‘Teardrop’ rapist sought in 28 cases

LOS ANGELES — A serial rapist who primarily attacks Los Angeles women who walk alone in the early morning has been linked to more than two dozen sexual assaults spanning more than 15 years, authorities said Tuesday.

Police at a news conference released nine composite sketches of the man and described similarities in the 28 sexual assaults with hopes that the public would help them find the attacker they’ve dubbed the “Teardrop Attacker” because of victim reports of tear tattoos on his face, Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said.

It is the third time the department has gone public in their hunt for the attacker. Previous news conferences in 2001 and 2003 failed to lead to an arrest.

The most recent attack came on a 15-year-old girl in South Los Angeles in November, and closely followed the pattern of the others.

Police said the man first asked the girl for directions, then pulled a handgun, forced her into a yard and sexually assaulted her.

Detectives directly linked the case to 10 others by DNA, and they believe the same man is responsible for at least 18 more based on his patterns.

In assaults going back to 1996 on women ranging between 14 and 41 years old in south and central sections of the city, the man in most cases tried to engage in conversation with a woman walking to work or school, then pulled a weapon, forced her into a secluded area and sexually assaulted her.

“In most cases he was armed with a gun,” Albanese said. “In two with a knife.”

Every one of the attacks has come between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., prompting police to urge women in the city to walk in pairs.

“Women in pairs generally are not accosted,” Albanese said.

Police released nine sketches of the attacker they describe as a lightskinned Hispanic man between 40 and 55 years old, some of them with significant differences from the others, and offered broad descriptions of his appearance, saying only that he was between 5-foot-2 and 6 feet tall and weighs between 130 and 200 pounds.

His most striking characteristic is the tattoo some victims have reported seeing on his face, though even that was shrouded in uncertainty, with some remembering it on one side of his face and some the other, and some reporting one teardrop, others two.

Albanese said there is even some evidence the man may have had the tattoo removed.