Suspect in Ventura Rape Is Arrested in Nevada : Violence: John Linnihan is accused of attacking a Canadian in Arizona on Dec. 20, five days before the brutal assault and robbery.

A man suspected of raping, robbing and brutally beating a 65-year-old Ventura woman in her home on Christmas has been arrested in Nevada on suspicion of raping another woman five days earlier in Arizona.

John Linnihan, 50, of Congress, Ariz., was arrested Thursday in Laughlin by Las Vegas police and is being held on $500,000 bail.

He has agreed to waive extradition and could be arraigned as early as this week in Prescott where the first rape took place, said Sgt. Shane Reed of the Prescott Police Department.

Ventura Sgt. Gary McCaskill said three detectives spent several days in Laughlin questioning the suspect and investigating the Ventura rape case. He said his department also plans to arrest Linnihan, a former Ventura resident who in recent years mined for gold in Yavapai County, Ariz.

“We believe he is our suspect,” McCaskill said. “When we complete our investigation we will be seeking an arrest warrant.”

Linnihan was arrested on suspicion of kidnaping, beating and raping a 28-year-old Canadian woman in Prescott on Dec. 20.

Police say he then made his way to Ventura, where he is suspected of raping a Ventura woman late Christmas night in her home in the 200 block of Huntington Avenue on the city’s east end.

The woman, who lived alone, suffered a concussion, broken jaw and teeth and other severe injuries to her face and head. She spent four days at Ventura County Medical Center, including one in intensive care.

She was released from the hospital Saturday, McCaskill said.

Two days earlier, acting on a tip from acquaintances of Linnihan’s, Ventura police discovered that the suspect was in Laughlin. They alerted Las Vegas police, who arrested Linnihan after spotting his distinctive blue and white motor home rigged with a satellite dish.

Inside the motor home, police say they recovered a television, fax machine, tape recorder and binoculars belonging to the Ventura rape victim.

Police also found brass knuckles inside the truck, which they believe may have been used to beat the Ventura woman.

“This is a very brutal case,” McCaskill said. “It’s frightening for the city to have this kind of violence. I think everyone will sleep a little easier knowing this person is not roaming the streets.”

McCaskill said Linnihan is single and unemployed. A check of his criminal record in Ventura County turned up drunk driving arrests in 1979 and 1981, McCaskill said.

“He has no criminal record for burglaries or rapes,” McCaskill said. “From what we can find, throughout the U.S., he has no prior arrests of this nature.”

At the time of Linnihan’s arrest in Nevada, McCaskill said local police were investigating him for the Ventura rape and for several burglaries in the neighborhood.

In Linnihan’s mobile home in Congress, police say they found items stolen from a Ventura residence. Police say they also found stolen property from seven homes in the same east end neighborhood stashed in his truck.

Times correspondent Jeff McDonald contributed to this story.