Police Hold Rape Suspect They Say Fell in Love

A 26-year-old Van Nuys man has been arrested on suspicion of rape after he “fell in love” with a woman he had assaulted and made repeated calls to her telephone answering machine to apologize, Los Angeles police said.

Kenneth Carter, a house painter, was arrested Thursday night at a pay telephone in a Van Nuys restaurant while speaking to the 21-year-old woman who was assaulted Monday in her Van Nuys home, police said.

The woman, alerted to expect the call by an earlier answering-machine message, kept the man on the line for about 15 minutes as police traced the call, Detective George Salazar said. Police then arrested Carter at the restaurant near the woman’s home.

2 Other Rapes Investigated

“It was really hard to talk to him and keep him on the phone,” the woman, an aspiring actress, said Friday in a telephone interview. “He even asked me, ‘Are you taping the phone?’ I said, ‘No!’ ”

Carter also is a suspect in two other rapes of Van Nuys women in the past month, said Detective Thomas E. Cuillard. Police plan to present their case against Carter to the district attorney’s office Monday, Cuillard said.

Carter was taken to the Van Nuys Jail, where he was being held Friday in lieu of $22,000 bail.

According to Salazar, the woman awoke early Monday to find a masked man in her house. The man, carrying a knife, forced her to disrobe then fondled her, he said.

Victim Kept Talking

The victim said she kept the man from continuing the assault by carrying on a conversation with him. When he said, “I’m really sorry to have to do this,” she recalled, she kept talking. The man then could not complete the sex act and finally left, at which time she called police, the woman said.

The next day, the woman found a flower and a card in her mailbox. The card said, in part, “I need your help. Please forgive me,” she said, and was signed, “Love you,” with no name.

The next day, the woman began receiving messages on her answering machine from the man, Cuillard said.

The woman said the man “apologized to me and said he loved me and I was a beautiful person and if he would have known me before, he never would have tried to rape me. He kept saying how he was sorry and he needed me to help him. He said ‘I shouldn’t be allowed to live for what I’ve done to you.’ ”

‘I Need Help’

Salazar said the man “fell in love” with his victim. On Thursday, the detective said, the man left another message on the victim’s answering machine, saying, “I’ve got to talk to you for my own peace of mind. I need help and I need you to help me.”

According to Salazar, the man said he would call back at about 8 p.m., and promised he would not bother her again.

The woman then called police, who arranged to be present when the man called.

Although she said she was “very nervous,” the young woman kept the man on the telephone, pretending to be sympathetic while detectives closed in on him at Enrique’s Mexican Restaurant, 6743 Sepulveda Blvd., Cuillard said.

‘She Nearly Collapsed’

“She did a great job,” Salazar said. “Afterwards, she nearly collapsed. She was nearly in shock.”

The young woman said she felt a twinge of compassion after Carter’s arrest, but said “it passed quickly” when police told her he may have assaulted at least two other women.

Police said they believe they can connect Carter to assaults on a 32-year-old woman May 17 and on a 30-year-old woman May 26. Both were raped in apartments by a masked, knife-wielding man.

Similarities Found

Police said the victim of the May 17 rape quoted her attacker as saying: “I’m sick, I need help. I have a problem and nobody’s been able to help me.”

The masked rapist also apologized to the victim of the May 26 attack before and after he raped her, Cuillard said.

Police said there are other similarities in the three attacks, but refused to elaborate.

State parole officer Linda Wilhide said Carter was released from prison in early April after serving two years of a three-year sentence for burglary.