Women Cope With Anxiety Left by Serial Rapist : Ojai Valley Residents Vigilant, Angry as Calls, Rumors Flood Police

From the winding, country lanes to the downtown arcade, it is difficult to miss the impact a suspected serial rapist has had on the normally placid Ojai Valley in recent weeks.

A composite drawing of the man’s bearded face hangs in shop windows. Hundreds of flyers announce a community “Speak Out” for women to express their fear and anger. And everywhere locals gather--from the bakery to the post office--the four attacks on middle-age to older women are likely to come up in conversation.

“I think the fact that there could be someone who is stalking us and the fact that we’re a targeted age group, that’s the most disturbing part,” Ojai City Councilwoman Nina Shelley said.

“I’ve received a number of calls from various women in the area. . . . They ran all the way from very deep concern to being absolutely terrified,” she added.

On Wednesday, more than 200 Ojai Valley residents, almost all women, gathered in a town hall-style meeting for a status report from Ventura County sheriff’s detectives in charge of the case.

Crowding into a school district auditorium, the residents listened to a chronology of the attacks, an overview of the investigation and advice on how to protect themselves.

Lt. Larry Robertson, who supervises the sheriff’s major crimes unit, told the crowd that 161 potential suspects have been identified and ruled out. And dozens of deputies spent more than 400 hours canvassing Meiners Oaks two weeks ago. Three of the assaults have occurred in that area, and detectives have theorized that the rapist might live there.

News of the assaults, Robertson said, has prompted an explosion in calls to the Sheriff’s Department and spawned dozens of false rumors about the case.

Since Sept. 2, when the two most recent attacks occurred, the Ojai Sheriff’s Substation has received 69 reports of suspicious subjects, 18 calls about prowlers and 11 other reports of suspicious circumstances.

“Obviously there’s a higher level of awareness,” Robertson said before the meeting. “I wouldn’t even be surprised if some of the calls were on undercover officers in the area.”

In every attack, the assailant wore a nylon stocking mask and struck on a Friday or Saturday. He has been described as a soft-spoken man in his mid-20s with olive skin, auburn hair and fingers that smell of cigarettes. Victims said his manner was apologetic but determined.

At Wednesday’s meeting, sheriff’s officials also revealed that the suspect cut one woman’s telephone line, looks for homes with unlocked doors or windows and may stalk his victims.

“He may have sat watching for periods of time,” Robertson said. “I think predator , perhaps, is a good word.”

Several women who attended the meeting said they have taken extra precautions because the suspect appears to target women who live alone.

“I’ve cut down my hedges, I’ve uprooted a tree and I’ve installed motion lights,” said a 77-year-old Ojai woman who did not want to be identified. “I’m just very, very careful.”

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The attacks began March 13 when a 44-year-old woman was raped about 3 a.m. in her house on Pueblo Avenue in Meiners Oaks. On April 16, a 61-year-old woman was badly beaten as she fought off a man who entered her home on Carillo Road in Ojai about 1:30 a.m.

After that foiled attack--the only one in which the victim strongly resisted--no other incidents were reported for almost five months.

Then, on Sept. 2, a man matching the same description assaulted a 64-year-old woman before dawn in her home on Taormina Lane in west Ojai. The woman escaped after about 45 minutes by jumping out a window and screaming for help.

Hours later, a 54-year-old woman was attacked at the east end of town in her house on El Jina Lane. The suspect brandished a small knife--the only time a weapon has been seen.

Besides having a physical description, the Sheriff’s Department has also developed a psychological profile of the suspect as a loner who was possibly a dropout or underachiever in school.

Ventura psychologist Katherine Emerick, who sometimes evaluates alleged rapists for the Ventura County courts, speculated that the suspect’s fixation with older women and his apologetic demeanor may stem from abuse he suffered as a child.

Rapists’ “choice of acting out has to do with what they’ve experienced in their own lives and with their own families,” she said.

Because of the concentration of attacks in Ojai, Emerick also said the assailant probably lives in the area, and may even know his victims.

“He probably grew up there. He probably knows the town,” she said.

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For some women in Ojai, it is hard to accept the notion that one man could make them feel uneasy in their own homes or force them to lock their doors and windows for the first time.

Councilwoman Shelley said she knows of some older women who now keep a hammer, knife or heavy object next to their beds at night. But some are looking for other ways to cope.

To that end, a community forum will be held Friday night, giving women a chance to “create sacred space, tell our stories and collectively nurture our whole selves,” a flyer reads. Participants are encouraged to bring drums to express themselves.

Also, a panel discussion on self-defense is being organized for next week.

Said organizer and psychologist Robin Posyn: “I think we need to figure out what we can do . . . other than locking ourselves in the house.”