PHOENIX (By Judi Villa,
Arizona Republic) July 12, 2006 — A serial killer who has been
terrorizing Phoenix for nearly a year murdered his first victim in
Tempe, beginning his killing spree three months earlier than initially
suspected, authorities told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday. Meanwhile, police said two other series of random shootings in Phoenix likely are the work of one predator and not two. A fifth murder has been added to the death tally from those shootings.
Residents in some of Phoenix's most at-risk areas remain paralyzed by fear, as police continue to work round-the-clock to find the predators.
"I have no doubt that we will catch the people responsible for both of these crimes," Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said in an interview with The Republic. "My concern is that we can solve it before there's another victim on either one. These are deadly crimes being carried out by very cowardly people."
About 80 officers are assigned to a task force looking for the "Baseline Rapist" and an additional three dozen are focused on the serial shooter.
The "arrest of these animals" remains a top priority for the city, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said. The reward for information that would solve the series of violent crimes rose to an unprecedented $100,000 on Tuesday.
Random victims
Since August 2005, the Baseline Rapist has been raping, robbing and killing victims who appear to be chosen at random. He now is blamed for six murders and 15 other crimes, including a Sept. 28 robbery in Tempe that was added to the list Tuesday.Police had believed he first killed in December. But, on Tuesday, Phoenix police said he murdered a Tempe woman in September.
Georgia Thompson, 19, was found shot in the head and lying face down in a parking lot outside her Tempe apartment on Sept. 8. In December, Tempe police arrested James Dewayne Mullins, 32, after they said Mullins admitted killing Thompson after he was arrested for burglary in Kentucky.
"We have irrefutable evidence to link their homicide to our homicides," Phoenix police Cmdr. Bill Louis said. Louis would not elaborate on what the evidence was.
Mullins is in a Maricopa County jail awaiting trial involving Thompson's murder, and it was unclear Tuesday if he would be released. Tempe police Sgt. Dan Masters said his detectives remain convinced they arrested the right man. But, he said, the investigation is continuing, and "we will look at other possibilities."
"At this point, we believe the person responsible for the murder of Georgia Thompson is in custody," Masters said.
Thompson's father, Bill, said Tuesday that he was skeptical about any evidence that would link his daughter's killing to the Baseline Rapist, pointing out that Tempe police "caught somebody who admitted to it."
"The only one it serves is the guy that confessed to shooting her," Thompson said. "There's nothing we can do to bring (Georgia) back or help with the case."
Thompson was killed at the Saddle Club Apartment Homes, near Mill Avenue and U.S. 60. The Tempe robbery was in the parking lot of a drug store on Baseline Road near Priest Drive, just east of where the attacks began in Phoenix. Most recently, the Baseline Rapist has targeted the central Phoenix area bounded by 24th and 40th streets and Thomas and Indian School roads.
Finding the Baseline Rapist has been particularly troublesome because the attacker wears disguises and appears to pick his victims randomly. The only common link between the attacks is that the victims mostly are abducted after dark from secluded areas, making it difficult to "profile and predict where it's going to happen," Harris said.
"In my experience, the most difficult shooting cases or homicide cases are the ones that are most random," Harris said. "There is no rhyme or reason to figure out why this is happening.
"The frustration is extremely high."
Phoenix police have consulted with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and detectives have culled cases involving other serial killers across the country looking for patterns and profiles that could help them. They also have been canvassing neighborhoods to distribute information about the Baseline Rapist and encourage people to call with any information. There is a composite sketch of the Baseline Rapist, but Louis said the drawing "is more than likely a disguise."
"He may not look like that," Louis said. "We don't know who we're looking for. That's the difficult thing. He could look like anybody, drive anything, and we wouldn't know it."
Valley gunman
The serial shooter has been equally perplexing. Even though the string of random shootings began in May 2005, with people and animals targeted, he has remained so elusive that no suspect description has emerged. Police believe the shooter is a different person from the Baseline Rapist.Thirty-four shootings, including 13 in the past two months, now are attributed to this predator, with five people dead and 18 wounded. Louis said similarities in the method, the times of day when the shootings took place and the profile of victims led detectives to believe that all the serial shootings "may be related."
Previously, the string of shootings that began in May 2005 was investigated independently of the 13 random shootings in the past two months.
Police also confirmed Tuesday that a May 2 shooting death in Scottsdale is likely linked.
Claudia Gutierrez-Cruz, 20, was walking on the sidewalk in the 6100 block of West Thomas Road when she was shot at 10:30 p.m. The latest two victims, a man and a woman, were shot 20 minutes apart early Saturday. The serial shooter targets people walking, biking or outside alone, generally between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.
A 44-year-old Phoenix man, who was shot May 31 while taking a night stroll at 86th Street and Camelback Road, called the serial shooter "the scum of the earth."
"There's a lot of fear out there," he said. "I'll feel a whole lot better when they catch the guy."
Staff reporters Sarah Muench, Ruth Liao and Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor contributed to this article.
