Suspected serial rapist faces more charges

The list of alleged victims is growing in the case authorities are building against Paul E. Hawkins, a suspected serial rapist in Kootenai County.

A total of 24 charges – 23 of those felonies including rape, attempted rape, other sex crimes, burglaries, battery and robbery – have been filed against Hawkins, who was arrested Friday.

As of Tuesday, he stood accused of the rape or attempted rape of six women in Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum and Spirit Lake in 2003. Bail has been set at $10 million.

Detectives also have obtained information from Hawkins that links him to a burglary in a Hauser Lake trailer park around 2000 and a break-in near Bluegrass Park in Coeur d’Alene, according to Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood.

Wood said Hawkins entered the Coeur d’Alene home between 2000 and 2003 with the intent to commit burglary and surprised a woman there. The woman began to scream, and Hawkins allegedly grabbed her and covered her mouth, then fled the scene, Wood said. He has not been charged in those crimes.

The series of violent home-invasion rapes three years ago created a frenzy within the community, Wood said. Descriptions of the assailant varied, and police had no information on what vehicle he may have driven.

Some believed he was targeting elderly women or those who lived alone. With so many women falling into those categories, Wood said fear was widespread.

“I had one woman who called me crying,” she said. “She had been sleeping for days on the couch with a butcher knife. She was certain she was next.”

Detectives are now reviewing unsolved cases involving reports of peeping toms, prowlers and break-ins to determine if Hawkins may have been involved in other crimes.

Post Falls police Lt. Greg McLean said it may be difficult to draw a connection in some of those cases because the victims may not have seen the perpetrator. Detectives are hoping Hawkins may divulge whether he was involved in any of those unsolved cases, McLean said.

Hawkins has cooperated with investigators, he added. Detectives interviewed the suspect throughout the weekend, and Hawkins admitted to burglarizing a home in Post Falls, for which he has since been charged, according to court records.

Wood said Kootenai County law enforcement has been in contact with Spokane authorities as well. In the past three years, Hawkins lived at several addresses, including one in Spokane.

Police got a break in the Kootenai County serial rape case after an anonymous informant came forward around June 1. Coeur d’Alene police arrested Hawkins on Friday afternoon at the Coeur d’Alene Inn, where he worked doing laundry.

Wood said authorities have learned Hawkins worked as a framer for a subcontractor during the time the rapes were committed in 2003 and had easy access to housing developments throughout the county.

She said he drove either a gray Volkswagen or white Subaru to the crime scenes. The models of the cars weren’t immediately known, Wood said.