In Burbank, Studio City Area : Police Search for Rapist Who Has Struck 11 Times

Los Angeles and Burbank police are seeking a man suspected of raping 11 women since August in Studio City, Toluca Lake and Burbank.

The man preys on women between the ages of 20 and 50 living alone in ground-floor apartments. He is believed to be responsible for seven rapes in Toluca Lake and Studio City and four in Burbank.

He also is suspected of three attempted rapes, six burglaries and one attempted burglary in Toluca Lake and Studio City, Detective Gary Barthelmess of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Enters Through Window

Barthelmess said the man strikes early in the morning, breaking into the victim’s apartment through a side window.

“He’s very good at what he does,” Burbank police Detective Mike Gough said. Generally, the woman does not awaken until the man is in her bedroom, he said.

He covers her face, assaults her and steals the cash in her purse, LAPD Detective Angela Morris said.

No weapon has been seen, but the rapist has threatened his victims with a knife, Barthelmess said.

In the burglaries and rapes, victims found only one thing missing: money from their purses, Barthelmess said.

No Description

Because the rapist covers the faces of his victims, police have not been able to secure a description of him. They know that he is white because victims have glimpsed his skin, Gough said.

The most recent attack attributed to the rapist occurred on April 4 in Burbank, Gough said. A woman awoke at about 4:30 a.m. to find a man in her bedroom. He raped her, then fled.

The rapist has struck three other times in Burbank, the detective said.

In one case, in March, the man attempted to rape a Burbank woman, but left when she screamed and struggled. Twenty minutes later a man using similar methods broke into the apartment of a woman living about a mile away and raped her, Barthelmess said.