Post by cityofchill on Jul 20, 2016 11:35:02 GMT
Like other posters, I've made note of the EAR's juvenile behavior during his attacks: the histrionics, the stilted language, the transparent attempts at misdirection, etc. It was enough for me to think he may have been a teenager starting off in June of 1976. Now I read cityofchill's argument about the offender's choice of BMX bikes, and the possibility seems even stronger.
I have personally come to believe that the perp used many different methods in doing his recon work. He must have used all kinds of approaches in order to stay under the radar and to suit the topographical features of the neighborhood he was scouting. Sometimes he may have posed as a jogger, or a walker, or a worker of some kind (he may have worked in a trade that gave him access and cover). We know he used a car at some points (ie, victim #1), that he stalked the canals, and he was comfortable on a bike.
That last point — the bike — has always been of particular interst to me, because he seemed to favor a BMX-style bike over other models. Having been into BMX myself as a youth, I can tell you that the bikes are pretty awkward for tall people or those with large frames. An adult on a BMX looks strange to most people because they are not comfortable or easy to ride. When have you ever seen a full-grown man cruising around on a BMX? Probably never. But our perp was able to ride one adeptly and escape pursuing authorities, which suggests he had lots of practice. Given the choice of any kind of bike he wanted, he repeatedly chose to steal BMX-style bikes for use in his crimes. That tells me a lot. BMX bikes are not particularly fast. To ride one the way he did takes skill and practice. At the time he was attacking, BMX had not been around long, so it's not something he would have learned years earlier and then put those skills to use when he began his spree. This past Christmas my nephew got a BMX and I took it for a little spin. It felt so awkward for me to ride it, and I certainly would have crashed if I tried to pedal fast. And I spent years as a kid and teen practically glued to my BMX. With all this in mind, and considering many other known facts, I believe the offender must have been young. Perhaps not even 20 when he started his attacks. It is very unlikely that a grown man would have had the experience and skill with a BMX that our offender did. If I had to choose a bike to make an escape at my age, BMX would be my last choice. However, when I was younger, it would have been my first choice.
I thought I should add that a skilled BMX rider can ride with ease on almost any terrain. If you are skilled with one, a BMX can be a very versatile ride. I mention this because we know that the offender stalked "the underbelly" of the communities he targeted, as Quester put it. He used trails, canals, drainage ditches, etc. in order to move undetected through a community. If he was skilled with a BMX, the bike would have allowed him to travel these routes with more ease and speed, and the difficult terrain would not have been an obstacle as it would be for a 10-speed. It would have allowed him to move seamlessly and mostly unnoticed from street/sidewalk to dirt path to canal/drainage ditch to grass/gravel. Very few people would take a second look at a young guy on a BMX. A man on a BMX would look strange. So our perp was old enough to drive a car, but young enough to be skilled with a BMX. I would guess his age to he somewhere between 17-19 when he started offending.
I'm trying to think if I've ever seen an older guy ride a BMX bike, other than on TV. Watch those competitions and you'll see guys in their mid-20's or older stop and take off their helmets. Uncanny valley all the way.
Hey N,
It's true that at the competitive level there are guys in their 20's riding, because it can take years of practice to reach that level of skill. However, when EAR was committing his early attacks, BMX had not been around very long — not long enough for him to become a skilled rider in his teens and then use BMX bikes to skilfully flee crime scenes in his mid-20's . I think it's most likely, considering other pieces of circumstantial evidence, that he was probably pretty young when he stared offending. It's one thing to see guys in their 20's at a competition, a pro track, or a skate park, but I personally have never seen an older guy cruising the streets on a BMX.