Sacramento Pillowcase Rapist found guilty of kidnapping in Kern case
After he was acquitted of a false imprisonment charge earlier this week, the man known as the Sacramento Pillowcase Rapist was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping a woman in Kern County.
Ronald Feldmeier, 71, kidnapped a woman on June 26, and she escaped from Feldmeier by jumping out of a moving car. Last time Feldmeier was tried for this case, a hung jury on Dec. 20 led to a mistrial on his kidnapping charge.
After Wednesday’s guilty verdict, Feldmeier had a court hearing Thursday to review his criminal history.
“Mr. Feldmeier was visibly devastated by the decision,” Feldmeier’s defense attorney, Jacob Evans, said in an email to The Californian. “We disagree with the jury’s ultimate decision on the facts, but we are grateful for the attention and care that they brought to it. It is their decision — not ours — which matters.”
Evans also stressed the importance of the fair and thorough deliberations in jury trials and said he was sure the jury members held one another accountable in their unanimous decision.
“It’s immensely important that cases like these get decided based on the facts and the evidence of the case at hand, and not based on decisions about the person’s character, or swayed by public opinion, or wrath over past wrongs, but only by the evidence presented and the law that controls,” Evans said.
In contrast, the Kern County Deputy District Attorney prosecuting Feldmeier’s case, Leanne Wilder, said in an email to The Californian that this conviction shows that anyone can be a victim of a sexual predator and she is proud to represent the victim in this case.
“This conviction ensures a lifelong sexual predator, who was convicted of over 26 violent sexual felonies in 1986, will never set foot on Kern County streets, or the streets of any community, again,” Wilder said.
Wilder said the victim showed “great strength and bravery” the night she was kidnapped and throughout the trial.
The Californian has reported that Feldmeier was previously sentenced to 67 years in prison for a series of rapes in the 1980s.
He was given the Pillowcase Rapist moniker because he would put pillow cases over the victims’ heads.
A Sacramento jury convicted him of nine counts of rape, five counts of oral copulation, sodomy, burglary and robbery.
Feldmeier was released from prison and discharged on probation in September 2022 after serving less than half his sentence.
In January, Feldmeier was sentenced to six years in prison after he failed to register as a sex offender. Feldmeier now faces up to 26 years to life in prison for the kidnapping charge on top of his other conviction, according to Daniela Gonzaga, the public information officer for the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
Feldmeier’s sentencing is scheduled for April 24 in Kern County Superior Court.