Rape Suspect Sketch Released : Huntington Beach Victim, 12, Interviewed by Police

Police today released a composite drawing of the man they believe raped a 12-year-old girl he abducted over the weekend from an exclusive gated community in Huntington Beach.

Police also said there had been three burglaries since August at the Sea Cliff on the Greens complex that may have been related to the Sunday morning kidnaping and rape.

Capt. Bruce Young said police made the composite drawing Monday after reinterviewing the girl, who was pushed nude from her abductor’s truck about a mile from her home. (Story, Part II, Page 1.)

The suspect is described as white, with dark, curly hair and a mustache. He is about 5-foot-8 and has a slim build. Young said the suspect drives a white or off-white compact pickup truck that is dirty and dented and bears blue and white California plates.

Possible Link Investigated

Although police were unsure whether there was any connection between the girl’s abduction and the three earlier burglaries at the complex, they were investigating any potential link between the various cases. Cash was taken in the three earlier burglaries but no one was injured.

“To date there are no substantial leads from the burglaries or the rape,” Young said.

Police said the kidnaper entered a two-story condominium in the 6000 block of Panorama Drive owned by the girl’s father. The abductor slipped through an unlocked sliding glass door and confronted the girl, who was sleeping with a girlfriend on a living-room sofa bed.

As the girlfriend slid under the covers and pretended to sleep, the man grabbed the victim by the arm, covered her mouth with his hand and carried her in her nightgown from the house, police said.

Her father was awakened by screams and ran to an upstairs window to see his daughter being carried away. Young said the father at first did not understand what was happening, suspecting that it might have been some prank by the girls, who were playing hide-and-seek and other games late the night before. The father called police after he talked with the girlfriend.

“It’s our belief he really didn’t really comprehend what had happened,” Young said. “He looked for her around the complex, but he didn’t have any suspicions until he talked to her friend.”

Help From Public Asked

Eight investigators have been assigned to the case and the public is encouraged to call Huntington Beach Police Detective Don Howell at 960-8811 or 969-2272 with any information on the case.

The girl is now staying with her mother, who lives outside Huntington Beach. The parents are divorced and the girl was visiting her father when the incident occurred.

When police first tried to interview her, the girl was in shock and could provide only sketchy details, Young said. But her recollections of the incident had vastly improved when the girl was reinterviewed Monday. She provided numerous details for the composite drawing of the assailant, whom she did not know, and other aspects of the crime, Young said.

Young said several sections of the complex are still under construction, allowing ready access to the community despite the security gates. If anything, he said, the gates and fences had only given residents “a false sense of security.” He urged that residents be more aware of suspicious activity.