Intruder Look-Alike Spotted on Amtrak : Trail Lost in Delay in Notifying Police; Demand High for Guns, Locks and Dogs

Hours after the serial killer known as the Valley Intruder shot a Mission Viejo man in the head and raped his girlfriend, a man matching his description was spotted Sunday evening on a Los Angeles-bound Amtrak train as it approached the Santa Ana depot.

The 6-foot, curly-haired passenger, carrying two suitcases, wearing jeans, a cowboy hat and a “white cowboy-type shirt,” stepped off the train when it stopped in Santa Ana at about 6:30 p.m., witnesses said.

However, due to an apparent oversight, it was another 90 minutes before anyone advised the Santa Ana Police Department, by which time the possible suspect was long gone, railroad and police spokesmen acknowledged Monday.

It may never be known whether the man spotted on Amtrak train 583 from San Diego actually is the one described by authorities as in his 20s or 30s with unruly, curly hair and gapped, badly stained teeth and who has been linked to 14 slayings in California.

The Amtrak incident, under investigation Monday, is but one of 2,000 tips and numerous reported sightings passed on to a multi-agency police task force.

However, railroad authorities felt the sighting was important enough to forward it to police. And in the wake of Sunday’s attacks in Mission Viejo--the 34th and 35th linked to the serial killer--Orange County residents, like those in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and San Francisco before them, were buying guns and dead bolt locks to fortify their homes and protect themselves.

The man spotted Sunday may have boarded the Amtrak train at San Clemente or San Juan Capistrano--both only a short distance from Mission Viejo where Bill Carns, 29, was shot in the head while he slept at about 2 a.m. the same day.

(Carns remained in critical condition at Mission Community Hospital, Mission Viejo, late Monday. His girlfriend, also 29, was raped and later treated and released at Saddleback Community Hospital, Laguna Hills.)

About five minutes before the train arrived in Santa Ana, a female passenger preparing to disembark was standing near the door when “a gentleman fitting the description (of the killer) . . . stepped into the vestibule,” said Mike Martin, spokesman for Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. in Los Angeles.

The woman, a Mission Viejo resident whom officials declined to identify, sought out a Santa Fe brakeman, who walked to the vestibule to have a look for himself.

“Both were in agreement that this guy was the Valley Intruder,” Martin said.

“The brakeman proceeded to search for the conductor, but by then the train was at a stop at the Santa Ana depot, and before the brakeman could explain to the conductor what was going on, this person (suspect) is getting off,” Martin said.

Complicating the situation, “the woman got off, too,” Martin said.

About nine minutes later, “when they stopped at Anaheim, the conductor got off and talked to the Amtrak ticket agent on duty and told him what the situation was and instructed him to call the police and that the police should go to the Santa Ana platform area,” Martin said.

“They had to roll the train so the conductor got back on,” he said.

“Apparently whoever was talked to, did not call any authorities or did (call) and didn’t get through,” Martin said.

(Anaheim and Santa Ana police said Monday they were unaware of receiving such a call at that time on Sunday. The ticket clerk on duty Sunday could not be reached for comment Monday.)

Passed On to Sheriff

Martin and an Amtrak police spokesman said the Amtrak security officers in Los Angeles first learned of the sighting when the conductor told them about it--after the train arrived there at 7:35 p.m.

The information was forwarded to Santa Ana Police Sgt. Don Blankenship at 8:10 p.m., who said Monday that he passed it on to the Orange County sheriff’s investigators.

“It seems impossible to determine at this point whether he was the one or not,” Santa Fe’s Mike Martin said late Monday. “But maybe knowing that he travels by train is something significant.”

Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Robert. A. Edmonds said the Mission Viejo case had been “definitely linked” to the other attacks based on similarities in the method and the time of entry and physical evidence, but he declined to say what the evidence is.

Orange County sheriff’s investigators continued Wednesday to collect evidence inside the home, which was cordoned off with yellow police tape. Two deputies, standing guard outside the home to keep gawkers from trampling over potential evidence in the yard, said people had driven by the house much of the day.

Line at Gun Shop

At Mission Viejo convenience stores, gas stations and banks there was nervous conversation among strangers about the attack.

When Kai Fang opened for business at his Mission Viejo gun shop Monday morning, he found a line of customers waiting.

By 1 p.m. Fang, who owns Joe’s Sporting Goods, the only store that sells guns in Mission Viejo, had sold 10 handguns and two shotguns, making this one of his busiest days ever.

“Usually our customers are sporting types, but today they’re scared. They want home protection,” he said.

In addition to guns, residents of the peaceful, middle-class community--and people from communities around Orange County--were buying door locks, iron security gates and security systems Monday.

“Everybody and his brother that should have put them (dead bolt locks) on a long time ago wants them today,” said Claire Carr, co-owner of R. J. Carr Locksmith of Mission Viejo.

“Almost everyone has mentioned it (the attack),” Carr said. “I think we’re all quite terrified.”

Lt. Dick Olson, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said Monday that the department’s phones had been busy with calls from concerned residents.

“People are telling us they’re installing security devices on their homes,” he said. “We think it’s good, but it’s a shame that it takes an event like this to alert people.”

Christy Keener, secretary at South County Lock and Safe, San Juan Capistrano, said, “The phone’s been ringing off the hook this morning, which is just what my husband predicted last night after the news of the shooting in Mission Viejo. The people are calling here asking for a little bit of everything (in forms of security), but mostly they’re seeking dead bolts.” At Cliff’s Gunsmithing in Santa Ana, owner Cliff Lapiers said he had received 20 phone inquiries Monday.

There was “the same kind of panic” several years ago when a man called the Tustin rapist struck. “People might have home security in mind. But now they’re acting on it,” Lapiers said.

At the Iron Man, a South Laguna firm which installs ornamental bars and grates, owner Larry Moore said he could not meet the demand.

“People want window guards. And they want them today,” he said. Moore, a Mission Viejo resident, said he and his wife normally sleep with firearms and feel safe, but some of his employees were nervous. And he had heard of one Mission Viejo man who was sleeping in 110 heat “with all the doors and windows locked.”

Even the Orange County Humane Society was busy Monday. “Usually it’s our smaller dogs that have been going but now it’s our big dogs,” receptionist Linda Haven said. She said people have been calling and saying they’ll stop by after work to look at the society’s German shepherds, Dobermans and pit bulls.

Window Locks Sold Out

Hardware stores near Mission Viejo reported a run on locks, and one store, Builder’s Emporium in El Toro, had sold out of its window locks by mid-morning Monday.

Security firms were also busy. Mike Reagor, manager of Sea Coast Security Systems in Costa Mesa, reported “a good 60-70% increase in calls, one right after the other, mostly from San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Newport, Mission Viejo, Laguna.”

They were calling, Reagor said, because “with all the craziness and this weirdo running around,” they wanted added protection.

All day Monday a steady stream of traffic moved slowly past the yellow stucco house at 24411 Chrisanta Drive where the couple were attacked. Among those stopping to stare at the home were two Mission Viejo boys who rode their bicycles over for a look.

‘Locked the Whole House’

Both said they were still worried that “the Night Stalker” might strike in their neighborhood again. When he went to bed Sunday, Tony Taber, 13, said he had “locked the whole house,” turned on the backyard light and “put broomsticks in the doors,” but was still worried.

His friend Chris Van Horn, 15, had also been worried when he went to bed Sunday, even though his father slept on the couch. The dog barked a lot Sunday night, Chris said, and every time the dog barked, he was scared.

Contributing to the preparation of this story were Times staff writers Bill Billiter, Marcida Dodson, David Freed and Nancy Wride.