‘Pillowcase Rapist’ found guilty, ending four-decade quest to track him down

After four decades of evading justice, the “Pillowcase Rapist” was found guilty in a Miami court for sexually assaulting a woman in the 1980s.

On Wednesday, Robert Koehler, 63, was convicted for the assault of a 25-year-old woman in December 1983. The “Pillowcase Rapist,” as he was nicknamed because he typically shielded his face with a pillowcase or shirt, was one of the most notorious serial rapists in Florida history. Though charged with only one case in this trial, police have linked Koehler to dozens of rapes from the 1980s.

Jurors, after deliberating for just three hours, found him guilty on all charges — sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary. The prosecution centered its case around DNA evidence, calling up experts, police detectives and the victim, who recounted the horror she endured.

The defense, however, opted for a bizarre conspiracy that claimed rogue police officers kidnapped, sexually tortured and drugged Koehler to frame him. He even took the witness stand on Monday, sharing violence-filled accounts of the alleged abductions.

But for the jury, the DNA evidence clearly proved persuasive.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Laura Adams narrated the traumatic events the victim suffered in 1983, walking the jury through how the state proved each charge Koehler faced.

“As long as she didn’t see him and as long as he was careful enough not to leave his fingerprints behind, he figured he was OK,” Adams said. “He didn’t count on science and technology catching up to him.”

While facing the jury, public defender Damaris Del Valle argued that the state hadn’t come close to proving Koehler committed the crimes of which he was accused. They didn’t explain contradictions in the evidence, Del Valle said, such as how the sperm analyzed wasn’t motile but Koehler was able to have three kids later on in life.

“The state tailored their evidence,” she said. “They showed all the things that they believed pointed to Koehler’s guilt.”

The hunt for the Pillowcase Rapist, which was the subject of a series of stories that won legendary Miami Herald crime reporter Edna Buchanan the Pulitzer Prize, was cold until a DNA hit in 2020 after the arrest of a relative of Koehler. It led police to Koehler, a registered sex offender who had settled in Palm Bay.

His DNA, the State Attorney’s Office said, was matched to at least 25 rapes in Miami-Dade.

After his conviction, Koehler will be tried for six cases in Broward. He will be sentenced for the 1983 rape on March 17 and faces a life sentence.

JOSE A. IGLESIAS/MIAMI HERALD Robert Koehler, who authorities call the “Pillowcase Rapist,” listens alongside Damaris Del Valle, one of his attorneys during his trial on Wednesday in Miami.