I was rereading Richard Shelbys book and reflecting on the events of the second half of 1979.
So, we now know that on the 2nd July 79 JJD was arrested for shoplifting, went into a rage when apprehended, was suspended (pending his firing).
I will paraphrase from Shelbys book re the events of 5th July 79, where something went very wrong. Wrong for EAR, that is. Apparently the male victim in this attack was a light sleeper and he woke in the early hours of the morning. He saw a man in the bedroom EAR with his back turned, putting on a mask. Unlike other assaults where EAR surprised victims unaware, this victim saw EAR first. The male victim leapt out of bed and confronted EAR, shouting stuff like who the *advertiser censored** are you? etc so loudly he woke up neighbours, who called the police. The female victim ran past her husband and got outside, screaming for help and once her husband knew she was outside, he ran too. EAR bolted, and according to Shelby was close to being caught as the police got to this scene very quickly due to neighbours calling while the attempted assault was in progress.
This is actually the last known EAR attack in Northern California, and Im surprised its not spoken of more often. Things went right off script for EAR here and the theory was it was such a close shave he moved away. Maybe not, though? Now that we know he was in serious trouble at work, it adds to the picture of him becoming increasingly enraged and possibly feeling disempowered. Its very frustrating when your victims dare to fight back - even the lowly shop attendants dared to thwart him, and his stupid boss, who is inferior to him in every way, has the audacity to punish
In the next attack, which occurred in October in Goleta, he continuously muttered to his victims he was going to kill them. The female victim managed to get free and ran outside screaming. Her husband believed she was being murdered and threw off the dishes on his back and ran too. Thwarted again, EAR/ONS fled. He was actually pursued by the victims neighbour, an ex-FBI agent, who almost caught him.
JJD is officially fired in November.
In December, the Offerman/Manning murders occur. According to Shelby, crime scene analysis indicated that the couple were tied up, then Robert Offerman most likely broke free and was shot 5 times. Alexandria Manning was then killed with one gunshot. This is a bit different from the other murders as ONS bludgeoned those victims and clearly intended to do so from the beginning of the crime. Murder must have felt satisfying, after six months of frustration and humiliation.
I am so glad hes been caught.
