Victim of Miami’s ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ gagged, bound in 1984 sexual assault: testimony
The victim who was sexually assaulted by the Pillowcase Rapist four decades ago testified Wednesday morning about how she was restrained with a telephone cord and gagged with a wad of fabric during the attack.
Robert Koehler, 66, is accused of terrorizing and sexually assaulting the then-22-year-old victim in 1984. Koehler has been convicted in another rape case from 1983 and, through DNA, was linked to the Pillowcase Rapist sexual assaults, a string of attacks across South Florida in the 1980s.
READ MORE: ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ on trial after sexual assault of Miami-Dade woman four decades ago
The victim said she arrived to the home in which she shared with roommates at around 10 p.m. She changed into her pajamas — a long white T-shirt — and went to bed.
On the stand, the victim said she awoke to the shadow of a man in her doorway; he told her to “shut up” and pulled her out of bed.
He was armed with a knife, which she said she could feel on her throat. The man put something over her head to shield himself from being seen, the victim testified.
“He had one hand over my mouth, probably so I wouldn’t scream, and then the knife at my throat,” she said on the stand.
The victim was then forced her down the stairs. She said she began crying and asked the man if she knew him. He put a cloth in her mouth to “shut her up,” according to the testimony.
The victim said she tried to fight the assailant and attempted to use her elbow to hit him, angering him to the point that he tied her hands with a telephone cord. The man then raped her twice.
After the attack, he tied the cord around the victim’s ankles and said, “I’m going to be watching you,” the victim testified.
Prosecutor Natalie Snyder showed the jury photos of cuts inflicted on the victim during the ordeal. Parts of her neck, arm and torso were sliced, the victim said.
Nearing the end of her testimony, the victim said investigators showed her in 2023 a photo of Koehler and asked her if she recognized him. She said she didn’t know him — and had never engaged in consensual sex with Koehler.
DNA was key
The hunt for the Pillowcase Rapist was cold until a DNA hit in 2020, following the arrest of Koehler’s son. His son’s domestic battery arrest led police to Koehler, a registered sex offender who had settled in Palm Bay in Central Florida.
After the hit, undercover investigators tailed Koehler to a Walmart and collected a wipe he used to clean a shopping cart, prosecutor Laura Adams said during opening arguments. The DNA from the wipe was a match to the semen collected after the 1984 sexual assault.
Koehler was arrested next day at his Palm Bay home. Police then obtained a warrant for a direct DNA sample, which matched what they found on the victim, Adams said.
In 2023, Koehler was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 25-year-old woman in northwest Miami-Dade in 1983. He was sentenced to 17 years for armed kidnapping and 17 years for armed burglary with assault or battery.
