Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
"Pillowcase Rapist," Who Served 33 Years in Prison before Being Released, Arrested for Allegedly Kidnapping Woman
Ronald Feldmeier was dubbed Sacramento's "pillowcase rapist" in the 1980s after a series of sexual assaults in which he was known to muffle his victims' cries with coverings. Now, he's been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
A California man known as the “pillowcase rapist” — who spent three decades behind bars after being convicted in the 1980s on a series of rape, robbery and other charges in the Sacramento area — was arrested again Monday on kidnapping charges.
Ronald Feldmeier, 71, was booked on suspicion of kidnapping in Bakersfield, California after his alleged victim told police she jumped from a moving vehicle that he was driving, according to NBC affiliate KGET.
Bakersfield Police Department spokesman Sgt. Robert Pair said the victim became concerned for her safety based on statements the man was reportedly making. She told police that he refused to let her out of the vehicle. The woman had injuries consistent with jumping out of a moving car, police said.
RELATED: Kevin Spacey Is "A Sexual Bully" Who Preys on Men, Prosecutors Say
Feldmeier committed a series of sexual assaults in the 1980s, using a pillowcase to muffle the screams of his victims.
The serial rapist was released early from prison on parole in 2019 after serving 33 years — about half of his 67-year sentence — but was arrested in 2020 for failing to register as a sex offender, KGET reported.
Bakersfield defense attorney Kyle J. Humphrey, who represented Feldmeier, told KGET last year that he believed that his client no longer posed a threat.
“He served his time, which was worse than time served by other people because he was repeatedly assaulted, stabbed and attacked by other inmates,” Humphrey said.
But a survivor of one of Feldmeier's attacks said she was not surprised by the latest alleged incident.
"He's horrible. He's a monster," Kerin Kay told CBS News Sacramento. "I'm dumbfounded but not surprised. I knew it was just a matter of time before he did something," she said, adding that Feldmeier should have never been released from prison.
Feldmeier was convicted in 1986 on more than a dozen counts of rape, robbery, burglary, sodomy of a child and oral copulation, according to CBS News.
One of his convictions stemmed from a sexual assault Feldmeier committed against Kay and her then-four-year-old daughter.
"I feel like they have just taken our life away," Kay’s daughter, whose name was not made public, said in a 2019 interview at the time of Feldmeier's prison release, according to the local CBS station.
Kay said she believes that Feldmeier would have hurt the passenger who jumped out of his car, had she not been able to escape.
Feldmeier was ordered to be held without bail on Wednesday and will appear in court next on July 11.
