Associated Press
YOAKUM, Texas — With a serial rapist on the loose, Cassandra McGinty has developed a new routine when she arrives home: search room to room, a handgun or stun gun drawn.
The predator has been assaulting older women in central Texas over the past year, terrifying residents and frustrating investigators who have only a vague description of the suspect.
Pepper spray has been flying off the shelves in the towns where the attacks have occurred, and McGinty said her landlord in Marquez handed out stun guns as Christmas gifts. Nearly 200 miles away in Yoakum, elderly volunteers at the local museum have been locking its doors during business hours.
“I used to think I was too old for anybody to mess with,” said McGinty, 55. “I can’t say that anymore.”
Beginning with the rape of a 65-year-old woman in Yoakum last January, authorities have linked eight sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults to the suspect, who has been dubbed the “Twilight Rapist” because most of the attacks occurred around dawn. They also believe he robbed or attempted to rob four other women.
The victims have all been women, ranging in age from 65 to 91. An 81-year-old woman scared off an intruder with a gun, firing several rounds for good measure. A 66-year-old woman was attacked twice, despite having moved across town following the first assault.
The attacks occurred in seven rural towns, the largest of which has 6,000 residents.
Two women were attacked in Yoakum, a quiet town surrounded by wide-open ranches about 100 miles east of San Antonio.
Authorities say the attacks appear to have been planned — phone lines were cut and porch lights were unscrewed outside some of the victims’ homes. All the victims lived alone, and one had more than $10,000 stolen.
A year into the case there is still no sketch of the suspect, only a vague description of a thin, young and dark-skinned man who is between 5½- and 6-feet tall.
