Benicia residents shocked that neighbor is accused of being NorCal Rapist
BENICIA, Calif. (KGO) -- "NorCal Rapist" suspect Roy Waller lives with his wife in a quiet Benicia neighborhood. ABC7 News talked with neighbors to get their impression of the man.
This was one neighbors' reaction to Waller's arrest: "It's sad, a shame, scary."
MORE: Timeline of the NorCal Rapist case
Word that the man who lives in the house with the well-manicured lawn and the white picket fence is accused of being a serial rapist has thrown everyone here for a loop.
Neighbor Andrew Brunt explained it this way: "This is a nice neighborhood, and you don't really imagine that someone who has been accused and arrested of doing such things or so many attacks or rapes would be living in your neighborhood."
TAKE ACTION: Get help with sexual assault, rape and abuse
According to neighbor Marsha Shigemoto, "We walk around here all the time, in the night time and daytime, and you never feel a threat, you never have that energy of feeling threatened in any way."
Neighbors say Roy Waller was the middle aged guy you would see mowing the grass or trimming his trees. One neighbor remembers him teaching her to use a new weed wacker. Others say he was pleasant, but not especially outgoing.
"I walk up and down this road every single day. I've seen him, I've seen his wife, but I've never really spoken to him that I can remember," Brunt said.
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Benicia police say Waller was not on their radar. But that's about to change, according to police spokeswoman Irma Widjojo.
"We are investigating our past cases to see if there is any connection with those cases and Mr. Waller," Widjojo said.
Meantime, some of the women who live here think back to all the times they were home alone, with a suspected serial rapist living nearby. "You would look at him and think he's a normal person. You would never, ever think that..." Shigemoto said.
For more stories related to the arrest of the suspected NorCal Rapist, visit this page.
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