Anthony McKnight β October 17, was an American serial killer , rapist, kidnapper, and sex offender who killed five women and assaulted five others in Oakland, California , over a period of five months in late and early In , he was found guilty of these murders and sentenced to death , but died awaiting execution in Little is known about McKnight's early life. He was born in , and enlisted in the United States Army in Also in , McKnight was arrested by Oakland police while attempting to rape a girl who refused to have sex with him.
He was not convicted and got off with a fine, but his information was entered in a sex offender database and his fingerprints entered in the U. In he got married, and had a child. McKnight was known as a lively and friendly man, making him popular in the area, with his many friends describing him very positively, unaware that he was a sex offender. McKnight's first attack was in October when he stabbed a girl in the neck and chest, then raped her and left her unconscious on the outskirts of one of the western districts of Oakland, where she was found and taken to a hospital.
A few days later, he raped and beat up another girl at one of the city's construction sites. The victim managed to escape McKnight and hide in a drainage ditch. She then notified the police. By December , McKnight had carried out two more similar attacks, in one case inflicting 10 stab wounds on the victim, and stabbing the other in the face, but both survived and subsequently gave law enforcement officers a description of the offender, saying that he was a black man, early 30s and with a beard and mustache.
One of them also gave a description of his vehicle and part of the license plate. In January , McKnight carried out another attack, during which he raped the victim, attempted to strangle her, and then dumped her in Oakland's industrial area.
She survived the ordeal. In late , the Oakland Police Department OPD became aware of a serial rapist targeting young black women in city's suburbs and outlying areas. Over time, the unknown rapist became the main suspect in the murders of at least seven women and girls in Oakland and its suburbs, as the exact same modus operandi and pattern were used.
