Victim sets meeting to deal with ‘creep’
South Capitol community concerned man in last year’s incidents with women is back; police not speculating on any link
Awoman who reported that she chased an intruder out of her South Capitol home earlier this month — an incident reminiscent of four intrusions last summer by a male suspect at women’s residences in the neighborhood — is organizing a community gathering this week focusing on security and defense strategies.
Santa Fe police Detective Jimmy Montoya will attend Thursday’s meeting at the Harvey Cornell Rose Park (also known as Cornell Park) to answer residents’ questions and address law enforcement concerns. The gathering also will feature a basic self-defense lesson by an instructor certified to teach krav maga, a martial arts-based system of fighting that was developed by the Israeli military.
“I felt like being a victim is not really an option, and feeling safe in the neighborhood is the most important thing,” said the 37-year-old woman who organized the event. She asked that her name not be published.
The woman, who is the mother of a young child, told The New Mexican in an interview last week that she had been sitting on her couch late the night of July 4 when she looked out a window and saw a shirtless man with his face covered, fondling his genitals. The man had scaled an adobe wall to get on to her property, and he ran away after she broke a stick over his back, the woman said.
Asked whether officers believe the man was the same suspect who entered women’s homes last year, Santa Fe Police Department spokesman Greg Gurulé said in an email, “We will not speculate.”
Still, the report was eerily similar to four cases reported in June and July 2016. Women between the ages of 19 and 52 told police they had found a strange man inside their homes who had run off after they screamed. In one case, a woman said the man was fondling his
genitals. In three cases, the man had grabbed the women, they told officers.
Santa Fe police, believing the cases last summer all involved the same suspect, released a sketch of the man based on the women’s descriptions and offered a reward for information leading to his arrest.
Experts in criminal psychology, interviewed by The New Mexican about the string of incidents, said such behavior could escalate to greater acts of violence.
But police made no arrests in those cases, and the reports stopped coming in.
Now, as police investigate a new report of an intrusion, shaken residents of the neighborhood are finding strength in numbers as they consider ways to defend themselves and their
homes against a man they’ve dubbed the “South Capitol Creep.”
Although police have not publicly connected the July 4 intrusion with the incidents last summer, many South Capitol neighbors believe the same man is behind all the incidents — and may have been committing such acts for years. Fliers featuring a New Mexican article about last week’s incident were posted around the neighborhood, saying: “Hey ladies … He’s BACK!”
The woman who reported the July 4 incident said she believes Santa Fe police are handling the case well, but there’s only so much police can do to catch the man. She organized Thursday’s gathering, at 3 p.m. at the Rose Park on Galisteo Parkway, so community members can keep an eye out for the suspect — and get some tips on how to fight back if they find the strange man in their home.
“Learning, practicing and using self-defense is everyone’s personal choice,” Gurulé said. “People can protect themselves at home by closing and locking their doors and windows even when they are in the dwelling and should be aware of their surroundings when they are out as well as trying to stay in pairs and groups.”
One South Capitol resident, a woman in her 70s, said she’s so worried about the man — and so concerned about his mental state — that she did not want her name published in the newspaper. She’s owned a house in the neighborhood for more than a decade, she said, and she believes the man must know the area well. He always returns. “Whatever this guy does,” she said, “he disappears and comes back.”