again he made a low offer than to drove off in the same car
an orange BMW a couple of hours later at another house in Dublin the open house had finished and the agent was gone
but seeing as the sign was still up in the yard the man pulled up in his orange bound W and knocked on the door the
couple living there didn't let him in telling him the agent would be back the following day for another inspection he
left compton looked into these incidents he discovered that there was a property
investment company in San Jose called sunshine that company had just two salesmen and
both men were in their 50s no one what the name of great Pippin had ever worked there and the company had not done any
inspections on the San Ramon or Dublin properties Crompton contacted the state realty board to see if there was a great
Pippin licensed as a real estate agent for Pippins were located each with a different first-name although were
eliminated they are in luck when they located an orange BMW owned by someone with the last name Pippin but his blood
type didn't match so he was eliminated a couple of weeks later Compton received a
call from an officer in San Ramon a couple had come home to find a long piece of white nylon rope hidden under a
cushion on their sofa one of their wedding pictures had been taken out of an envelope and placed on top of the
other contents in the drawer the couple had a ritual they followed every time they got home they were well aware of
the East Area rapist and checked every lock and every window in their house multiple times a day the evening they
found the Rope Crompton and another officer arranged for the couple to stay elsewhere and they spent the night in
the house hoping the east area rapist would attack the Crompton left at 4:30 in the morning when nothing except
barking dogs was heard during the night this following attack has not been numbered as there are some doubts as to
whether it's an East Area rapist attack just over a week after the danville attack on Tuesday December 20th a woman
and her 12 year old twins were asleep in their Rancho Cordova home she was sure she locked the doors she awoke tore me
in sitting on top of her she screamed and he punched her in the face leaving her with a nasty cut lip and a black eye
his threats and actions match the Asteria rapist he beyond her wrists with rope cut from a tent in the garage he
ransacked her house and stole three thousand dollars worth of jewelry she said he ransacked the house for a long
time at least half an hour when he returned to the bedroom he stood staring at her back for a long time he then left
without raping her no one reported seeing the east area rapist for three months after that in March 1979 and then
they was sent to the Contra Costa task force recommending that the chief reduced the number of officers involved
crompton and the others weren't happy about it but the word came from the top and they didn't have a choice their
superiors believed the east area rapist had moved on he was no longer their problem so the task force was reduced
the three-month gap in attacks had convinced them that was over but they hadn't learned from the past the east
area rapist had taken breaks before there was only three days after the numbers in the task force were
officially reduced that the east area rapist struck again attack 44 occurred at 1:00 a.m. on April 5th 1979 in
Fremont Alameda County south of Contra Costa County for attack 45 the exterior rapist ended 35 miles north back to
Contra Costa County that occurred on June 2nd 1979 in Walnut Creek just south of Concord attack 46 was back in
Danville On June 11th just two blocks from attack 43 the first attack in Danville where the homework papers were
found the east area rapist crawled through the only unlocked window in the house
ataque 47 was back in Walnut Creek on June 25th just a few blocks from the previous Walnut Creek attack the
survivor of this attack was just 13 years old her sister and parents were asleep in the house and had no idea what
had happened some of the survivors of these latest attacks had been broken into prior with nothing of value taken
and the many of their neighbors had been receiving hang-up phone calls attack 48
was the final attack in Contra Costa County it occurred on July 5th 1979 in Danville the previous two danville
attacks were within two blocks of each other but for this attack he moved the good ten blocks north over a fairly
major road this time the couple the east area rapist had his sights on actually had their sights on him being well aware
of the east area rapist this couple formed a plan for what they would do if they were attacked their
plan was that the husband would charge at the east area rapist then attack him while he's Y friend for help both of
them had played the scenario over in their heads but neither thought they would actually have to carry it out
early that morning July 5th a neighbor heard someone on their porch but didn't investigate just before 6:00 a.m. the
husband awoke to a rummaging sound in that room in the reflection of a mirror near their wardrobe the husband saw the
east area rapist pulling a mask over his face he threw himself out of bed and yelled at the top of his voice for his
wife to get out of the house the east area rapist dropped shoelaces to the floor which he had taken from the
husband's shoes this was about to be another situation where the rapist was not in complete control of the situation
the husband yelled at him who the [ __ ] do you think you are the rapist took two
steps backwards the husband blocked him from exiting and his wife ran out of the
bedroom towards the front door the husband was much bigger than the a stereo rapist he continued yelling get
the [ __ ] out of email he can leave his wife Rani I saw it and screamed for help
the couple's neighbors heard the screaming and immediately called the police the east area rapist didn't
launch at the husband he made no move for a weapon either he just stared directly at him through the jagged holes
of his mask the husband saw the rapists eyes with deep set and voice with large irises and strangely full lashes the
rapist never uttered a word then who never made a move he continued staring the husband made a run for it and the
east area rapist quickly escaped the location was full of police just minutes later tracker dogs immediately followed
the rapist scent which was only minutes old but the trail disappeared and officers realized they'd missed him
again Crompton thought back to what dr. Emily had told him you had better catch him he
wants to kill and he will he just needs justification he hadn't gotten justification yet but he would to
be continued soon [Music] you

Case 53: The East Area Rapist 1978–1979 (Part 4)

[Part 4 of 6]

Part 3 began with an emergency press conference in mid-1977. A composite sketch, as well as a physical and psychological profile of the East Area Rapist, was released. The public were warned to be vigilant.

Download the map of the attacks here (https://casefilepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Case-53-The-East-Area-Rapist-1978-79-map-part-4a.jpg)

Download "The Homework" files here (https://casefilepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/The_Homework_2.pdf)

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Anna Priestland Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

SOCIAL LINKS

Website https://www.casefilepodcast.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/casefile Twitter https://twitter.com/case_file Instagram https://www.instagram.com/casefilepodcast Patreon https://www.patreon.com/casefile

RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://www.casefilepodcast.com/case-53-east-area-rapist-1978-1979-part-4

Brief Summary

The episode details the East Area Rapist's attacks and police efforts from 1977 to 1979, highlighting survivor experiences and community fear.

Key points

Community Fear Peaks. After the murders of two officers, fear escalated in Sacramento, leading to heightened police surveillance.
Law Enforcement Briefing. Law enforcement agencies gather to discuss the potential threat of the East Area Rapist.
Community Shocked by Intruder. A family's home invasion leaves the community on edge, suspecting the intruder is someone familiar.
The East Area Rapist Strikes Again. A couple's peaceful night is shattered when the East Area Rapist breaks into their home.
Police Chief's Controversial Comment. A police chief suggests women should dress more conservatively, sparking outrage.
Introduction of New Rape Kit. A new rape kit is introduced to improve evidence collection in sexual assault cases.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The fear of the long night setting in.

Describing the community's fear during the rapist's activity.

4:24WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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