The Serial Rapist Hiding in the Woods-Fear, Rape, Being Tied Up & The Ultimate Family Justice?
Posted: Sunday, December 04, 2011
by Steve Kovacs
The Kovacs Perspective
Fear can grip a community, any community. About 25 years ago, fear gripped the quiet of Geauga County Ohio, an enclave Forbes magazine recently rated as the fourth best place in America to raise a family. The way to describe Geauga 25 years ago is that of a beautiful rural and peaceful county in Northeastern Ohio. It’s about 25 miles from the major hub of Cleveland and was then and to this day remains, a relatively crime free area. Its populace is known for self-reliance and hard work. About 25 years ago, a serial rapist lurked in the County.
He would do his dastardly deeds in the evening, under the comfortable cover of darkness. He’d break into homes and rape the female or females there. He then tied them up and lurk back into the night, and do it again, later, somewhere else. There was no set time or no rhyme or reason—at least not known to me. I was a young rookie cop at the time in a county bordering Geauga. When you’re a rookie, quite often you are out of the loop about the possible motives and investigative techniques surrounding cases other than what you must be aware of for your scope of enforcement or safety. Anyway, I knew very little about what was really going on.
Nevertheless, I did find out about a hair-raising event that occurred during the investigative stages. Late one night, an ever-vigilant resident called the police when she noticed a man trying to break into her home. Tiny, a mountain of a cop who I have written about before was one of the officers who responded to the call. All the responding officers spread out and searched the area. Tiny searched one specific section. At one point, he stopped near a hill for about 10 minutes and remained silent waiting to hear for any signs of movement. Nothing—no sound, no movement, just silence. However, when the sun came up cops could plainly see pressed down grass in the form of a person about 10 feet behind where Tiny had been standing. The man they were looking for was lying in the grass 10 feet behind Tiny!
Fear continued to grip Geauga. The rapist was out there and everyone knew he was going to strike again, but where, and when? One warm summer night was the when. He struck in the western side of the county that borders busy Cuyahoga County and is a little less rural but still quite dark and secluded. He broke into a single family home and raped an all alone mother there. She pleaded for him to leave her alone and get out quickly because her husband and son would be home any second. The man didn’t take heed and did his deed anyway. He had just finished tying her up when the husband and grown son arrived pulling into the driveway. They heard screaming and were somehow able to see the mom tied up but alive. The man took off running and they were right behind him chasing him down the driveway. A fight ensued between the rapist, son and dad.
The rapist was killed in the fight. The father and son team bludgeoned him to death with a rock they found near the edge of the driveway. In a matter of seconds, the fear in Geauga County ended. When the police arrived the father and son told them that the man would not stop fighting and trying to get away as they tried to contain and hold him for police. They said they had no choice but to smash his skull. The County did an investigation and found the killing to be justifiable. I’m okay with that. There is an old saying: don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. If you rape and devastate lives, expect the possibility of the same wrath coming down upon you. Justice? You answer that question.
Nevertheless, I did find out about a hair-raising event that occurred during the investigative stages. Late one night, an ever-vigilant resident called the police when she noticed a man trying to break into her home. Tiny, a mountain of a cop who I have written about before was one of the officers who responded to the call. All the responding officers spread out and searched the area. Tiny searched one specific section. At one point, he stopped near a hill for about 10 minutes and remained silent waiting to hear for any signs of movement. Nothing—no sound, no movement, just silence. However, when the sun came up cops could plainly see pressed down grass in the form of a person about 10 feet behind where Tiny had been standing. The man they were looking for was lying in the grass 10 feet behind Tiny!
Fear continued to grip Geauga. The rapist was out there and everyone knew he was going to strike again, but where, and when? One warm summer night was the when. He struck in the western side of the county that borders busy Cuyahoga County and is a little less rural but still quite dark and secluded. He broke into a single family home and raped an all alone mother there. She pleaded for him to leave her alone and get out quickly because her husband and son would be home any second. The man didn’t take heed and did his deed anyway. He had just finished tying her up when the husband and grown son arrived pulling into the driveway. They heard screaming and were somehow able to see the mom tied up but alive. The man took off running and they were right behind him chasing him down the driveway. A fight ensued between the rapist, son and dad.
The rapist was killed in the fight. The father and son team bludgeoned him to death with a rock they found near the edge of the driveway. In a matter of seconds, the fear in Geauga County ended. When the police arrived the father and son told them that the man would not stop fighting and trying to get away as they tried to contain and hold him for police. They said they had no choice but to smash his skull. The County did an investigation and found the killing to be justifiable. I’m okay with that. There is an old saying: don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. If you rape and devastate lives, expect the possibility of the same wrath coming down upon you. Justice? You answer that question.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)A tit for a tat, Steve. Another shocking thriller read. The victim had a whole life trauma.....Tit for tat...yes. Thanks for the comment Hilda--Glad it thrilled you for a minute...
A harrowing account of a Criminal's ultimate end which would be said to be "Poetic Justice", unfortunately something that here in the UK, not the Father, nor the Son would escape the wrath of the Courts with. My point is that the Rapist was an Animal, and as such he deserved a lot more than a quick death - but that is just my opinion - where in the UK 2 to 7 years for Rape, 5 to 15 for Murder is no way a Crime Deterrent for those Committing these unforgivable atrocities.
Thank you for sharing your article, but one question burns in my mind. Did this incident make you in any way rethink being a Cop? All the best and have a great Holiday.Thanks MKDS...Wow! That's all the time they give in The U.K. for those crimes! I don't know what is worse a quick punishment (like what happened here) or a long punishment--just don't know where I stand on that. Many people say that there aren't real deterrents to crime that work--I don't buy that. Anyway, no I don't think that incident made me rethink being a cop. I remember that I did think about the scary possibility of me being where Tiny stood and knowing that someone was watching and who could have probably stabbed me in the back. I had another incident later that made me rethink my job. Maybe I'll write about that one day.
Thanks for joining my fan club, I appreciate it. My best to you too and a great holiday as well
Steve.
Gosh, you had me on the edge of my seat, Steve! Thanks for another walk down a 'chilling' memory lane.Thanks Nancy--I'll probably write more similar articles--people seem to be interested in them. Chilling memory lane--I like how you put that.
Steve
Thank you Steve for your account of the serial rapist whose llife was put to an end. The story of your early beginning as a rookie and tiny's stake-out was fascinating. This all adds up to the great detective and writer that you are. I appreciated the background of the story; as it really gives depth to what happened, who, why, and when. Another great story! Thank you Steve.Hi Marianne,
Thanks for the nice words about me!! I think the background leading up to the main story can help paint an accurate emotional picture that helps with telling a story. And in this case the whole background meant a lot to this story--I think. Thanks for reading and for taking the time to write. I'm glad you thought it was fascinating and that it moved you--there is no better compliment.
Steve
Chilling story. Also brings to mind an old saying in criminal justice, the rapist got his "just desserts".Thanks Elle
Yeah, desserts!
Thanks for reading and taking the time to write.
Steve
Your first sentence is such a perfect opener for a book!
Justice was done, I reckon. I read a lot of crime novels, and watch TV series about crime, but this is the first time I've read about it first hand. You really brought it home to me, Steve.Thanks Jennifer--The first line does sound kinda cool--in retrospective--thanks for noticing.
I'm glad it was brought home to you. I think I'll write more cop stories as it seems people like them. I put that past behind me but I'll dust more of it off and bring it to some articles.
SteveI'd love you to write more of them. This makes me think of writers like John Grisham and Kathy Reichs - he was a laywer, she's a forensic anthropologist, so their crime novels have that same ring of authenticity to them that your story has.
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