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

[brett1968]

Does anyone know if Robert Pickton the Canadian serial killer has ever been considered as the EAR/ONS?

 

[colette]

Does anyone know if Robert Pickton the Canadian serial killer has ever been considered as the EAR/ONS?

The MO is totally different. Pickton brought women to his farm, EAR/ONS attacked in the home. Also EAR/ONS had to live in and around his first attacks, not in Canada.

 

[everybodhi]

I think looking for vehicles could be a dead end. There were so many different ones and most probably had nothing to do with EAR/ONS. He used bikes and walked. When he did drive he would park away from the homes, so no one could tie his vehicle to the scene.

When I hear "Rancho Cordova", I think "junkyards".
Rancho Cordova is home to the biggest auto salvage yards in CA, when you look on a satellite view, the junk yards are a big part of the town. You can get parts for any car there, I have been and it is miles and miles of junk cars.
If he worked at the junkyards, he could have used old vehicles before they were crushed, burying any evidence forever.
It would also explain why the tag numbers that were traced were connected to cars that were sold as junk.

https://m.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Auto+Salvage+Yard&find_loc=Rancho+Cordova,+CA

 

[the champ]

there has been talk he worked in a car yard

 

[Red Cross Jan]

Hi guys. I've been on vacation, and took along some reading material, Detective Shelby's book, to line up dates and times. Okay, the thing is, EAR couldn't have been him because we worked in San Jose and he was almost always there Mon.-Fri. nights. He obviously had time for doing creepy things locally but no way could he get away with driving to Sac all that time. EAR did strike twice in San Jose though. Also, Shelby's not sold on that sketch being accurate. Still it's a very odd coincidence.


Shelby's chapter on Carlos was interesting, though he refuses to name a #1 suspect, the fact that he stills lives somewhere in California on a boat no less, is creepy and a little suspect since that makes any DNA collection extremely difficult.

 

[the champ]

does anyone know the real name of richard shelbys suspect

 

[eritain]

EAR couldn't have been him because we worked in San Jose and he was almost always there Mon.-Fri. nights.

That rules out your co-worker as EAR, but not as the other person of interest in the Maggiore murders.

As I said before, I don't think that sketch is EAR. It's very hard to reconcile with EAR sketches from other events: The jaw is too angular, the face isn't narrow enough. The other Maggiore sketch is a better fit.

(That sketch does kind of look like the Visalia Ransacker, though. Or at least, my pet theory of the week is making me think so.)

 

[Timechangeseverythin]

Lurker here, first time poster. In middle of listening to the 5 part podcast casefile on this. Terrifying to say the least!!

a random thought I have is, did anyone consider a phone operator? Obviously he is brazen and has what seems to be a military background. Law enforcement maybe but if one could 'tap' into any phone calls, wouldn't he be able to discover much of the information he seems to have gotten by stalking. Vacations planned, who's in the house, even law enforcement conversations about him and said victims. Every time they put a tap on a phone line, he would stop calling. One victim had said after changing her number and moving, the calls kept coming. He could have listened to many diff phone conversations if it was possible. He seems too 'invisible' yet always a step ahead it seemed. Even with all the police attempts at surveillance and the repeated locations he hit. He still managed to elude and stay ahead of the detectives. He must have had some sort of unseen advantage.

Just a a random thought is all but a telephone operator/worker could possibly have access to a lot of information that could have been used. I do not know what the phone systems were like back then (I was born in 76) but would it have been possible to 'tap' into phone calls if you were in the industry?


They also suggest he got his information from the DMV. Which would make sense to get information from. And going off this assumption, how common place was it to change your phone number with the DMV when you moved? Who would get the updated phone number so quickly? How did he get it...

Anyone have insight on the phone industry back then or personal exp in the field?

 

[dotr]

Lurker here, first time poster. In middle of listening to the 5 part podcast casefile on this. Terrifying to say the least!!

a random thought I have is, did anyone consider a phone operator? Obviously he is brazen and has what seems to be a military background. Law enforcement maybe but if one could 'tap' into any phone calls, wouldn't he be able to discover much of the information he seems to have gotten by stalking. Vacations planned, who's in the house, even law enforcement conversations about him and said victims. Every time they put a tap on a phone line, he would stop calling. One victim had said after changing her number and moving, the calls kept coming. He could have listened to many diff phone conversations if it was possible. He seems too 'invisible' yet always a step ahead it seemed. Even with all the police attempts at surveillance and the repeated locations he hit. He still managed to elude and stay ahead of the detectives. He must have had some sort of unseen advantage.

Just a a random thought is all but a telephone operator/worker could possibly have access to a lot of information that could have been used. I do not know what the phone systems were like back then (I was born in 76) but would it have been possible to 'tap' into phone calls if you were in the industry?


They also suggest he got his information from the DMV. Which would make sense to get information from. And going off this assumption, how common place was it to change your phone number with the DMV when you moved? Who would get the updated phone number so quickly? How did he get it...

Anyone have insight on the phone industry back then or personal exp in the field?

Welcome to Ws Timechangeseverythin!
Interesting suggestion about the phone operator, makes me think also of phone line repair persons high up on poles with excellent sight lines..

 

[mrcricket300]

EAR had too much time on his hands, which makes me think he was college student or had a rich family and didn't need to work. He started to slow down in later years. Maybe he graduated from college and found a full time job, and didn't have much free time as before?

 

[Timechangeseverythin]

Welcome to Ws Timechangeseverythin!
Interesting suggestion about the phone operator, makes me think also of phone line repair persons high up on poles with excellent sight lines..

add to your theory that he mostly struck the single story houses. That of which he would have seen over and around single story houses from atop a pole.

 

[kat913]

Going off both posts about phone operator, phone lineman....since he seemed to be "fairly young" any chance he may have learned something from one of his parents (slyly) who were in some business he could have gathered info from? Any ideas of what he could have learned from their professions etc. Just a thought...

 

[kat913]

One reason I suggest this is because he seemed to be quite brazen, confident and had evolved very quickly. Just seems he must have been working on his perfection from a young age. Where could his knowledge/opportunity have come from? Just a thought that maybe he was privy to something that assisted him in his crimes that another criminal may not have been.

Just an idea for anyone willing to think what occupations, opportunities, information etc. he may have learned back in the 70's, I believe.

 

[Timechangeseverythin]

Going off both posts about phone operator, phone lineman....since he seemed to be "fairly young" any chance he may have learned something from one of his parents (slyly) who were in some business he could have gathered info from? Any ideas of what he could have learned from their professions etc. Just a thought...

Interesting theory that could have some weight in his possible “expertise”. I’m not real familiar with phone systems back then but maybe something to consider if the mother/father was in the industry.

Just so spooky and I cannot believe he was never caught.

 

[Red Cross Jan]

(That sketch does kind of look like the Visalia Ransacker, though. Or at least, my pet theory of the week is making me think so.)

Do you think VR and EAR are the same guy?

What gets me is how often he risked getting caught with all the extra prowling and burglarizing he would do in a target neighborhood beforehand.

I talked with the investigator for Sacramento on Friday and gave him all I could remember about " my guy." Seemed very interested despite the geography, and insisted on a phone interview rather than email, probably so he could assess what kind of wingnut he was dealing with. lol It seems to me his questions were more thorough and pointed than the first interview. I got the impression that they're still very much working the case and not dismissing anything out of hand. Despite the mountain of difficulties and scope of this 40 year old cold case, I believe it will be solved.

 

[eritain]

w00t! One more lead in LE's hands! And pointed questions seem to me more promising than "well, tell us whatever you remember."

I'm sure they are familiar with the voices of every EAR-obsessed crackpot by now, and can recognize them and hang up with less investment than email.

I don't think VR is EAR. Witness descriptions of their legs and their faces don't line up. But I think VR might have taught EAR his burglary skills and his taste for leaving a mess.

 

[Red Cross Jan]

Yeah, I agree, VR looked too dark to me, and nothing like any of the other sketches.

This investigator is pretty sharp, he had already tracked down one guy with the same name who still lived in the south bay and was approximately the right age. I don't think he had made contact yet, or what happens now, but I'd love to be a fly on the wall if he does.

I wanted to ask him more questions, but he was doing the asking. He wanted to know why it took me two weeks to get in touch with him. After 40 years I didn't think two more weeks would matter, and I didn't want to waste his time if I could find something in that book that would rule him out. Plus I was on vacation. Then he wanted to know what I was doing on Websleuths and how I found it. I told him about that whole thing at work and then seeing the sketch on Paula Zahn's show. Looking for more information and googled. I assume there are still records to back up everything I said.

He even wanted a better description of the ski mask - what kind of material, were the eye holes sewn-in or cut? Given the amount of details he asked for even though it's probably not the guy is what makes me hopeful that they'll uncover something that will solve it.

 

[colette]

A show People Magazine Investigates will cover ear/ons this seaon.

http://people.com/crime/people-magazine-investigates-season-2-announcement/

 

[snowleopard]

I posted this also on the Tammy Little/Laura Kempton thread. There has been speculation (some for a while now) that the murders of these two women could possibly be the work of the EAR/ONS/GSK. This is speculation only, but the m/o fits as does the timing, taking place during the famous '81-85 gap. These crimes took place in an Air Force base community. The youtube guy is probably familiar to many and controversial in ONS circles, but is worth a cautious listen. There is supposedly dna available in the NH cases, so let's hope for a comparison.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...y-Little-20-Portsmouth-Sept-1981-amp-Oct-1982
https://www.reddit.com/r/EARONS/comments/556bsr/possible_ear_crimes/d88xsv8/
[video=youtube;Y17tOh4hHlQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y17tOh4hHlQ[/video]

 

[snowleopard]

The descriptions of crimes here reminds me of ear/ons/gsk..And the reaction of the retired detective reminds me very much of Larry Crompton saying he'd awake a night and wonder what he'd missed. Eerie.
[video=youtube;f73az5-umHs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f73az5-umHs[/video]