Philadelphia Daily News
Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Center City rapist may have made stops in Ariz.

Authorities check possible links to 6 sexual assaults

By NICOLE WEISENSEE EGAN,
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The Center City rapist may have made a stop in Mesa, Ariz., before moving to Fort Collins, Colo. to hunt for victims last May, police said yesterday.

Authorities said they are checking to see if six sexual assaults and attempted sexual assaults in Mesa and Gilbert, Ariz., are linked to the Center City rapist.

"We've been in contact with Mesa as we've been in contact with lots of other jurisdictions," is all Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Department, would say. "There are some similarities and there are some dissimilarities."

She said she did not know if there was DNA evidence from the Arizona cases. Mesa police would not say if they have DNA evidence because they have not released that information to the public.

But, Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney, who could not be reached for comment last night on the Arizona cases, noted yesterday that there is a nearly two-year gap between the rapist's last assault here and the first one in Fort Collins.

"Serial rapists don't stop," said Timoney, who held a news conference to confirm that DNA tests show the Center City rapist committed at least two of the Fort Collins sexual assaults. "I believe this guy may have hit some other community somewhere."

The Arizona attacks fill some of the gaps in that nearly two-year timeline. Three were attempted sexual assaults and three were rapes that occurred in Mesa and Gilbert, two adjoining cities, police said.

The attempts occurred on July 5, 1999, in Mesa; Oct. 19, 1999, in Gilbert; and Feb. 26, 2000, in Mesa. The rapes were on Nov. 25, 1999, in Mesa; April 7, 2000, in Gilbert; and Nov. 3 in Gilbert.

All of the victims were white women ages 21 to 41 who were attacked between 2 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. after the assailant got in through an unlocked door or window, police said.

One of the women said he attempted to assault her while covering her face with a baby towel.

The Mesa Police Department released a profile of the offender last November, which described him as a white male in his 30s with short "military-style" reddish-blonde hair who is of average height and weight.

He is polite to his victims and clean in his personal habits, which is demonstrated in the way he dresses and cuts his hair, Mesa police said. He is also intelligent and may have attended college. He never used a weapon in the attacks.

Police have said the Center City rapist dressed as if he was going out on a date when he attacked each of his victims. They told police he was polite to them and even offered one advice on how not to be a victim again.

He got into each of their apartments through open or unlocked doors or windows. Some awoke to find pillows coming toward their faces. He did not use a weapon.

Four of the sexual assaults occurred in June and August 1997. He apparently was dormant until he murdered Wharton School student Shannon Schieber, 23, in May 1998 and again until he sexually assaulted another woman in August 1999.

Timoney said detectives here began looking into a connection with the Colorado cases on Aug. 6 after Fort Collins police sent out a bulletin about the serial rapist. He has sexually assaulted six college students between May 10 and Aug. 23, police said.

Two days later, a detective from the Special Victims Unit contacted Fort Collins police, who said they were awaiting DNA test results. Last week, DNA tests positively linked the two sets of crimes.

Evidence from the Fort Collins cases shows the Center City rapist has changed his appearance. He has gained weight, has dirty fingernails and smelled of cigarettes. He used blindfolds with those women. *