‘Creep’ likely slim, Anglo man, say police
The intruder who’s been touching and exposing himself to women in Santa Fe’s South Capitol neighborhood since last summer is an athletic, slim Anglo man who can scale high backyard walls, police say.
At a gathering for residents at the Harvey Cornell Rose Park on Galisteo Steet, Detective Jimmy Montoya said the man police believe was the intruder in all four incidents — the most recent on July 4 — may be a runner, possibly has a “six-pack” of abdominal muscles and likely is in his late 20s or early 30s, although police department officials also said he could be as old as in his 50s.
The “South Capitol Creep" — a name posted on neighborhood fliers last year — is described as between five feet, eight inches tall and six feet, clean shaven and with a crew cut. He has appeared shirtless at least once. In all but one case, he used unlocked doors or windows to gain the access he needed to harass his victims.
“I need the community’s help to catch this guy,” Montoya said to the about 40 people who came to the outdoor meeting. He acknowledged the police have no real leads on the identity of the “creep.”
Montoya said the man appears to have studied the neighborhood enough to pinpoint the homes of single women. He said he believes “our suspect is doing his homework.”
“This isn’t his first rodeo,” the detective said. Police officials at the meeting said they are stepping up car patrols, but aren’t having officers walk the streets.
Concern about the intruder returned after the July 4 incident, where a woman saw a man outside touching himself. He’d scaled a wall to get into her yard and fled after she hit him with a stick.
There were three similar incidents in June and July of last year. One woman walked out of her bathroom to find a man exposing himself, another was grabbed while showering by a man who reached through a window and third was grabbed around the waist by a man who broke through her door after he apparently followed her home as she was out for a walk.
The intruder gets “spooked” and leaves when his victims scream, the police said, but they also acknowledged that his behavior could escalate to more serious sexual assaults.
Police Chief Patrick Gallagher asked the residents to try to think of anyone who is in the neighborhood seasonally, like a house sitter. Police officials also urged residents to get to know their neighbors so they’ll know if anything suspicious is going on. But former City Councilor Karen Heldmeyer said that can be more difficult these days with many homes used as short-term vacation rentals.
Gallagher, a native New Yorker, said he’s not blaming the victims, but remains shocked that so many people in Santa Fe leave doors, windows and cars unlocked. Some residents exclaimed that their homes don’t have air conditioning — a relative rarity in Santa Fe — so they leave windows open in the summer.
The officers were asked several times about what to do if faced with an intruder. “Call the police” and stick around to serve as a good witness was the primary answer. Gallagher and others declined to be specific when asked a couple of times about shooting intruders. Whether lethal force is justified depends on the circumstances, they said.
Neighbors offered their own ideas. One said to keep car keys handy and set off a car alarm if something is suspicious. A woman sitting on the ground gave this succinct advice on what to do in an encounter with an intruder: “Raise holy hell.”