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CLEARFIELD — A violent serial rapist terrorized at least nine women during the 1990s and early 2000s in northern Utah and Wyoming, and the man’s DNA is now linked to each of his victims, police announced Monday.
However, the rapist remains unidentified and at large, and authorities are seeking the public’s help finding him.
Flanked by members of several police agencies at the city’s government office complex, Clearfield Police Sgt. Kyle Jeffries described the man investigators are seeking as white and in his 40s to 50s. The man regularly carried through with lengthy sexual assaults, Jeffries said, and his last known attack occurred in 2001.
The man has been sought by individual agencies for a long time, police said, but better DNA collection methods have enabled officers to confirm each of the victims in question were attacked by the same person.
“This (investigation) has been going on for years,” Jeffries said. “The DNA linkage is a newer development.”
Police say the unknown rapist’s series of documented attacks began in the summer of 1991 in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The attacks continued on roughly a yearly basis until 1997, when two rapes attributed to the man occurred in July and September. There were two more attacks in 2000 and another in 2001 — all in Clearfield. In all, about half of the assaults were perpetrated in Clearfield, police said.
The women's ages at that time ranged between 11 and 52, and most where white, police said. The nine victims from eight DNA-linked rapes reported the man would attack while others were elsewhere in the residence. He would wear a mask and gloves, and steal money and underwear, Jeffries said.
A task force consisting of representatives from the Clearfield, Layton, Riverdale, Ogden, Rock Springs and Laramie (Wyoming) police departments are setting aside about two weeks to review the available evidence to make some headway in the cold case.
The case will be difficult to solve, Jeffries said, and it's possible the man is imprisoned somewhere, has moved across the country or has died. But with nine identical DNA results, “now is the time we could do it,” he said.
The last of the DNA samples were confirmed as identical earlier this month, after months of collaboration between agencies, Jeffries said. Police are hoping a description of the man and the habits he used in the attacks will lead to someone identifying him.
The man, described as between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, with light-colored hair, targeted apartments with sliding glass doors and hit several areas near the Freeport Center, police said. He frequently blindfolded victims with clothes or duct tape, and would bind their hands, feet, elbow and knees, police said.
Clearfield Police
The man was typically armed with a gun and either a knife or box cutter, Jeffries said. He would grow violent when victims resisted but pretended to care about their well-being if they went along with him, according to the sergeant. He didn’t speak with a noticeable accent.
The serial sexual assailant sweated excessively and was slender in early cases but grew stocky and sported a pot belly later on, according to descriptions from the victims. He was in his 20s to 30s during the time the attacks were occurring. A composite sketch of the man’s face was released Monday.
“(The sketch) is close in similarity, we think,” Jeffries said.
Police say the man's car was a Pontiac Firebird, a two-door sedan that was likely dark-colored. Inside, there were bucket seats with sheepskin seat covers and a wood grain style on the front dash. The vehicle was an automatic with a center console transmission, and there was also a molded armrest in the back seat.
Jeffries praised the rape victims in this case, all of whom consented to be interviewed again in recent months, as “so strong.” He also praised their families for working diligently with investigators.
“This is not an individual trauma. It’s a family trauma,” he said.
Interaction with the women has served as motivation to officers on the temporary task force working on the case, Jeffries said.
“We want to solve this for the victims. They’ve been looking for closure, and here we just opened it back up,” he said.
