Car of Man Believed to Be Serial Rapist Is Identified

Los Angeles police looking for a man responsible for at least seven sexual assaults in the West Valley since March 29 may have another clue--the color and make of his car.

Officer David Ralphs said the man may have propositioned a housekeeper near the corner of Roscoe Boulevard and Valley Circle in West Hills earlier this week while driving a blue 1985 to 1989 Honda .

Around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday the woman was walking to her employer’s home in a gated community near the 23600 block of Roscoe Boulevard, when the man pulled his Honda to the curb and addressed her in Spanish.

“He tried to invite her in the car and said he wanted to have sexual relations with her,” Ralphs said. “But she was close to her employer’s [home], so she just ran through the gate. He didn’t follow her, even though the gate was open.”

Police did not find out about the encounter until Friday night, when the woman’s employer called the West Valley LAPD station.

“Sometimes people newly arrived in the country won’t report things right away,” said Ralphs, who noted that the employer was a U.S. citizen. “The consensus of myself, the watch commander and the detectives was that there was a good chance this was connected to the others.”

The housekeeper’s description of the man in the Honda fits the description from recent rape victims, Ralphs said.

Police are seeking a Latino man, 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 11, 20 to 30 years old, with a medium build, a tan complexion, a clean-shaven face and wavy hair. The woman did not note the license plate number of the vehicle, Ralphs said.

The serial rapist is being sought in connection with the sexual assault of seven women between the ages of 21 and 47, all attacked while in their cars parked at businesses or in residential areas.

The attacker has used a pistol in some cases and has kidnapped some of his victims, using their vehicles to drive to remote locations before sexually assaulting them.

The rapist has worn a knit cap, a bandanna over his face, black gloves, black boots and army fatigues and has carried a green or multicolored backpack.

The most recent assault occurred July 27, when an attacker forced a 30-year-old woman, who had just left church with her 8-year-old son, to drive from a Topanga Canyon Boulevard parking lot to a secluded location on Owensmouth Street in Canoga Park, where he sexually assaulted her in front of the boy, police said.

The same man is suspected to have robbed a 53-year-old woman in a parking lot behind a Sherman Way building moments before.

The City Council has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call the LAPD at (213) 485-2921.