all; daytime or night-time. After many hours of poring over files, Fontana had collected a pile of 35 folders, all “possible” on this criminal’s brutal CV. Feeling increasingly sick at heart, he read through all 35 victims’ statements.

The rape task force officers had documented a spate of burglaries in the same area. The wave of 1982 rapes had also been associated with break-ins, and Fontana was certain there was a connection. By August 1986, he could point to some evidence to support his theory. On August 8, 1986, a woman living alone in Armadale, arrived home late to find the unmistakably heavy odor of recently smoked cigarettes in the air of her usually fresh-smelling apartment. Shocked, she turned to speak to her boyfriend, who was a few stepsbehind her in the hallway. There was a sudden crash from inside the flat as an intruder who had been waiting in another room knocked over a photo frame and stepped down hard on it in his rush to escape out a window. Walking into her bedroom, the woman found pantyhose and scarves spread out on her bed.

The Narong Road rapist, Fontana noted, had prepared in just this way, laying out beforehand the material he needed to tie up and blindfold his victims. On this occasion, the intruder, so careful in other ways, had been unable to control the circumstances of his sudden exit. He had left a footprint on the glass of the photo frame. The shoe sole had an odd circular pattern, characteristic of a certain