Search For Suspected Serial Rapist Goes National

DENVER -- The manhunt for Brent Brents -- the suspect linked to six sexual assaults -- has intensified as Denver police take their search nationwide.

This is a picture of Brent Brents at a party. He is 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and has several tattoos. Slideshow: See What Else He May Look Like

On Friday morning, Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman appeared on several national media outlets asking people across the country to help catch the registered sex offender.

Even though Brents' vehicle was impounded after it was found at a supermarket parking lot near his home, Denver police are not ruling out the possibility that Brents, 35, has already fled the state.

"We don't know if he left the state or not but we're not taking any chances," Whitman said. "I think all the media attention has driven him underground and I think he may have left the state and there's no way to get that information in a timely fashion than through the media."

There's now a $20,000 reward being offered for information leading to Brents' arrest. Tips picked up Thursday after police announced that an anonymous donor kicked in $18,000 for Brents' capture.

Investigators hope the reward money will get some response either from those helping or those who know where he's hiding.

"He's hiding from us. He knew we were after him, that's what makes him extremely dangerous," Whitman said. "He's probably hiding somewhere with a friend of his and that's were putting the reward out there also, the $20,000. I don't think the community needs motivation to turn him in, but I think the criminal element does. And I think the cash will put information forward that will be the tip we need."

Since then, calls about possible sightings have poured into the police department. Someone thought he was on a bus so police searched there, and another person reported Brents was hiding out an apartment building, so officers were sent to that scene.

"We are following up on all those tips and that means we have to be moving quickly and mobile and have to be able to address what is going on," said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

All law enforcement agents have been placed on alert to be aware and look for Brents.

"It's something you don't even really think about, when you come across people that look suspicious or someone who fits the description, it is something that just snaps in your head," said Arapahoe County Sheriff Rich Bohm.

Police say Brents may look different from the mug shots that have been released. (See Brents' Many Looks.)

"We anticipate that he has altered his appearance. He's probably without the mustache. He typically wears glasses but he's going to change his behavior so he doesn't get detected," Whitman said.

Brents may also use his aliases Michael James Curtis or Michael James, police said.

Denver police on Friday obtained an at-large warrant for Brents in case he is found in another state so that can arrest and hold him until Denver Police can extradite him.

On Thursday night's community meeting at Bromwell Elementary, residents where three of the recent attacks occurred asked Whitman questions about the suspect and tried to find out why Brents wasn't on anyone's radar, especially since the known sex offender was accused of an assault in Aurora back in November.

After that accusation, Aurora police interviewed Brents twice. They said Brents admitted to sexual contact with an 8-year-old boy during one of those interviews but he was never detained despite his confession. He had said that the sexual contact was unintentional, occurring as he slept on a bed with the boy and the boy's mother, who was his girlfriend at the time.

It wasn't until 79 days passed -- on Jan. 26 -- when a judge finally signed an arrest warrant for Brents. On Friday, Feb. 11, Aurora police inform Denver police that they're looking for Brents on charges of sexual assault on a child. That same day, two women were raped in two separate attacks in a upscale Denver neighborhood. With DNA evidence, police linked those two attacks to Brents.

The most recent attack that Brents is accused of being involved in occurred Monday about 7:45 p.m, when a man armed with a knife broke into a home and sexually assaulted three people.

When he was in his teens, Brents was arrested in the late 1980s for the rapes of a 6-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl. He spent time in a mental hospital (as a sex offender acquitted by reason of insanity) and then spent 15 years in prison for sexual assault. He was released in July 2004. Less than four months later, he was accused of molesting the 8-year-old boy in Aurora.

Even though he had registered as a sex offender in Aurora, that boy's mother didn't know that he was a convicted pedophile and didn't blink when her new boyfriend bought her son an expensive new bike and offered to baby-sit when she went to work, she said in the arrest affidavit.

Responding to criticism, Aurora Police Chief Richard Bennett defended the length of time it took his department to go from the mother's accusation to Brent's arrest warrant. He said Brents was allowed to leave because additional investigation was needed.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said she will work to speed up the process of getting a warrant in high-priority cases.

Investigators are looking into other unsolved rape cases in the metro area to see if Brents is linked to them.

"With the intensity of this search, I'm confident that we will find him," Whitman said.

Meanwhile, 6th Avenue Pet Supplies -- the store where one woman was attacked last Friday afternoon -- is scheduled to host a "Take Back the Neighborhood" rally at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Brent Brents is 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 170 to 180 pounds. He has brown hair and glasses. Police say he has several tattoos -- a square with two crosses is on his lower left outer arm and a hook is on his lower left inner arm. His upper right arm has the initials P.B. or B.B.

Police say Brents should be considered armed and dangerous because he is a man with nothing to lose.

Anyone with information on Brents is asked to call Crimestoppers at (720) 913-7867.

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Intruder attacked grandmother, two grade-school girls

By Sarah Langbein and Sarah Huntley, Rocky Mountain News February 16, 2005

A task force of more than 100 Denver police officers and FBI agents hunted Tuesday for the rapist who attacked a grandmother and her two grade school-aged granddaughters at their home Monday night.

With the man still at large, fear rippled through Cheesman Park, one of the city's most stately neighborhoods, and beyond. Parents and extra security guards patrolled the yard at nearby Bromwell Elementary School.

Investigators Tuesday continued to comb through the large brick residence, just a block from the Botanic Gardens, where the three victims were assaulted at knifepoint.

Two similar attacks that occurred three days earlier within a two-mile radius of Tuesday's crime were being examined for possible connections.

"This is not typical," said Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman. "You don't see three sex assaults in such a short amount of time and in such close degree. That just doesn't happen."

The rapidly formed team, one of the largest investigative squads in the city's recent history, has been assigned to the attacks.

"Immediate arrest and successful prosecution, that's what we're after," Whitman said.

Police released few details about the latest crime, which occurred at the home of a successful Denver businessman. He and his wife were out of town.

"We deeply appreciate the concern of the community for our family," the family wrote in a statement. "As a family, our priorities are assisting the police with their investigation and healing. That healing can only take place in private. We trust that everyone will understand and respect our need for privacy."

Police do not believe the intruder had reason to target the family.

The suspect crept into the two-story home in the 800 block of Vine Street with a kitchen knife at about 7:45 p.m. as the girls were readying for bed and were already in their pajamas, according to a police report.

At some point, a neighbor across the street called police. It's unclear how the crime came to the neighbor's attention.

Officers quietly smothered the neighborhood of multimillion-dollar homes, believing the suspect was still in the area. They drove up with flashing lights but no sirens. They surrounded the home and enlisted the help of police dogs to try to track the man's scent.

Later, the department called in its helicopter to spotlight Cheesman Park.

"They came in a very stealthful manner," a neighbor said of police. "Ten minutes before I saw the (police) lights, I saw a shadow move down my driveway. It was probably a police officer."

At the time, many neighbors were unsure which family had been victimized.

The first in the string of assaults happened at 1:30 p.m. Friday, when a man walked into a woman's home through an unlocked door. He threatened her with a knife before assaulting her in a bedroom.

Then he left with her wallet.

The second assault occurred about 4 p.m. on Friday, two miles away. The shopkeeper at the Sixth Avenue Pet Source, near the corner of East Sixth Avenue and Clarkson Street, was robbed and raped by a man posing as a customer.

In all three attacks, the assailant was armed with a knife.

Whitman said detectives are trying to determine whether the cases are related.

Many officers have not slept since Monday night's assault, he said.

"The early stages of these crimes are the most important," Whitman said. "You have to front-load a lot of your effort there."

The chief hopes increased visibility of police on the streets will deter additional attacks.

"The fear is out there," he said. "The gravity of the situation definitely weighs on the investigators. They don't need any motivation. They are already motivated. But we have an urgent need to solve this crime."

Several residents of the Cheesman Park neighborhood said news of the assaults had unnerved them.

Serena Baker, who is in her 70s, awoke about a year ago to the sound of someone walking on broken glass. She discovered a stranger in her hallway - a man who turned out to be a burglar. Startled by her screams, he ran away without hurting anybody.

"I was awake all night," Baker said after hearing of Monday's attack several blocks away. "It's a very creepy feeling."

Her daughter, Sabrina Baker, said people's homes should be their sanctuary. "It's one thing if you are out somewhere, but it's totally something else if you are at home and with kids," she said.

Another neighbor, who was too afraid to give her name, said the public needs to understand the horror of the assaults.

"We are concerned about getting the real story out to the public about what happened to these children," she said. "Children are at risk."

The woman said she plans to be more vigilant, especially at night.

"I won't be walking Cheesman Park at 10 o'clock at night anymore, at least for a while," she said.

Vigilance was high Tuesday at Bromwell Elementary, less than a mile from the Monday attacks. Parents volunteered to watch over students on the playground.

Typically at lunchtime, four staff members monitor recess activities. On Tuesday, four were added for extra precaution, Principal Dennis Thompson said.

Denver Public Schools security officers also increased their presence at the school.

Bromwell, 2500 E. Fourth Ave., will be the site of at least one of two community meetings planned to address concerns of residents. On Thursday, parents can meet there at 6:30 p.m. with members of the Denver Police Department and Councilwoman Jeanne Robb. Tonight, Whitman will address a group at 6:30 p.m. at Teller Elementary School, 1150 Garfield St.

A public rally is also planned. It will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, in front of Sixth Avenue Pet Source at Sixth Avenue and Clarkson St.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP.

The assailants

Attackers' descriptions

• 1:30 p.m. Friday, 1100 block of Adams Street: Anglo or Hispanic male, mid-30s, 6-feet tall, unshaven face, wearing glasses and a camouflage jacket.

• 4 p.m. Friday, 800 block of East Sixth Avenue: Anglo or Hispanic male, in his 40s, 5-foot-8, medium build, dark hair sprinkled with gray, goatee, glasses, green khaki pants, black shirt, black shoes with white laces.

• 7:45 p.m. Monday, 800 block of Vine Street: white male, in his 30s, 5-foot-8, heavy build, dark hair, scruffy beard, glasses, dark sweatshirt and dark pants.

Source: Denver Police Department

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