'Pillowcase Rapist' Release Hearing Draws Outcry At San Jose Hall Of Justice
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) — Southern California residents journeyed to San Jose Wednesday to protest the release of a man who admitted to assaulting dozens of women between 1971 and 1982 into their neighborhood.
A public hearing for the release of 63-year-old Christopher Hubbart, known as the "Pillowcase Rapist" for muffling women's screams, is scheduled Wednesday at the San Jose Hall of Justice.
Hubbart admitted to raping 38 women in California between 1971 and 1982 – the majority of which happened in Los Angeles County. He was then released to the Bay Area in 1979, where he raped 15 more women.
A Lake Los Angeles landlord agreed to rent a home to Hubbard following his pending release, prompting outcry from neighbors.
Misty Vivirito, a mother of four girls and a rape survivor, left for San Jose Tuesday night to plead with the judge to block to release of Hubbart. Vivirito lives just five minutes away from the small white house that the landlord has agreed to rent to Hubbart.
"He has to come right by my house to go into town to get his medicine, to get groceries," Vivirito said. "He's going to see my kids outside and who says he's not going to stop?"
Hubbart's been confined at Coalingo State Hospital since 1996. He committed his last crime in Santa Clara County, where his hearing is being held.
"He needs to stay where he's at, locked up," said Lake Los Angeles resident Cheryl Holbrook, who was was raped at knifepoint when she was 14-years-old. "It brings back a lot of flashbacks."
Holbrook and about a dozen other women formed a group, the Ladies of Lake Los Angeles, after hearing about Hubbart's pending release in April. So far they've sent over 11,000 letters in protest to the Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge supervising Hubbart.
"Don't make us have to sleep with our guns." Holbrook said. "Don't make us have to sleep in fear."
Activists said there are close to 900 sex offenders who are already live in the Antelope Valley and Lake Los Angeles.
Hubbart will have around-the-clock security after his release.