“Pillowcase Rapist” is released and could settle back in LA County

A violent sex offender is about to be released and could now settle in Los Angeles County.

The proposal to house the man once known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” in the Antelope Valley town of Juniper Hills has prompted Los Angeles County Councilwoman Kathryn Barger and District Attorney George Gascón to ask residents to voice their concerns.

Local authorities were notified Tuesday that the Antelope Valley has once again been chosen as the home of gunman Christopher Evans Hubbard, who in 1972 targeted young women in their homes throughout the San Gabriel Valley and years later resumed his rapes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gascón, who opposed Hubbart's release, said his office's lawyers would try to block his confinement in Antelope Valley. The decision now rests with Los Angeles Superior Court, which has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 1.

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“It is both irresponsible and unjust to continue releasing sexually violent offenders into underserved communities like the Antelope Valley,” Gascón said in a statement. “We must demand more from our justice system and ensure decisions are made in the best interests of our communities while exploring alternative locations for these placements.”

Barger issued a statement late Wednesday opposing the plan.

“We cannot allow our rural communities in the Antelope Valley to become magnets for housing sexually violent offenders,” Barger said. “This is simply unacceptable.”

She described patchy mobile phone coverage, unreliable internet service, landline disruptions and long waiting times for police assistance as a “clear recipe for failure.”

A representative from Gascón's office was scheduled to attend a Juniper Hills City Council meeting on Wednesday to explain the sex offender parole program.

Hubbart, who became known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” because of his habit of covering his victims' heads with pillowcases, was tried in Los Angeles on charges of rape, sodomy and attempted rape. He was accused of breaking into the homes of ten women. He pleaded guilty to some of the charges and was committed to a state hospital as a mentally disturbed sex offender.

After his release in 1979, Hubbart moved to the Bay Area and began committing assaults again. Two years later, he was arrested and later convicted of rape, burglary, and other crimes. He spent nearly eight years behind bars. In total, court records show, Hubbart confessed to at least 44 sexual assaults over an 18-year period.

Before his release, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office asked the court to commit him to a state mental hospital under the Sexually Violent Predator Act. The law allows violent sex offenders to be committed to a hospital if they are at risk of reoffending. Hubbart was committed to the state hospital unit in 2000, Gascón's statement said.

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In 2014, then-District Attorney Jackie Lacey opposed his first confinement in Antelope Valley. After briefly living near Palmdale, Hubbart was returned to Coalinga State Hospital for failing to meet the conditions of his release.

In March 2023, the Santa Clara County Superior Court granted his conditional release and ordered his confinement in Los Angeles County.

The California Department of State Hospitals notified the Los Angeles County sheriff on Tuesday that it had recommended that he be placed in Juniper Hills, a community near Pearblossom in the southern part of the Antelope Valley.

The placement hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Department 113 of the Hollywood Courthouse. Members of the public may participate remotely using this link.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.