ORLANDO -- Authorities followed up dozens of tips Friday after announcing a serial rapist has preyed on women in central Florida for 11 years and attacked at least seven.
Law enforcement officials disclosed the crimes Thursday -- three years and two rapes after investigators first believed the same man was responsible for the attacks in Orange and Volusia counties.
''There was no decision made to say, 'Do not notify anybody.'... We always try to contact the media and the public when we need assistance. And that time is now,'' said Lt. Victor Uvalle, head of the Orlando police sex crimes unit.
The announcement generated at least three dozen tips, Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Gary Davidson said.
The first three rapes happened in southeast Orlando in the summer of 1988 and the early winter of 1989. The next two happened in early 1992 and the summer of 1993 in Ormond-by-the-Sea, just north of Daytona Beach.
Investigators did not find a connection between those crimes until early 1996. At that point, Orlando police and the Volusia sheriff's office created a task force to share information about their cases and re-investigated rapes cases to see if any more were the work of one man.
That process turned up one previously unknown case. All the cases are linked by the same physical evidence, which investigators would not disclose.
The link to the most recent case, a rape of a tourist 10 months ago, was confirmed only a week ago, they said.
The rapist is described as a white man, 30 to 40 years old, short, light brown hair, dark eyes and a pale complexion. He is 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-8 inches tall and has a small build.
''He very likely stalks the individuals prior to the attack,'' said Bill Lee, a Daytona Beach supervisor for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which joined the task force six months ago.
Investigators described the rapist as ''both verbally and emotionally kind to the victim.''
''(But) using the terms kind or gentle is strictly a matter of verbiage,'' said Lee. ''Rape is a crime of violence. ... We do not know what he could do or what he is capable of doing if met with resistance.''
The gaps between the known crimes may indicate the rapist moves in and out of central Florida, may have spent time in jail or prison, or that many victims did not report the attacks, said FDLE Special Agent Tom Davis, who compiles criminal profiles.
''If he's transient and mobile -- Geez, who knows where he's offending,'' Davis said. ''He may stop but I would say not until he is caught.''
