Rape Victim Testifies on Her Ordeal

Squeezing a crumpled tissue and sobbing, a 31-year-old woman described Thursday how she was abducted and raped a year ago by a man accused of terrorizing seven San Fernando Valley women in six weeks.

Asked if she could identify her attacker, the woman looked squarely at Jose Zarate across a Van Nuys courtroom. He had changed his clean-cut look while in jail awaiting trail, growing his dark brown hair past his shoulders and acquiring a goatee.

“You can change your hair, you can grow your facial hair, you can do anything you want but your eyes will never, ever change,” she testified, tears streaming down her face. “I could recognize you anywhere.”

During the attack, the victim testified, Zarate told her he might “blow your brains out.”

She said she had entered her car one morning to go to work when Zarate asked her for directions, then pulled a gun and forced her into his auto.

Zarate drove her to an apartment complex, where he raped her and robbed her in his car, she testified. Then he left her there, her shirt torn open, clutching her shoes and empty purse, she said.

She is one of five Latinas whom prosecutors allege Zarate raped. He is accused of attempting to rape a sixth woman and robbing a seventh. All the attacks occurred in the early morning hours between Nov. 26, 1996 and Jan. 6, 1997.

The day after the last attack, police issued a public warning, saying a serial rapist was on the loose, preying on Latinas in their early 30s. Los Angeles Police Department detectives publicized a composite drawing of the suspect.

Two days later, on Jan. 9, an anonymous caller led police to Zarate. He was arrested in a San Francisco motel.

His lawyer declined to comment on the case Thursday and gave no indication of his defense, reserving his opening remarks until after the prosecution presents its case.

In her opening statement Thursday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Margo Childress said the first victim was walking in the area of Victory and Reseda boulevards after getting off a bus. Zarate forced her into his car, made her perform oral sex and sodomized her, Childress said.

The second victim was driving in the area of Zelzah Avenue and Nordoff Street about 6 a.m. on Dec. 22 when Zarate allegedly tried to get her to pull over, motioning that there was a problem with her car.

When the woman ignored him, he allegedly pulled a gun and told her to pull over and get into his car. He is accused of taking her into an alley and raping and robbing her.

The day after Christmas 1996, Zarate allegedly dragged another woman into Riverside Drive Elementary School at gunpoint and robbed and raped her.

Two days later, authorities said, Zarate tried to rape a jogger. First he followed her, then he held up a piece of paper that said, “I want to rape you,” authorities said. She ran away.

On Jan. 6, he allegedly attacked a woman who was alone washing clothes at a coin laundry. Prosecutors said he dragged her to the back of the laundry, raped her and robbed her.

The victim who testified Thursday said she was attacked on Dec. 30. She said that after Zarate made her curl up on the floor of his car, he told her he was going to rob her and let her go.

But as he drove away, she said, he started playing with her hair and asking personal questions.

At one point, she said, he asked her whether she had any children. She said she lied and told him she had two.

“I thought that if I told him I had kids that he would spare my life,” she said.

Twice he put a knit cap over her head, angry that she was looking at his face, she said.

She said she was so afraid he was going to kill her that when he let her go, she couldn’t walk away until he drove off.