Criminology - The Epicenter of Fear

Episode Date: February 24, 2018

Criminology is back for Season 2! This season we will be doing an in-depth look at one of America's most infamous unsolved cases. This predator goes by many names: The East Area Rapist, The Golden State Killer, and the Original Night Stalker. This person is suspected of more than 100 home break-ins and burglaries, at least 50 rapes, and a dozen or more murders. We'll be covering the crimes, the victims, and the clues using case documents and firsthand accounts. We talk with the investigators who worked this case back when it started and those who are working on it today. We speak to victims who survived this monster and to the family members of victims that lost their lives. Join Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford for episode 1 of Season 2 of Criminology to hear how this tragic tale began. Then buckle in because it is going to take a full season to detail the horrific crimes committed by this prolific serial rapist and murderer. Make sure you subscribe on Itunes or your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a single episode.   You can help support the show through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/criminology For news about the podcast, old episodes and more, visit our website.  We'd love to connect with listeners on social media. We are available on the following platforms: Facebook - Facebook Discussion group - Instagram - Threads - X Formerly Twitter - Blue Sky - Youtube - Twitch - Tik Tok  Find all of our social media in one place at: https://linktr.ee/criminologypodcast   Criminology is an Emash Digital production hosted by Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford. 

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. All right. We want to welcome everyone back to season two of criminology. Now, Morf, I know we've been away for a while, but that time has not been wasted. You know, you and I have been working countless hours, putting this season two together. It's going to be epic. It's going to be huge.

We've also been working on some things related to the podcast. Now, one of those is setting up a Patreon for criminology. So many of you have been kind enough to offer support for the show through Patreon. And we wanted to wait till season two to actually set one up. But now we have. And I want to give huge shoutouts to our first batch of Patreon supporters. It means the world to us to have people financially support the hard work that we put into the show. We had Signal 7, Amanda Rose, Lobita Works, Bashar 87, Allison Foreman Rickert, and Ashley Adkins.

So amazing support. We appreciate it so much. Thank you. Yeah, you guys rock. The support we have gotten so far. just on social media is awesome, but to go the extra amount and try and help us financially contributing what you can is just really awesome. We really appreciate it, guys. And if you want to help support the show, go to patreon.com slash criminology.

Hey, Mike, it's good to be back. It feels like we've been away a long time, but like you said, we've been working hard, and we're hoping that this season you're going to see the results to that work. This is a really big case that we chose. Before we get into it, I think we need to share some other news of something else we've been working on. And that's that criminology has teamed up with Wild Blue Press. They're a book publisher and they do a lot of true crime books. And they've teamed up with us to present season one, the Zodiac Killer, as a book. And that's going to be available through them shortly and you can get it on as an e-book or as a paperback. Yeah, I'm really stoked about it, Mike.

You know, we put a ton of effort into season one. It was countless hours of research. And I was really happy with the way that the podcast turned out. And then to have this opportunity to put it in book form, it's awesome, man. I can't wait. The book is going to be called Criminology Podcast Presents the Zodiac Killer Case. And if you want to learn more about it

or consider pre-ordering it, simply go to wildbluepress.com backslash Zodiac pre-orders. And there really will be a lot to gain from this book. Even if you listen through all 12 episodes of season one, you know, there are things that you can get in a book that you can't get by listening to the podcast, you know, such as photos,

the reports that we pulled a lot of our information from, Morp, and things like that. Some of the things that are going to appear in the book, there's simply no way to put in the podcast. Some of the visual aids and images will really be beneficial in understanding the case. We got to jump into this season two case. And like we mentioned, this is a huge case. This season, we're covering the Golden State. killer and some of you out there may know this case by another moniker like the East Area Rapist, the original Nightstalker, or the Iron's.

So we're going to be talking about a person who's responsible for perhaps over 100 home break-ins and burglaries, at least 50 rapes, and a dozen more murders in the state of California. And we're talking over a 10-year period. And as we share the story of how this monster evolved and his crimes became more and more horrific, I think listeners are going to truly understand the level of terror that this man brought on the state of California. And the scary thing is he was never caught.

And for me, Mike, this is personal. You know, I've got friends that were assaulted by this maniac and that have had loved ones murdered by him. So while I want to tell the story of this creep, I also don't want to lose sight of the victims and their family members. You know, they weren't just, statistics, they're real people. And Mike, I know this story hits home for you.

It's something that you really wanted to do. And as we were talking about it, you were so passionate in wanting to get this story out. I just knew we had to do it. So this season, we're going to hear from some of the people involved in this case. You know, we're going to have on some of the investigators, some of the surviving victims and family members of victims that didn't survive. So what I'm hoping for is that by the end of the season that listeners will know this case well, you know, but more than that, I'm hoping that they can help spread the word about this case and tighten the noose on this killer so that he can be caught or identified. So you heard Morph lay out some of the stats for this killer.

We're talking about dozens of burglaries, rapes, murders that this predator is responsible for. And it's really kind of mind-boggling that despite all of these attacks across the state of California, you know, many people have never heard of this serial killer. And surprisingly, that includes a lot of the people in the state of California. And part, this is due to the confusion caused by all the various names given to this person over the years. And we mentioned it, right? We mentioned the monikers, but we are going to tell the whole story of how this rapist and murderer came to be called the Golden State Killer. And it's a very long story, 40 years in the making.

And we have to start at the beginning of it all. And that would be June of 1976 in the town of Rancho Cordova, which is located in Sacramento County in northern California. Now, at the time in 1976, Rancho Cordova was an unincorporated area in Sacramento County. There was a lot of new home construction going on in that area in the 70s. The neighborhood, like many others in California at that time, were being built up. People were adding in-ground swimming pools. Those were becoming popular. In this town of Rancho Cordova, it was a.

Blue Collar Town made up of a lot of military families and people that worked at the nearby May 3rd Air Force Base as well as other bases in and around the area. Mid June of 1976 was a busy time for Rancho Cordova residents. School was letting out for the summer and the 4th of July holiday was close. And it was going to be a big one, the bicentennial of America. People in this area as well as many other areas across the country were excited for the 200th birthday of the United States. They were busy living their lives and enjoying their summer. But normal life for this town would change on June 18, 1976. And while they didn't know it at the time,

the town of Rancho Cordova and later towns all over Sacramento County would become the hunting grounds for a ruthless and cunning predator, one that would go on to terrorize residents there over and over again. A 23-year-old woman was feeling uneasy. She had recently moved back in to her father's home on the 2,600 block of Paseo Drive in Rancho Cordova. But this woman had been receiving very odd phone calls for weeks. Her phone rang on many different occasions and when she would answer, she would only hear silence. Now, as a lot of people would, she tried to dismiss these calls as being nothing more than

harmless pranks. Her dad was a retired Air Force man, and he had been out of town for several weeks. So she was all alone in the house. And so these calls were weighing very heavy on her mind. She had also noticed in the preceding weeks that a dark green car would drive by her on multiple occasions. And the driver always seemed to look away as he passed. She didn't know what to make of it all, but felt a little uneasy. But this was a pretty good section of town.

a quiet section on a quiet street. The only problem in that area recently had been in the yard of a neighbor on Delray Court, a couple houses over. Somebody had repeatedly cut through his fenced yard, disturbing the fence and then damaging it. The owner assumed it was kids taking a shortcut. But besides that, it was a pretty peaceful section, which was in contrast to the busier part of Rancho Cordova that was more populated and had a higher crime rate.

This woman settled in to bed the night of June 17. 1976. Everything seemed normal, quiet, and she fell asleep. But around 4 a.m., she woke up from a deep sleep, startled. Her bedroom light was on, and there was a man with a mask standing in her doorway. He was tapping a knife on the doorframe. It took her a second for her eyes to adjust to the figure standing in the doorway, and when they did, she must have been shocked at what she saw. He's showing up for the first official attack in Sacramento and Rancho Cordova. That victim is in bed, and she sees the East Area rapist in her doorway. He's standing in her doorway.

He's got a ski mask on. He's got a T-shirt on. He's got a knife, but he's nude from the waist down. And he's standing there. He's got an erection. But she sees his entire physique. and she describes him as having a very slim, athletic, well-proportioned build. That was a portion of an interview we did with Paul Holes.

Paul Holes is the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office Cold Case Investigator, and he's currently involved in the investigation of the East Area Rapist Golden State Killer. And we're going to hear a lot from that interview that we did with Paul as the season unfolds. He's going to bring some amazing insight to this case. So the masked man standing in the doorway had no pants on, and she could see he had an erection. Out of pure fear, the young woman threw her blankets over her face. But within a second, the man had walked over and yanked them off. He pushed the tip of a knife against her head and began to speak.

If you make one move or sound, I'll stick this knife into you. I want to fuck you. Take it off. His voice was a hoarse growl or whisper through clenched teeth. defenseless, she complied with his demands. Terrified, she took off her nightgown. He tied her hands behind her back using bindings he had brought with him. He then sexually assaulted her.

After the assault was over, he got up from the bed and asked her if she had any money. But as soon as she started to answer, he snarled. Once again, through clenched teeth, shut up, he said. He then proceeded to rummage through her room and tied her feet. with the cord from a blow dryer and a braw. He also gagged her. Before he left the room, he held the knife to her head once again, warning her that he would kill her if she tried anything.

The attacker left her on the bed. She was bound and unable to do much. The intruder told her, you better have money in the house. The masked man left the room. She could hear him rummaging through drawers and walking around the house. She then thought she heard the whispering of two voices. She clearly heard one whispering voice say, I told you to shut up.

Despite the whispering, she got the impression that he was alone and that he was the only one whispering. After a while, the whispering and the rummaging stopped. She decided that she wanted to try and get free before he came back. She struggled to get herself free and finally got her legs undone. She crept quietly through the house with her hands still behind her back,

hoping, probably praying at this point, that he wasn't still in the house. And luckily he wasn't. She saw that the back door was open and she tried to kick it closed with her feet, but the deadbolt was extended so the door wouldn't shut. But she was able to make her way to the phone and managed to call the operator pleading for the police to come. The police responded quickly to the home on Paseo Drive,

and upon entering the home, found the victim still partially bound and nude. After searching the home to make sure the attacker was gone, they removed the bindings from the victim's hands. She had been tied so tightly that the 23-year-old's hands had turned black from lack of circulation. The investigation officially started. The victim had to replay the events in her mind

in order to provide officers with the information they needed. She recounted for them what had happened. She detailed how the knife was about three to four inches long. She described how the mask that the intruder wore seemed to be like a homemade mask, made possibly of some type of white coarse material with only two holes in the mask so that he could see. She also told police that he had been wearing gloves. When police checked the bathroom, they found balled up towels and baby oil. They theorized that the attacker had lubricated himself prior to waking the victim.

And as they searched the house, they found it was a mess. The contents of several drawers were on the floor. This woman felt that her attacker was in his early to mid-20s, somewhere around 160 to 170 pounds. And she estimated his height at 5 foot 9. So she was able to give police a lot of really good details. She told them that he had dark, hairy arms and legs and that he had a very small penis. She even noted that her attacker held the knife with his left hand.

And this is amazing to me, Morp, that going through the horrific things that she did, she was able to take in all of these details. It astounds me. Police next turned their attention to the outside of the house. They quickly determined that the back door had been pried and the lock was slipped, meaning a tool or method had been used to release the deadbolt from its locked resting spot. The victim's purse was found in the yard with its content. and scattered. Next, they discovered that the attacker had attempted to cut the phone line leading

into the house. Police then questioned area neighbors. Some of them had heard dogs barking at around 3 a.m. When everything settled down, police would learn that the only things taken by the assailant was cash, about $15 worth and two boxes of Winston cigarettes. The items taken by the attacker were minimal in value and seemed like an afterthought. The primary goal of this attacker was to get into the house and terrorized the young woman inside. And he succeeded. Police removed items from the home to log his evidence. These included the balled-up towels from the bathroom. And, you know, this is way ahead of DNA technology, right? This is 1976. But if they could find any semen in this evidence that they collected, it would

provide clues, including the suspect's blood type. But the victim was left to pick up the pieces and, you know, to try to make sense of what had happened to her. And unfortunately, for this victim, it's not the end of her worries. You're right about that, Mike, because over the next couple weeks, this 23-old victim started to get more hang-up phone calls, about half a dozen in total. While the call she had received before her attack bothered her, the call she received after it raised a new level of concern. Eventually, these phone calls subsided. In May of 1977, almost a year after she was attacked, the rape kit analysis came back.

The result showed something interesting about the man who had raped her. He was a non-secretor. And this is a medical condition in the body that does not allow a man's blood type to be determined from a semen sample. It's not overly common. In fact, roughly 85% of the population are secretors. So this man was in the minority of 15% of the population who were not. At this point, it had been almost a year since she had been raped. But with each passing day, this victim had been trying to move on with her life.

But if things were getting back to normal, it wouldn't last for long. In late 1977, she started getting phone calls again. She contacted the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department to let them know she had been getting upsetting phone calls. The police didn't want to miss any opportunity to get the upper hand on the caller if it turned out that he was the man who had raped her. They put traps on her phone. These traps would essentially record any conversations that came in. For weeks, they monitored every call that came in, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. finally just after new year's 1978 on january 2nd a phone call came in from somebody that apparently had the wrong number

that call seemed innocent enough a soft-spoken guy it looks like he just had the wrong number but a little bit later that day another call came in and i'll tell you what more for this victim that had to be extremely horrifying that call is scary now just over 40 years long later. It's downright creepy. Now, the audio isn't the best, but let's recap it a little bit. The first call we played was from a guy that called and clearly said is Ray there. And the woman who at the time of this call is now 24 years old tells him that he's got the wrong number. Didn't seem to be anything sinister about the call, but that second call is the complete opposite. Yeah, Mike. And just to clarify in the second call, the man was hissing and breathing heavily

and whispering through what sounds like clenched teeth. And what he says is going to kill you three times and then bitch several times. And then finally fucking horror before he hangs up. Now you can hear some loud talking in the background. It sounds like perhaps women and children talking, but that was actually determined to be from a TV show that was playing in the victim's home. And the sound from it got picked up by the phone. But like Mike said, that is downright creepy. And if you're imagining what this woman's attacker likely sounded like as he attacked her, this is it. In fact, she told police she was sure that's the man who had attacked her. Unfortunately, the call wasn't traced, but it's still very valuable. And it sounds like there was

some type of effort to hide this man's voice on the call. But on this. But on this, that first call where the guy is asking if Ray was there, that sounded like someone's natural undisguised voice, soft spoken, not very deep. And while we can't say for sure that the guy who asked for Ray is the same guy that made the sinister call later, if it actually is, then we likely know what his natural everyday voice sounds like. Now, remember this soft spoken voice because we're going to go back to it this season in a later episode. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency?

We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Blood and Water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. By the time this victim had received this phone call on January 2nd, 1978, the same man that had attacked and raped her 18 months earlier

had attacked over two dozen times since then in Sacramento County, and he was just getting started. There's one recording that is the East Area Rapist, and that is the recording that was made to victim number one. she was attacked in June in 1976. He called her January 1978. And that's the recording that I think everybody has heard that is familiar with the case in which he is hissing, I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you.

No question, that's the East Area Rapist. Known originally as the East Area Rapist and then later as the original Nightstocker or Golden State Killer, this predator would go on to rape over 50 women and murder at least a dozen people. Season two of criminology is dedicated to the victims of this monster, the victims that survived, and those that sadly did not. This is their story, not his. Carmichael is a town on the other side of the American River from Rancho Cordoba. And if you took a straight line from Rancho Cordova to Carmichael, it's actually very, very close. But getting from one to the other requires a trip over one of multiple bridges in the area, the fastest of which being the Watt Avenue bridge.

But there was a very serious drought in California during 1976 and 77, and it caused. caused much of the American river to dry up to the point that you could almost walk across the river. Now, in 1976, Carmichael boasted a variety of parks and bike trails. It had a population of around 37,000, and it was considered a pretty quiet town. But in the early morning hours, mid-July, something absolutely terrible would occur. On the 4,700 block of Marlborough Way, two teenage sisters were home alone, one 15 and the other 16. Their parents had gone away for a church function, and the girls were left to look after themselves for the four days their parents would be gone. Their parents felt secure leaving their daughters alone.

They were good girls and not the type to get into trouble. The parents may have even been comfortable knowing that a nearby neighbor was an FBI agent. The girls had an uneventful Friday night and went to bed at a house. about 10.30 p.m. Now, that's pretty early for a couple of teenagers on Friday night. And I think that tells you that these were good kids. They weren't throwing a party or getting into trouble. At about 2 a.m., the older of the two sisters awoke to the feeling of something heavy on top of her. And it didn't take her long to realize that there was a masked man straddling her, and he had a knife. The intruder must have sensed that she was going to try to fight him. And

because he started to punch her and he hit her several times. Then he told her that if she made a move, he would stick the knife that he was holding through her neck. Now, he would tell her that he just wanted to steal some things and that he would be gone in about a half an hour. But he's telling her all of this through clenched teeth. And then he proceeded to bind her hands and feet using shoelaces, gagged her with a stocking, and then tied a belt around her mouth.

Once he felt that she was completely secured, he made his way to the younger sister's room. Somehow the attacker must have been so stealthy that the younger sister never woke up. The man started to wake her up, but almost instantly she jumped out of bed and tried to hit the man but missed. She ran out into the hallway. Defiantly, angrily, the young girl yelled out. God damn it, what's this queer doing here? She didn't make it far before the intruder caught up to her

and struck her in the back of her head with his fist. He started to drag her back into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. He then warned the girl that he had a knife and could kill her. She then stopped struggling. He tied her up with shoelaces. Once she was secured, he left the room and started rummaging through the house. The masked man would go through bedroom closets and then make his way through other rooms in the house.

But he would periodically check in on each of the helpless girls. He again threatened the older of the two sisters and asked her where the money was. And then he asked her something very specific. He asked where the doctor kept his drugs. And he mentioned that he had checked the fridge but didn't find any. He told the girl that he would fill his bag. and leave, but that was going to be a lie because this man wanted more than that. The masked man once again went into the younger girl's bedroom and untied her feet.

It was then that he did the unthinkable. He sexually assaulted the young girl. He then tied her feet back up and once again left the room before returning again a short time later and once again sexually assaulted her. He made her do certain things that were so heinous. it was almost incomprehensible. We will mention one specific detail because it's something that comes up over and over again in this series.

The rapist had lubricated his penis and placed it in the victim's hands, ordering her to play with it. This would be one of his calling cards throughout the attacks. During the assault of the young girl, he told her, when I saw you at the junior prom, I knew I had to fuck you. So these two teenage sisters endured two agonizing,

hours of brutal assault at the hands of this predator. But eventually the man leaves and the house is quiet. A moment later, they hear a car start up and drive off. And it really was the younger of the two sisters who had suffered the bulk of this violent intruder's aggression. And as you can only imagine, she was terrified. She was afraid to move, and she stayed in the same place for about 30 minutes. And it was only after that point that she felt like she was safe,

and she started to move around trying to get herself free. By this point, the older sister had gotten herself free and had made her way into the younger sister's bedroom. She had scissors and cut the younger victim's bindings. The girls frantically raced to the phone and called police who were responded quickly. Police and EMTs arrived on the scene. It was determined that the two sisters needed medical attention and they were rushed to Sacramento Medical Center only a few miles away. Their parents were notified and immediately headed home. Morph as a parent, I cannot even imagine

getting that type of phone call. But back at the crime scene, investigators sorted through the aftermath of the attack. They discovered that the sliding glass door in the rear, living room of the house was the point of entry. There were obvious prime marks on the door, door jam, and the latch. When police were finally able to question both victims, they realized that only the 15-year-old had been sexually assaulted, but obviously both had been terrorized. Neither girl recalled their attacker wearing gloves, but police could find no prints from the intruder.

They described their attacker as being white and sounding like he was young, perhaps 18 to 20. He was about 5'10 with a muscular build. The intruder had worn a mask with eye holes, blue corduroy pants, and what they referred to as waffle stompers or hiking boots. And they would relay some things to police that were very interesting about their interaction with this man. The younger sister recounted to police what her assailant had said to her about seeing her at the junior prom. And she felt as if the man was making this up, because she actually had a photo of herself with her junior prom date in a frame next to her bed. And the photo was marked with the words junior prom. The older of the two sisters also told investigators that the man had asked where the doctor kept his drugs.

And then also mentioned he had checked the refrigerator but had not found any. It turns out that their father was indeed a doctor. Did this intruder ask because he knew the family and knew that their father was a doctor? Another possibility is that the man had gained this information from stalking the victims or from something he had found while ransacking the house. Also of interest was the fact this man knew enough about prescription drugs to know that some kinds needed to be refrigerated. But all in all, investigators were stumped.

They couldn't come up with a motive or strong suspect that would target the two teenage girls. This attack had some similarities to the one that occurred a month earlier in Rancho Cordova. The victims in both cases lived in a single-story home. They were all attacked as they slept by a masked man. And there were no parents' home at the time. We can look back on this now and see that these two cases look like they were connected. But back then, authorities didn't. immediately make that link.

For police, the attack on the two young sisters was the second major incident in only a couple days in the normally quiet community of Carmichael. The day before the attack on these two sisters, a homeowner in his 60s walked into his garage a little before 5 a.m. and discovered a man he didn't know rummaging through his tools. Before the startled man could even process what he was seeing, the intruder started to beat the homeowner with a club. The victim suffered several severe blows from the club and tried to escape, but the attacker kept beating him before the homeowner fell to the ground.

The intruder pulled a gun, and the helpless homeowner scrambled to crawl under his car, expecting to be shot. Luckily, he wasn't shot. The intruder exited the garage and disappeared. This happened on the 300 block of Clayton Way in Sacramento, only a mile or so from the attack on the two young sisters the next day. being a day apart and only a mile away, police were interested in a possible connection between the two cases. But nothing solid connected to two events.

Luckily, this man was able to recover from his wounds. He's now deceased, but we reached out to his son to help us understand how everything unfolded. And he agreed to talk with us. My name is Larry. This incident happened to my father who has now passed away. Harvey wearer. He was hit from behind. And he was hit pretty hard,

and he went down. And the guy started hitting him in the body, and my dad was rather small in stature, and he pulled himself under the car. And I remember him describing this more than once. He just grabbed on to the drive shaft of the car

and held on for their life. And the assailant was down, swinging some kind of a club. It was enough to make my dad have to have hundreds of stitches. And he just kept beating him and when he couldn't get to his head anymore and there was blood literally everywhere, he started trying to pull my dad's pants off and get to his wallet, which he did finally get and ran off, leaving very little evidence behind of himself. My dad crawled over to the next door neighbor's house and started banging on the door yelling Bill Bill, which was the name of the man who lived there. They came out to find my dad basically just clinging to life.

And the police and the ambulance were called and my dad was transported downtown to Mercy. During questioning, the police were particularly interested in the weapon used to attack the homeowner. Based on the description given by the victim, they felt the club was some type of an older style military training club or baton. It was described that one of the ends was covered in a thick white padding. There was no way to know if this attacker was a military man or if the club had been stolen from some other garage or a nearby home. But remember that military club. It's definitely going to come up again in this case. So we need to move back over to Rancho Cordova to discuss what happened next.

It had been over two months since the Paseo Drive rape had occurred. And the phone calls to that victim following her attack had ended. Neighbors who had received similar calls before the attack had not received any afterwards. It seemed like an isolated incident. Perhaps somebody had singled out that 23-year-old victim. And the calls to the neighbors were enough. more than a coincidence. Either way, it seemed that the area had gotten back to normal. And earlier in the episode, we mentioned a house at Delray Court. The owner was having issues

with someone cutting across their yard, damaging their fence. And on August 28th at around 10 p.m., somebody cut through the yard again. And the owner had just put up brand new boards to keep people from cutting through the yard. And on this night, someone broke the boards in order to access the shortcut. The homeowner could hear the sounds of someone possibly climbing the fence. As it turned out, a neighbor had complained of somebody frequently accessing their yard as well and leaving their side gate open. And this neighbor even went so far as to nail the side gate shut.

A little later at about 10.30 p.m., a number, neighbor on the 10,000 block of Malaga Way walked out of his house and started his car to leave for work. The 46-year-old Smud employee had just switched from the day shift to the night shift on the previous day. Smud stands for Sacramento Municipal Utility District and is the primary electricity provider to Sacramento County. His family remained inside, including his 41-year-old wife and two daughters ages 12 and 15. The mother and her two daughters on only their second night alone without the husband and father in the house turned in for the night.

And August in California can be very hot. Temperatures that day had reached 100 degrees. So the youngest daughter decided to sleep with their window open, hoping that a cool breeze would help cool down the room. Shortly after 3 a.m. It was about 3.20. Something woke her from her sleep. And it was the sound of the wind chimes hanging from her curtain rod rattling. She opened her eyes and looked towards the window. It was then that she saw the unmistakable outline of a masked man outside of her window and a gloved hand trying to pry her screen loose. The 12-year-old girl didn't hesitate. She bolted to her mom. bedroom terrified. The two ran back into the daughter's bedroom and the mom looked outside for any signs of a prowler. She saw nothing, but she did pick up the scent of what smelled like after

shave in the still night air. The anxious pair then hustled to the older daughter's room to wake her up, but she barely woke up and downplayed the incident and told the mom to call the police. The mother was about to call the police but wanted to look out one last time into the backyard to see if there was any sign of the man. The mom and the 12-year-old daughter went back into the younger daughter's bedroom to get a good look out into the yard and they were terrified to see the masked man staring through the bedroom window again. The man seeing the pair turned and ran off. The mother grabbed onto her 12-year-old daughter and whisked her into the kitchen. She grabbed the phone and crouched on the floor and started to call the operator. Before she could even dial,

they heard a smashing sound coming from the youngest daughter's bedroom and the sound of her wind chimes dropping to the floor. Almost instantly, the masked man was running down their hallway towards the kitchen. Once again, here's Paul Holes. Attack number three, right around the corner, you have a teenage girl and a mom who see our offender nude from the waist down. and see his entire prolonged period of seeing him in the kitchen. And their description is very similar to the first East Area Rapist victim's description. The attacker was brandishing two weapons, a gun that he held in his left hand and a club that he held in his right. And one really disturbing thing that they immediately saw was that the masked man was naked,

from the waist down. They had to have been in shock at this point. In a low growl through clenched teeth, the masked man said, freeze or I'll kill you, hang up the phone. Then he asked the mother, who else was in the house? And she replied that her other daughter was asleep in her bedroom. At this point, the mom makes a desperate and brave decision. Without any forethought, she leapt at the man attempting to grab at his gun trying to get a hold of it, or at least knock it out of his hand. The mom sensed the man was weak and really started battling and started to get the upper hand.

But at that point, he pulled back and smashed her in head and face with the club that he had in his other hand. All the while, the youngest daughter was screaming in the background hysterically. He hit the mom repeatedly with the club, and then when she finally let go of the gun, he pistol whipped her with the gun. So once he had regained the upper hand, he barked out, don't worry, all I want is your money.

I won't hurt you if you cooperate. But we've got to analyze this more. I don't know about you, but if I'm that mom and this guy is telling me that all he wants is my money, yet I'm looking at him and he's standing there nude from the waist down, I'm not thinking that's the truth. Yeah, I've got to agree with you, Mike. I wouldn't believe him either. And fortunately, neither did this.

mother. As the man attempted to get them down on the floor to tie them up, the mother thought this was her last chance to make a move. She suddenly jumped up and caught the attacker off guard while he was in the act of trying to tie them. They started to struggle. And again, she started to overpower this guy. The mom quickly grabbed her daughter and made a beeline for the door. But before she made it there, she felt blows from behind. This guy was hitting her with the club again. He caught up, to the pair at the door, but this mom was determined. He was not going to get her daughter. And she forced her youngest daughter out of the front door. They struggled again and the mom was able to make it out of the front door herself. The pair ran off screaming in the night,

running towards a neighbor's house. Luckily, the neighbor was alert and heard the screams and opened the door pretty quickly. I got to tell you, Morph, you cannot under-earned. You cannot under estimate mom power in a situation like this. I mean, this mother was going to do whatever she had to do to keep her family safe. Yeah, I think you're right, Mike. You can't underestimate the instinct that kicks in in a mother in this kind of situation. And one thing I'm wondering at this point is, where's the oldest daughter? You know, you would think that she's waking up.

There's no way she's sleeping through this. Well, it turns out she didn't sleep through it. At about the same time her mom and sister were running to the neighbor's house, she was making her escape out of her bedroom window. When she jumped out of her window, she was able to see her mom and sister running and followed in the same direction. So at this point, this attacker has totally lost control. He tried to attack a household with three females.

They all were able to get away out of multiple exit points. So what is his next move? He didn't run off. He simply walked to a nearby yard. And the owner of this house actually gets a very good look at him. She thought he was wearing white shorts because the skin of his naked body was so white. Now, what he did is he ended up hiding in her bushes. And after a minute or two, he stood up and walked, didn't run.

down Malaga way. The neighbor would let the girls into their house immediately called police. The call to police came in at 3.28 a.m. About eight minutes after the daughter was awakened by the sound of her wind chimes. And Mike, can you imagine how terrifying that eight minutes was? It had to have been an agonizing eight minutes. You know, the mom was hurt pretty badly. But she did what any parent would hope that they would have the strength

to do. Keep your kids from being harmed. Yeah, this is probably a scenario that this mother never thought in her wildest imagination she'd have to be involved in. Yet she immediately took action and handled it. Police arrived at the scene a few minutes later and when they assessed the mother, she was badly hurt after all the blows to her head and she was pretty bloody. But although hurt and very badly shaken, the mother, and daughter both recalled details for the police. They described their attacker as having a mask, probably a stocking type mask with slits for eyes. They also said that he was wearing black gloves, a light colored shirt, and interestingly, a black lineman's belt on his waist. And this is the kind of

belt that you might see on someone that is working in a job that involves, you know, some pretty serious climbing. The mother and daughter described their attacker as being about five foot ten, thin, and about 160 to 170 pounds. One other thing that also caught their attention was the fact that he had a noticeably small penis. They were able to describe the man's voice as almost timid or nervous, but that when he spoke, he spoke through clenched teeth. They felt he sounded like he might have been 18 to 30 years old, and they described them as smelling strongly of aftershave. So here again, Morf, we have a small penis siding.

And it sounds funny to hear it said that way, but it's not a joke. This is something that is going to come up again and again. They described the attacker's gun that he carried in his left hand as a revolver, but very small with a barrel that was about two inches long. But the description of the club that the mother was struck with was very interesting. What they described for officers was very similar to what we discussed earlier in the garage attack on the man in Carmichael. And there may be a big clue here in this attack. There's some indication that he may have been left handed.

When he first approached the victims, he carried the gun in his left hand. When he started to hit the mother with the club, he switched the club to his left hand from his right to swing it. And this also lined up with what the June 1976 victim and Paseo had told police, which was that her attacker held his knife in his left hand. An ambulance arrived and took the injured mother to the hospital. She was badly hurt, but after some medical care and several stitches, she would recover. The police started looking at the crime scene inside the house for any clues they might find. This fight was brutal as blood on the floor and walls.

proved. Making their way through the house, they found broken picture frames, the phone was yanked from the wall, and a black shoe lace that the intruder had brought with him that he planned to use to tie up his victims. They also found torn pieces of a towel. And outside of the youngest daughter's bedroom, they found a chair that the intruder had used to stand on to get into her window. The police found a mother searching for her 21-year-old son. She told them he hadn't come home yet. They lived within a two-minute walk of the victims on this night and the earlier June victim on Paseo.

Police found this 21-year-old man pretty quickly, and when they started talking to him, he was evasive and shifted with his answers. They actually caught him in a lie. They brought him in for questioning and reached out to people that knew him. One ex-girlfriend that was questioned that even went so far as to say that he was pretty odd,

and he had a small, extremely thin penis. Police were very interested in this young man, but down the road they were to determine without a doubt through investigative measure that he was not the rapist. Although he was not the rapist, one thing that was interesting was he lived one house over from the yard who had a continuous prowler going through his fence. And at some point, this young man's dog was beaten to death in his yard.

Police wrapped up their crime scene investigation at the home on Milwaukee. away. But on August 31st, just two nights after the Malagaway attacked, the woman who had seen the attacker make his getaway had her own unsettling experience. Her home was broken into. But thankfully, she was not attacked. But this is a lot of activity for a very small section of what was a normally quiet area. Yeah, you have to think that these two Rancho Cordova attacks were the same guy. They had the same physical descriptions, both attacked around the same time of night, or actually early morning, and both attackers targeted lone female victims in single-story homes. And most troubling, both attackers showed up and left possibly nude from the waist down.

Now, we're talking about two attacks, a little more than two months apart and only separated by a distance of 456 feet. Even if police weren't aware of the Carmichael attack on Marlborough away of the two teenage sisters, you have to think that they at least link these two Rancho Cordova attacks pretty quickly. And what jumps out at Meemortf is the 456 feet. I mean, that's a major league home run. That is not very far. Now, as it turned out, this attack on the mother and two daughters was reminiscent of an

attack the previous October in 1975 that occurred just a quarter of. mile away. On October 21st, 1975, a woman and her two daughters were attacked in the area of Dawes and Dolcetto in Rancho Cordova. A masked burglar armed with a knife repeatedly raped a 36-year-old woman and her 18-year-old daughter and sexually assaulted her seven-year-old daughter after he broke into their Rancho Cordova home early today. William Miller, assistant to the Sacramento County Sheriff, said the man wearing a cloth mask, entered the house through an unlocked garage and kitchen doors. The 18-year-old said the man, wearing a military fatigue shirt and camouflage-colored pants, threatened her with a knife after entering her bedroom, then forced the

mother into the room and tied them together. He tied the young girl alone in another room. Miller said the man then raped and committed sexual perversions on the mother and her oldest daughter and forced the young girl to engage in sex perversion. Shortly after, he left at 6.30 a.m., the mother untied herself, locked all the doors, crawled out a bedroom window, and went to a neighbor's house to summon officers. Deputies said that before the man fled, he ransacked the house. He was described as black, 20 to 25 years old, five feet six inches tall, weighing 150 pounds with short hair. What you just heard was from the October 21st Sacramento Bee newspaper. Now, the article mentioned that the attacker in this incident was black, but later on,

the victims would correct that and state that he was white. So, We can't know for sure if this is related, but the fact that this guy also targeted a woman and two daughters so close to the other attack makes it very possible. And it turns out there were several incidents from about 1973 to 1975 in and around the area of Dawes and DeSito. There was a cluster of home burglaries and prowling. In one incident, police officer Richard Shelby was called out to respond to a break in at a home in which the owners were away on vacation. During that time period, there were multiple incidents of dogs being bludgeoned to death around the dolls and Dolcetto area. And Shelby felt strongly that the youth who had jumped off the roof was on a prowling and burglary spree in the area and had likely killed the dogs when confronted by them during his crimes. So while this is a pretty peaceful section of town, there is a little cluster of criminal activity going on.

over a small area during this period of time. Home break-ins, dogs being bludgeoned to death, and multiple sexual attacks. So residents in that immediate area must have been on high alert by the end of the Malaga Way attack on the mother and her two daughters. While the residents of Rancho Cordova may have been on high alert, details of the Marlborough away attack had to have people on edge in the town of Carmichael. It had been weeks since the July 17th attack on the two teenage sisters in Carmichael. People may have thought that was an isolated incident. It turned out it wasn't. In the middle of August, about two weeks after the attack on

the sisters, a man in another part of Carmichael reported a prowler in his yard. This occurred on the 4,800 block of Crestview Drive. A couple days later, a nearby home was broken into, but the owners didn't find anything missing. On Saturday, September 4, 1976, a 29-year-old woman had decided to stop by her parents' home on the 4,800 block of Crestview to do some wash. Since her parents weren't home and her own washing machine wasn't working, it seemed like a perfect way to get her wash done. The recently divorced woman, a young mother, had pulled up to her parents' home at about 6 p.m.

she entered the home through the garage and carried her washing with her. She didn't bother to shut the garage door behind her. She spent about five hours doing wash and about 11 p.m. packed it into her laundry basket and carried it outside to the car. As she was loading the clothes into the trunk of her car, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Before she could even look up, she was yanked around and saw a man wearing a mask standing in front of her.

Before she knew what was happening, the man punched her in the face breaking her nose. She was knocked out for a moment and fell to the ground. But when she came to, the man said, don't look at me. If you look at me, I will slit your throat. It was at this point that the man picked her up off the ground and dragged the dazed woman into the garage and into the house. Once they were inside, he assured the woman that he just wanted her car and money

and that he was trying to get to Bakersfield. But he once again told her that he would slit her throat if she looked at him. He pulled out white shoelaces and tied her hands behind her back tightly. He forced the woman to walk through various rooms of the house as if he was seeing who else was at home. Along the way, he asked her if anybody else was due to come home. After he seemed confident that they were alone, he pulled the bound woman into a bedroom and threw her on the bed. He tied her feet together and then below. wine folded and gagged her. He then left the room. She could hear the masked man rummaging through drawers

in other rooms. Then she heard him in the kitchen and she could tell he had sat down and started eating something. And you have to imagine the nerve of this guy. He attacks this woman, ties her up, and then he sits down to eat at the table like it's no big deal. It's unbelievable. He would come back every few minutes to check on his bound victim. And he told him, told her repeatedly that he would kill her if she moved. At one point, she thought she could hear the man whispering, perhaps on the phone, but she wasn't sure. At some point, the man came in and she could hear the unmistakable sound of the man lubricating himself. Then she felt the man sit down on the bed next to her, and she felt his penis in her bound hands.

Do it right or I'll kill you. The masked man hissed at her through clenched teeth. He cut her clothes off with the knife. At this point, he held the knife to her throat and told her that she had a nice body. He then sexually assaulted her repeatedly for over two hours. Sometime after midnight, the masked rapist dragged the victim back outside of the house and tied her to a patio post. This terrified woman heard the man get in her car and drive off.

Her night of terror was finally over. The police were summoned to the home by a neighbor, and eventually so was the victim's sister. The 29-year-old woman was in very bad shape. She had been beaten, raped, and essentially tortured for hours. Her hands were black from how tightly the man had tied her ligatures. She was immediately taken to nearby Kaiser Hospital. As the police entered the house, they could see that all. all of the lights were off with the exception of one.

They found the back door had been propped open and the air conditioner unit had been unplugged. Two empty Coors light cans were found in the kitchen. Later that morning at around 7 a.m., the victim's car was found on Oak Green Circle, which was about a quarter mile west of the crime scene, and just a few minutes drive. It turned out the attacker could have simply walked across a few yards

and reached the location where the car was discovered. So it's a bit odd that he decided to steal the car in the first place. Police were able to question the 29-year-old victim, and she was able to give them some pretty good information. She told them that the man that attacked her was white with a slim build, and he was about 5-8 or 5-9. She went on to describe the mask he wore as being homemade from some type of gray flannel material with cut out holes

for the eyes and mouth. And she told police that when he spoke, he whispered through clenched teeth. So we have to look at the events in the days leading up to this brutal attack. A couple of different homes on the 4,800 block of Crestview Lane had been the scene of suspicious activity, including the prowler in the yard and the home that was broken into but appeared to not have anything stolen. Now you had this attack and rape. We can see some similarities to the other attacks we've already discussed. But we can also see some differences here. This victim appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She was attacked outside of the house and forced back inside while the others had been attacked in the middle of the night while asleep. Also, this attack had been far more brutal than any of the others as far as physical violence. So it's hard to know at this point if police were linked. these rapes. Again, we are talking about a period of three different months and we're crisscrossing the towns of Rancho Cordova and Carmichael. It's easy to sit back now and analyze everything and think it's likely that these cases are all related. But the police investigating these crimes at the time had to sort through all the evidence, clues, and M.O. to see if they had a serial

rapist on the loose. If they were thinking that, they had to wonder when and where he would strike next. And it turns out, they didn't have to wait long. Hello, everyone. My name is Jane Carson Sandler, and I am the fifth victim of the East Area Rapist. That was Jane Carson Sandler, and as you heard her say, she was the fifth victim of this predator. Now, we're going to get into much more of Jane's story in episode two. And Morif, as we're wrapping up this first episode, I kind of go back to season one that we did on the Zodiac and how the Zodiac was finding his victims.

And I don't want to minimize the acts that the Zodiac committed. But just in this first episode, Morf, you know, the crimes committed by the Golden State killer, you know, we're seeing someone that is invading the sanctity of people's homes. And that is a very, very scary thing. Yeah, I think we can see the contrast between this perpetrator and the Zodiac, the Zodiac randomly finding people on the street, which is scary enough. But like you'd mentioned, when you're home in bed with your doors locked and fast asleep,

and you wake up to a masked man standing in your door. doorway, I think that's more horrifying than anything the Zodiac did. And it's going to get worse. So as we go along, you're going to see exactly just how bad it gets. Well, and not just that you're seeing a masked man. You're seeing a man that's not wearing any pants. So to me, that just, that ups the scary factor. And I think more if, you know, we said this from the beginning.

We're going to tell this story in as much detail as we can. But there's a reason for that. You know, you and I both want to get the word out on this case. The ultimate goal is for somebody to come forward and help solve it. Yeah, we're hoping that somebody out there will recognize maybe something in this perpetrator's ammo or some other clues that we discuss that might lead to somebody they know and maybe they can phone in a tip. And those of you out there listening, if any of you, think that you have any type of tip that can lead to help identify this killer, you should call 1-800, call FBI.

All right, Morph, so that is it for episode one, season two, Golden State Killer. We have got a lot more in store. If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, you know, do that now. make sure that you don't miss any of the new episodes as they come out. If you like Criminology, please take the time to leave us a rating or review on iTunes. That really goes a long way to help the show grow. And you can always find us on social media. We're on Twitter at Criminology Pod,

and you can find us on Facebook by searching Criminology Podcast. In addition, you can also join the Criminology Podcast Discussion Group by searching Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans. All right, so make sure you check out episode two next week. And as we leave, we're going to leave you with a little promo for another true crime podcast called Moms and Murder. So check them out. Hey, guys, this is Mandy and Melissa from Moms and Murder, a true crime podcast featuring two moms who think they're funny. Trust us, guys, we are.

Join us each week as we discuss both the infamous and unfamiliar stories in the world of true crime. You can check us out on our website at momsandmerder.com and also connect to us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We released new episodes on Tuesdays, so we hope you'll check us out. And one other thing before we go, at the beginning of the show, we mentioned that we would have a Zodiac book coming out based on season one of criminology. I want to give you the link so you can go out and check out the book for yourself. And if you're interested, you can pre-order it.

Go to wildbluepress.com slash zodiac. pre-orders. Again, that's wildblupress.com slash zodiac pre-orders.