East Area Rapist

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East Area Rapist is the nickname for an unidentified serial rapist who terrorized Sacramento and Contra Costa Counties from June 1976 to July 1979. The rapist was never caught for the fifty sexual assaults attributed to his spree. The perpetrator's modus operandi was to stalk middle class neighborhoods for victims who lived in single story homes. Early in his spree, the criminal sought out women alone by themselves, but later partially changed focus towards couples. Typically he stealthily entered their living space late at night, then took control with a handgun in a surprise home invasion. All victims were then bound and the male companion, if present, isolated. The East Area Rapist would then spend a considerable time during his rape and ransacking of the home.

In 2001, California law enforcement linked DNA evidence from three presumed East Area Rapist crimes committed in Contra Costa County, CA, to DNA found from Southern California victims of an unidentified serial murderer dubbed the Original Night Stalker.