Man arrested for several violent rapes in Everett

EVERETT – A man suspected in several violent rapes was arrested Tuesday night in Everett, police said.

Dean Connors, 24, made his first appearance in court Wednesday afternoon after being booked into jail for first-degree rape.

Police said the original call came from a woman who admitted she was prostitute, but said he brutally assaulted and raped her after she was picked up on Snohomish River Rd. in 2014.

She said her attacker took her to Rotary Park, jumped on her and put her knife to a throat. She said she tried to pepper-spray him, but he took it from her and sprayed her in the eyes.

She said he raped her at knifepoint, then pepper-sprayed her. She said he also sexually assaulted her with the canister of pepper spray, and told her he’d kill her if she told anybody.

The woman called police and described the man and truck in detail. Police also obtained a sexual-assault kit with the attacker’s DNA.

Through the course of the investigation, detectives learned there were other similar unsolved cases in the area, and the DNA was eventually matched to one of those cases.

Police said their investigation eventually led them to Connors.

Detectives said they called Connors in for an interview Tuesday, and that when they showed him a picture of one of the victims, he admitted putting a knife to her throat and having sex with her in his truck.

They said he also admitted the woman and been scared and sprayed him with pepper spray.

During the course of the interview, detectives said, Connors admitted to have been with about 10 prostitutes and said “about half the interactions had gone overboard.” They said the described choking one prostitute and cutting another with his knife.

They said Connors “admitted that he gets sexual gratification from the violence or ‘rough sex.’”