Serial killers and true crime

The Baseline Killer was first dubbed the Baseline Rapist after Phoenix police announced that a sturdy, light-skinned black man was sexually assaulting females as young as 12 years old at gunpoint near Baseline Road.

He evolved into the Baseline Killer in the spring of 2006 after investigators began to link a series of murders and armed robberies to the rapist.

An excellent look into the crimes, the investigation and the trial of the Baseline Killer.

That police detective Mike Meislish led the search of suspected serial killer Mark Goudeau‘s home on October 7, 2006, was a godsend.

It covers what everyone did right and what they did wrong. It also goes through the evidence against Mark Goudeau.

Detectives had collected some startlingly incriminating evidence during their earlier search of Goudeau’s home within hours after the September arrest.

Among the many items seized were a pair of Goudeau’s white Nike sneakers. The detectives were focusing on white and black footwear because of earlier interviews with some of the assault and robbery victims.

Forensic testing between the September and October searches revealed that DNA from twoof Goudeau’s murder victims had remained on one of his sneakers, despite apparent attempts to wash away possible evidence.

(The analysts found a tiny bit of blood from the only male murder victim, George Chou, on the stitching around the familiar swoosh. The other DNA on the sneaker besides Goudeau’s belonged to Nicole Gibbons, murdered in late March 2006 about two weeks after Chou and, like all the other homicide victims, shot in the head.)

The article gives you a peek at Goudeau as well as discussing the victims.

Goudeau was an in-your-face murderer who interacted verbally with his victims before abruptly ending their lives with his potent .38.

His communications were basic: If you didn’t do what he wanted, he would kill you.

One woman who didn’t go along with Goudeau amazingly survived and later testified against him.

The 31-year-old Phoenix woman later described in chilling detail how, in May 2006, a man wearing a beige, human-like mask carjacked her near 32nd Street and Thomas Road.

I admit it is a bit long but I think it is worth the read.