Murder Suspect Kept News Clippings of Crimes, 2 Say : Serial killings: He also sometimes anticipated when media reports would appear about the slayings, the pair claim. They lived with William Suff and his wife for several months in 1990.

William Lester Suff, the suspect in the Riverside County serial murders, kept newspaper clippings of the crimes and sometimes anticipated when news reports would appear, according to a couple who lived with Suff and his wife in 1990.

The young couple, who agreed to be interviewed Thursday on condition that their names not be used, lived with Suff, 41, and his second wife, Cheryl Lewis Suff, 20, between July and Nov. 4, 1990, in a two-bedroom apartment in Rialto.

Both couples ended their 15-month-old friendship after the Suffs’ 3-month-old baby, Bridgit Anne, nearly died of brain damage in a case of child abuse for which William Suff is also the chief suspect.

The Beaumont couple, both in their early 20s, described Suff as a rent cheat who was prone to rages against his wife and was often gone late at night. The couple said that they and Cheryl were unaware that Suff spent 10 years in a Texas prison for killing his own baby in 1973.

Suff had told them only that he had once worked as a prison guard in Texas.

Since the revelations this week about Suff’s past, the couple said, they have been searching their memories for previously undetected warning signs. The most eerie recollection, they said, was of the newspaper articles about the killer preying on prostitutes in Riverside and Lake Elsinore.

“He was collecting those papers every time one of those murders would occur,” the man said during the interview in his parents’ home. “He said he was interested in what was going on with (the case) and stuff like that.”

Of the 19 victims, the bodies of eight were found between August, 1990--when the couples became friends--and last Nov. 4 when the friendship dissolved.

“What was funny about it was it seemed like (Suff) always knew the day before when one of the articles was going to come out,” the man said. “He would start watching for the paper to see if a murder had occurred.”

When Suff read the news articles, said the woman who first befriended Cheryl Suff, “he just had this look on his face that was an indescribable look.”

The couples lived together for four months after Cheryl and the woman met at a mail-order company where both worked. Cheryl Suff had invited the younger couple to move into the Rialto apartment to help her through pregnancy and early motherhood.

The couple recall Suff being easily angered, sometimes violently shaking Cheryl or exploding in rage if she wore what he felt was too much makeup.

“He would tell her, ‘Take that off--you look like a whore,’ ” the young woman said.

One day, the woman friend said, Suff ordered her to take off a red sweater she was wearing because he did not like that color. It reminded him of the blood he used to see when he worked in a pediatric ward at a military hospital, she said.

Suff explained his frequent late-night absences at times by saying that he was working on earthquake preparedness planning with local authorities.

Cheryl Suff, meanwhile, played the part of the contented housewife, they said. “I really feel sorry for Cheryl,” the man said.

Cheryl’s mother, Betty Lewis, said Thursday from Paso Robles that her daughter is in seclusion and does not want to discuss the case.

The Suffs’ child was placed in protective care by San Bernardino County authorities after the injuries were discovered last October. Deputy Dist. Atty. Frank Vanella said Thursday no charges were filed because it could not be determined who was responsible.

Suff was arrested Jan. 9 in Riverside and charged this week with two of the 19 murders of Riverside prostitutes and drug users. The Riverside Press-Enterprise, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that evidence links Suff to 13 of the killings.