Linked to Crimes by Fingertip : Defendant Convicted in Series of Rapes

A 32-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of rape and related crimes in a series of attacks on San Fernando Valley women as they slept in their apartments.

Terry Allen Wilson of Littlerock, near Lancaster, covered his face with his hands and sobbed as a San Fernando Superior Court clerk announced the jury’s guilty verdicts on 22 counts.

Besides seven counts of rape, the 22 charges against Wilson were three counts of oral copulation, eight counts of burglary, three counts of assault with intent to commit rape or oral copulation and one count of attempted burglary.

As the jury left the courtroom, Wilson, who could be sentenced to state prison for up to 80 years, cried out, “I don’t give a damn!”

The attacks went on for 10 months in late 1984 and the first half of 1985 before police got an unusual break in the case that led them to Wilson. On July 26, 1985, there was an attempted rape during which the intended victim fought back, biting off a fingertip of her masked assailant.

The man fled but the fingertip, blood and other evidence he left behind proved important in his conviction this week.

Wilson was arrested later on the morning of that attack as he sought treatment for his severed finger at a Panorama City hospital. A few days later, the fingertip was found in the woman’s bed and was preserved as evidence for the trial.

Nine victims testified, and the jury returned its verdicts after 4 1/2 hours of deliberation.

Judge Howard J. Schwab set Wilson’s sentencing for Nov. 7.

After the verdicts were read, two jurors who asked not to be identified said the prosecution built an overwhelming case by linking Wilson to a pattern of crimes in Burbank, North Hollywood and Toluca Lake.

The assaults occurred between 4 and 5:45 a.m. within five miles of the Burbank factory where Wilson was employed as a mechanic. The sites also were close to Wilson’s former residence in North Hollywood, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill said during the trial. Similarities in the attacks themselves led police to believe they were committed by the same person, Cahill said.