Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Serial rapist adds seventh victim to list

The serial rapist has struck again in southeast Las Vegas, forcing his way into a ground-floor apartment window and attacking an 18-year-old woman.

The victim had been home most of the night and was asleep when about 4 a.m. Monday the man broke into her unit in the Flamingo West complex, 3950 Mountain Vista Ave., near Flamingo Road.

Metro Police Lt. Tom Monahan said the woman's door and windows had been secured when she went to sleep, although he added that the locks were not the most substantial and could have easily been popped open.

What tragically became the rapist's seventh known victim provided police with a moment-by-moment description that varied little from the attacks on the six women before her, leaving police to conclude that they are still looking for a single sexually deranged man.

Police did not comment on whether Monday's victim was pistol-whipped or cut as others have been, nor if anything was stolen from her apartment as was the case March 24 at the Polo Club apartments on Flamingo when an $800 designer purse was taken during an attempted sexual assault.

The predator deviates little from the pattern he set with the first reported case in late 1996, always dressing in black and striking in the early morning hours.

Police are hesitant to comment further on his routine out of respect for the agony the victims have endured. Further, they fear releasing more specific details could hamper the investigation and plant ideas in the wrong minds.

"The incidents have been extremely traumatic and difficult for the victims" Monahan said. "There are people out there who are not well-adjusted and we don't want to develop copycats."

In their search for clues to nail the suspect, Monahan said a victimology study has found that the women share little in common. All have different occupations, he said, and none know each other.

They are, however, similar in that they usually live in the same part of town -- near Flamingo between Pecos Road and Mountain Vista -- in residences away from high foot-traffic areas such as on the perimeters of apartment complexes or other areas where a pervert could easily observe his victim prior to an attack without being noticed.

Despite similarities, police are reminding the public that the rapist could just as easily change his pattern. All valley residents are reminded to keep their residences secured at night, especially after days when pleasant weather has invited the opportunity to open up doors and windows.

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