He smelled of cigarettes and body odor. Twice, he asked his victims for a smoke before he attacked them. Twice, he approached his victims while wearing no clothes.
He raped three right on the beach. He made them perform horrifying acts. He beat them and threatened them. He dragged them to the ocean and made them wash the blood and semen off their bodies.
But in two cases, he left behind his DNA.
Investigators think the same man committed four rapes on or near the beaches of Florida's central west coast between 1996 and 1998. One of the cases occurred in Pinellas County, on Indian Rocks Beach.
The man never has been identified. Though the last recorded attack occurred more than five years ago, investigators have no reason to think he has stopped raping women.
Maybe he moved. Maybe he changed his routine.
"I don't think he just stopped out of the goodness of his heart," said Lt. Mike Ring, a Pinellas sheriff's investigator who has been working on the Indian Rocks case for years.
And considering that only about one-third of all rape victims report attacks to police, the serial rapist could have many more victims.
Investigators culled DNA from the Indian Rocks victim and from a woman raped in Venice that same year.
The DNA belonged to the same man.
Analysts put his DNA profile through data bases of felons. Detectives tracked down dozens of sex offenders, flashers and burglars who had committed crimes in the areas of the rapes. None produced a match.
With the investigation essentially stalled, Ring said he finally decided to make the cases public, hoping someone would call investigators with information that could lead to an arrest.
* * *
The first known victim was a girl.
She was walking on North Jetty Beach in Sarasota County about 10 p.m. on Dec. 1, 1996. The tourist in her midteens was by herself.
A man approached. He was about 6 feet tall and thin, maybe 150 pounds. He was clean-shaven and had short brown hair. He looked to be in his 30s, and talked with a deep, raspy voice.
He asked the girl for a cigarette. When she said no, he made a lewd comment. She started to run but the man caught her, threw her to the ground and punched her in the face. He escorted her to the ocean and ordered her to wash off the blood.
Then he led her back to the sand and raped her.
Just over a year later, a woman in her 40s was at home in Venice when the man pried open a first-floor window and attacked her around 5 a.m. She is the only one who wasn't attacked on the beach.
He had brought a kit with him that included rope, a blindfold and a knife. He wore a mask. About 6 feet tall and thin, he had a deep voice and smelled of cigarettes.
He put a knife to her ribs and threatened her life. He pulled pantyhose over her head and threatened to cut off her nipples. He raped her and made her shower.
Despite his precautions, he left behind DNA.
Then in October, a woman in her 20s was walking along the beach in Indian Rocks Beach around sunset when the man approached and asked for a cigarette. He wore no clothes, so the victim ran.
The man caught her, dragged her to some sea oats and raped her. The victim never saw a knife but said he threatened to cut her. He then led her to the ocean and made her wash. But again, he left DNA that, months later, was matched to the Venice case.
While detectives were awaiting lab tests on the DNA, a fourth woman was raped on Bowman's Beach in Sanibel.
Around sunset in November 1998, a nude man approached a woman in her 50s as she walked on the beach. She ran. He caught her, beat and raped her. He dragged her about 100 yards to the water and told her to wash. She fought back while in the water and the attacker nearly drowned her.
He also apologized: "I don't know why I'm doing this."
In April 1999, Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab analysts noted that the DNA profiles in the Venice and Indian Rocks cases matched. Ring, the Pinellas sheriff's investigator, then noticed a bulletin on the Sanibel case. A Venice detective learned of the Sarasota County case involving the girl raped on Casey Key. Investigators thought they had found a pattern.
In 2001, Ring tracked down the victim in the first attack. He asked her to form a composite sketch with a police artist, which she did. In the other three attacks, the victims did not get a good look at their assailant.
Because of the DNA match, investigators can only be certain that the attacks in Venice and Indian Rocks Beach were committed by the same man. But the other two beach rapes, in which no DNA was found, had striking similarities, including similar acts the man made the women perform.
"The Sarasota one is a carbon copy of ours on Indian Rocks Beach," Ring said.
But the fact that the attacker changed his routine in the Venice case is alarming. He appeared to plan that attack and forced his way into a home.
"This is not a dumb guy," Ring said. "He's used two very different MOs to attack his victims."
* * *
Rape victims' names are not a public record, so the Times could not reach any of the victims to speak with them about their experiences.
But Maria Sanchez-Masi, a rape crisis specialist with the Family Service Centers rape crisis program in Pinellas County, said all four victims suffered an enduring trauma and likely blamed themselves for the attack.
"The survivors immediately blame themselves," she said. "They say, "What was I doing out there on the beach?' And they take all the blame that belongs to the perpetrator."
She said a rape victim also becomes hypervigilant, scanning every crowd for her attacker and fearing every knock, ring and bump.
"It's fear all the time," Sanchez-Masi said. "Every time the phone rings, every knock at the door, every noise you hear, everyone who walks in the door could be the perpetrator."
She said the lack of an arrest makes things harder.
"The worry that the person is still out there can really inhibit healing," she said. "It's hard to move on when you're afraid.
"We think of the beach as a safe place," she added. "It's public and it's calming. We go to the beach to feel better."
Federal statistics show that only three of 10 raped women report the attack to police, Sanchez-Masi said. In her experience, that number is closer to one in 10.
Asked whether she thinks this attacker has raped again, Sanchez-Masi was certain.
"I would bet money on it."
* * *
So where is he?
He has not been convicted of a sex crime in the past several years. If he had, his DNA would be in a state or federal database. Still, the computer regularly runs the suspect's DNA through the database, which is updated with new DNA profiles every week.
Only people convicted of the most serious felonies are required to provide DNA. Ring said it's possible the suspect is in prison for a crime that doesn't require registering his DNA.
Of course, the man could be dead. Judging by victim descriptions, he likely would be in his 40s today.
Then there is the most terrifying possibility: The man is still offending but has changed his method enough to throw police off his trail.
Has he migrated to another area? Moved his attacks off the beach? Gotten smarter and not left semen behind?
Ring said the four attacks occurred in winter months, meaning the rapist may be a seasonal visitor. He said detectives are comparing the Florida DNA to the DNA from rape suspects in two Northern states.
Detectives have canvassed neighborhoods near the attacks and have pieced together the victims' lives, looking for places where they - and their attacker - may have intersected. There appear to be no connections, though. The attacks are random crimes of opportunity.
But there is this hope: If a suspect is developed, detectives have the most compelling evidence available in DNA.
"If we can find the person with the DNA, we've pretty much got our case," Ring said. "We've got the best evidence available."
Police are asking for the public's help identifying a man suspected of raping at least four women on or near beaches on Florida's central west coast from 1996 to 1998. Victims described the rapist as white, 25 to 40 years old, about 6 feet tall and thin. He appeared to have brown hair and brown eyes and spoke with a deep, raspy voice with a slight Southern drawl. He smelled of cigarette smoke and asked two of his victims for a cigarette, so he likely was a smoker. Anyone with information or a tip can call the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office at (727) 582-6200 and ask for the Crimes Against Persons Division.
