Second in suspicious realtor series posts.
Analysis: There are some changes to names midstream in the story and I wonder if they are expected to provide clues here? Are any names accurate at all, suspects or witnesses? If Ripon was not the suspect's real name was he named that because he looked like the Ripon Ct. shooter composite? There was someone in the mix here that had a real connection to Milwaukee such that he could be researched through medical records in an out of state medical facility. That is pretty solid. He is very suspicious though and I think this account provides weight to a theory there was more than one individual operating at the time of the EAR series, if not collaborating with Deangelo then in tandem. A few things do jump out at me here. A speeding ticket in Riverside in 1963? Does that give anyone the chills? Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, 1966? Does anyone have a copy of the composite that came out of this report? That would be very nice to have. Did they actually look up Ripon's relatives and speak with any of them. If a person uses a fake name to go to open houses how do we know his identity is not falsified as well. Perhaps he assumed the identity of another person after robbing personal papers from his house. He might have taken medical records which would have enabled him to direct the officer to a medical facility for blood type. Another option here is a person using Ripon's identity to go to open houses. Did either of the witnesses who reported him actually see a picture of this Gregory Michale Ripon? If so they could have easily determined if he was the person they saw. I don't see confirmation of this having happened anywhere. One thing seems certain here, blood type O or not, this person was a liar and was not to be trusted on any account.
Larry Crompton, Sudden Terror
December 9, 1978
Danville
On December 9, real estate agents from a Dublin, California real estate agency were holding "open house" at several area houses for sale. At around noon a white male, approximately five foot ten, brown hair, brown eyes, medium to thin build, thirty, thirty-five years old, arrived at a San Ramon open house. The agent, Barbara Mays, met the person at the door.
"I'm Greg Pippin, I work for a San Jose property investment firm and I was just in the neighborhood and noticed the sign on the lawn. I've been looking for a house for a friend and would like to look around," the man greeted Mays.
"Come on in, " she replied. "Do you have a business card?" "I don't have any on me," the pockmarked visitor remarked as he pulled a small ringed notebook from his dark blue jacket pocket. She watched as the man walked through the house, checking window locks, door locks, and periodically writing in his book. After about thirty minutes, the man left stating he could offer $68,000 for the house listed at $90,000. For some reason, she shivered when the man left and after closing the door she watched out the window as he got in an orange BMW and drove off.
At approximately 3:00 p.m., Jean Hughs, an agent holding open house at a Dublin, California home, answered a knock on the door and greeted the pockmarked man standing on the front steps. "Hi, I'm Greg Pippin, I work for a San Jose firm and just happened to be in the area and saw your sing. I'm looking for a house for my brother and sister-in-law who live in Concord and would just like to look around," the man said and stepped in side the house. "what firm do you work for?" she asked.
"It's a property investment firm. Sun Shine Investments," he answered.
After approximately twenty minutes, the man entered the backyard and seemed to be checking the adjoining properties and the side gate's lock. He offered $63,000 for the $75,000 home and then drove off in an orange BMW. Hughs felt a sense of relief when he drove off.
At 5:30 p.m., pockmarked man knocked on the door of a Silvergate Drive, Dublin, home that still had the "open house" sign in the yard.
"Are you a realtor?" the stranger asked the owner.
"No, the agent left. She left the sign up because she's coming back tomorrow," the owner answered.
"Your yard looks good," the stranger remarked as the owner and his attractive wife stood in the doorway.
Without giving a name the man drove off in an orange BMW.
On December 10, Detective Peggy Bowen met with McCrae and Sunny Walther, the San Ramon victim to compare their personal lives in an attempt to find a common thread. As with previous victims, there appeared to be none. During a neighborhood canvass, MCrae's neighbor informed Coggan that the night of the attack one of her dinner guests had seen a dark colored van parked in McCrae's driveway around 11:30 p.m. McCrae knew of no one who owned such a vehicle.
Break
On Monday, December 18th, I received a call from Barbara Mays, the real estate agent that had been at an open house when a subject identifying himself as Greg Pippin had show up.
"I wouldn't have called, but I was at a Christmas party over the weekend and the subject of the rapist came up and I mentioned about a man showing up that made my skin crawl," Mays began. "Another agent, Jean Hughs, said that the same person showed up a Dublin open house and acted real strange. He told me that he worked for Sun Shine Investments in San Jose." I took down the information and thanked her, telling her that I would get back to her after I did some checking.
There was a Sun Shine Property Investment Company in San Jose, however, the owner assured me that only two salesmen worked for him and both were in their fifties and had worked for him for over ten years. The owner, himself sixty-two stated that they had no done business recently in the San Ramon/Dublin area and that no one by the name of Greg Pippin had ever worked for him.
In the afternoon I contacted the State Realty Board in Sacramento to see if a Greg Pippin was licensed as a real estate agent. Four Pippins were located, each with a different first name. Also, six realty and property investment firms beginning with the name "Sun" were listed for the San Jose area.
After running a driver's license check on the four Pippins, each was eliminated by contact being made by other California law enforcement.
Break
"I've run up against a brick wall on Pippin." I remarked to Jack Harper. "I've got appointments with Mays and Hughs, the two real estate people, and if you're free, I'd appreciate your help."
"Glad to," Jack replied.
"I borrowed the IDENTA-KIT from Investigations. Want to give it a try?"
"Sure. I've used it several times. Maybe we'll get lucky."
On February 5th, Harper and I met with Mays and Hughs at separate times. Jack worked composites form each. Thin faced with pockmarks and a turtleneck sweater was the major characteristics.
Stop and F1 requests went out to neighboring agencies and our patrol force, requesting them to be on the lookout for an orange BMS driven by a subject possibly using the name Greg Pippin.
I contacted the sales manger at the Concord BMW dealership and learned that the BMW from 1967 through 1976 looked the same. In 1970 a buzzer was added that sounded when the door was opened with the key in the ignition.
The manger said that the BMW in questions was probably a 2002 or possibly a 1600. I contacted he Sacramento office of the Department of Motor Vehicles and requested a printout of registered owners of 1967 through 1976 BMWs.
As everything was still coming up brick walls, I re-contacted Barbara Mays and asked her to undergo hypnosis in the hopes of learning something she may have forgotten. She was more than happy to help.
"Hey, I'm," I started when Bevins answered the phone. "I'm still working on this real estate deal. One of the women agree to hypnosis."
"We tried that a few times. We had pretty good luck with it, but couldn't come up with what we needed. When are you going to do it?", Bevins asked.
"The sixteenth. A lieutenant at Concord P.D. does it for them and has agreed to work with us on this."
"Anything on the BMW?" Bevins asked.
"DMV is sending me a printout. Haven't got it yet and we put out a B.O.L.O. to all the agencies. If he's around, somebody should spot it. So far nothing has worked out with the real estate angle or the name Pippin. DMV came up with a few Pippins but none checked out," I replied.
"Well, nothing new up here. The boss says he's gone and good riddance. I think he'll be back. Just got the feeling that he's not through with us," Bevins stated.
"I talked to the search and rescue people with the bloodhounds. They all agree that if they took the dogs to Sun Valley Mall and EAR walked by, the dogs would go wild. Said the dogs got the scent and it was so weird they think the dogs will remember it. Said they think it has something to do with some kind of disability. Chemical imbalance or something," I continued.
BreakOn March 1st, Carpenter and I met with June Addison, the real estate agent who had shown the open house in Dublin where Pippin had shown up. Carpenter showed June the drawing done by Macris while Gayley was under hypnosis. Under June's direction, slight changes were made. The lips were thinner and paler, the complexion paler, side burns longer, and hair more combed back.
"That's him," Addison remarked after Carpenter had made the changes. "I've never been nervous at an open house before. I think I was suspicious because he didn't say anything when I opened the door. He just stood there. I just felt strange. He checked around the side of the house and the back fence even though he had to climb a small hill to get to it. He even checked the attic crawl space. The questions he asked just didn't related to real estate."
On March 4th at 7:05 a.m., Deputy Phil Branum, returning to Marinez from the Danville area, saw a Sunkist orange BMW northbound on I80 near Stare Highway 24. Noting it matched the vehicle in my mo of February 3rd, Branum stopped the vehicle. The driver, a thirty-six year old male with mid-length sideburns, stated that he lived in Los Altos and frequently passed through the area. The driver, identified as Gregory MIchale Ripon, was clear warrants, however had an arrest in this county in 1974 for sales and transportation of tear gas. Branum filled out a field investigation form to be routed to me and released Ripon. A copy of Ripon's 1974 booking photo ws similar to the artist's sketch done by Macris and altered by Carpenter.
I ran a history on Ripon and learned that he had a speeding ticket in Riverside County in 1963 and had applied for a real estate license in 1975 in addition to the one arrest that Branum had discovered.
A check with the State Real Estate Board showed that Ripon was licensed and did work for a San Jose development company. A copy of his fingerprints, taken at the time of his arrest, was taken to the lab for comparison to those taken at the rape scenes.
On March 6th, I contacted Ripon by phone at his residence and set up a meeting for 1:00 p.m. at his office.
After explaining the reason for our contact with him, Ripon stated he was looking at houses in the area for his brother who lived in Concord. He had gone to several open houses that he had seen advertised in the newspaper.
Ripon was five feet ten inches tall, one hundred thirty-five pounds and wore a size ten shoe.. He had worked in San Jose for the last four years. He had a brother in San Ramon as well as the one in Concord and had no contacts with Sacramento.
He had been attending Foothill College in Los Altos since the spring of 1965, having registered for all four semesters in 1977 and both winter and spring in 1978.
Ripon agreed to chew on the gauze pad for the saliva sample.
He did not now his blood type, however, agreed to call me if he could find it out.
As I was leaving he started he had a blood condition and did have blood work don e in 1960 in Wisconsin where he was born. I took the saliva sample to the lab for secretor status testing. Although I had no link between Ripon and Sacramento, he was not eliminated.
BreakOn March 22nd I was contacted by Gregory Ripon.
"I remembered after I talked to you. I had blood work done in 1961 at Columbis Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I told you I had a blood disease and they were the ones who worked on me," he stated. "I lived on North 51st Street in Milwaukee at the time."
I called information and got the phone number of the hospital and calle dthe medical records department. Gregory Ripon had a blood test and was determined to O Negative. All other information agreed with the information I had on Ripon. After three months, two hypnosis session, composites, car stops, help from the L.A.P.D., North Hollywood P.D., and hundreds of phone calls, Gregory Michale Ripon was eliminated as an EAR suspect.
Break
"Where do we stand on suspects? Larry, you eliminated the real estate guy, didn't you?" Carpenter asked.
"Yup. Wrong blood type
(why did they not get a blood sample from this guy, if he was actually Gregory Ripon then we don't know what his blood type was for sure). I hope we're right about EAR's blood type because Pippin is a non-secretor, although I don't think he's our rapist anyway. No real Sacramento contacts during the rapes."
