Bite Severs Finger of Attcker, Leads to Rape Suspect

A 30-year-old man suspected of raping at least 15 women during the last year in the Burbank and North Hollywood area was arrested by Los Angeles police early Thursday, soon after an intended victim bit off part of his finger, officials said.

Terry Allen Wilson, a former North Hollywood resident who now lives in Lancaster, was taken into custody at 5:30 a.m. at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City, where he was being treated for his injury, Detective Gary Barthelmess said.

Police began calling hospitals after the North Hollywood woman who was attacked Thursday told them she had injured her assailant, leading them to suspect that he might seek medical help, Barthelmess said.

Wilson, a machinist, was arrested on suspicion of assault with intent to commit rape and was transported to the County-USC Medical Center, he said.

Suspect in 32 Crimes

Los Angeles and Burbank detectives said Wilson is a suspect in 32 crimes, including the series of similar assaults on women reported in Burbank, North Hollywood, Studio City and Toluca Lake since June, 1984.

At least 15 rapes and six attempted rapes have occurred in those communities during that period, police said. Wilson also is a suspect in 16 burglaries, some of which occurred during the assaults, they said.

The most recent assault, before Thursday’s incident, occurred on Monday, when a woman fought off a man who broke into her Burbank apartment, Burbank Police Lt. Duane Dow said.

Police said both assaults this week fit the pattern of the earlier crimes: The victims were single women who live alone on ground-floor apartments. The suspect entered the apartments through unlocked windows while his victims slept, and he used a towel or cloth to cover his face.

Broke In Through Window

In Thursday’s incident, Wilson allegedly broke into the apartment of a 34-year-old television producer at 4:15 a.m. Barthelmess said that, after the suspect removed the screen and climbed through a living room window, he crept into the small, cramped bedroom where the woman was sleeping.

The woman later described the events to reporters, but asked that her name not be used.

When she saw an unknown man standing over her wearing gloves and a covering over his head, she said, she became “angry, not scared.”

She said she thought, “How dare this man come into my room at 4 in the morning? I didn’t know it was 4 a.m. at the time, of course, but I wasn’t going to let him do anything.” She said she leaped to her feet and started screaming.

“I was ready to fight,” she said. “I’ve taken some self-defense, and I’ve got a yellow belt in karate, so I was getting ready. I guess he didn’t appreciate the screaming because he pushed me back down on the bed and put his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream.”

Finger Slipped Into Mouth

She said one of the man’s fingers slipped into her mouth, and she instinctively bit down on it. “All I could think of was biting his finger off,” the woman said. “That was where my focus of energy was going. He tried to break free, and I just hung on. We learned in self-defense to go for the most vulnerable part of the body, and that finger was his.”

She said the man managed to rip his hand from her mouth, “and a spray of blood just went over my bed and my walls. He then ran out of my room, but I chased him. I closed the door when he ran outside.”

Dried drops of blood were still visible Thursday afternoon along the pavement and driveway where the suspect apparently ran.

The woman called police, who arrived quickly. Officer Warren Jones then began calling hospital emergency rooms to see if anyone with a maimed finger had come in, Barthelmess said.

Severed Fingertip Not Found

He said police had not been able to locate the severed part of the middle finger of Wilson’s left hand. It was bitten off near the bottom of the fingernail.

The woman said she had never been attacked before but had taken self-defense classes “because it was a challenge. I was really afraid to do it. I’ve never hit a person in my life. But I wanted to be able to handle myself in that kind of situation.”

The woman said she had not been aware of the series of rapes in the area.

“People have been congratulating me all day, and at first I didn’t know what they were doing it for,” she said. “Now I know. I feel good now. I protected myself.”