‘Pillowcase Rapist’ moves into remote community

By Matthew Rodriguez

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    LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Despite objections from local leaders and law enforcement, the convicted “Pillowcase Rapist” moved into his remote Los Angeles County home on Friday after a court ordered his release from prison.

“There is a predator living amongst us and we need to be very vigilant,” LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said.

Christopher Evans Hubbart, infamously known as the “Pillowcase Rapist,” earned a conditional release in 2023 after spending the better part of the last 50 years in different facilities for numerous rape and sexual assault convictions. While the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department vehemently objected to his release, a Santa Clara County Superior Court deemed Hubbart suitable for placement at a Pearlblossom home near a state park about 16 miles southeast of Palmdale.

The Sheriff’s Department said it would increase patrols in the area, citing limited cellphone reception and the lack of surveillance cameras as some of its chief concerns. Liberty Healthcare will also provide on-site security 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“They are required to have 24/7 eyes on this individual,” Barger said. “We are going to hold them to it … We’re going to make sure they’re doing their job.”

In 1972, Hubbart was sentenced to a state hospital for a series of rapes in L.A. County. After serving seven years, Hubbart was released and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he committed another string of sexual assaults, which he was convicted for in 1983.

In all, Hubbart admitted to sexually assaulting 38 women between 1971 and 1982. He was given the dubious moniker because he muffled his victims’ screams with pillowcases. Authorities designated him a sexually violent predator in 2000 and admitted him to a psychiatric hospital.

After 13 years, a judge ordered his release after completing treatment and doctors deemed him fit to live in a community. In 2014, he moved to a small home in Palmdale, where he was forced to wear an ankle monitor, attend therapy, undergo lie detector tests, and allow random searches of his home.

Authorities accused him of violating his terms of release by allowing his ankle monitor to run low on battery, prompting the Department of State Hospitals to readmit him into custody in 2016.

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