BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A man who appeared in court on an out-of-county warrant may be connected to a decades-old sexual battery case involving dozens of women out of Miami-Dade, according to South Florida media reports.
The Miami Herald is reporting that 60-year-old Robert Koehler is suspected of being the “Pillowcase Rapist," from the early 1980s, the person accused of assaulting more than 40 women from South Miami to Deerfield Beach.
The Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office would not confirm nor deny the Herald’s report.
Related: Report: Florida police arrest man suspected of being ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ from 1980s
Koehler appeared in Brevard County Court On Tuesday on charges in connection to a 1983 sexual assault and pleaded not guilty. Investigators were able to identify Koehler as a suspect after his son was arrested and his DNA was taken, which identified Robert Koehler as the likely offender in a 1983 sexual assault.
Joseph Gauthier has been Koehler’s neighbor for almost 20 years.
“He respected me, he helped me (with) things,” Gauthier said. “He always came over and said hello, petted my dog.”
When Koehler moved to that Palm Bay neighborhood, he was a registered sex offender in connection with a 1990 case out of Palm Beach.
Chris Skjerly, a neighbor, said he had “never heard” of the Pillowcase Rapist before seeing the allegations.
“The stuff that’s coming out, that’s pretty crazy,” Skjerly said.
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