David Shutes (3:28)

This is the first thing on the minds of VictimsSurvival. It's been four decades since Eileen Lear was ripped out of sleep by an intruder in her apartment south of Miami. But her memories of the terrifying ordeal remained vivid. After the initial shock and confusion, the reality of her perilous situation set in. It was November 17, 1983, 4:45 in the morning. The stranger had Eileen pinned to her bed and was holding a pillow over her face. Her life was in serious danger.

Eileen Lear (4:04)

There was this constant conflict between do I obey him or do I try to fight him? What are my best odds for survival? And so that was present in my mind once. Once, as I said initially I thought surely I'd be on the news as, you know, somebody finding me dead in my apartment. And then when he released his grip on the pillow, I thought, well, okay, maybe he's not going to kill me. But then when he said he had one more thing to do and grab my neck, I once again thought he was going to kill me. So there was this back and forth in my mind. I was trying to analyze and figure out my best course of action to stay alive.

David Shutes (4:44)

Like Eileen, each victim had to decide in a split, how do I live through the night? Dr. Lenore Walker, a leading women's advocate, criminologist, and professor emeritus at Nova Southeastern University, told me that every situation is unique. Sometimes fighting back is the right thing to do.

Dr. Lenore Walker (5:04)

We also train some women to not fight back because fighting back then reminds many of these men of the abuse they had as a child. And so they fight back and it gets worse. But some of them can fight back. And so the advice we give to women is to figure out. You figure out what it's best for you to do and just survive it so that you don't get killed.

David Shutes (5:34)

According to police reports, some of the pillowcase rapists victims killed did try to fight back. They were lucky, although some ended up stabbed or badly cut. Through dozens of suspected attacks, the rapist never killed any of his victims.

Dr. Lenore Walker (5:50)

That's the next step for these guys. Once they start killing, that's it. They will continue to kill.

David Shutes (6:00)

Eileen Lear, a 30 year old schoolteacher, made the choice to obey instead of fight. She silently endured being raped and then waited for her attacker to flee. As he left. He instructed her not to move and warned her that he'd be outside her apartment watching.

Eileen Lear (6:18)

I felt nonetheless, sort of almost like paralyzed with fear. And then I just realized I had to just take my chances. And knowing he was not really going to be sitting there, or pretty sure he wasn't going to be sitting there, I just made a beeline to my neighbor, and I didn't have to leave. I left my apartment, but I was still in my building. So I just ran upstairs to my neighbor, knowing at that point that I had to report this. And my. My. One of my thoughts was that I have to call school, let them know I'm not coming in today or I'll be late or whatever. Of course I didn't go in, but. So that was. That was on my mind. And I was so eternally grateful that my friend Sarah Jane lived upstairs.

David Shutes (7:08)

These minutes and hours immediately after the imminent danger is over are critical to how our survivor recovers from this kind of horrific assault. The first people they encounter after being raped. For Eileen, that was her friend. Sarah Jane set the stage for what comes next. That's what Anna Farranner told me. She is a mental health counselor and the administrator of the Nancy J. Cotterman center, the sexual health support program for Broward county, where several of the pillowcase rapes happened.

Anna Farranner (7:39)

The individual that this survivor first reports to, how they respond has a significant impact on their recovery process. So if she goes to a friend or she goes to law enforcement, I'm like, well, I don't know, you left the door open, or whatever might be that response really impacts that individual deciding, well, if this person didn't believe me, then why am I even going through this process? Why am I even going to get a forensic medical exam? But then somebody else is gonna. And then I'm gonna be in court with a jury, and nobody's gonna believe me. So I think that it's very, very important to believe survivors.

David Shutes (8:20)

Anna says that includes the police. They're usually among the first to speak to the victim.

Anna Farranner (8:26)

Law enforcement has a role and a job to do, right? And they have to ask questions. They have to investigate. By having a. I believe what you're telling me, right? I still have to do my investigation, or if a family member kind of, yes, I believe what happened to you, and I'm here to support you. I think it's very crucial, and I've seen it throughout, that those individuals who don't have that don't fear us. Well, as those who have that support and those individuals that believe them and support them throughout the process.

David Shutes (8:59)

I asked Eileen how she was treated by the police when they first began investigating her assault.

Eileen Lear (9:06)

Remarkably well because I didn't know what to expect frankly. You know, single woman in the 80s, Miami, you know, the detectives were amazing. Now of course they knew I had no idea that there was this suspected serial rapist out there. They did know that. So they weren't looking at me as just this rape victim in isolation. You know, they realized very quickly that this was number whatever number I was.

David Shutes (9:42)

Advocates for sexual assault victims call these first hours and days after an attack. The reaction phase. Among the emotions are shock, disbelief, embarrassment and guilt.

Anna Farranner (9:56)

I think that one of the main things that I, that I feel that our advocates convey to survivors is that they're not to blame for what happened. And ultimately because I think that what we see with survivors of these crimes, which is not not seen with other types of crimes, is that individuals blame themselves. They somehow feel that they did something to deserve this, that they were doing something that caused this to happen. So we want to make sure that we convey that the reason why this happened was because this individual decided to do this. This has nothing to do with the survivor. Many of them blame themselves kind of, they find what did I do, what did I do to deserve this? Even individuals like in this case that they were just sleeping. And I think that our society I think has created that type of environment that no matter what, like I'm dead sleeping, how can I be to blame for this? But oh wait, you left the door open, you left the window open or you didn't look in your surroundings. So somehow it comes back to the survivors. So I think that survivors do that themselves, but I think people around them don't help with that.

David Shutes (11:05)

These misplaced feelings of shame and self blame often lead the victim to decide to not even report the crime.

Anna Farranner (11:12)

The main piece of these crimes are severely under reported. So we're not reporting them. And why, why is that? Why, why would someone not want to report? Right? And there's many reasons for that. Somebody might not perpetrators threatened. So I'm going to come back, I'm going to hurt you, I'm going to hurt your family or your kid, I'm going to hurt your mother. The self blame. I didn't lock my door, it's my fault. So why am I going to talk to anybody about this? They feel, sometimes they feel that they might not trust law enforcement. They might again they don't want to. It's so personal and so private. The crime right that they don't want to announce it, they don't want to talk about it.

Dr. Lenore Walker (11:55)

And that of course is part of the problem is that because so many women don't make a report, we have no idea how many women actually are raped. And you can't blame women for not making a report because they're not treated very well. Sometimes they are, but sometimes they're not. And so for many women, they just try to go on with their lives. So many women are humiliated and are so upset that the first thing they want to do is take a shower and they wash away whatever evidence there might be. So of course we had a whole campaign to tell women don't go to the hospital. Many of them are humiliated in the hospital if they don't get somebody sensitive there. And so then they're not going to be able to seek medical care when they really need it because they're afraid that it's going to reawaken and trigger the memories.

Eileen Lear (12:58)

It's so believable that women are hesitant and yet it's not in their best interest. And I think again, aside from yes, you want to get as much information out to hopefully apprehend the predator, but for your own psychological and emotional well being, it's just important to talk about it.

David Shutes (13:21)

The survivors must also overcome a sense of powerlessness during their attacks. The pillowcase rapist was armed, hid his face and was always in control.

Dr. Lenore Walker (13:32)

Serial rapists know what they're looking for. It's not about sex, it's about power and control and domination. And so they and humiliation.

Anna Farranner (13:46)

This crime has taken all power and control away from this individual. So throughout the process, we want to try to help them regain some of that control by giving them the options that they do have throughout this process. So they have the right to a forensic medical exam or part of it. They have the right to any other services that we might be able to provide. So we always try to have them regain some of that control.

David Shutes (14:16)

And the victims whose sense of security has been shattered have to try to feel safe again.

Anna Farranner (14:22)

We all need to believe that sense of safety when we walk out of our house because we need to. We feel, and we have this belief that the world is a good place and that people are good people. But when something like this happens, you realize, wait, this little safety that I felt is no longer there. So this just walking out of your house becomes a challenge at times that, okay, I'm not safe and this can happen, this can happen in my own home. How is it that I'm going to be safe walking out of here. Survivors that have had the crime happen in their home, they're concerned about going back home. So we work with them to provide a safety plan. Kind of do they want to stay with someone until law enforcement can do their investigation? So we try to focus with those individuals around safety because I think many come obviously understandably concerned about are they going to come back? Am I going to be safe in my own home? So we might provide also alarms for the doors or we provide locks for the window. So we work with them to make arrangements for that to at least increase the sense of safety they can have in their own home.

Anna Richardson (15:39)

The town of AGDA in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex. But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn. The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption. His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant. Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.

Eileen Lear (16:05)

I am the Archangel Michael.

Anna Richardson (16:07)

The whole town has been thrown into.

Eileen Lear (16:09)

Chaos as the mayor is unable to carry out his duties.

Cassie DePechel (16:14)

I would like to address you all.

Eileen Lear (16:16)

Legal proceedings have been initiated.

Anna Richardson (16:18)

Join me, Anna Richardson and journalist Leo Chic for the mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption and magic. Binge all episodes of the mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad free right now on Wondery. Plus. Start your free trial in Apple podcasts, Spotify or the Wondery app.

Cassie DePechel (16:38)

It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast Morbid.

Eileen Lear (16:41)

We're your hosts.

Cassie DePechel (16:42)

I'm Alina Urquhart.

Anna Farranner (16:43)

And I'm Ash Kelly.

Cassie DePechel (16:44)

And our show is part true crime, part spooky and part comedy. The stories we cover are well researched. Of the 880 men who survived the attack, around 400 would eventually find their way to one another and merge into one larger group with a touch of humor. Shout out to her. Shout out to all my therapists. Out the years, there's been like eight of them. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing.

Eileen Lear (17:07)

That motherf er is not real.

Cassie DePechel (17:10)

And if you're a weirdo like us.

Eileen Lear (17:11)

And love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you.

Cassie DePechel (17:14)

Love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most known notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad free by joining Wondery plus and the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.

David Shutes (17:36)

The victims I talked to for the series told me they quickly moved out of the apartments where their terrifying attacks happened. Eileen Lear was an exception. Although she stayed with friends for a while, she was ultimately determined to go back to her apartment. She wasn't going to let her attacker drive her away from the home she loved.

Eileen Lear (17:56)

I stayed with some very close friends for a couple of days, and then I was also not only teaching them, but I was tutoring. And I tutored this one family who lived in Gable's Estates. And I saw their son every day, basically. So I had to call them and let them know I wasn't going to be tutoring him because I was there like. Like a family member every day. And I spoke with the mom and I had to tell her what had happened. And she instantly said, come stay with us. We have. It's a gated community. We have a guest house. You can either stay in our house in a bedroom in our home, the main home, which was huge, or stay in the guest house. And I did stay in their guest house for a couple of months. Actually, I lived there a few months. I think probably a couple of times. I went back with someone only during the day to get clothing, to shower, that sort of thing. And then I'd start going back and forth. When I was living in Gables Estates in their. In their home, I would go back every couple of days, you know, to get more clothing, take showers, and so on and so forth, but not. Not in. I would never be there alone in the dark.

David Shutes (19:18)

Eventually, she decided to move back into her apartment. I asked her why she was so determined to stay.

Eileen Lear (19:26)

Oh, that's the million dollar question. I don't advise it. I don't. But I had. I was determined that he was not going to scare me away. And I dug my heels in and said, I'm staying. And it wasn't until I moved that I realized how terrified I was every single moment that I was in the apartment. I didn't sleep well. I slept on the sofa for the longest time. I bundled myself up, which again, makes no sense, nightgowns and pajamas and whatnot, knowing that what's a piece of fabric to do? But nonetheless, you know, you. You do what you have to do to kid yourself that you're feeling safe. And then eventually I did go back into the bedroom and slept in the bedroom, but not again. I didn't realize how poorly I slept until I did move out of the apartment.

David Shutes (20:22)

It's remarkable that Eileen was able to continue living for months in the place where such a terrifying experience happened. But her case is remarkable for many reasons. Immediately after her attack, Eileen was being interviewed by a detective. She can't recall if he told her then or later that her attacker was a serial rapist.

Eileen Lear (20:43)

But what I do remember is that he said to me, one thing you can rely on, Eileen, is that rapists never come back. They don't go back to the same apartment. So, yes, you're scared. Be careful. But don't worry, they don't typically go back to the same place.

David Shutes (21:06)

But the pillowcase rapist did go back to Eileen's place. We told you in episode two that it happened a month after her attack. Eileen wasn't there, but the rapist went through her apartment, Spread her underwear out onto the bed, and masturbated on them. He took a shower and scrawled a vulgar message on her fogged up mirror. And Eileen believes the rapist continued stalking her Even after that second intrusion.

Eileen Lear (21:32)

I was here during the day again, and my car was parked out in the parking lot at the condo. And I just went out to my car to go somewhere. And as I was approaching my car, I felt nauseous again, Just sick to my stomach. And I got to my car and my mirrors were all twisted around inside the car. I didn't, silly me, I didn't keep my car locked. My mirrors were all twisted, and I had that nauseous feeling. So I called the police. They came out, they dusted my car. They didn't get any prints off of it. But I'm certain he was there. I'm certain because of the way I felt. What I will always remember is the nauseous feeling I had that morning. And substance times when he was near me, around me, I never saw him again. Well, I didn't see his face that day. But he did come back to my apartment a second time. And I believe he was around my car, Moving my mirrors on my car another time. And the reason I say that is because both times as I approached my apartment, as I approached my car, I had the same nauseous feeling that I had the morning of the rape, and I'm certain he was around.

David Shutes (22:55)

Eileen also believes the pillowcase rapist may have known where she was staying before she returned to her apartment. She was in her friend's guest house in gables estates.

Eileen Lear (23:05)

One night I was at their cottage, and, you know, I was by myself. Lovely little place I was in. And the husband called me and said, and to this day, I don't know. But he called me and said, Eileen, we're getting. Our silent alarm is going off around the cottage and we think there's something or it's not an animal, we think something is going on there. Are you okay? And I said yes, I was fine. As far as I knew I was fine. And I'll never forget he said to me, if you can't talk, you have to give me some kind of a message. Are you really okay? And so I assured him I really was okay. And to this day I have no idea, you know, I have no idea if somebody was there or not.

David Shutes (23:50)

Eileen felt terrorized even in the safety of her friend's home.

Eileen Lear (23:55)

Many nights while I was there, I would wake up knowing somebody was in my bed. Like feeling the imprint of somebody from the foot of my bed climbing up toward me. And I'd open my eyes and no one was there but it. I could feel it.

David Shutes (24:13)

Eileen's support system helped her recovery. She turned to music therapy and even massage.

Eileen Lear (24:19)

I called a friend of mine who was a massage therapist and I had had some massages with him in the past and he was to date one of the best I've ever, ever had a massage from. And I called him, his name was David. And I asked him to give me a massage because I knew I needed. I mean I was dating loosely, but I didn't have a boyfriend at the time. And I knew I needed to be touched by a man in a loving way that was non sexual. So I called him and asked him to give me a massage and that was. I would certainly recommend that they do something to be touched in a loving, non sexual, non threatening way by a man.

David Shutes (25:03)

Those were some of Eileen's ways of healing. But every victim is different.

Anna Farranner (25:08)

I think that that's a perfect example. I think we see people dealing with this in their own specific way and there's no right or wrong way to do it, right. So we. And they handle it with differently. But there's certain commonalities, right? They experience physical, emotional, psychological effects after this crime. This crime. They might experience depression, anxiety, fear. They might experience flashbacks, they might develop ptsd. They have sleeping and eating disturbances. Some might attempt suicide or self harm. Someone might reach to substances to handle those symptoms. Again, it doesn't go away. It's. It happened. And you might process certain things and other things might trigger. And that's the worst thing you can tell someone. Just get over this already. It's kind of. It's been 40 years. Why you're not over this, that's four.

David Shutes (26:12)

Decades of never knowing who did this and why. The unanswered questions prolong the phases of recovery that every victim goes through.

Anna Farranner (26:22)

The individuals that are not able to see the perpetrators caught or brought to justice. I think, first of all, I think they walk around with, am I gonna jump bump into this person? Am I safe in my home? So I think they're, they're able to be triggered at any moment, right? Like, because they don't know where this person is. So I think there's that constant fear of this could happen again. Do I feel safe in my home? Am I going to stay bump into him in the street? So I think that that's a constant thing that they experience and again, that help that prevents them then from quote, unquote, moving on.

David Shutes (27:04)

For Eileen and the other victims of the Pillowcase rapist, his capture in January 2020 finally started to bring answers. At age 60, Robert Eugene Kohler was linked by DNA to Eileen's case and dozens of others. He was convicted three years later in one of those attacks. It happened on December 28, 1983. But prosecutors are determined to bring justice to as many victims as they can. The state prosecutor in Miami Dade county recently told a judge there are at least eight attacks they plan to bring Kohler to trial for there are at least six more in Broward County. The next trial is approaching fast. At a status hearing in Miami Dade court in early May 2024, Kohler, in his orange jailhouse jumpsuit, shouted profanities at the state prosecutor. He called her evil. As a deputy pushed Kohler's wheelchair out of the courtroom. The judge told him, I'm going to try to pretend that didn't happen. I won't, the prosecutor answered. And so three days later, without Kohler prison in court, the prosecutor requested a mental health exam be conducted to once again determine Kohler's competency to stand trial. His public defender didn't object, and the judge ordered the evaluation. That report is due at the end of May and is likely to be pivotal in what happens next for Robert Kuller. For his victims, some answers have come. Maybe others will still surface in the months ahead. Counselors call the final phase of healing the reorganization phase. Life no longer revolves around the crime. The sense of control and security is more mostly back. Even if the world may always seem a little less safe than it was before, the traumatic memories continue to fade.

Eileen Lear (29:13)

I am a believer that we're here on a path, and I don't believe major events in life happen randomly. So I do often check in and think, okay, why this? Why that? Why, why me? Why was I raped? Why? What? What do I need to learn from it as well? How can I grow from it? And so I guess that was just largely my approach. Things happen to us in life, you know, and the only thing we can control is how we deal with them. You know, it was done. This happened. It was hard, it was terrifying. And how do I move on?

David Shutes (30:11)

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual violence, you can find help from the National Sexual assault hotline@rainn.org that's R A I N N or by calling 800-656-HOPE. That's 800-656-HOPE. Thank you for listening to this special episode of Felonious Florida. We'll continue to post updates on this case on social media, so follow Felonious Florida on Facebook, Instagram or X formerly Twitter. You can listen to all four seasons of our show now at feloniousflorida.com, on Apple Podcasts on the Wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm David Schutz, host and producer, and Shawn Pitts is our sound designer. Editing for season four by Robin Webb and Gretchen Day Bryant. Julie Anderson is our editor in chief. Web designed by Carbell Multimedia with illustrations by John DeLuca soundtrack by DeWolf Music. Felonious Florida is a production of the South Florida Sun Sentinel in association with wondery. Follow Felonious Florida Season 4 in the Wondery app. You can binge the entire series early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery App, Apple podcasts or Spotify.

Lindsey Graham (31:41)

In 1992, federal agents surrounded a remote cabin in the mountains of Idaho. It belonged to Randy Weaver, a Christian survivalist with links to the far right. Weaver was wanted on a minor weapons charge, but a series of blunders and misunderstandings turned the situation into an armed and deadly standoff. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery show American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US History. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, and corporate fraud. In our latest series, a family of religious fanatics moves to Ruby Ridge in northern Idaho to wait out the apocalypse. But their paranoia and suspicion of authority lead to a confrontation with federal law enforcement and their own personal Armageddon. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad free and be the first to binge newest seasons only on Wondery. You can join Wondery in the Wondery App Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial today.