Police Release New Sketch of Suspected Serial Rapist

Nearly two years after three Santa Monica women were kidnapped and raped in separate incidents, police Monday released a new composite sketch of the suspect known as the Southside Rapist.

At a news conference Monday, Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. released the drawing by Jean Boylan, the composite artist who drew the widely circulated sketch of the Unabomber suspect.

Boylan spent 13 hours working with two of the victims to develop the detailed sketch, which Butts said will be distributed nationally through the Department of Justice and the FBI.

Butts said that based on his department’s examination of 50,000 arrest, probation and parole records, he does not believe the suspect is in California.

The suspect is believed to have committed three rapes in the southern part of Santa Monica between October 1995 and January 1996.

Butts said that in all cases the victims were approached by an armed man as they entered or left their cars near their homes. The man forced his victims to drive him elsewhere, then raped them during attacks that lasted two to six hours.

At the time of the rapes, the suspect was described as a 25- to 30-year-old black man, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 11, cleanshaven and with a muscular build.

One victim, Karen Pomer, expressed relief Monday that the new sketch was being released.

“He’s in my mind every night when I go to sleep. It’s better to have it on paper than in a nightmare,” she said.