New Night Stalker Sketch Adds Black Cap

Police officials issued a new composite sketch of the so-called Night Stalker on Tuesday that shows him wearing a black baseball cap, which detectives believe he has frequently worn while committing 14 murders and 21 assaults since February.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Cmdr. William Booth declined to say why the cap was included in the updated drawing, except to note that “at times, he’s been seen wearing a baseball cap. It’s not something he just started wearing.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Walls said the killer may have left a similar cap behind in the Rosemead condominium where he is believed to have killed his first victim, Dayle Okazaki, 34, on March 17.

Authorities said a navy blue cap found at the murder scene had a silver patch embroidered in red. The patch depicted a lightning bolt and the letters “AC-DC,” the name of a popular heavy metal rock band.

Other features of the first drawing--the curly brown hair and gapped, badly stained teeth-- were not changed in the composite issued Tuesday, nor was the physical description provided by witnesses and survivors. He is described as being of slim build, about 6 feet tall and 25 to 30 years old.

Police asked that the public clip and save published versions of the composite drawings. Booth suggested that people carry the clippings in cars so they could more readily recognize individuals resembling the killer.

“If they see somebody who looks like him, we’ll come in a hurry,” Booth said.

Meanwhile, authorities continued their search for a car seen by a witness in the Mission Viejo neighborhood where the Stalker is suspected of shooting a 29-year-old man and raping his girlfriend early Sunday. The car is believed to have been stolen Saturday night in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, while its owner dined in a restaurant.

Authorities described the stolen car as an orange 1976 Toyota with the license plate 482 RTS. The witness reported seeing a car of the same make and color, but was able to remember

only a partial license plate number of 482 T.

Police have asked the public’s help in locating the auto.

So far, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which is coordinating a multi-agency hunt for the serial slayer, has received more than 2,000 tips in the case, including dozens of reported sightings of people resembling the suspect.

The most recent sighting came Tuesday afternoon in the San Gabriel Valley community of San Dimas, where sheriff’s deputies searched a neighborhood after receiving reports of a man resembling the Stalker in a “mom and pop” grocery store.

The deputies, aided by a helicopter and tracking dogs, scoured the area around Gladstone Street and Amelia Avenue for nearly an hour before calling off the search, said Deputy Richard Shaw.

“Two citizens saw a man who they thought resembled the ‘Valley Intruder,’ but we didn’t find him,” Shaw said.

Sheriff Sherman Block suggested early in the investigation that “Valley Intruder” would be an appropriate nickname because of the killer’s intrusive behavior in sneaking into darkened homes, and because the crimes occurred in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

However, the most recent slayings have occurred as far away as Mission Viejo in Orange County and in San Francisco.

More and more, the public, the news media and law enforcement officials--particularly those in the Police Department--have come to call the killer the “Night Stalker.”

“You can’t call him the Valley Intruder because he’s not always hitting in the valley,” said Lt. Dan Cooke, a Police Department spokesman.