Two serial rapists feared on loose

Cathy Scott

Friday, Feb. 27, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.

Two serial rapists may be on the loose in the southwest area of the valley, Metro Police say.

Seven women have been attacked since December 1996. But the last three attacks may have been committed by a copycat criminal, said Sgt. Clint Robison with the Sexual Assault Detail. That means there may be two serial rapists, he said.

"We're investigating the strong possibility that there are two separate suspects," Robison said Thursday.

While there are several common denominators in each of the crimes, including the pre-dawn times of the attacks and targeting single young women or teenagers who live in ground-floor apartments, there are also differences, Robison said.

"There are enough dissimilarities in the crimes that it could be two men. We were hoping it was one," he said.

The differences, however, are not being released, he said.

If there are two men, Robison said, it makes it tougher for police to catch the men.

The women have not been able to give police accurate descriptions "because it's early in the morning, it's dark, he wakes them up as he's attacking them, and his face and hands are covered," Robison said. "We don't even know what race he is."

The suspects in each of the crimes has worn a ski mask and gloves. Also, the suspects have become more violent with each occurrence. The sixth victim was pistol-whipped, and the seventh victim was also injured, police said.