In 1994, I was 8 years old, living with my mom (29 at the time) and my little sister (5 at the time) in Sacramento, Ca. Leading up to this scary event in 1994, my mom had a stalker for 7+ years that continually called her, sometimes he would be silent, other times heavy breathing, and even comments about his sexual desires with her. He knew her name, my father's name, my name, and my sister's name. A classic example would be a phone call at 2 am where he tells my mom that he knows "Don" (my father) isn't home. He would simply hang up after the comment, which led my mom to sheer panic. Other times he would call and aggressively explain what sexual acts he was going to perform on her. The calls would happen for months, then he would go away, then reappear.
Fast forward to that night in 1994...
In the early morning hours, I woke up to my little sister asking to get in my bed. I asked her what was wrong and she said she saw a man looking in our bedroom window. Due to growing up with a stalker, we had nightmares and were often fearful to sleep in our own beds. I didn't think much of her comment and told her to get in my bed. Well, after probably 30 seconds of that, I too started to get scared about her comment and told her we should get in bed with mom. We ran across the hall, jumped in her bed, and slept until the next morning.
That next morning, my mom and I were in the bathroom and I noticed large, dirty fingerprints on the wall around the bathroom window. I'll never forget my mom looking at the top fingerprint and her eyes moving to see the fingerprints leading down the wall to the toilet. Someone had climbed through our bathroom window and left CLEAR FINGERPRINTS. I could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong but I was too young to put it together. She then looked to the bathroom vanity and realized some of her perfume was gone and sifted through. She immediately walked into her bedroom and saw that two of her dresser drawers were open with underwear and bras missing and sifted through. Yes, the dresser that sat at the end of my mom's bed that we all slept in that night.
My mom immediately called the police and within FIVE MINUTES, police came rushing, taping off our yard. Detectives immediately went to our kitchen and bathroom, which I found odd because the "evidence" was only in the bathroom. Well, they definitely knew what they were looking for because they found that whoever broke in stayed in our house long enough to eat our leftover pizza, drink a 6-pack of our Pepsi, took some trash out in the backyard, and sifted through/stole my mom's belongings. They said he could have been in there for hours. A detective turned on the TV and asked my mom if she remembered leaving it on that channel and she said it had been changed. He literally sat on our couch, watched TV, and ate our food while we slept.
Detectives firmly told my mom that we could never live in that house again. It was at this point they told her they believed she was a victim of the East Area Rapist. They weren't sure why he left without harming us. Maybe he was spooked? Maybe he was too old at this point to carry it out? Regardless, they kept their firm beliefs that the stalker and intruder were the East Area Rapist.
Within a week, my mom, sister, and I moved about an hour north of Sacramento to a small town where my mom grew up. The calls stopped for years and we felt like it was a thing of the past. Well, that didn't happen, he came back...
Around 2000-2001...
My mom was working in her office when the receptionist said that someone was demanding they speak with her. My mom picks up her phone and it was him. It started with breathing and comments about how he found her. My mom had remarried by this point and we lived with our stepdad and his young son. Frighteningly, within the phone call, the stalker mentions my stepdad by name. He said, "I know Kevin is going away hunting this weekend and you'll be all alone with your girls." He then hung up.
My mom contacted local law enforcement, who reached out to Sacramento PD. Sacramento PD called my mom and explained that some cold case documents had been shredded in the late 90s. My mom was furious, how could the police shred documents?? They explained that after a number of years of a case being cold, they would shred the file down to a "skeleton file" where everything is destroyed except the report. Please note: they changed this policy 1-2 years later and now keep all documentation, no matter how long the case has been cold.
Sacramento PD took her 2000-2001 phone call seriously, even with the shredded file. They drove an hour north to our small town and tapped her phone. He only called one time while the phone was tapped and it was said to be made at a payphone. Sadly, they were unable to track him down and we hit a dead end.
He continued calling from 00/01- 2011. His last phone call to my mom was in the early morning hours, she answered and he was expressing his sexual desires. She contacted police again and they simply took note of it and added it to the new file.
Present day... :)
We all know the Golden State Killer aka East Area Rapist has been arrested. We'll never know if he was the man that stalked my family and broke into our home.
INTERESTING FACTS:
- Police said the stalker/intruder had to be someone that saw my mom often, met her or knew her well.
- My grandfather was the mayor for 2 terms in the small town that we lived in. He appointed the Police Chief and worked closely with Placer Co., where The Golden State Killer was a police officer.
- My mom attended many functions with both GVPD and Placer County PD as a child, teenager, and young adult.
- GSK knew both neighborhoods we lived in very well.
I've been thinking about sharing this story for years. Thank you for taking the time to read.
