Assault on 29-Year-Old Linked to Serial Rapist

A man who attacked a 29-year-old woman in her home last week is believed to be the serial rapist who has eluded capture for more than four years, police said Friday.

While the Nov. 9 attack diverged in some respects from the other cases attributed to the serial rapist, police said that enough consistencies existed to warrant the link.

“There were some similarities and dissimilarities,” said Simi Valley Police Sgt. Bob Gardner. “But the preponderance of the similarities outweighed any dissimilarities.”

The latest victim, the 13th since the summer of 1996, was confronted in the hallway of her home about 11:30 p.m. by a Latino man wearing a blue sweatshirt and sweatpants, police said.

The man, described as being in his 20s, of medium build and with dark hair and dark eyes, attempted to sexually assault her, police said, but she fought back, eventually biting his finger.

The man then fled the home, police said.

Gardner said the assailant entered the home, in west Simi Valley, by breaking a window on the side of the house.

The nighttime attack in the victim’s home is consistent with other cases linked to the serial rapist, Gardner said.

Detectives believe that the serial rapist studies the habits of his selected victims, Gardner said.

The woman in the Nov. 9 attack lives with her parents, but she was alone that night, police said.

Because of the victim’s relatively older age and of her description of the assailant as Latino, detectives hesitated to connect the attack to the serial rapist.

The man believed to be the serial rapist has in most cases been described as white, and most of the other victims have been women in their mid-teens to mid-20s.

But Gardner said the discrepancies were not enough to dismiss the connection.

Some victims have been unable to identify the race of their assailant or have described him as possibly Latino, he said.

The attack also was in the same part of the city where other attacks have occurred.

Because the suspected serial rapist’s attacks are sporadic, he has been difficult to capture, said Gardner.

“It’s not like he’s hitting the same neighborhood night after night so we can have a police officer on every corner,” he said.

Constance Bryant, manager of a rape-crisis program at the Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, said she understood the difficulties police are having in solving the case.

“Serial rapists by their very nature are very difficult to catch,” Bryant said. “Unfortunately, they are good at their job.”

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Previous Attacks

* June 8, 1996: A man entered through an unlocked door of a home near Sycamore Drive and Sequoia Avenue and approached a young woman before being scared off by others in the house.

* Sept. 2, 1996: A man entered a home on the city’s west side about 2:15 a.m. and raped a 19-year-old woman.

* Sept. 26, 1996: A man wrapped his hands around the neck of a woman in a home in the 1200 block of Royal Avenue about 1:45 a.m. After a short fight, the man fled. Police said the man entered the house through an unlocked door.

* Jan. 12, 1997: A 21-year-old woman sleeping in her home in a neighborhood between Sycamore Drive and Tapo Canyon Road awoke after a man put his hands over her mouth. She resisted. The man fled.

* June 14, 1997: An 18-year-old woman was attacked at knifepoint about 4 a.m. after a man removed a screen and forced open the window of a home north of the Ronald Reagan Freeway and between Erringer Road and Sycamore Drive. After the woman’s screams woke the home’s other residents, the man fled.

* Oct. 25, 1997: A 15-year-old girl was assaulted in her home in a neighborhood between Sycamore Drive and Sequoia Avenue. Her assailant fled after family members heard a commotion in the girl’s room.

* March 22, 1998: A 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted after a man with a large knife entered her house through an unlocked door while she and her family slept. The man then ran away.

* May 4, 1999: A 25-year-old woman was taken from her home and driven to an open field west of Simi Valley, where she was sexually assaulted.

* Oct. 31, 1999: A woman was forced into the passenger seat of her car after she pulled up in front of her house. Her attacker drove to an unidentified location where he sexually assaulted her.

* March 15, 2000: A knife-carrying assailant surprised a 23-year-old woman in her home about 11 p.m. The victim fought off the attacker, who ran away.

* March 16, 2000: A 22-year-old woman was forced from her home at knifepoint and sexually assaulted at an undisclosed location.

* Aug. 4, 2000: A 17-year-old girl was awakened by a knife-wielding man who had entered through her bedroom window. The man climbed on top of her, and she screamed. The man fled through the back door of the home in the western part of the city.