As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
This blog decided to create another post on the decade of attacks in California from 1976 to 1986 in the Cold Case of the East Area Rapist, the Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer. The purpose is after gleaning through these fifty plus cases that patterns formed which were a most accomplished psychological manipulation of the people who would be assaulted, as a twenty something male in the 1970's before there were all of these Criminal Minds programs and forensic psychological studies knew in what was termed scripted, how to effectively disarm people psychologically, get them to passively comply and then assault them.
I have three quotes below in the Modus Operandi, his or their method, the patterns and lastly what would be a typical attack which led to a successful breaking in, robbery, assault and escape. As I review these files a second time, it occurs that in forensic psychology, this criminal was taught these methods from someone or he was a savant, as he evolved to methods which he prepared these attacks for at least a month previous in entering the neighborhood, observing everyone, becoming part of the neighborhood, phoning those he chose to assault, and preparing the houses by cutting window screens, breaking locks or window glass by a lock, and if people were not home, entering the home and leaving access to the home in an open door.
There were several cases of dogs involved, but only one barked. In review of this, there is indication that the prime suspect had been in the home previously and made contact with the pet, and therefore the pet was conditioned to not respond to the entering the second time. It would be second time, as it appears the cutting of screens was never discovered until a police canvas later of other homes, so it would indicate that a "date was chosen" for the attacks, and the preparation was engaged in from midnight onward when people were either in their homes or out on dates and returning home.
In one case, dogs barked, and two people checked, and the dogs were barking at an oak tree on the neighbor's line. This is where the criminal had located himself for observation. As he was successful in surprising people, and stabbed a german shepherd which entered some bushes in the daylight, it would indicate this predator was at home in these different communities in stalking them as a cat would going unnoticed in most cases.
This is a point which appears in almost all of the cases, and it simply stuns me, in the number of times people had dogs barking and checked, heard something and checked, but none of them phoned the police. A number of homes were broken into, but a number were also open in windows or doors. This was California and centered in the Sacramento area and moved south, but part of the "luck" of this criminal element, was people not involved in their communities, police not investing times in reports and a preparation of knowing how to get in and out of neighborhoods, blending in or stealing a bicycle.
This was before cell phones and home security cameras with motion lights, but how this rapist and later murderer was able to move in and out of a number of California cities, with police actually warning other police with residents being alerted of attacks, is something more than borrowed luck.
In all of the cases, there is only two mentions of firearms. One was a shotgun which was poked out a window to scare off perhaps the prime suspect or another criminal with effect, and another with a handgun in the dresser table which was not went for, but was found and taken away, and found by the police discarded.
EAR attacks frequently had many of the following features, some of which when taken together were quite unique:
- EAR seemed to follow a "script" and said the same things over and over again at different attacks. "All I want is food or money" was a common phrase, as well as certain curse words.
- Rummaging through a victim's drawers
- Eating food in the victim's kitchen
- Placing dishes on the back of the male so that he could hear from anywhere in the house if the male tried to move
- Tying up victims' hands behind their back, often with shoelaces, and always so tight that the circulation was cut off
- Speaking through clenched teeth in a harsh whisper
- Having the female play with his penis while her hands were tied behind her back. This was a fairly unique element and can make it easy to weed out copycats in a few cases
- Leaving money on the table or dresser instead of stealing it, though he would steal money from time to time
- Taking small souvenirs or pictures of the victims
- Rarely touching the victim's breasts
Thee above is important in this, as the attacker or attackers, prepared several homes for entry to increase odds. It would seem to be that they also invested time in going through people's trash to obtain names to those they saw moving about, and phone numbers, along with other data.
The attacks followed a definite disarming pattern.
Awakening people in bed as they slept.
Shining a flashlight into their eyes.
Commands to be followed with profanity.
Threats of killing everyone in the house.
With couples, bringing shoelaces for the woman to tie up the man to subdue him, then the tying up of the woman.
Rummaging through the room, leaving for the kitchen to rummage around, returning at some point, and then removing the woman where the man was always ordered after placing dishes on his back:
The woman would be brought to the living room and be ordered:
- Those dishes make a sound and I will kill her.
This would be followed by the command for sex following a pattern of lotion on the male appendage, order to be stroked, and then a series of rapes.
- Cause any trouble an I kill him.
It is the subduing of the homeowners, taken from being in power to powerless which is the psychological manipulation. This pattern was successful in 99% of the attacks. Only once did a man jump out of bed and start his own profanity filled threats in demanding to know who this intruder was and removing him from the home. In that case the prime suspect was absolutely powerless and fled.
It was in that event that the rapists became through a series of events, a murderer.
The MO in this was the surprise of sleeping people who took some time to awaken, but being threatened were put into a frozen mode, and then commanded to roll on their stomachs before the brain fog could wear off, and the male subdued, each female complied, as the threats of knives and guns of killing everyone, through a hissing clinched jaw, was a shock assault like boot camp, and this is what brought about the success of this criminal.
Notes and Background
Scratch marks found on screens at the victim's homes and in the area.
Cried during attack
Neighbor who saw him pointed a shotgun at him. Said he'd "blow his fuckin' head off"
Found Security badge
Dishes, put a blanket over the TV. "Blow your fuckin' head off"
"My main man wants gold and silver"
"I'll cut off your baby's ear and bring it to you"
"I'll kill everyone in the house"
Knew victim's name. "Maureen I've been seeing you for a long time"
Stolen: Approximately $4000.00 in jewelry, dishes, utensils, appliances, camera equipment, and miscellaneous items was missing.
No physical description.
(HAP: Possible vehicles include a light-colored box-shaped van, a black or blue Falcon, faded green Fleetside Chevrolet pickup, and possibly a VW)
(HAP: The phone calls had turned obscene)
(HAP: Two men were seen at a break-in very near the victim two nights before the assault.)
The following is a typical attack before the series of murders began, and are the example of how this criminal subdued these adults, as he always preyed on the human emotion of not endangering someone you care about in protecting them by compliance.
As stated this was before the crime scene programs in psychological understanding, which points to this criminal was either insightful as a natural savant or was taught this by someone engaged in like abusive activity.
In numbers of assaults on women the prime suspect cried after the rapes. He could be harsh, but he showed tenderness on several occasions as he seemed to connect with certain women, perhaps in having stalked them for some time. In one case, the criminal after raping a woman in her bed, rolled over and started sobbing something which she thought sounded like the name Bonnie. This again could have been "mommy" as something had happened to this woman or with this woman which was at the center of these attacks as he brought this other woman with him and in some instances she appeared, not in the rape as a weapon, but in the intimacy of sexual connection.
The Attack
October 6, 1978 Belamn Court, Concord
The victims weren't home. EAR probably moved from Minert Road to Belamn Court. When he arrived at the victims' house, he cut away at the side door to the garage with a knife but the deadbolt held. He scratched several of the aluminum screens. He pried the screen off the living room window and leaned it against the side of the house. He broke a small hole in the glass, big enough to reach in and unlock the sliding glass window. He went in through the window, closing it behind him, making sure it remained unlocked. Once inside he unlocked the deadbolt on the front door. He left then, closing the door behind him. He then replaced the screen to the living room window and left.
The McCandles and their baby returned home (HAP: They arrived home around 11:30pm. As they were pulling up, they noticed a car, not belonging to the neighborhood, parked on nearby Minert Rd. They thought it might have been a Volkswagen). They went into the kitchen through the entry door from the garage. As Bruce went through the house he noticed that the door to his den was closed, which was strange because he always left the door open. Before going to bed, Bruce checked all the doors as he normally did. He noticed that the deadbolt was unlocked but didn't think anything of it.
At 2:30 a.m., Bruce stirred from sleep. There was a flashlight in his eyes and someone hitting his foot. He opened his eyes and looked directly into those of the masked man standing at the foot of his bed. A flashlight was in the masked intruder's left hand and a revolver was pointed at the now fully awake McCandles.
EAR: "I just want food and money, that's all. I'll kill you if you don't do as I say." The man spoke in a whisper. He hissed through clenched teeth. (HAP: He spoke in short, clipped sentences. "I just want food and money. I'll kill you if you don't do what I say". It sounded like he was hyperventilating.)
Maureen: "What?"
EAR: "Get on your stomachs." He pressed the gun muzzle against Bruce's head. "Put your hands behind your back."
Shoelaces landed on the bed in front of Maureen's face.
EAR: "Tie his hands."
She began tying her husband's wrists.
EAR: "Tighter. That's not tight enough. Tighter."
When she had finished tying Bruce's wrists, he told her "Get on your stomach," and then he retied Bruce's wrists tight. Then he tied Maureen's wrists. He tied her ankles but not as tightly.
EAR: "If you look at me I'll have to kill you."
They heard him removing laces from Bruce's shoes and then he was back at the bed.
EAR: "Keep lying face down. If you look at me, I'll kill you. I'll blow your fucking head off."
He tied Bruce's ankles, tight like his wrists.
They heard him rummaging through the dresser drawers and jewelry boxes.
EAR: "Where's your wallet?"
Bruce: "On the bathroom counter."
EAR: "Where's your purse?"
Maureen: "In the kitchen."
He disappeared and then came back.
EAR: "Is that all the money you have?"
Maureen: "Yes."
Again he was gone and they could hear him in other areas of the house.
When he returned they felt dishes being placed on their backs.
"If I hear these, I'll blow your fucking heads off," he hissed. Again he started rummaging.
Later her returned and went to Maureen. She could feel the laces fall from her ankles and felt the dishes being removed from her back.
EAR: "Stand up. Don't look at me or I'll cut your fuckin' head off."
He put the knife at Maureen's throat and pushed her from the room. He took her to the living room.
EAR: "If you don't do everything I tell you, I'll kill you and everyone in the house. Lie down."
She heard him turn on the television and turn off the volume. She could see him put a blanket over the screen, the only light in the house, nd head again for the bedroom.
EAR: "If these dishes fall, I'll kill everyone in the house," he hissed at Bruce, and he placed more dishes on his back.
EAR: "My main man wants gold and silver," he whined as he left the room.
EAR: "If you don't give me a good fuck, I'll kill everyone, " he hissed as he cut Maureen's nightgown in several places, tearing it from her body. I'll cut off your baby's ear and bring it to you."
She could hear him lubricating himself with Vaseline and then he was over her.
"Maureen I've been seeing you for a long time," he whispered as he entered her. (HAP: He assaulted her in front of the fireplace).
A short time later he went to a corner of the room and she heard him crying.
He was rummaging again. She heard him go into the garage several times and she heard him go into the backyard. Then there was silence.
The reality is, that unless a human was raised in a toxic environment as a child where one slept on edge or one was trained through repeated conditioning as in combat, the above psychological assault of the prime suspect was effective as it preyed upon the very nature of human brain activity beyond the brain stem fight or flight. At the DOS of humans is a first recognition and freeze, when coupled with the natural stupor of sleep along with the natural human sleep mode of the body being disengaged from the mind, being awakened in the dark, with a blinding flashlight, depriving the human of it's prime visual sensory receiver and engaging in fear the compliance of command and control, is what is at the base of this effective attack.
The majority of these people were complacent and secure, so there was not the necessary controlled panic in the situation. In one instance a wife told her husband she heard something, but he brushed off her alerting him in not checking as he deemed it a cat or something.
Once alert, humans are on guard, but in all of these cases, these people were never paranoid enough, even with a known series of attacks and the high crime of California to ever react with extra diligence. This is not to blame the people, as in cases those assaulted had checked doors and windows in being locked before bed. It was once that lock was known, that the defenses all went down.
In that, the effective times to stop these attacks was upon the first signs that something was not normal in phone calls, noting people who were not supposed to be there, vehicles parked which were not known, sounds outside the house, and the final moments upon waking while the people had not been tied.
As stated in only one instance did the male rise to the confrontation from sleep, and in no instance did the women react in any instance but a few screams.
The reality in this is that people in California from 1976 to 1986 would comply to survive in most cases, and in the latter cases, they complied and were murdered. That is the individual's choice, but considering the odds of two against one, the male could have sustained wounds for 60 seconds while the female attempted to gouge eyes or blunt force bludgeon the criminal into submission. That would have to initiate the fight and survive response which is being conditioned out of most of the Western world so they comply to the police state.
*There were two noted exceptions in this, in a mother fought back in grabbing the gun, and was beat in the head with a club, in surviving, and a male fought back and was shot three times in the struggle and died.
The police in this were not any better as a retired FBI agent was alerted by a woman running into his home, and for some reason he had no gun, but chased the rapist as the rapist pedaled away on a bicycle.
I recall in this a rapist who was a small man was quoted on Oprah, who noted that he attacked women who could have broken him, but even they complied with his knife and orders as these women were all awake in their homes during the day.
No amount of physical training in self defense will override the sleep shock. That can only be accomplished by trauma or practice, but in that, who can be trusted to be taught to reach for a gun by instinct while still asleep and not have that become a disaster.
Being aware is the best defense in this and the only one which is the most effective. That is the assessment of this examination of this series of crimes.
Nuff Said
agtG
