Accused ‘Pillowcase Rapist,’ awaiting trial in Miami, charged with six new cases in Broward

Robert Koehler, the accused “Pillowcase Rapist” suspected of attacking dozens of women across South Florida in the 1980s, has been charged with six cases in Broward County.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office made the announcement on Tuesday, two years after Koehler — thanks to a DNA match — was first arrested on allegations he raped a woman in Northwest Miami-Dade in 1983. He has been jailed since, awaiting trial in Miami on the charge.

The sheriff’s office cold-case unit said Tuesday that it also used DNA technology to identify Koehler, 62, as the man behind the June 1984 attack on a woman living in an apartment in Pompano Beach. That led to charges in six total cases in Broward.

“This guy is a horrible evil dangerous predator,” one of the victims, identified as Carolyn, said in a video released Tuesday by BSO.

Koehler’s defense attorney in Miami declined to comment. Koehler’s trial in Miami-Dade is scheduled for June 21, although the date could get pushed back. He’ll stand trial in Broward County after his Miami-Dade case is over.

READ MORE: How the Pillowcase Rapist became one of the most wanted criminals in South Florida

For decades, the identity of the Pillowcase Rapist had haunted victims and law-enforcement agencies.

Throughout the early 1980s, the intruder sneaked into apartments and town homes, raping women at knifepoint while cloaking their heads with a pillowcase or other fabric. Sometimes, he would mask his own face with a pillowcase. By 1985, police started a massive task force aimed at catching the intruder, who left little evidence behind.

Detectives checked out hundreds of leads, interviewed potential suspects and conducted stakeouts. An artist even created a sculpture based on the description of one victim who managed to see his face.

The cases, however, went cold and the task force was disbanded. Koehler, police said, did not stop his attacks. He was arrested in 1990 after breaking into a woman’s apartment and raping her in Palm Beach County.

But detectives did not link that case to the Pillowcase Rapist, despite the similarities to the years-old attacks in the neighboring counties. After his conviction in the 1990 case, his DNA was never entered into a law-enforcement database. Investigators say they later identified Koehler by analyzing familial DNA, including from his son, who gave police his DNA sample after his own arrest in a domestic-violence case.

Koehler, by then living in Palm Bay, was arrested in the Miami-Dade attack in 2020. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office later announced DNA matches had tied him to at least 25 attacks, although he is only charged with one case, a strategy that may enable a quicker conviction.

Detectives also found a “dungeon in progress” in his Palm Bay home that contained a blade and possible jewelry stolen from victims.

Even as he has awaited trial in Miami, Broward County investigators have been combing through hundreds of old police files, testing DNA samples and interviewing witnesses. The effort was headed by BSO Cold Case Sergeant Kami Floyd, who first found the Pompano Beach case in 2019 and determined it fit the rapist’s tactics.

“It was a hunch based on specifically on this case that he used a pillowcase to cover his face and at no point was [the victim] able to identify who he was because she didn’t know what he looked like,” Floyd said in the video.

Broward’s crime lab linked the DNA sample from that case to the other attacks from that time period. After Koehler’s arrest in Miami-Dade, investigators had a suspect to test the samples against.

“With 100 percent certainty, Robert Koehler’s DNA matches the DNA from every one of our victims,” Floyd said.

The victims told detectives similar stories: how the attacker appeared to know details about them. He used a “sharp object” to threaten them, bind them and rape the women, who usually lived alone. Often, he would rummage through their purses, taking money or other items, during the late night and early morning attacks.

“He went through my wallet. He knew where I lived. he knew my name. I didn’t know him,” another victim, Catherine, said in the video.

Koehler, it turned out, was a handyman and electrician who is believed to have spotted his victims while working jobs across the region.

Said Carolyn: “He did say to me, ‘I’ve been following you.’ I tried to talk to him a little bit, you know and to keep him calm. He had a knife at my throat.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, Floyd and Sheriff Gregory Tony urged other victims — many of whom might have reported the cases to police back in the 1980s — to come forward.

“We’re having a difficult time locating those cases. With them calling us, it’ll give us more information to locate those cases,” Floyd said.

Anyone with information on the Pillowcase Rapist case can call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 11:37 AM.