While authorities in Texas are frantically searching for the serial
rapist who appears to be preying on alumnae of the Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, the well-known black sorority is warning its members to be
on the look-out for the attacker.
In the last 10 months, four alumnae in their mid 50s and 60s have
been attacked at night in their homes near Dallas. The first two
rapes happened within five months of each other in Plano, a suburb
northwest of Dallas with a population of 250,000. The third attack
occurred a short drive away in the small bedroom community of
Coppell in September. The most recent rape was on October 14 in
Corinth, a few miles away.
In one of the rapes, the man broke in through the victimâs garage,
and in at least two other attacks, he accosted the women while they
were asleep in their beds. The man, police said, seemed to have
personal information about his victims. Investigators have released
surveillance video that apparently shows the rapist walking around
one of his victimâs homes on April 6.
âThe attacks are not random,â said Coppell Deputy Police Chief
Matthew Kosec. âThis is an exception in our community and we take it
very seriously.â
A motive behind the brutal assaults is unclear, and police are still
trying to determine why the manâdescribed as black, in his late 30s
to mid 40s, 5-foot-7 to 6 feet tall, 250 to 300 pounds, with a heavy
buildâwould target the women.
âThe key link is their sorority alumni association,â said Kosec.
âThey are associated with the same sorority. It is a large
organization and [the victims] went to different colleges.â
Another question is why he chose these particular victims. Heather
Bowden, press coordinator with the Plano Police Department, said the
police have shown the women a video of the alleged attacker but âas
far as I know the [women] are pulling a blank.â
âWe are still trying to figure out how he got their names,â she
said.
Lt. Jimmie Gregg of the Corinth Police Department said the attacker
may have gotten their names off the Internet or accessed a sorority
list. âTheir information is not on the sorority website but if he
knew their names he could find out their information with a Google
searchâŠIt is possible based on what we found he did track them and
found out their daily habits.â
The Dallas chapter of the sorority, which is almost 100 years old,
holds regular monthly meetings but police arenât disclosing if the
women attended them. âThere is a monthly meeting,â said Bowden. âI
donât know if all of the women are active and go to the same
meetings.â
The non-profit has more than 250,000 members, mostly black college-
educated women, and has more than 940 chapters in the United States,
England, Japan (Tokyo and Okinawa), Germany, the Virgin Islands,
Bermuda, the Bahamas and South Korea.
When the news broke, Delta Sigma Theta sorority posted a warning to
its alumnae urging them to refrain from wearing clothes that
identify the organization, and asked them to remove items
identifying them as sorority alumnae from their cars, key chains,
homes and offices. In addition, the organization told its members
they should stop posting their personal information, such as their
whereabouts, on Facebook and other social-media sites, and make sure
their homes are locked and secured.
âTo think that our members are being targeted is disturbing and
extremely disheartening,â said Delta Sigma Theta National President
Cynthia M. A. Butler-McIntyre. "Since receiving news of these
incidents, our primary concern has been the safety of our members."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/delta-sigma-theta-sorority-alumnae-
stalked-by-serial-rapist-in-texas