Cleveland police warn serial rapist on the loose
The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that police have announced a serial rapist has preyed on at least seven Cleveland women since 1996 and that it's impossible to say whether, when or where he will strike again.
From the story:
- Calling the predator "unpredictable," Cleveland Police Chief Edward Lohn said:
"I think it's important the community know this individual is out there."
But warning the community isn't easy: Police have few clues because until recently they had no idea the same man had raped the women.
Old-fashioned investigative tools didn't link the crimes, which occurred at different times and in different places over eight years -- between 1996 and 2004. Plus, the victims gave different descriptions.
"The victims see something different each time," Lohn said, explaining that people often have trouble giving accurate descriptions after traumatic events.
Facing such varying descriptions, it took DNA tests through a state program to link the cases.
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The news story reports DNA samples from the serial rapist's crimes didn't match DNA of any perpetrator on file with the state, but they did match the seven Cleveland rapes and a February 1998 rape in Erie, PA.
Police told reporters the offender is familiar with Cleveland State University, since he raped an 18-year-old in a science-research classroom in August 2001.
Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.
Unfortunately for Cleveland State students who may be hearing of this threat, Ohio law denies the right to bear arms for self-defense to anyone under 21 years of age, even if they have just returned from defending our country in Iraq!
When it first became evident that a sexual predator and serial killer was on the loose in Lousiana in 2002, that state's Governor did the right thing: he told women to exercise their right to self-defense.
And more recently, with news of a serial rapist on the loose in his city, Mobile (Alabama) Police Chief Sam Cochran told news reporters that he respects [women's] right to protect themselves within the law. When asked if, in a scenario similar to the eleven other rapes, 'Can a woman use deadly force and shoot an intruder in her house when she feels threatened?', Cochran said "absolutely she can".
So will Cleveland Police remind women in that city that they have the option to obtain a temporary emergency license to carry a concealed firearm, and an Ohio Concealed Handgun License? Here is why they should:
Raw data from the Justice Department’s annual National Crime Victim Survey show that when a woman resists a “stranger rape” with a gun, the probability of completion was 0.1% and of victim injury 0.1%, compared to 31% and 40% respectively, for all stranger rapes. For all rapes, woman who resisted with a gun were 2.5 times more likely to escape without injury than those who did not resist, and 4 times more likely to escape uninjured than those who resisted with any means other than a gun.” (Southwick, Journal of Criminal Justice, 2000)
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A Dept. of Justice survey found that 40% of felons chose not to commit at least some crimes for fear their victims were armed, and 34% admitted having been scared off or shot at by armed victims. (James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous, Aldine de Gruyter, 1986)
"Murder rates decline when either more women or more men carry concealed handguns, but the effect is especially pronounced for women. An additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about three to four times more than an additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men." More Guns, Less Crime. John R. Lott, Jr.
Not all women must choose to carry a concealed firearm to benefit from the reformation of Ohio's self-defense laws.
In 1966 the police in Orlando, Florida, responded to a rape epidemic by embarking on a highly publicized program to train 2,500 women in firearm use. The next year rape fell by 88 percent in Orlando (the only major city to experience a decrease that year); burglary fell by 25 percent. Not one of the 2,500 women actually ended up firing her weapon; the deterrent effect of the publicity sufficed." (Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 2d sess., January 30, 1968, p. 1496, n. 7) Five years later Orlando's rape rate was still 13 percent below the pre-program level, whereas the surrounding standard metropolitan area had suffered a 308 percent increase.
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