Four Assaults May Be Work of Serial Rapist

Authorities are investigating whether four sexual assaults of women in Pasadena and Glendale, including one Saturday night, are the work of a serial rapist who enters homes through unlocked or easily accessible doors and windows.

Pasadena Police Lt. Rick Aversano said three rapes in Pasadena since June occurred at night when the women were alone in residential neighborhoods.

“People need to keep their doors and windows locked, especially in the evening and nighttime,” he warned. “In each case, the attacker let himself in through an entrance obscured from view from the street,” he said.

Although the crimes are similar--the suspect in two attacks wore a ski mask--detectives still are processing forensic evidence to determine if the rapes were committed by the same man.

Glendale Police Sgt. Bruce Fox said detectives there believe a rapist of a 61-year-old woman may have been responsible for at least one of the Pasadena attacks.

The first Pasadena rape occurred June 27 in the 2900 block of East Del Mar Boulevard, near South El Nido Avenue, about 1:30 a.m. The second Pasadena attack was committed Aug. 15 near North Sierra Madre Villa Avenue and Rida Street between 10 and 11 p.m., Aversano said.

The latest Pasadena assault occurred Saturday between 10 and 11 p.m. in the 3000 block of San Pasqual Street, Aversano said. That rape also occurred near South El Nido, not far from the June attack.

Pasadena police are working with neighboring police departments to determine if other women may have been targeted across foothill cities, Aversano said. In one case, the man entered through an unlocked door, and in another he cut a screen and opened a locked door.

In Glendale, a man on Oct. 16 entered through a window in the 3900 block of El Caminito, near Lowell Avenue, in the La Crescenta neighborhood, police said. It was about 11:30 p.m. when the man confronted a woman alone in her bathroom and raped her, Fox said.

Fox said detectives from the Glendale, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Arcadia and the Sheriff’s Department have discussed the cases.