First survivor of East Area Rapist - Golden State Killer recalls encounter
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. - The first known victim of the East Area Rapist and serial murderer, who terrorized California in the 1970's and early 1980's recalls encountering the man 40 years ago, at 4:00 a.m. on June 18, 1976 in Rancho Cordova. She was recorded during an interview in June 2016.
Video Transcript Courtesy: FBI
I didn't hear him come in, I didn't hear anything. And all of a sudden, there was someone standing in my door, the bedroom door. And I looked up, and I thought it was my dad at first. You know, because he -- you know, he drives weird hours and he might've come in early. Because it was early in the morning. And, nope, it wasn't my dad.
So… he came in, he had a ski mask on. And jumped on the bed and had a knife. And I don't -- I don't exactly remember what he said. Something to the effect of, you know, "Don't scream," don't, you know, whatever. And tied my hands behind my back.
He put a cut over my eye, over my eye. But I didn't even realize that I had been cut. And I guess part of what he said is that, you know -- I don' t know what he said. I just remember feeling extremely threatened.
After it was all over and done with, he went through the stuff in the room, took money out of my purse, took… some coin books and stuff that I had. And took a piece of jewelry. I don't -- it was just something that I had just gotten. I don't even know what it was.
And I laid in the bed for -- it seemed like forever. Forever. Because I never heard -- I was waiting for the door to close, and I never heard the door close. So I was afraid to get up to -- you know, to see. And finally I says, "Okay, this is do or die."
I don't… I don't hold it against him. There's something wrong with him. You know, there's something not wired right or whatever. You know, for someone to -- you know, to do this continually. So is that the --
Something -- either he had some trauma or he had something that caused that. I have no idea. But I know it's not -- it's not good to hold hate in your heart and all that, and I don't think I do. I'm just a lot more careful.
I don't want him to be dead, because I think that would've been the easy way out for him, and I don't want that. I'd rather, you know, him be tried and convicted and spend the rest of his life in prison.
There's been anniversaries that have gone by, you know, where it's been like the 20th of June, and it's like, oh, the 18th came and gone. That's good. I'm done. And then there are some times it just -- I wake up and -- and I'm upset, and I don't realize what I'm upset about, and then all of a sudden, oh, it's the 18th.
I'm not as open as I used to be. I -- you know, I used to… if I -- like I said, if I'm in a crowd, I'm on the outskirts. I'm not in the crowd. Even if it's a bunch of people I know, I'm not in the crowd. I'm more on the outskirts watching everybody. You know, it's like there's no one behind me type thing, you know? No one can -- I can see everybody, and no one -- I can see everybody looking at me, let's put it that way. That hasn't -- and that wasn't like that before.
Every now and then you get the little thing -- you know, little sharp pa-- you know, tinglies between the shoulder blades, like someone's watching me, and you turn around and look, and -- but I don't… that's gotten a lot better. It doesn't happen a lot anymore.