I wonder if he purposely chose Fairfax as the location of the 2005 rape so he wasn't on his own doorstep. Maybe he wasn't as confident as he became by 2009, and wanted some distance between himself and the rape.
I don't think we can know his motivation - in the Fairfax case, he lie in wait, and stalked his prey. In Harrington, and presumably, Graham's case, he probably lured them into his car with the promise of a ride, took them to a remote location, and, well.
He was interrupted in the Fairfax case, which possibly made him evolve his technique to getting his victims into his car, then taking his victims to a remote location where he felt safe. That's usually something that you can see in most serial cases, they evolve and refine their technique to a more-or-less characteristic pattern.
But there's no telling if he intended to kill the Fairfax victim, or if his intention was to rape/murder MH and HG as soon as they got into the car, or if it was an escalation - that is, did he ask for consensual sex, was rebuffed, and he escalated? (and certainly not suggesting it matters or to minimize his guilt in any way. Personally, I think at least at some level, he had formed the intent to kill them, that once in the car, their fates were more-or-less sealed.)
If there are other victims - and his retention of MH's shirt for two months suggest to me that he might've kept trophies, which could tie him to yet-more cases; if so, then a clearer pattern of his behavior will probably emerge.
And if it bothers anyone why someone would wonder about these things - understanding his evolution, identifying the mistakes he - and the investigators - made, the opportunities missed to identify him earlier, while they won't help these victims, may help investigators learn from their mistakes, and be better able to identify and capture future perpetrators.
In the post below, I posit a possible reason why he chose Fairfax - but it's tenuous, at best - I have no idea what his activities were after leaving CNU and before becoming a cab driver - it may just be coincidence, and he traveled there to, as you say, put distance between the crime and himself, and the location was more-or-less random.
But this distance traveled does suggest to me that it was no mere opportunistic event, but that he traveled there with the specific intent to find someone to stalk and rape - and possibly, to kill. And if you accept *that*, then you have to suppose there were probably other attempts by him in the intervening years, and probably, other victims.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...*Forensic-Link*-to-MH&p=11030671#post11030671
) because an evil piece of scum sought out and took advantage of their states of vulnerability.