Original Night Stalker

The Original Night Stalker is the name given to an unidentified serial killer and rapist who murdered at least ten people in Southern California from 1979 through 1986. The crimes initially centered on East Sacramento where at least fifty women were sexually assaulted between June 18, 1976, and July 5, 1979. The perpetrator was dubbed The East Area Rapist. In 2001, the Northern California rapes were linked by DNA to murders in Southern California. The Original Night Stalker/East Area Rapist was never apprehended; several suspects have been cleared through DNA, alibi, or other investigative means and methods. Crimes: California law enforcement authorities estimate fifty rapes in Sacramento County and Contra Costa County were committed by the Original Night Stalker. DNA evidence links him to ten murders in Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, and Irvine, California. Investigators suspect at least three other murders were committed by the Original Night Stalker. Method of operation: The Sacramento East Area Rapist is believed to have begun with a bizarre burglary spree, and later committing rapes. His initial modus operandi was to stalk middle class neighborhoods at night looking for women who lived in single-story homes. He was spotted on a number of occasions, but sprinted away when detected on prowls. On one occasion, a youth who closely pursued him was shot and seriously wounded. Most victims had seen or heard a prowler on their property before the attacks, and many had suffered break-ins. Police believed the offender had a pattern of using reconnaissance on the houses of victims before the day of the crime. The targeting of couples was typically in the middle of the night, he broke in and woke the occupants, threatening them with a handgun. All victims were bound with ligatures that the criminal brought to the crime scene. The stalker would also usually call and leave eerie messages on the victims' answering machine. In one of these messages the stalker repeats, "Gonna kill you." The female victim was made to tie up her male companion with bootlaces before being tied up herself. The perpetrator was believed to use a bicycle to travel to and from his car. A masked bicycle rider chased by a policeman in the early hours of the morning is believed to have been the rapist. The suspect left the bike and made off when spotted. During the subsequent foot-chase across back yards, he vaulted a series of fences and shook off the pursuit. East Area Rapist crimes 1979: On October 1, an intruder broke in and tied up a Goleta couple. The attacker alarmed them by chanting "I'm going to kill them" to himself. When he left the room, the man and then the woman made attempts to escape during which the woman screamed. Realizing the alarm had been raised, the intruder fled. A neighbor, who was an FBI agent, responded to the noise and pursued the perpetrator, who abandoned the bike he was on and fled on foot through local back yards. The attacker also abandoned a knife at this point. The attack was later linked physically to the Offerman-Manning murders (see below) by shoeprints and the same roll of twine being used to bind the victims. Original Night Stalker crimes: Murders in Southern California (Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, and Irvine, California) were not initially thought to be connected. One Sacramento detective strongly believed the East Area Rapist was responsible for the Goleta attacks, but at first the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department attributed them to a local career criminal who had himself subsequently been murdered. Investigating the crimes that did not occur in Goleta caused local police to follow false leads related to men who had been close to the female victims. One suspect, later acknowledged to be innocent, was charged with two murders. Linking all of the cases together was achieved almost entirely by DNA testing, which was not done until many years later. 1979: -On December 30, Dr. Robert Offerman, 44, and Debra Alexandra Manning, 35, were found shot dead in bed at Offerman's condominium on Avendida Pequena in Goleta. The bindings on Offerman were untied, indicating he had apparently lunged at the attacker. Neighbors heard the gunshots but failed to respond to them, attributing them to innocuous causes. The killer brought a white German Shepherd Dog (with a missing toe) with him and fed it leftover Christmas turkey from the victims' home. The killer also broke into the adjoining residence, to the west of the crime scene, which was vacant at the time, and stole a bicycle. The bicycle was later found abandoned on a street to the north of the crime scene. 1980: -On March 13, Charlene Smith, 33, and Lyman Smith, 43, who was about to be appointed a Judge, were found murdered in their home in Ventura. A log from the fireplace was used to bludgeon both the victims to death. Their wrists and ankles had been bound with a drapery cord. An unusual Chinese knot, known as the diamond knot, was used on their wrists. -On August 19, Keith Harrington, 24, and Patrice Harrington, 27, were found bludgeoned to death in their home on Cockleshell Drive in the Niguel Shores gated community in Dana Point. Although there was evidence that the Harringtons were bound at the wrist and ankles, no ligatures, or murder weapon, were found at the scene. The Harringtons had been married for three months at the time of their deaths. Patrice was a nurse in Irvine, while Keith was a medical student at the University of California, Irvine. Keith Harrington's brother later spent nearly $2 million supporting California Proposition 69 (2004). 1981: -On February 6, Manuela Witthuhn, 28, was murdered in her home in Irvine. Again, while the body showed signs of being tied before being bludgeoned, no ligatures, or murder weapon, were found at the scene. The victim was married, but her husband was recuperating from an illness in the hospital; thus she was alone at the time of the attack. A lamp and crystal curio were removed from her house, presumably by the killer. Also, detectives remarked that Mrs. Witthuhn's television was found in the backyard, which was possibly the killer's attempt to make it appear as a botched robbery. -On July 26/27, Cheri Domingo, 35, and Gregory Sanchez, 27, were bludgeoned to death in the Domingo home on Toltec Way in Goleta, several blocks south of the Offerman-Manning crime scene, with a tool taken from a small shed in the backyard. Sanchez was also shot, but not tied up. Police thought Sanchez may have realized he was dealing with the man responsible for the murder of Offerman and Manning, and made a desperate attempt to tackle the killer rather than be tied up. As in the Offerman-Manning case, no neighbors responded to the sound of the gunshot. The killer's dog was also present at this crime scene. 1986: On May 4, Janelle Lisa Cruz, 18, was found bludgeoned to death in her Irvine home. Her family was on vacation in Mexico at the time of the attack. A pipe wrench was reported missing by Cruz' stepfather and was thought to be the probable murder weapon. Suspected murders- Claude Snelling: The Visalia Ransacker was the name given to the perpetrator of a bizarre burglary spree with several similarities to the later East Area Rapist break-ins in Sacramento. However, it is not certain that the Visalia and Sacramento crimes were committed by the same man. On September 11, 1975, Claude Snelling, a journalism professor at the College of the Sequoias, was shot dead while foiling an attempt to kidnap his daughter from the family home in the middle of the night. On December 12, 1975, a police officer on a night stakeout at a residence where traces of a prowler had been found attempted to arrest a masked man breaking into the residence. After the officer fired a warning shot, the suspect feigned surrender and fired back at the officer, hitting his flashlight and causing glass shards to fly into his face, temporarily blinding him. Other police officers were quickly on the scene but the prowler escaped by doubling back through the pursuit before a cordon was established. The burglary spree ceased in Visalia after the incident; the East Area Rapist began attacking victims in Sacramento County at about the same time. Brian and Katie Maggiore: On the night of February 2, 1978, a young Sacramento couple, Brian and Katie Maggiore, were walking their dog in the Rancho Cordova area, close to where several East Area Rapist attacks had taken place. A confrontation in the street caused the couple to flee, but they were chased down and shot dead. Some investigators suspected the couple had been murdered by the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker due to the location, and the fact that bootlaces were found at the scene. The Original Night Stalker speaks Letters and writings- "Excitement's Crave" poem (December 11, 1977): In December, 1977 letters were sent to the editor of the Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento mayor's Office and the KVIE 6 TV station, entitled “Excitement’s Crave” written in poem form by an individual claiming to be the East Area Rapist. ’’Excitement's Crave’ All those mortal’s surviving birth / Upon Facing maturity, / Take inventory of their worth / To prevailing society. Choosing values becomes a task: / Oneself must seek satisfaction. / The selected route will unmask / Character when plans take action Accepting some work to perform / At fixed pay, but promise for more, / Is a recognised social norm, / As is decorum, seeking lore. Achieving while others lifting / Should be cause for deserving fame. / Leisure tempts excitement seeking, / What’s right and expected seems tame. “Jessie James” has been seen by all, / And “Son of Sam” has an author. / Others now feel temptations call. / Sacramento should make an offer. To make a movie of my life / That will pay for my planned exile. / Just now I’d like to add the wife / Of a Mafia lord to my file. Your East Area Rapist / And deserving pest / See you in the press or on T.V. "The homework" pages (December 9, 1978): During the investigation of the 42nd attack in Danville investigators discovered three notebook pages not far from the scene of the attack where a suspicious vehicle had reportedly been parked. First page: “General Custer” essay: Written on the first page is what appears to be a essay on General Custer.