When I retired from the Fullerton Police Department after 30 years, I left with more than just a pension. I carried with me the memories of cases that stuck with me—the ones that mattered, the ones that never let go. Some were solved cleanly, some left loose ends, but one in particular stood out. A serial rapist and murderer who prowled parking lots across Los Angeles and Orange County, hunting women, attacking in the dark, and vanishing without a trace.
We worked the case hard, but the break we needed didn’t come from forensics or surveillance—it came from a sharp-eyed citizen who put two and two together. That tip changed everything.
That case became the basis for my first book, The Parking Lot Rapist. It covers the investigation, the suspect, and the long road to justice. But beyond the facts and evidence, there were moments I’ll never forget:
🔹 The father who fought to get his son back from a killer’s grasp.
🔹 The stepson who unknowingly shared a home with a murderer.
🔹 The unexpected tip from a couple that turned suspicion into an arrest.
🔹 The victim who should have died but survived—and had the courage to face her attacker in court.
🔹 The suspect’s pathetic attempt to fake insanity, hoping to dodge justice.
Some of these details made it into the book. Others, I’ve kept to myself—until now.
In my next post, I’ll take you inside the fight to reunite a stolen child with his real father, and the obstacles that nearly kept them apart.
Lee DeVore True Crime 