Tulsa serial rapist update

A Tulsa sex crimes task force tightens the noose on Tulsa's <b><a class="headlinelink" href="http://www.kotv.com/main/home/searchKOTV.asp?mainSearch=serial rapist">serial rapist</a></b>. He attacks

Monday, November 21st 2005, 10:36 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa sex crimes task force tightens the noose on Tulsa's serial rapist. He attacks at night, entering victims' homes through unlocked doors or windows, preying mostly on children, though police say he's also assaulted young women.

Hundreds have called in tips, saying they may recognize the serial rapist. News on 6 anchor Tami Marler shows us how the task force plans to catch him.

â€œWell after I saw the sketch I thought well I better call Crimestoppers and let them know." Robert was working his south Tulsa delivery route when he thought he recognized a man from one of these composite sketches. "I just kept thinking where have I seen this guy? And it finally just dawned on me, that I have seen him with my job." [Click here to see the composites.]

It was telephone worker he'd spoken to a couple of times; someone he figured would have easy access to a lot of homes. The man hadn't done anything suspicious, but he looked so much like one of the sketches, Robert felt he had to call the Crimestoppers tip line.

That was nearly a month ago. "I was surprised. I thought they had quite a bit of work to do. I thought they would call me, but they never did."

"We can not call every single person back. We'll call on a need basis. If we need to talk to a person that calls in, we'll call them back. You know I like to accommodate the public as much as possible, but our number one priority is working these cases." Tulsa Police Sgt Gary Stansill says, since all of the sketches were released together last month.

Detectives have received countless tips. "We're now up to about 850 pieces of information that we have entered in our tracking database. Now to track the number of actual calls that have come in is impossible." But they are tracking information.

Sgt. Stansill says he evaluates and prioritizes the information, giving more weight to tips that offer something extra. "And they may give information like I know he's out prowling around at night, he's got some previous sexual something. Something other than he just looks like composite only."

There's still five months left on Borden Dairy's $10,000 reward for tips that lead to an arrest in this case. A special Crimestoppers fund has so far collected $1,100 for the suspect, who Tulsa Police have confirmed has attacked at least seven victims, ranging in age from 4 to 20.