CA CA - East Area Rapist aka The Original Night Stalker 1976-86

[Ausgirl]

How can I pass by a thread starring my old mates Robin Hood and Kline - and EAR/ONS to boot? I cannot, of course!

Just some quick comments for now...

This case isn't all that obscure - it's been pretty well known for many years over here, at least among people who follow crime cases.. and EAR/ONS (I flat out refuse to call him 'The Golden State Killer', as seriously? re-naming an unsub after thirty years is a bit of an ego trip, isn't it...) is up there with Zodiac as a mystery perp.

I'm fascinated by the masked mouth/clenched teeth/high pitched voice when excited thing. Some have said he could have had a speech impediment/cleft palate though witness descriptions generally refute this. I do think he had reason to feel self-conscious about his face/voice, though (a witness said he'd mentioned a facial deformity of some kind - acne scars.. a cleft palate scar that was maybe almost invisible to anyone else, but a huge thing to EAR/ONS.. etc)

A possibly unrelated by marginally relevant anecdote: Many moons ago in college a friend brought this amazingly hot looking guy to a party at my house.. He was average height, muscular and very good looking, but when he opened his mouth, the whole room just .. stopped and stared. His voice was incredibly high pitched, like a jockey's and just so incongruous coming out of the mouth of this buff guy..

Anyway, we didn't ask but assumed he had some kind of hormone disorder, though his muscular frame suggested to some of us that he was on steroids.. This poor guy from the 80's (I feel bad about how we all stared at him, of course) has always popped to mind when I read about EAR/ONS and his squeaky voice.

I have also often thought he probably perceived himself as a severe disappointment (as far as 'being a man' goes) to one or both parents, almost certainly his father but clearly there's some 'Mommy' issues there, too.. I have wondered if he witnessed brutality/rape within his parents' relationship.

I think he would be drawn to military/police/uniform jobs like that but not in the 'heroic' role he probably fantasised about, more like someone working the office in a minor role. Probably was rejected from one academy or another..

I think his dad was hardcore military, though. Call that a gut feeling backed up by his general demeanour..

Anyways, I am in the middle of reading some stuff on EAR/ONS - will return to the thread when I am done with that. Glad this is being discussed here.

 

[ceecee30]

Annec at least two other posted speculated the same thing about Mint Car.

Some of the posts must have gone because I can't find them, I can see mint car's post and find it extremely odd he posts 3 times in 2007 only on this case. No other posts for him at all..

My Opinion Only - highly possible EAR/ONS has checked in here time to time and even posted.

I'll tell you how bad the EAR-ONS case freaked me out - I was too scared to even POST on the old thread! And then I got all paranoid that the poster called "Mint Car" (which of course I could construe as a creepy name b/c I was already nervous) actually MIGHT BE the perp and....just whoa.

Completely freaked me out!

I've read this whole thread today, and was game enough to listen to the recorded call, now I'm jumpy as hell just hearing that recording!

 

[kline]

How can I pass by a thread starring my old mates Robin Hood and Kline - and EAR/ONS to boot? I cannot, of course!

Just some quick comments for now...

This case isn't all that obscure - it's been pretty well known for many years over here, at least among people who follow crime cases.. and EAR/ONS (I flat out refuse to call him 'The Golden State Killer', as seriously? re-naming an unsub after thirty years is a bit of an ego trip, isn't it...) is up there with Zodiac as a mystery perp.

I'm fascinated by the masked mouth/clenched teeth/high pitched voice when excited thing. Some have said he could have had a speech impediment/cleft palate though witness descriptions generally refute this. I do think he had reason to feel self-conscious about his face/voice, though (a witness said he'd mentioned a facial deformity of some kind - acne scars.. a cleft palate scar that was maybe almost invisible to anyone else, but a huge thing to EAR/ONS.. etc)

A possibly unrelated by marginally relevant anecdote: Many moons ago in college a friend brought this amazingly hot looking guy to a party at my house.. He was average height, muscular and very good looking, but when he opened his mouth, the whole room just .. stopped and stared. His voice was incredibly high pitched, like a jockey's and just so incongruous coming out of the mouth of this buff guy..

Anyway, we didn't ask but assumed he had some kind of hormone disorder, though his muscular frame suggested to some of us that he was on steroids.. This poor guy from the 80's (I feel bad about how we all stared at him, of course) has always popped to mind when I read about EAR/ONS and his squeaky voice.

I have also often thought he probably perceived himself as a severe disappointment (as far as 'being a man' goes) to one or both parents, almost certainly his father but clearly there's some 'Mommy' issues there, too.. I have wondered if he witnessed brutality/rape within his parents' relationship.

I think he would be drawn to military/police/uniform jobs like that but not in the 'heroic' role he probably fantasised about, more like someone working the office in a minor role. Probably was rejected from one academy or another..

I think his dad was hardcore military, though. Call that a gut feeling backed up by his general demeanour..

Anyways, I am in the middle of reading some stuff on EAR/ONS - will return to the thread when I am done with that. Glad this is being discussed here.

HI Ausgirl!!!!!!
Good to see you post!!!
Im very new to this case and Im attempting to catch up on the material from various places(must admit its nice researching a case that ISNT in my back yard for a change)so im trying to refrain from asking newbie questions that are probably common knowledge to the more intiated with this case.
Like said before Im amazed a case of this magnitude has recieved far less attention then many.
To me with the exception of Z's Newspaper histrionics it surpasses Zodiac on many levels.
I do think a military connection may be a factor like you surmise.
Im sure others have noted the Tactical like elements of his attacks that jumped out at me.
I know the EAR/ONS is known as a prowler and a peeper but as I noted earlier it struck me that his female victims dont appear to me at least, as women he happened upon by chance looking through windows.
They were almost without exception very striking looking.
Like women one would notice out of a crowd in a store or on the street.
I think he spotted them trailed them to where they lived then began the tactical planning of the attack on the residence.
I would be willing to bet he was living in the general vicinity of the Withuhn 1981 attack and the Cruz attack in 1986 during his nearly five year hiatus...
It makes one wonder what brought him out of retirement in 86, possibly returning to the neigborhood after an incarceration or some traumatic stressor in his life or whether he just spotted Janelle Cruz somehwere and she rang his bell so hard he couldnt resist.
I keep thinking of Gary Ridgeways 'retirement' in the Green River case.
I dont think we can just assume anymore that the perp MUST be dead or incarcerated.
I mean at the fever pitch he was at with his assaults its an easy assumption to make but the Green River killer was damn near killing three or four women a week before he just stopped.
Maybe he developed a passion for swap meets and rummage sales in his older years too and still lives in the area.

 

[Ausgirl]

Nice to see you too, Kline! I have to agree with you, regarding ear/ons vs Zodiac, ear/ons was more prolific and much, much bolder.. not such a publicity hound, though.

Just a few additional thoughts maybe worth jotting down..

Idk. I have this funny feeling either this guy's the rarest bird around or he was seriously messing with the cops, giving little red herrings all over the place.. I can't honestly say at this point which I think is more accurate.

- He's a non-secretor. 20% of people are non-secretors.

- He -might- be colour blind. But not the usual red/green kind, the rarer blue/green kind. Around 0.01% of men cannot tell blue from green. IF he actually was colour blind (as suggested by his clearly mistaking blue for green in a victim's home) and he'd been in the armed forces in some capacity, he'd have likely had restrictions such as not being able to work with electronics (due to wiring colours) or perhaps prevented from flying planes..

- He -might- stutter. 1% of the population stutter. A little less, if you disinclude women (4 times as many men stutter as women). ear/ons stuttered in front of some victims and not others... this doesn't mean he's faking it, necessarily - he might have faced a particular stressor during some crimes and not others that caused him to stutter. But yeah, maybe he was faking it too.


So - either this guy a super rare bird who, given all these 'rarities' ought to have been id'd by now! By somebody? Jeez..

Or - he was hyper manipulative and planting red herrings left and right, just so, dropping fake 'hints' to victims and such, and thus potentially was more focussed on the 'sport' of outwitting cops than the actual rapes (which, to be blunt, were mechanically perfunctory and not very confident compared to the level of stalking and terrorising.. )

I think he was very used to people underestimating his intelligence and level of aggression - and knew how to use that to his advantage. Call that another 'gut feeling' for now. But every mask has to slip sooner or later. Somebody surely saw this guy lose it, in his regular life - exposing the monster underneath.

I find it hard to think about this guy never being id'd.. Can't imagine how it stressed the investigating cops and his victims out.

 

[kline]

Nice to see you too, Kline! I have to agree with you, regarding ear/ons vs Zodiac, ear/ons was more prolific and much, much bolder.. not such a publicity hound, though.

Just a few additional thoughts maybe worth jotting down..

Idk. I have this funny feeling either this guy's the rarest bird around or he was seriously messing with the cops, giving little red herrings all over the place.. I can't honestly say at this point which I think is more accurate.

- He's a non-secretor. 20% of people are non-secretors.

- He -might- be colour blind. But not the usual red/green kind, the rarer blue/green kind. Around 0.01% of men cannot tell blue from green. IF he actually was colour blind (as suggested by his clearly mistaking blue for green in a victim's home) and he'd been in the armed forces in some capacity, he'd have likely had restrictions such as not being able to work with electronics (due to wiring colours) or perhaps prevented from flying planes..

- He -might- stutter. 1% of the population stutter. A little less, if you disinclude women (4 times as many men stutter as women). ear/ons stuttered in front of some victims and not others... this doesn't mean he's faking it, necessarily - he might have faced a particular stressor during some crimes and not others that caused him to stutter. But yeah, maybe he was faking it too.


So - either this guy a super rare bird who, given all these 'rarities' ought to have been id'd by now! By somebody? Jeez..

Or - he was hyper manipulative and planting red herrings left and right, just so, dropping fake 'hints' to victims and such, and thus potentially was more focussed on the 'sport' of outwitting cops than the actual rapes (which, to be blunt, were mechanically perfunctory and not very confident compared to the level of stalking and terrorising.. )

I think he was very used to people underestimating his intelligence and level of aggression - and knew how to use that to his advantage. Call that another 'gut feeling' for now. But every mask has to slip sooner or later. Somebody surely saw this guy lose it, in his regular life - exposing the monster underneath.

I find it hard to think about this guy never being id'd.. Can't imagine how it stressed the investigating cops and his victims out.

Good thoughts!
And it is good question as to whether some of these 'quirks' the stuttering and so forth were Red Herrings.
Reminds me of something the 'Onion Field' Killer Gregory Powell supposedly said about a fake mole he would put before commitiing an armed robbery:
(Paraphasing) "In the heat of the moment people will remember little things like the mole...and after the stick up it's gone!"
And your right though these crimes appear to be sexually motivated for sure after all the build up the actual sexual act seemed kind of perfunctory it seems like he may ahve had a dificult time performing though he definitly seemed to have a fantasy ritual in place he was trying to recreate in real life.
Seems like the real payoff for the creep was beating his victims over the head with a blunt object.

 

[ArianeEmory]

'Night Stalker' killer Ramirez dies in Calif. prison

http://www.wtvq.com/news/national/s...ies-in-Calif-pris/cDTG_JldLUKqxv1rG272jg.cspx

 

[Ausgirl]

Not the same perp. He ought to have his own thread somewhere...

But.. YAY. One less killer in the world.

 

[txsvicki]

I was going to listen to the recordings but never found them, but stopped reading at the description of him getting into homes before the attacks and unloading guns or hiding cords under pillows. I don't remember hearing about that before now. How scary.

 

[Ausgirl]

It really is terrifying, Vicki.... creepiest thing I've heard.

I can't listen to the tapes at night. Don't. You won't sleep, lol.

This man just got off on creating as much terror as he possibly can, all the call-backs, the pre-breakins, the "script" he used to maximise the victim's fear he'd kill or maim them..

I need some opinions from you sleuthers, please, on the possibility of EAR/ONS being quite a young man when this all started. Like, 16 or 17 in 1978. Makes him a bit young for the '76 crimes, but rapists of that age are well and truly not unheard of...

Sorry if it's been posted already, but here's a handy timeline of crimes/locations:

http://www.ear-ons.com/crimes.html

Another point I'm pondering.... In the Florida profile linked here , it's said EAR/ONS tried to fool the cops into believing he was a burglar, by ransacking the house, in order to lead police to believe the crimes were not connected, etc..

Thinking about this a different, though - EAR/ONS was -smart- but psychotic. He had a "script" he needed to follow, and my sense is that (maybe moreso early on..) if that script was disrupted, he'd have trouble going through with the crime.

I think the whole "I just want food & money" that he used through so many crimes was a way to keep the victims hopeful and quiet. BUT the actual ransacking he did between raping the victims multiple times, the petty articles he took while leaving valuable ones and money behind.. the remorseful/fearful self talk he was heard to speak..

I am tempted to think maybe EAR/ONS was trying to convince himself that he was just a burglar, at times, and really was experiencing fear and remorse at his compulsion to rape... BUT. This is what does my head in....

A rapist who pretends that burglary is important to him and then cries for Mommy/expresses a fear of Mommy/blames Mommy during the crimes, acts remorseful, listens to victim requests, etc is at -serious- odds with a man who stalks a house, breaks in and leaves bindings handy for the 'real' crime (of rape/murder), manipulates cops and victim perception, researches his crimes and comes fully prepared, etc.. He's incredibly methodical.

But somehow, I -do- think the burglary line was an important part of his "script", rather than just a weak attempt to fool the cops. He was smart, and he knew the cops hunting him were smart. He -wanted- them to know it was the same guy, and he was smart enough to mix things up in his MO more then he did. But he didn't.

It's like there's two perps. One pathetic and self-doubting, and one who is very far from it. But there wasn't two, there was just this one guy exhibiting this conflicting behaviour. It just does my head in. More to think about..

 

[txsvicki]

I finally located all 3 calls. All 3 do sound like the same person, and also wondering as well if he was pretty young. Every description and even the calls seem like an immature yet very dangerous person. A young caucasian with mother issues, small penis, small feet, large calves, prominent nose. It seems like any women he might have been with, if there have been any, would recognize him. Edited: It's frustrating to google the new info. I read that the map he left and handwriting sample were up on a site. Going to that and can't find it or the 3 phone calls. All this info should be prominently displayed on those media sites so that a google search would lead straight to it. Even the info on him having a white german shepard missing a toe was deep in a story someone wrote.

 

[Ausgirl]

Vicki, I have to wonder if EAR/ONS was actually younger than he was described.. if so, I have a couple perps in mind that are worth investigating..

I found this link today, and it made me really sad - just one example of how it's not just the victims themselves who end up victimised by perps like EAR/ONS:

David Witthuhn speaks about what he went through.

Poor man.

And yes, the info is all scattered about.. It'd be awesome to have a well-organised, comprehensive and up-to- date site that wasn't all about proving a pet theory. Just the facts, Ma'am, type of thing..

Here's a site with some good maps and interesting theories: https://sites.google.com/site/jjmcgr/home

 

[Robin Hood]

Not the same perp. He ought to have his own thread somewhere...

But.. YAY. One less killer in the world.

:clap:

 

[txsvicki]

I haven't gotten to any parts yet about how he listened to victim requests. His sobbing and calling out mommy, that the media was scaring her, made me wonder if she was *****ing at him about going out alone and he was being snarky, or if maybe he started out as a gentleman rapist. There might be early date rapes or rapes that were never reported. The 70's could still get a girl totally humiliated and even blamed about rape.

 

[Ausgirl]

Thats a good point, Vicki. I honestly think EAR/ONS has a long history of sex crimes before the recorded rapes started - peeping at the very least... and I think he did make mistakes in those crimes, the ones we know about seem very 'practised'. Perhaps the records are sealed on his earlier crimes though... I do think he began peeping/molesting/raping at a very early age. Just a gut feeling right now. Maybe one day we'll know.

The gloves made me sit up - I saw them described as motocross gloves. Combine that with the mouthless ski mask... and the use of bicycles as a quick escape from the crime scene... the notably muscled legs.

Maybe he was involved with competitive bike riding. Specifically, the kind you need a ski mask for, to keep the dust out. BMX?

Bikes were comfort thing for him, in any case, I think... Another thing that strikes me is - he doesn't seem too scared to have his cars seen while cruising the area pre-crime. But he quite often uses bikes as part of the crime. Was that more about the excitement? Were his first sex crimes committed with a bike as his sole getaway, so it's like, reliving that excitement moreso than purely for practical purposes? The bike gear/rider's legs suggests it's not unfeasible..

Pure speculation, thinking out loud..

 

[txsvicki]

Do you think he was "the ransacker"? I believe it was him there, too. The eating food at the homes could have been for energy to bike a distance instead of ritual. On the other hand, maybe it could have been a smoke screen to make people think that.

 

[Robin Hood]

Do you think he was "the ransacker"? I believe it was him there, too. The eating food at the homes could have been for energy to bike a distance instead of ritual. On the other hand, maybe it could have been a smoke screen to make people think that.

I think he was the ransaker and I think he ate because he had been cycling BEFORE he attacked and was hungry.

 

[relay]

I finally located all 3 calls. All 3 do sound like the same person, and also wondering as well if he was pretty young. Every description and even the calls seem like an immature yet very dangerous person. A young caucasian with mother issues, small penis, small feet, large calves, prominent nose. It seems like any women he might have been with, if there have been any, would recognize him. Edited: It's frustrating to google the new info. I read that the map he left and handwriting sample were up on a site. Going to that and can't find it or the 3 phone calls. All this info should be prominently displayed on those media sites so that a google search would lead straight to it. Even the info on him having a white german shepard missing a toe was deep in a story someone wrote.

Txvicki, I can't find the three phone calls. I want to hear them. Can you post link to them? Thank you.

 

[Robin Hood]

They are here relay

http://www.lamag.com/offtherecord/tag/golden-state-killer

 

[Ausgirl]

I think maybe too the food-eating could have been part of his psychopathy...

Once the victims were helpless and at his mercy, he could 'relax' and strut about, grab a bite to eat, take what he -wanted- (not stuff he needed, I truly think he had no need to steal) and return to the victims repeatedly, as his whims suited him. The eating was a way, perhaps, of making himself 'at home', ie, establishing in himself a feeling of superiority and ownership of the house for that short time he had it entirely in his control.

Perhaps at his actual home, he felt he had little or no power, no sense of the place being "his" too... I somehow doubt he had a wife, though I'm not sure about that. Right now, I think he lived in a very rigid environment, perhaps military... perhaps rigid, emotionally distant parents who made sure he knew whose house it was... In the victim's home, he could gratify every urge and no-one could stop him.

Thinking of his victims - he chose people who were living comfortably, who were not in vulnerable positions. I think these were the people he comfortable with, because they were similar to his own family. He was not poor, and he was not trying to eradicate anyone. He wanted control over them, total control, in the end descending to control over life and death.

Again, just thinking out loud.

 

[Ausgirl]

One thing that I have trouble getting a bead on is - the vehicles. If anyone's got some thoughts on the variety of vehicles he's thought to have used.. how he got access to such a wide variety of cars..

Did his family own a car yard, maybe? Were they all owned by individual members of his family? Did he borrow them, steal them...?

If they were stolen, though, you'd think he wouldn't care if the car was seen close to the crime scene. And if he didn't want the cars id'd, why would he use them when scoping out a neighborhood prior to a crime? Unless he just assumed that no-one would associate the strange cars with the attacks, because they were parked a few blocks away.. or maybe parking a distance away and using a bike was part of what turned him on...

The most convenient and safe thing for him to do would be to have a getaway vehicle parked really close by. The fact he chose to enhance his risks by parking a distance away might be telling in itself.