Man arrested in Ariz. ‘Baseline Killer’ case

updated 2:11 p.m. ET Sept. 7, 2006

PHOENIX - Police investigating eight deadly attacks blamed on the “Baseline Killer” have arrested a man in two 2005 sexual assaults connected to the case, authorities said Thursday.

Police have forensic evidence to connect Mark Goudeau, 42, to the assaults, which occurred on Sept. 20, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said.

“This suspect has been arrested for the sexual assault of two victims in one case only and is not connected to any of the other offenses in this series at this time,” Harris said.

He stressed that the evidence that led to Goudeau’s arrest was not the same evidence that linked 11 of the 23 crimes that have been connected to the Baseline Killer. However, he said police were following up on other possibly related crimes.

“We still consider all those other cases open at this point,” police spokesman Andy Hill said. “The investigation is continuing and we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Goudeau was booked into jail while witnesses from the 2005 attack were called to look at a photo line-up, Hill said.

According to police reports, two sisters, ages 21 and 23, were sexually assaulted on Sept. 20 while walking in a park at night.

The women had put their feet in playground sprinklers to cool off when a man with a baseball cap came up to them with a gun. One of the victims was six months pregnant at the time of the attack, according to police reports.

Cmdr. Kim Humphrey said the suspect resembles a widely circulated police sketch depicting the Baseline Killer as a man with dreadlocks, though neighbors of Goudeau told reporters he doesn’t look like the man in the sketch.

Wife claims man is innocent
Goudeau’s wife, Wendy Carr, told The Associated Press police arrested the wrong man.

“My husband is innocent,” Carr said in a telephone interview. “This is a huge miscarriage of justice. And they have an innocent man in prison. This is all a mistake. He shouldn’t be in prison for something he didn’t do.”

Police first got the man’s name in mid-July but didn’t identify him as a possible suspect in the sexual assault case until last weekend, Hill said. They kept him under surveillance until his arrest Wednesday. Officers had spoken to the man previously, Hill said, but noted police had talked to many people in the investigation.

Hill said the man has a criminal record, but he wouldn’t elaborate.

“His arrest is a good thing,” Mayor Phil Gordon said. “Any individual who has been arrested for rape and kidnapping is a violent monster off the street. That’s a good day.”

Goudeau’s neighbors said that they couldn’t believe he would attack anybody. They described him as friendly, a cement worker who left early in the morning for jobs around the county and was a regular presence in his front yard where he’d keep meticulous care of his bushes and waved to neighbors.

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