Baseline rapist
| Mark Goudeau | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 6, 1964 Phoenix, Arizona |
| Other names | The Baseline Killer, The Baseline Rapist |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 9 (murder), 15 (sexual assault), 11 (kidnapping) |
|
Span of killings
|
2005–2006 |
| Country | USA |
| State(s) | Phoenix, Arizona |
|
Date apprehended
|
September 4, 2006 |
Mark Goudeau (born September 6, 1964) is an American serial killer and rapist. Goudeau was involved in one of the two simultaneously occurring serial killer cases (the other being the "Serial Shooter") which terrorized the Phoenix metro area, between August 2005 and June 2006.
Goudeau was first referred to as the Baseline Rapist when Phoenix Police first announced that a light-skinned black man was sexually assaulting females as young as 12 years old at gunpoint near Baseline Road. Goudeau would later be dubbed the Baseline Killer in the spring of 2006 after investigators began to link a series of murders and armed robberies to the rapist. The perpetrator was referred to as the Baseline Rapist and Baseline Killer as the first crimes began around Baseline Road in South Phoenix, Arizona. The crimes later spread north, primarily in the North Central area of Phoenix.
Goudeau is believed to have committed nine counts of first degree murder (8 women, 1 man), in addition to 15 sexual assaults on women and young girls, 11 counts of kidnapping, and a number of armed robberies.
Although not initially linked, the crimes were distinguished by having no apparent motive, and the murders were particularly brutal, with the killer often shooting the victims in the head. The criminal was often described wearing various disguises such as a Halloween mask as well as attempting to impersonate a homeless man or drug addict.
Police say that the shell casings found at each of the crime scenes all came from the same gun.
Phoenix police spent thousands of hours patrolling and following up on hundreds of tips during the summer of 2006. As residents of Phoenix became increasingly alarmed by the random nature of the violent crimes, community meetings were called by the police to distribute a sketch based on the description given by the surviving victims. Frustration and fear blanketed the city as posters and billboards displayed the sketch of the Baseline Killer, offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. It took the police over a year to finally come up with a viable suspect.
Mark Goudeau was at the time on Community Supervision (parole) with the Arizona Department of Corrections and supervised out of the Northeast Parole Office. In August 2006, Parole Officers in the Northeast Parole Office provided information to the Phoenix Police Department task force suggesting that Mark Goudeau matched the sketch of the Baseline Killer. Parole Officers searched Mark Goudeau's residence and found a ski mask and a realistic "toy" handgun. Police used this information to obtain a search warrant for Mark Goudeau's residence and found additional items that linked Mark Goudeau to crimes committed by the Baseline Killer.
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Wikipedia