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Rape's careful planning called a rarity

The father of the Inverness man accused in the case says his son needs help.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published June 6, 2005

INVERNESS - Months before Edward Samuel Byron was accused of rape, his father knew the young man had a problem with sex. But Byron's father said he couldn't find a way to help.

"He would (call) 900 numbers," said the father, also named Edward Samuel Byron. "He wouldn't socialize. He wouldn't go out."

Byron, 22, was arrested May 25 after authorities accused him of raping a 29-year-old woman after slipping into her Inverness area home and hiding in a closet for hours as he waited for her return.

The victim and suspect didn't know each other, investigators said. But Byron's father said the woman sometimes jogged near the house where he and his son lived on S Rainbow Drive in the Highlands neighborhood south of Inverness. The woman lives in the same area.

"I'm sure he's seen her before," said the elder Byron, who is 47.

The lack of a clear connection between suspect and victim, added to the careful planning of the attack, makes the crime a rarity, particularly for Citrus County, said sheriff's Sgt. David Wyllie.

"This particular one had a certain degree of planning and execution that you don't normally see," said Wyllie, the lead investigator on the case.

Most rapes by strangers are crimes of opportunity, he said. A person sees a chance and takes it, often without much calculation beforehand. But that's not what happened here, he said.

"She was a complete stranger to him," Wyllie said. "He'd seen her in the community. That's what makes it unique. It was what we call a "whodunit' when we got it. We found out that he'd targeted her. He'd put together a plan and executed the plan."

Authorities have accused Byron of slipping into the woman's house through a damaged window and hiding inside a closet for 12 to 14 hours. After the woman went to bed for the night, he went to her bedroom and raped her over a period of several hours, according to an arrest report.

Investigators say he grabbed her around the throat to restrain her. He then left the house on foot after the attack, according to the report. Authorities later matched a fingerprint at the woman's home to Byron and went to his home. They found him hiding under his bed, according to the report.

Byron faces charges of sexual assault on a victim older than 12 and burglary with assault or battery, according to court records. He is being held at the Citrus County jail. Arraignment is scheduled for June 20.

In 2001, Byron pleaded no contest to a charge of maliciously disturbing the contents of a grave, according to court records. He was sentenced to serve a year in jail. Court records show he dug up a woman's grave at an Inverness cemetery.

"I dug a little, about six shovels, and then went back to the house," Byron told investigators at the time of his arrest, according to an arrest report.

In 2003, he pleaded no contest to a charge of petit theft for stealing clothes from Beall's and was sentenced to six months of probation. In 2004, he pleaded no contest to a charge of unarmed burglary of a structure and theft of $300 to $5,000 for breaking into Farmer's Market and received four years probation, according to court records.

His father said he hasn't spoken to Byron since his latest arrest. He said his son has mental problems and needs help in addition to punishment.

"As far as what Edward did, of course he should be punished for it," he said. "It goes against everything I've ever taught him."

He said he's puzzled about what went wrong in his son's life.

"It's just, I don't know, I don't know how he went like that. ... I just feel very, very badly for that poor woman," he said.

This sort of crime, a rape by a stranger, occurs about once a year in the county, said Wyllie, who has 25 years of law enforcement experience in the Tampa Bay area. As the Citrus County population increases, so does the number of crimes of this type, he said.

He calls it "the crime creep."

What can people do to prevent themselves from becoming a victim?

Simple things, he said.

"Really, what people need to do - what they haven't been doing in the past because we're a rural community - is to lock their doors," he said.

In this case, Wyllie said, the victim might not have noticed anything unusual because her window was already damaged. People need to be sure to fix any damage that could allow an intruder inside, he said.

--Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 860-7312 or vansickle@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 6, 2005, 01:34:12]