Police investigating eight deadly attacks blamed on the “Baseline Killer” have arrested a man in two 2005 sexual assaults connected to the case, authorities said Thursday.
Police have forensic evidence to connect Mark Goudeau, 42, to the assaults, which occurred on Sept. 20, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said.
“This suspect has been arrested for the sexual assault of two victims in one case only and is not connected to any of the other offenses in this series at this time,” Harris said.
He stressed that the evidence that led to Goudeau’s arrest was not the same evidence that linked 11 of the 23 crimes that have been connected to the Baseline Killer. However, he said police were following up on other possibly related crimes.
“We still consider all those other cases open at this point,” police spokesman Andy Hill said. “The investigation is continuing and we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Goudeau was booked into jail while witnesses from the 2005 attack were called to look at a photo line-up, Hill said.
According to police reports, two sisters, ages 21 and 23, were sexually assaulted on Sept. 20 while walking in a park at night.
The women had put their feet in playground sprinklers to cool off when a man with a baseball cap came up to them with a gun. One of the victims was six months pregnant at the time of the attack, according to police reports.
Cmdr. Kim Humphrey said the suspect resembles a widely circulated police sketch depicting the Baseline Killer as a man with dreadlocks, though neighbors of Goudeau told reporters he doesn’t look like the man in the sketch.
Wife claims man is innocent
Goudeau’s wife, Wendy Carr, told The Associated Press police arrested the wrong man.
“My husband is innocent,” Carr said in a telephone interview. “This is a huge miscarriage of justice. And they have an innocent man in prison. This is all a mistake. He shouldn’t be in prison for something he didn’t do.”
Police first got the man’s name in mid-July but didn’t identify him as a possible suspect in the sexual assault case until last weekend, Hill said. They kept him under surveillance until his arrest Wednesday. Officers had spoken to the man previously, Hill said, but noted police had talked to many people in the investigation.
Hill said the man has a criminal record, but he wouldn’t elaborate.
“His arrest is a good thing,” Mayor Phil Gordon said. “Any individual who has been arrested for rape and kidnapping is a violent monster off the street. That’s a good day.”
Goudeau’s neighbors said that they couldn’t believe he would attack anybody. They described him as friendly, a cement worker who left early in the morning for jobs around the county and was a regular presence in his front yard where he’d keep meticulous care of his bushes and waved to neighbors.
Suspect spoke about investigation
Barbara Holzapfel described him as a “wonderful guy.” She remembered him talking to her about the Baseline Killer investigation after 37-year-old Carmen Miranda was killed June 29 at a car wash a block away.
“He would say, ‘There are idiots all over the world,”’ Holzapfel said.
Neighbor Su-Ellen Bennett said police officers swarmed the man’s home from the front yard and the alley on Wednesday and also towed away his truck.
The “Baseline Killer” has been linked to 23 crimes in the Phoenix metropolitan area dating to August 2005, including eight killings. The crimes also include 11 sexual assaults of women and young girls and several robberies. The earliest crimes occurred along Phoenix’s Baseline Road, where the name “Baseline Killer” originated.
Reports show the sexual assaults ranged from fondling to rape. In many cases, victims had conversations with the man before they were attacked. He appeared to always have a gun, and often threatened to shoot and kill victims.
Victims usually alone
The Baseline Killer is also thought to wear disguises, strikes in the dark and generally targets people who are alone.
According to reports previously released by the Phoenix Police Department, the man in some cases asked for a ride and even said “thank you” after taking money. A task force of more than 100 officers and detectives has been tracking him for months.
The case is one of two serial predator cases that have shaken the Phoenix area over the past year.
In the other, dubbed the “Serial Shooter” investigation, police arrested Dale S. Hausner, 33, and Samuel Dieteman, 30, early last month. The roommates are charged with murder and attempted murder in 16 shootings, two of them fatal. Both pleaded not guilty.
Police believe Hausner and Dieteman took turns shooting random victims throughout the Phoenix area late at night and early in the morning. Police are investigating a total of 37 random shootings believed to be connected that killed seven people and wounded 17 since May 2005.