Serial stalker hits student apartments

A "peeping tom" has struck at least seven times in a six-block area near the Lincoln Hill Apartments, according to officials at the Bloomington Police Department. \nBPD spokesman Capt. Joe Qualters said police are having difficulty catching the man responsible because they don't know when and where he is going to strike next.\nJami Bennett and Maria Long are IU students and roommates living in the apartment complex. \nBennett said the serial peeper began appearing last September wearing a trench coat and exposing himself. Since, the peeper has begun making obscene gestures and shouting obscene remarks to the two students, she said.\n"I'm scared for my life, maybe not physically but emotionally. The next step up from this is rape," Bennett said.\nThe peeper, who began watching his victims while masturbating, has escalated to stalking Bennett and Long, since he now knows their routine well enough to strike when Bennett returns from parties, Bennett said. \nBennett said the women keep their blinds and curtains closed and bought outdoor lights for the apartment complex that were installed Friday.\nBennett said she feels like she's always on guard in an area she said she thought was so safe. \nBennett said from the little she's seen of the man, he's in his mid-forties, he "has a gut" and his body hair is dark.\nIU Police Department Lt. Laury Flint said this vague description for such a case is common.\n"I think a lot of times the victim concentrates on the area of exposure and not on identifying characteristics," Flint said.\nThe incidents haven't crossed onto the IU campus, IUPD spokesman Lt. Jerry Minger said.\nThis summer several cases of indecent exposure were reported and the IUPD began to deal with the issue by putting an officer undercover in the Arboretum and using bike cops. The cases occurred at ground floor campus apartments such as Evermann, University East and University West apartments.\nWhile "peeping toms" are a nuisance, Minger said it is usually flashers who are just in it for the shock effect.\n-- Contact staff writer Brandon Morley at bmorley@indiana.edu.