Serial Rapist in Custody, Police Say

After an intensive manhunt, police Thursday arrested a 22-year-old forklift operator in connection with a string of brazen sexual assaults that have terrorized a North Santa Ana neighborhood.

Officers took Eduardo Alberto Guzman into custody at 6:30 a.m. just moments after he left his girlfriend and toddler for work, booking him on suspicion of rape and burglary.

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters said Guzman matches a description and widely circulated police sketch of the knife-wielding rapist who lurked at night in the carports of gated apartment buildings, watching women before eventually choosing to strike.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he is the perpetrator,” Walters said. “We’re relieved. For the last two days, we were close.”

But Guzman’s 17-year-old girlfriend insisted in an interview that her boyfriend is innocent and that she was home with him watching videos or sleeping when the rapist struck.

“He’s a good guy,” she said of the suspect. “They just want to blame somebody. They ought to get the right one because it’s not him, and I know it.”

Police officials released few details about the case, saying their investigation is continuing. But sources close to the investigation said detectives are working on the theory that the rapist’s crime spree actually began as a series of robberies before escalating into sexual assaults.

Police sources said they tracked down the suspect by following a trail of stolen property--including jewelry, credit cards, purses and other items--that the rapist took from victims and passed onto others.

Other property seized from the eight assault victims was discovered at Guzman’s home, which is just a few blocks from several of the attacks, the sources said.

Even Acquaintances of Suspect Relieved

News of the arrest brought comfort to many in the area where families had grown so fearful they had changed daily routines to protect themselves--double-checking locked doors, driving to nearby shops instead of walking. Even those who know Guzman expressed relief that police had finally apprehended someone.

“I’ve been so nervous because I’m here alone, and I knew this guy was loose,” said Carolyn Rios, who lives near Guzman. “I’m so relieved he’s caught, but I’m very sad it turned out to be Eddie.”

Chief Walters said detectives are awaiting the results of tests on DNA samples taken from Guzman.

Investigators spent the morning searching Guzman’s home, where a 4-foot crucifix hung in the living room. Officers trolled through nearby garbage cans and hauled a half-dozen grocery bags crammed with evidence away from the single family home.

Guzman’s family watched the search in anguish as investigators removed $600 in cash, jewelry, some framed pictures and a woman’s hat from the home. Guzman’s girlfriend said officers also took away a “kitchen knife I use to cook.”

The arrest comes as fears of the attacker reached a peak in the 30-block neighborhood targeted by the rapist. Since July 14, eight women were assaulted as they walked alone in gated apartment complexes close to 17th Street between Fairview Street and the Santa Ana Freeway.

Investigators said that in nearly every attack, the rapist drew a knife and threatened to kill his target. Then he walked the victim to a secluded area of the complex, where he assaulted and robbed her.

Earlier this week, the serial rapist barely eluded a group of residents who chased him after a sexual assault on Bristol Street, where a woman was attacked inside a laundry room of an apartment complex.

Frustrated, police once again stepped up their investigation, boosting the number of officers devoted to the case from 30 to 50. The effort, usually reserved for high-profile murders or abductions, paid off, officials said.

Sister Can’t Believe Man Could Be Guilty

On Wednesday night, undercover police officers staked out Guzman’s home and watched him leave for work around 6:30 a.m., Walters said. Police ordered him to pull his Oldsmobile over as he reached Bristol and 17th streets, where 15 unmarked police cars along with eight black-and-whites suddenly appeared in a show of force.

Guzman has no major criminal record but was convicted in 1996 of driving a stolen vehicle while a juvenile in Orange County, according to DMV records. He attended Saddleback and Santa Ana high schools, according to his older sister, Erlinda Guzman.

“I cannot see him doing that. I cannot even imagine him doing that,” she said, sobbing. “We grew up together and I know he doesn’t have that side to him. He gets along with his wife.”

“He was a sweetheart,” said Lupe Duran, a close friend of Guzman’s live-in girlfriend. “She was always talking about him. She was always talking about the nice things he bought her. The jewelry. He treated her nice and always had her nicely dressed.”

Indeed, when Duran began to party excessively, she said it was Guzman who would speak to her about acting responsibly.

“He used to say, ‘You’ve got to calm down because you’re married and you have your babies,’ ” she said. “He was like a big brother. He always talked straight.”

Local residents recalled Guzman moving into the middle-class neighborhood just south of the Garden Grove Freeway, by the Santa Ana River, about three years ago. He, his girlfriend and their 2-year-old son, Brian, shared an extended room at the back of the single-story house.

The family was well-liked in the quiet neighborhood, where Juniper trees line the streets.

“They’re really nice,” said Rios, who lives cater-corner to Guzman’s white, blue-trimmed home. “I’ve given them pizza and surplus bread. They’re really receptive. I guess they’re poor.”

Rios said that in recent days, as police distributed a composite drawing of the serial rapist, she mentioned to her boyfriend how strongly the picture resembled their neighbor. She said she also recognized a shirt that the rapist left behind during one attack as being similar to one that Guzman owned. But she said she tried to dismiss the possibility.

“You know, you don’t want to think those things about your neighbors,” she said.

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Times staff writers Hector Becerra and Stuart Pfeifer contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Suspect Arrested

Santa Ana Police arrested a serial rape suspect Thursday who allegedly attacked eight women in the last 2 1/2 months along a two-mile stretch of 17th.

Source: Sgt. Raul Luna, Santa Ana police

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times