Attempted-Rape Suspect Arrested After Jogger Fights Off Attack

A Vista man suspected of at least two attempted rapes in San Clemente and possibly others throughout Orange and San Diego counties has been arrested, police said Monday.

William John Horner, 30, was taken into custody Sunday and was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail in San Clemente City Jail after a woman jogger was sexually assaulted.

The attack occurred on Camino de los Mares about 6 a.m. when the jogger was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground, police said. The jogger screamed and fought off her attacker, who fled in a brown-and-tan GMC off-road vehicle, they said.

A witness gave a description of the attacker’s vehicle to police. A few minutes later, a patrol officer saw a vehicle matching that description and attempted to pull it over, but the driver eluded the officer by driving off the road, police said.

The vehicle was seen again a short time later by California Highway Patrol officers, who were able to stop it at the Alicia Parkway off-ramp to the San Diego Freeway, police said.

Horner, the driver, was arrested on suspicion of attempted rape and evading police officers, San Clemente Police Sgt. Richard Downing said.

The other sexual assault occurred Aug. 26 in San Clemente when a nurse returned home from work and was attacked by a man who was waiting in her driveway, police said. She was able to fight off the attack until neighbors arrived, causing the assailant to flee.

Downing said investigators believe Horner is responsible for other sexual assaults over the past few years, primarily on women joggers, in cities along the San Diego Freeway from Huntington Beach to Vista.

San Clemente police are asking women who think they may have been assaulted by the suspect to contact investigators at (714) 361-8210.

Horner was described as white, about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds, with short, curly brown hair and a mustache.

He is scheduled to be arraigned in South Orange Municipal Court today.