ShareThisBy CHRISTINA JEWETT
Friday, November 17, 2006
He posed as a trick-or-treater at the door of one woman he raped; 20 days later he called her to apologize.
He took another for a ride in her own car, raped her repeatedly and left her bound with duct tape. One victim stabbed him, but he was undeterred.
The armed attacker continued, completely anonymous.
Now detectives have pinpointed a unique genetic code that ties the man they have dubbed the "Nor Cal rapist" to attacks targeting nine women.
The rapes began in Rohnert Park in 1991 and ranged to Davis and Chico. He struck most recently Oct. 13 in North Natomas, where he bound and raped two women in a home and became the latest serial rapist to plague the Sacramento region.
Over the past three decades, Sacramento investigators have targeted roughly a dozen serial rapists, including some who were never found despite numerous attacks.
Now, Sacramento police say DNA from the latest attack convinced them they are facing a new serial rapist, which spurred them to contact Bay Area law-enforcement agencies to share every imaginable detail about the cases _ except the one detectives need most.
"Unfortunately, we have everything on this guy but who he is," Sacramento Police Chief Albert Najera said. "We have a lot of people working on this."
Police said the serial rapist tends to stalk and target single, petite Asian women in their 20s and 30s.
The rapist usually wears a mask, blindfolds his victims and says he has a gun or displays one, said Sacramento Police Detective Paul Schindler.
Last month, a Sacramento victim's blindfold slipped during an assault, and she was able to provide enough of a description for police to produce a sketch. He is described as white, 37 to 40 years old, 5 foot 8 inches to 6 feet tall, 200 to 250 pounds with a protruding stomach.
Vigilant North Natomas residents _ one with a garage-mounted camera _ spotted the vehicle the attacker used: a white Toyota 4-Runner with tinted rear windows.
Detectives called on the public for help in identifying the rapist, noting that serial stranger-rape cases are very rare.
"This guy is a sexual predator. He uses force, he uses a gun, and he has emotionally torn apart all of our victims," Schindler said. "Someone out there knows who he is ... We need your help to find this guy."
