Hunting a Psychopath: The East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker Investigation

361 Pages·2014·2.32 MB·English

by  Richard Shelby

HUNTING A PSYCHOPATH

The
East Area Rapist /
Original Night Stalker Investigation

The Original Investigator Speaks Out

Richard Shelby
Copyright © 2014 Richard Shelby
KINDLE ISBN: 9781632635112
HARDCOVER ISBN: 9781632635099
PAPERBACK ISBN: 9781632635082

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
author.

Published by BookLocker.com, Inc., Bradenton, Florida.

BookLocker.com, Inc., 2014, First Edition
A Note of Thanks
I especially want to thank my wife, Ann, and our sons, Brian and Tom, for the
patience they’ve shown over the years that this investigation has been a presence
in our lives. My wife deserves a special thanks and recognition for her strength
of character in remaining home alone with two small children on those many,
many nights I was called to duty.

A special note of appreciation and thank you to Valerie Wood is most definitely
owed here. Without her assistance this book would never have been written. A
published author herself, it was her unselfishly shared expertise that made this
possible.

Also very necessary to this manuscript was the assistance of Margie Smith,
retired 8th grade Language Arts teacher in Tulare, CA. Not only did she assist in
the editing but she has been heavily involved in the investigation.

Much of my personal experiences with the investigation described in this book
were shared with my partner Carol Daly. Thanks to her for our more recent
conversations that helped many of those memories resurface. A big thanks to her
husband, Ted, as well. Ted contributed some valuable details of which I had
been unaware.

Two other people I would like to extend a special thanks to are Investigator
Larry Pool and Investigator Larry Montgomery, both of whom have devoted
many long hours investigating the Original Night Stalker homicides. Their
expertise was always there when a need to discuss specifics of the investigation
arose.

Special thanks to Sacramento Sheriff’s homicide investigator Ken Clark, his two
partners, and their supervisor, Sergeant Burns. Through their efforts alone,
several persons of interest, from the original investigations, have now been
eliminated by DNA.

Everyone interested in this investigation should give thanks to Russ Oase, a
retired Federal Special Investigator, and KC, the expert in research. They have
each expended thousands of their dollars and hours doing their part to bring this
investigation to a successful conclusion.
Lastly, I would like to violate the norm by including a note of apology with these
acknowledgements of appreciation. That apology goes to all those involved in
this investigation and especially to the victims and their families. The apology is
not for dredging up painful memories but for providing the "as yet” unidentified
suspect another moment of public attention. Hopefully, this attention will be his
undoing.
Table of Contents
Preface
What This Book Is About
Prologue
Chapter 1: As It Began to Unfold
Chapter 2: The Old Era Fades
Chapter 3: Detective Division --1976
Chapter 4: A Life-Changing Event
Chapter 5: Researching by Gossip
Chapter 6: The Sexual Assault
Chapter 7: Score Two for Gossip
Chapter 8: The Dots are Connected
Chapter 9: The First One
Chapter 10: The Second One
Chapter 11: BOLO
Chapter 12: Rape Crisis Clinic and Our Prime Suspect
Chapter 13: The Psychic’s Turn
Chapter 14: A Stroll Down the Ditch
Chapter 15: The Night Walker
Chapter 16: Nine and Counting
Chapter 17: The First Assault
Chapter 18: The Second Assault
Chapter 19: The Heat is on--Us
Chapter 20: Creation of a Task Force
Chapter 21: Search for Victim Similarities
Chapter 22: Still Innocent
Chapter 23: Sacramento Police Join the Hunt
Chapter 24: Determined Ignorance
Chapter 25: Early Bird Rapist vs. East Area Rapist
Chapter 26: AD HOC TASK FORCE
Chapter 27: Helping the Suspect
Chapter 28: Helping A Stalker
Chapter 29: Other Law Enforcement Agencies Help
Chapter 30: The Visalia Question
Chapter 31: Victim Draws First Blood
Chapter 32: Pursued Shoots Pursuer
Chapter 33: Revered Suspect
Chapter 34: Suspect’s Stash Found
Chapter 35: East Area Rapist Ups the Ante
Chapter 36: East Area Rapist or Not the East Area Rapist?
Chapter 37: Fingerprinting the Human Torso
Chapter 38: Second Stash Found
Chapter 39: EAR Gets Careless
Chapter 40: Wife of a Mafia Lord
Chapter 41: Two Bicyclists and One Car
Chapter 42: Bicyclist in Rancho Cordova
Chapter 43: Exactly Who is Chasing Whom?
Chapter 44: East Area Rapist in the Crosshairs
Chapter 45: Color Me Gone
Chapter 46: Color the EAR Gone
Chapter 47: An Accomplice?
Chapter 48: Missed Opportunity
Chapter 49: An Official Analysis
Chapter 50: Rapist to Murderer
Chapter 51: The “New” Composite
Chapter 52: Dog Therapist
Chapter 53: Security Officer’s Badge
Chapter 54: Catch and Release
Chapter 55: The EAR Moves South
Chapter 56: Murdered - Dr. Robert Offerman & Dr. Debri Manning
Chapter 57: Murdered - Lyman and Charlene Smith
Chapter 58: Murdered - Keith & Patrice Harrington
Chapter 59 Murdered - Manuela Witthuhn
Chapter 60: Murdered - Greg Sanchez and Cheryl Smith-Dominguez
Chapter 61: Murdered - Janelle Cruz
Chapter 62: The Visalia Ransacker Revisited
Chapter 63: How The EAR Chose His Victims
Chapter 64: Days of the Week
Chapter 65: Medical
Chapter 66: Education
Chapter 67: Military
Chapter 68: Real Estate
Chapter 69: Security Guard
Conclusion -- Clusters
Epilogue
Anecdotal
Suspicious Circumstances
Carlos
Composites
Appendix 1
Preface
On October 5, 1976, as an inspector with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, I
responded to a report of a home invasion that had just occurred. A young mother
and her three year-old son had been blindfolded, gagged, and their hands tied
The young mother had been sexually assaulted. By the end of that day I had
come to believe this was the work of a serial rapist. It was not long before this
theory was confirmed. Ultimately, this suspect became known as the East Area
Rapist. It was when he spread his brand of horror to Southern California that he
became known as the Original Night Stalker. There are some who strongly
believe he actually began his crime spree in 1974, in Visalia, California, where
he was called the Visalia Ransacker. There is no solid evidence to corroborate
this. In all, however, he is known to have assaulted at least fifty-three women
and murdered twelve people.

Three books have been written about this “as yet” unsolved series of rapes and
murders. The first one was written by Sergeant Crompton, formerly of the
Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department. Using a mixture of fact and fiction,
he wrote Sudden Terror. With some fiction used as a back drop, he laid out
details of the sexual assaults and a great deal of the actual investigation. The
second book was written by someone who apparently had read about this
investigation, but was never actively involved, as was Sergeant Crompton. The
third book is the one you are reading at this moment. It adds details missing in
Crompton’s book and revisits old ones. A fourth book titled Golden State Killer,
which focuses primarily on the ONS, is now being thoroughly researched and
written by Michelle McNamara, an investigative journalist for Los Angeles
Magazine.

The longer a mystery remains a mystery the more attention it attracts. It is no
different with this investigation. In seeking information many have gravitated to
forums such as internet blogs. Sometimes the information shared is incorrect
which only leads to more misinformation and ultimately confusion. It is my hope
of eliminating some of that misinformation that has convinced me to make this
manuscript public.

Having decided to turn what had been originally intended as a short informative
essay, for a few informed individuals, into a book, I needed a platform. To that
end I determined to relate the investigation as I experienced it. If done right, the