Exclusive: East Area Rapist Survivor Speaks
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — Forty-one years to the day since the East Area Rapist broke into his house, tied him up, and raped his girlfriend, Victor Hayes is now speaking out in an exclusive interview with CBS13.
Hayes decided to speak out on the same day, 41 years later to mark the horrific attack and to bring attention to his case. He believes EAR suspect and former Auburn police officer Joseph DeAngelo was on duty the night of his attack.
He took CBS13's Steve Large back to the Rancho Cordova neighborhood where he was living when the East Area Rapist broke into his home.
"He said 'Don't move or I'll kill you. Don't move or I'll shoot you. Don't move or I'll kill you,'" Hayes said. "Then he said roll over, and he had two shoelaces in his pocket."
Hayes showed CBS13 the same levee road he believes the East Area Rapist used to make many of his escapes in Sacramento County.
"So the call would come here to La Riviera Boulevard and he's already on the other side of the river," Hayes said.
On Oct. 1, 1977, Hayes was in his home near the river, when he woke to a flashlight shining in his face. He was tied up, his girlfriend taken into another room for 30 minutes and raped.
"It's just basically a personal nightmare that won't go away," Hayes said.
This is the first Oct. 1 since the arrest of suspected East Area Rapist and Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo. The one-time Auburn police officer can be seen in full uniform in a 1970's Auburn Journal newspaper clipping.
"The night that he came to my house I believe he was working," Hayes said.
Hayes says he remembers the pants the East Area Rapist was wearing the night of his attack. He believes it was DeAngelo's on-duty uniform.
"I know what police officer's khaki trousers look like, and they were light tan in color. They could've been green."
Auburn police wore light blue uniforms in the 1970s.
Interim Auburn police chief Victor Pecoraro released a statement in response to Hayes claims reading:
"We do not have any information to show he was on-duty (or off-duty) as an Auburn officer to date."
"Police are supposed to know," Hayes said. "I don't know is not good enough."
Hayes says he believes DeAngelo used training and resources in his position with the Auburn police to carry out the crime against him. He's considering suing.
"They're partially responsible for him," Hayes said. "They're derelict of duty in his supervision."
Hayes also says investigators with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department have not talked to him since their initial interview the night of the attack, 41 years ago.
"I'm a forgotten survivor in this whole thing," Hayes said.
A terrifying EAR encounter on an Oct. 1 four decades ago.
Time has not healed Victor Hayes.
"Every day has been Oct. 1 for me for 41 years," Hayes said. "Truthfully. It's never gone away."
Following the broadcast of this report, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says Hayes had a lengthy discussion with a homicide sergeant on April 28, 2018, following DeAngelo's arrest. Deputies say a member of the sheriff's department also spoke to him on May 11 and May 21, 2018. The sheriff's department did not elaborate on any contact before the arrest of DeAngelo on April 25, 2018.
