Original Night Stalker

The Original Night Stalker is the name given to an unidentified serial killer and rapist who murdered at least ten people in Southern California from 1979 through 1986. The crimes initially centered on east Sacramento where at least fifty women were sexually assaulted between June 1976 to July 1979. The perpetrator was dubbed the The East Area Rapist. In 2001 the Northern California rapes were linked by DNA to murders in Southern California.

The Original Night Stalker/The East Area Rapist was never apprehended; several suspects have been cleared through DNA, alibi or other investigative means and methods.