Last night on
Forensic Files, they aired an episode on the Philly serial rapist from the late 90s, early 2000s. Though I live just outside Philly, I'm not originally from here and was not yet here when this crime spree was happening. Thus, last night was the first I really heard of it.
Anyway, the guy was responsible for a series of 6 attacks in Philly, including one that ended in murder. They were in a relatively safe area, Rittenhouse Square. The perp's thing was to climb up to higher story apartments and enter through a window or sliding glass door. He would often put pillow cases over the women's heads. LE allegedly covered up the first few attacks by this guy, as they were trying to decrease their crime stats. There was a whole expose in the Inquirer.
Then the perp stopped attacking after 1999. Then, in 2001, LE heard about similar attacks being committed at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. So they used geographic mapping to narrow it down to about 90 people who had reason to be in both Philly and Colorado.
The perp ended up being Troy Graves, a very nice looking young guy assigned to an Air Force Base in Ft. Collins Colorado, but who was originally from Philly and had worked at a bank and lived with his girlfriend, whom he eventually married and lived with at Ft. Collins, near the sites of most of the attacks. In total, between the two states, there were about 15 assaults, only one of which ended in murder (COD was strangulation).
A few things struck me about this case in relation to Bri's:
1) This is the first case that I've personally heard of where a perp attacks, but only murders once. It's possible that Bri's perp will go back to just assaulting. The Philly perp said he killed the one girl because she fought back.
2) This guy lived with a girlfriend who didn't put two-and-two together. She did eventually say that the perp had trouble sleeping and often went on walks at night, which is when he ultimately committed his crimes.
3) The perp stopped attacking for two years. His Philly crimes stopped in 1999 and the Colorado ones started in 2001.
4) LE found out that the perp started out as a peeping Tom. He was actually nabbed by some of the Air Force officials for peeping into a female member's apartment.
5) The guy was a native of where the crimes took place, but then work took him elsewhere. It has been brought up by several on this board that Bri's perp may have left Reno and that he could also be in the military. Maybe he was on leave at home when the attacks occurred, and has now gone back to his base, or been reassigned, or even been sent to Iraq.
Sorry, I know this is long, but I couldn't help but think of Bri's case when I watched the episode. I'm not hoping that attacks start occuring in other areas, but at least I feel now that if they did, the police might be able to narrow down people who had a reason to be in Reno and somewhere else.
Also, here is a story about Troy's ex-wife, Amy, who knew nothing about the attacks:
http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/crime/html/042602dnwife.asp
