Opinion: Evil had a birthday last Saturday

From 1992 through 1994, the man hunted in Ann Arbor. He was cunning, ruthless and had no mercy for his victims. His hometown police department told us he could climb telephone poles without touching the spikes and earned the nickname “Cheetah Chub” for his efforts. 

He’d been a rapist since he was a juvenile and couldn’t hold a job for more than several weeks.

The man hunted lone women on deserted wooded trails, railroad tracks, and isolated sidewalks where his attacks wouldn't be seen. Other victims he followed were unaware, or a little tipsy, and he attacked them in their homes.

This predator said nothing to his victims, but savagely attacked them by blindsiding, sucker punching and bashing their heads into the ground to render them unconscious and defenseless. He told another detective and I, he would then “take their dignity.”

The police worked exhaustively to find this creep. Cab drivers, from a company near where one of his victims died, took it personally and searched for him. Huge rewards were offered for his arrest.

While he skulked through the city, he told us he tried to vary his routes in case the cops were watching. He wore multiple layers of clothing so he could quickly alter his appearance after his attacks. He confided that he saw helicopters surveilling him, when in reality, only medical flights traversed the sky. 

He and his girlfriend clipped maps from newspapers showing the locations of his attacks. He had just purchased a newspaper to read about his latest exploits when he was arrested.

He attacked without conscience and placed no value on the lives of his victims. He told us, “Those women who died, just gave up.” That slip tipped his hand. We only knew of one victim he murdered, and she had been a fighter all her life. We never found another homicide victim, but there were probably others elsewhere.

He terrorized Ann Arbor for two years, ruined the lives of a dozen families, and forever altered the habits and lives of his surviving victims. One of his attacks occurred three blocks northeast of City Hall. In that case, he only stopped beating his victim when he was frightened by the siren of a police car responding to an unrelated alarm. 

That attack caused the formation of a multiagency task force.

In an ironic twist of numerological fate, the first operational day of the Ann Arbor Serial Rape Task Force occurred on his birthday. Equally coincidental is that this evil predator (who looked like the Grinch, especially when he smiled), was arrested on Christmas 15 years ago.

Happy belated birthday “Cheetah Chub,” you are where you should be, and Ann Arbor sleeps better because you are caged. Even so, lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware (for predators like the Grinch lookalike) and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.