‘I Was Ready to Fight’ : Rape Suspect Caught After Victim Bites Off His Fingertip

A 30-year-old man suspected of raping at least 15 women during the last year in the Burbank and North Hollywood areas 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 area hospitals after the North Hollywood woman who was attacked Thursday told them she had injured her assailant because they suspected he might seek medical help, Barthelmess said.

Wilson, a machinist, was arrested on suspicion of assault with intent to commit rape and was taken to 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.

Thursday’s assault fit the pattern of the earlier crimes: The victims were single women who live alone in 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.

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, agreed to pose for photographs but asked that her name not be used.

Victim Was ‘Angry’

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

“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.”

She said one of the man’s fingers slipped into her mouth, and she instinctively bit down on it. She said the man ripped his bleeding hand from her mouth and ran out of the room.