Alleged serial rapist charged; police investigating a third case

Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 8, 2016

EVERETT — Prosecutors on Friday filed criminal charges against an Arlington man police believe could be a serial rapist.

Dean T. Connors, 24, has been held on $1 million bail in the Snohomish County Jail since his Sept. 20 arrest on two counts of rape. Both involved allegations from women who said they were threatened at knifepoint. One allegation is from 2014 in Everett; the other off Highway 9 earlier this year.

Police also are investigating a third case from early 2015 on Evergreen Way in Everett, according to court papers filed Friday. That woman told police that a man pulled out a knife and tried to rape her, allegedly telling her, “You are a whore and deserve this.”

The woman fought her way out of the car. The man allegedly tried to run her over, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Laura Twitchell wrote in court papers.

Detectives in Everett are continuing their investigation, Everett police officer Aaron Snell said Friday.

Connors allegedly admitted “to having been with an estimated 10 prostitutes and about half of the interactions had gone overboard,” court papers said. “He described choking one prostitute and cutting another prostitute while holding a knife to her neck.”

He allegedly admitted to getting sexual gratification from the violence or what he called “rough sex,” court papers said.

The first accusation stemmed from a 2014 report in which a woman said she had been assaulted by a man who used mace on her face and genitals.

“During the rape, the defendant told (her) to say, ‘I’m a dirty whore and I deserve this,’” court papers said.

Police and aid crews were called to an area off the Lowell Snohomish Road where they found the woman crying. She said the man picked her up along Broadway in north Everett and took her to the secluded spot. After the assault, her attacker said he had people watching and if she said anything he would kill her, court papers said.

Police were able to gather DNA evidence, which was sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

Over the next two years, the woman reported spotting the suspect in different vehicles, including a Blazer, a white pickup and what looked like a green Chrysler. In some cases, the woman, now 31, provided partial license plate numbers.

Her information, including a description of the suspect, led Everett police and Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives to arrest Connors for investigation of rape.

Detectives with the Everett Police Department began comparing notes from the 2014 rape report and similar cases involving prostitutes that had been closed as unsolved, court papers filed in September said. Some of those similarities included suspect and vehicle descriptions as well as the behavior of the attacker.

In August, Everett detectives received an email from the state crime lab that reported a DNA match between the 2014 sexual assault and evidence gathered during a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office investigation. The county case involved a rape at knifepoint in which the victim described a white pickup. Detectives later were able to identify a license plate number that led to a north Snohomish County address.

The man connected with the address was Connors and he had history with police, including an Everett case for indecent exposure. Traffic-related tickets connected him to vehicles similar to those described by women who’d reported being raped. The exposure case and a report about the man allegedly patronizing a prostitute occurred in a part of north Everett known for people selling sex.

The woman in the 2014 attack identified Connors from a photo montage, court records said. Lab results indicated that DNA samples matched between the Everett and sheriff’s office cases.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Clearview area in April after receiving a report of a sexual assault near Highway 9 and Broadway Avenue.

The woman, 42, told detectives she had been walking along Highway 9 when a man in his 20s and driving a white box truck offered her a ride. After getting in the truck, the victim said the driver pulled over and started to choke her. She said she was raped at knifepoint.

Witnesses told deputies they watched the woman run into traffic on Highway 9 and saw a white truck head northbound on the highway. They reported that she was screaming that she had been raped and choked and that a man had tried to kill her.

The woman told deputies she wanted to go to the hospital and have DNA evidence taken.

Court papers describe the victim as being adamant about preserving evidence.

Connors has seven misdemeanors as an adult but no felony history.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.