Mark GOUDEAU
AKA "The Baseline Killer"
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape - Robberies
Number of victims: 9
Date of murders: 2005 - 2006
Date of arrest: September 7, 2006
Date of birth: September 6, 1964
Victims profile: 8 women and 1 man
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Status: Sentenced to 438 years in prison on December 14, 2007
Mark Goudeau is a suspected serial killer from Phoenix, Arizona charged in the Baseline Killer attacks that terrorized the Phoenix metropolitan area between September 2005 and June 2006.
Arrest and sexual assault conviction
Goudeau was arrested on September 7, 2006 and accused of sexually assaulting two sisters, one visibly pregnant, on September 20, 2005. At the time of his arrest, Goudeau was returning to his home on 28th street, near the location of the last abduction, rape and killing attributed to the Baseline Killer.
On September 7, 2007, Goudeau was convicted in Maricopa County Superior Court on all 19 counts related to the sexual assault. Testimony was given over 7½ weeks with a verdict taking less than a day to reach.
Further charges
Goudeau was charged with 94 crimes in all, including nine counts of first-degree murder, 15 counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty.
Goudeau’s wife, Wendy Carr, told The Associated Press that police have arrested the wrong man: "My husband is innocent. This is a huge miscarriage of justice. And they have an innocent man in prison. This is all a mistake. He shouldn’t be in prison for something he didn’t do."
According to Arizona prison officials, Goudeau is an ex-convict who served 13 years for aggravated assault, a charge he pleaded down from the original one of rape and kidnapping. The victim, who suffered a fractured skull, would later tell police that the attack began in Goudeau's apartment, where he hit her in the head with a barbell, tried to force cocaine up her nose, raped her and tried to drown her in the bathtub.
Goudeau was sentenced to 21 years in 1991, amid warnings from the court investigator that his chances of a repeat performance "appear to be great".
Goudeau's charges related to all 'Baseline Killer' crimes
On December 7, 2006, Phoenix police formally charged Goudeau with all the crimes that have been associated with the Baseline Killer. Goudeau has been charged with 74 counts related to the case, including nine murders, five sexual assaults, and 12 armed robberies.
On March 16, 2007, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced that his office would seek the death penalty against Goudeau. The decision was based on the fact that Goudeau is accused of committing multiple murders and other serious crimes and allegedly carried out the acts in a cruel manner.
Goudeau's 2007 rape trial
On September 7, 2007, Mark Goudeau was found guilty on 19 charges including 1 narcotics charge. He was sentenced to Mark Goudeau was sentenced to 438 years in prison on December 14, 2007.
Wikipedia.org
The Baseline Killer (or Baseline Rapist) was one of the two simultaneously occurring serial killer cases (the other being the "Serial Shooter") which terrorized the Phoenix metro area, between August 2005 and June 2006.
The crimes were referred to as the Baseline Killer since the first crimes began around Baseline Road in South Phoenix, Arizona. The crimes later spread north, primarily in the North Central area of Phoenix.
The Baseline Killer is believed to have committed nine counts of first degree murder (8 women, 1 man), in addition to 15 sexual assaults on women and young girls, 11 counts of kidnapping, plus a number of armed robberies.
Although not initially linked, the crimes were distinguished by having no apparent motive, and the murders were particularly brutal, with the killer often shooting the victims in the head. The criminal was often described wearing various disguises such as a Halloween mask as well as attempting to impersonate a homeless man or drug addict.
Police say that the shell casings found at each of the crime scenes all came from the same gun.
Phoenix police spent thousands of hours patrolling and following up on hundreds of tips during the summer of 2006. As residents of Phoenix became increasingly alarmed by the random nature of the violent crimes, community meetings were called by the police to distribute a sketch based on the description given by the surviving victims. Frustration and fear blanketed the city as posters and billboards displayed the sketch of the Baseline Killer, offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. It took the police over a year to finally come up with a viable suspect.
Mark Goudeau was at the time on Community Supervision (PAROLE) with the Arizona Department of Corrections and supervised out of the Northeast Parole Office. In August 2006, Parole Officers in the Northeast Parole Office provided information to the Phoenix Police Department task force suggesting that Mark Goudeau matched the sketch of the Baseline Killer. Parole Officers searched Mark Goudeau's residence and found a ski mask and a realistic "toy" handgun. Police used this information to obtain a search warrant for Mark Goudeau's residence and found additional items that linked Mark Goudeau to crimes committed by the Baseline Killer.
On September 4, 2006, Mark Goudeau was arrested in connection to the sexual assault of two Phoenix sisters, an attack which was tied to the Baseline Killer investigation. The sisters, one of whom was visibly pregnant, were assaulted in a Phoenix city park on September 20, 2005. Goudeau was linked to the attack by DNA evidence collected shortly following the time of the crime.
On September 7, 2007, Goudeau was tried and convicted of all 19 charges relating to the attack on the two sisters. He was sentenced on December 14, 2007 to 438 years in prison for the sexual assault charges. Currently he is still awaiting trial for the 74 other criminal charges attributed to the Baseline Killer.
Timeline
On August 6, 2005, sexual assault, 9:45 pm, 7202 S. 48th Street, Phoenix. Police say Goudeau forced three teenagers behind a church near Baseline Road, and molested two of the girls.
August 14, 2005 combined sexual assault and robbery, 4:10 am, 2425 E. Thomas Rd, Phoenix.
September 8, 2005, homicide, 1:00 am, 3730 S. Mill Ave, Tempe.
September 15, 2005, sexual assault, 9:40 am, 4512 N. 40th St, Phoenix.
September 20, 2005, sexual assault, 10:30 pm, 3100 W. Vineyard Rd, Phoenix. While walking home from a Phoenix city park at night, two sisters (one of whom was clearly pregnant), were approached by Goudeau who was armed with a gun. He sexually assaulted one of the sisters while pushing the gun into the other sister's pregnant belly. He was arrested, one year later, when DNA evidence found on the women matched his profile. This was the breakthrough that led to the arrest in the Baseline Killer investigation.
September 28, 2005, robbery, 1425 W. Baseline Rd, Tempe.
September 28, 2005, combined sexual assault and robbery, 9:30 pm, 7202 S. Central Ave, Phoenix.
November 3, 2005, separate robbery at 8:01 pm, 4019 N. 32nd St, Phoenix, then sexual assault at 8:10 pm, 3131 E. Indian School (across street of robbery), Phoenix. A robbery occurred on North 32nd Street. A man with dreadlocks and a fisherman's hat walked into a shop and robbed it at gunpoint for $720. Less than 10 minutes later, he abducted a woman placing items in a parking lot donation receptacle, across the street. He sexually assaulted her in her car and demanded she drive him to the corner because he just committed a robbery. The victim said he wore a Halloween costume and black plastic glasses.
On November 7, 2005, three separate robberies, 8:08 pm, 2950 N. 32nd St, Phoenix. A string of robberies occurred starting with four people at gunpoint inside Las Brasas, a Mexican restaurant. He then went next door to a Little Caesar’s Pizza restaurant and robbed three people inside. Immediately proceeding the pizza restaurant, he robbed four people outside on the street. He reportedly stole $463 and fired a round into the air as he fled.
On December 12, 2005 at 6:55 pm there was a homicide on 6005 S. 40th Street, Phoenix. Tina Washington, 39, was on her way home from a preschool where she worked. A witness spotted a man with a drawn gun standing over her body behind a fast food restaurant. She had been shot in the head.
December 13, 2005, robbery, 4:00 pm, a woman was robbed at 700 E. South Mountain Avenue, Phoenix.
On February 20, 2006, homicide, 7:38 am, the bodies of 38-year-old Romelia Vargas and 34-year-old Mirna Palma-Roman were found shot to death inside their snack truck at 91st Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road. Initially, police did not connect this crime to the Baseline Killer and believed that the murders were drug-related. The murders were officially linked by police in July 2006.
On March 15, 2006 at 9:00 pm, a double homicide was discovered on 4102 N. 24th Street, Phoenix. Two employees of Yoshi’s restaurant at 24th Street and Indian School Road were on their way home in the same vehicle. Liliana Sanchez-Cabrera, age 20, was found dead in the parking lot of another fast-food restaurant while the body of Chao Chou was discovered about a mile away. Both victims were shot in the head.
March 29, 2006, homicide, 12:00 am, 2502 N. 24th St, Phoenix. A body was discovered on North 24th Street. A local businessman noticed streaks of blood on the gravel of a parking lot. The police were called, but a search of the area turned up nothing of real value. A week later, the businessman discovered the badly decomposed body of Kristin Nicole Gibbons as he was investigating a horrible odor in the area. She had been shot in the head.
May 1, 2006 at 9:00 pm, 2950 N. 32nd St, Phoenix. A man in a latex Halloween mask abducted a woman in a car and sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. She was taken from outside the same restaurants where the November 7, 2005 crimes occurred.
May 5, 2006, Phoenix police went public with a list of 18 crimes that they believed were the work of the Baseline Killer. This number has since risen to 23, as of August 2, 2006.
June 29, 2006 at 9:30 pm, a homicide occurred on 2924 E. Thomas Rd, Phoenix. Carmen Miranda, 37, was abducted from a self-serve carwash, located half block from May 1 and November 7 crimes, while she was on her cellular phone. She was found dead from a gunshot to the head behind a barbershop about 100 yards (91 m) away. The attack was captured on closed-circuit television. This is the last crime attributed to the Baseline Killer.
Documents
Phoenix police have released hundreds of pages of documents that detail their investigation into the Baseline Killer. The paperwork obtained by ABC15 News reveals that police have at least 10 names of possible suspects that they have looked into, and have ruled out some of those people. The 20,000 pages of police reports are primarily of other suspects with very little mention of Mark Goudeau. The documents reveal information on nine cases ranging from a double homicide to sexual assaults, robberies and kidnappings. The new information includes police reports and narratives that describe where and who police are looking at in the investigation. They also discuss investigative leads; however, much of the information was redacted.
According to the documents, the Baseline Killer posed as a homeless person in one incident, pushing a shopping cart toward a woman in a parking lot near 32nd Street and Thomas Road. He forced himself into her car and told her to perform oral sex upon him or he would kill her. She fought him off, the records said. In that incident, the man believed to be the Baseline Killer was wearing gloves, a mask and clothing that covered his entire body. The records show police have worked to obtain partial hand prints, DNA and ballistics reports to build their case; but those results were blacked out on the paperwork.
False confession
While being interviewed by police in Kentucky on a burglary case, James Dewayne Mullins claimed responsibility for the murder of Georgia Thompson on September 8, 2005. Mullins told police he shot Thompson as she attempted to rob him outside the Scottsdale strip club where she worked. However, Thompson's body was found almost 10 miles (16 km) away in Tempe at her apartment complex. Police do not believe she was killed elsewhere.
Mullins changed his story when police definitively linked the homicide to the Baseline Killer. Since then, he has told police that he was not in Arizona. Mullins denies any involvement in Thompson's death. On August 3, 2006, murder charges against Mullins were dropped. Authorities stated that Mullins had caused a significant diversion of resources during the hunt for the genuine killer.
Arrest of Goudeau as suspect
On September 4, 2006, Phoenix police announced an arrest in connection with a sexual assault previously linked to the Baseline Killer while serving a search warrant at 28th Street and Pinchot Avenue.
42-year-old construction worker Mark Goudeau was arrested and charged with attacking two sisters on September 20, 2005 while they were walking home from a Phoenix city park at night. Goudeau was linked to the attack by matching DNA evidence found on the victims. He was tried and convicted on all 19 counts connected to the assault and sentenced to 438 years in prison. Goudeau is still awaiting trial on 74 criminal charges linked to the Baseline Killer investigation.
During the trial, the two sisters gave testimony that Goudeau suddenly approached them with a gun in his hand. They were forced into nearby bushes and told to remove their clothing. The victims said Goudeau sexually assaulted the younger sister as he pointed his gun at the other sister's pregnant abdomen. Prosecutors said Goudeau warned the women not to look at his face during the assault. They also stated he rubbed dirt on one of the women to remove saliva traces, and wore a condom during the assault on one of the sisters.
Maricopa County Attourney Andrew Thomas stated he would seek the death penalty on Goudeau if he is convicted in the murder trial.
Goudeau’s wife, Wendy Carr, told The Associated Press that police arrested the wrong man; “My husband is innocent,” Carr reportedly said in a telephone interview. “This is a huge miscarriage of justice. And they have an innocent man in prison. This is all a mistake. He shouldn’t be in prison for something he didn’t do.” Goudeau is described as a loving husband and exceptionally friendly neighbor who took meticulous care of his lawn. Friends and family deny any possibility that Goudeau could be the Baseline Killer, saying he was framed by Phoenix police who were desperate for a suspect.
According to Arizona prison officials, Goudeau is an ex-convict who served 13 years of a 21-year sentence for aggravated assault, including beating a woman's head with a barbell, and armed robbery. Goudeau pleaded down to the charge of aggravated assault, but he had also originally been charged with rape and kidnapping. The rape charge was dropped, as there was no physical evidence of rape.
On December 7, 2006, three months after Goudeau was arrested, Phoenix police said they were confident he was responsible for the full series of murders, rapes and robberies that terrorized the city for 13 months. Goudeau is believed to have committed nine murders, one more than originally attributed to the Baseline Killer (the murder of Sophia Nunez on April 10, 2006). Police say ballistics, DNA and circumstantial evidence prove that Goudeau is the Baseline Killer. They are recommending that prosecutors charge Goudeau with 74 crimes, including nine counts of first-degree murder, five counts of sexual assault, three counts of attempted sexual assault, 10 counts of kidnapping, 12 counts of armed robbery, four counts of attempted armed robbery, three counts of sexual abuse, nine counts of sexual conduct with a minor, 13 counts of aggravated assault, and three counts of indecent exposure.
Mishandling of evidence
In April 2009, the Times Publications, a chain of publications in the Phoenix metro area, published a story revealing that the Phoenix Police Department had possessed the key DNA evidence that was eventually used to crack the Baseline Killer case nine months before the arrest, but failed to timely analyze it.
Another suspect
In June 2009, a leaked police report indicates another suspect had been questioned in connection to the Vargas and Roman lunch truck murder in February 2006. Terry Wayne Smith, a friend of the Goudeau family, has a long, violent history of crime in California and Arizona. Smiths' criminal history includes aggravated assault and armed robbery, plus he was a suspect in two homicide cases.
Smith was released from prison shortly before the Baseline Killer attacks began, and he was arrested a few days after Goudeau. Smith is currently imprisoned for 4 years after allegedly holding his family at gunpoint the night before his arrest. He will be eligible for parole in 2011.
Police officer Rusty Stuart complied 166 page suggesting that Smith may have been involved in some of the Baseline murders. However, police spokesmen say that Smith had been properly questioned and dismissed as a suspect, and state that Smith was in jail at the time of one of the murders.
Wikipedia.org
The "Baseline Killer" Mark Goudeau Has Been Sentenced to 438 Years
By Melissa Hincha-Ownby - Associatedcontent.com
December 14, 2007
The "Baseline Killer" kept Phoenix area residents gripped with fear in 2005 and 2006. Mark Goudeau, dubbed the "Baseline Killer" because of the proximity of his crimes to Baseline Road, was first apprehended in September of 2006. It wasn't until January of 2007 that Goudeau was officially indicted; the indictment came down with 74 charges ranging from kidnapping to sexual assault to nine charges for murder. Jury selection was completed in July 2007 and the trial began shortly thereafter. The trial centered on the rape and sexual assault of two sisters at a south Phoenix park. One of the two sisters was very visibly pregnant at the time of the brutal attack.
Goudeau was convicted in September of this year and today, December 14, 2007, he was officially sentenced to 438 years in prison despite his claims of innocence. In a televised report by KTVK Channel 3, the judge in the case went so far as to state he feels that Goudeau has split personalities and disregarded his claims. Goudeau is still awaiting trial for the remaining counts, including the nine murder charges. The trial for these is not scheduled to begin until August 2008.
Goudeau is a former construction worker who is also a convicted felon having served 13 years for an aggravated assault conviction. Goudeau was originally charged with rape and kidnapping but pleaded down to the sexual assault charge; Goudeau was released from prison in 2004. Goudeau's crime spree in Phoenix was even featured on America's Most Wanted (AMW). The AMW website now proudly proclaims that Goudeau was captured.
The 2005 crimes that are linked to Goudeau are two sexual assaults and a robbery in August 2005; a murder, two robberies, and three sexual assaults in September 2005; one sexual assault and four robberies in November 2005; a murder and a robbery in December 2005; a double murder on March 15, 2006 as well as an additional murder on March 29, 2006; a sexual assault in May 2006; and a murder in June of 2006. More crimes have been linked to Goudeau including an additional three murder cases.
Goudeau and his wife, Wendy Carr, vehemently deny that Goudeau was involved in any of these crimes. Unfortunately for them, there is strong DNA evidence that not only linked him to the crimes he was just tried for but that also link him to the crimes he is awaiting trial.
Carr feels that Goudeau has been railroaded and that he won't be able to receive a fair trial here in Arizona.
Man charged with nine murders in 'Baseline killer' case
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
PHOENIX — A man suspected of being the area's serial "Baseline Killer" has been indicted on charges including nine counts of first-degree murder, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
The 74 charges against Mark Goudeau, which also include 15 counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of kidnapping, stem from crimes committed between August 2005 and June 2006 throughout the Phoenix area.
"The reign of terror has ended. The quest for justice has just begun," prosecutor Andrew Thomas said.
Corwin Townsend, Goudeau's lawyer, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Goudeau has yet to enter a plea. The indictment was issued Friday.
Police announced last month that the man they believed to be the Baseline Killer was in custody and recommended that Goudeau be charged with murder and other crimes.
Goudeau, an ex-convict, has been in jail since September, when he was arrested in two sexual assaults attributed to the Baseline Killer. At the time, police stopped short of pronouncing Goudeau the Baseline Killer while they built a case against him.
But last month, police said that investigators had collected forensic evidence — including DNA and ballistics — and other evidence implicating Goudeau in the killings.
The Baseline Killer case originally included eight killings. A ninth was publicly revealed in December. Most of the victims, all but one of them women, were killed going about their daily activities, such as leaving work, washing a car or waiting at a bus stop.
Police have said the killer usually struck at night and wore disguises, including a wig of dreadlocks and a fisherman's hat. The name Baseline Killer came from the Phoenix street where some of the earliest crimes were committed.
About half of the Baseline Killer attacks occurred within three miles of the Phoenix home Goudeau shared with his wife. One woman was killed just around the corner.
Goudeau had previously served 13 1/2 years in prison for three aggravated assaults, armed robbery and kidnapping before being paroled in 2004. He once blamed his history of violence on a weakness for crack cocaine.
The Baseline Killer was one of two serial killer cases that spread fear across the Phoenix area in recent months.
In August, police arrested two roommates in what was dubbed the Serial Shooter case. The two men are accused of driving around the city and its suburbs at night, firing at people randomly from a car. Seven people were killed.
The defendants are awaiting trial.
The 2 sides of Goudeau add to 'Baseline' puzzle
Michael Kiefer - The Arizona Republic
Sept. 10, 2006
Mark Goudeau may be a model citizen living in a house on a tree-lined street with a wife of nearly 20 years and a steady job.
Or he may be a rapist, maybe even a killer, who never escaped his violent past.
Goudeau, the man arrested in connection with two sexual assaults linked to the "Baseline Killer," held a job with a large construction company that has offices in three states. His wife strongly defends him, claiming that her husband is incapable of violence.
His neighbors and siblings say his arrest was a mistake. They say he would not have committed sexual assault or any of the attacks from the Baseline Killer file, 23 in all, including rapes, robberies and eight murders.
Police have not accused Goudeau of being the Baseline Killer, but they haven't excluded him either.
Goudeau, who was arrested Wednesday, his 42nd birthday, has been charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, sexual abuse, sexual assault and kidnapping stemming from a September 2005 attack on two sisters as they were walking home from a park near Baseline Road and 31st Avenue in Phoenix.
But even if evidence from the sexual assaults points to Goudeau, the evidence from the other crimes attributed to the Baseline Killer case does not.
It's a paradox: Police insist the 23 attacks are linked, but they can link Goudeau to only one of them.
"People are assuming that whoever committed this crime is the same person who committed all of these murders," said Goudeau's attorney, Corwin Townsend.
"Let's be clear: They have not connected him, nor do they have any evidence whatsoever connecting him, to any murder.
"So if people are getting the false impression that they've solved the crime, it seems to me the jury's still out on that. It seems to me the person is possibly still out there. And more likely is still out there."
History of family trouble
Court records paint Goudeau as a younger child in a family plagued by drug and alcohol abuse, a family in which at least six of 13 children are felons and at least four have done prison time. One remains in prison, and another had his probation revoked last month.
Goudeau was born Sept. 6, 1964, to Willie and Alberta and grew up in a Phoenix neighborhood near 12th Street and Southern Avenue.
His mother was a maid, his father a lot attendant for car dealers on Camelback Road.
According to court records, they divorced. An older brother said Alberta died in 1976, when Goudeau was 12, and the 13 children - seven boys and six girls - watched over each other. Goudeau was the second-youngest.
He and younger brother Marvin excelled at sports. Both played football for Corona del Sol High School in Tempe. Marvin went on to play college ball, but Mark never graduated from high school because he failed to complete all the credits needed.
Older brother Oscar told The Republic that their upbringing was uneventful, at times idyllic. There was no violence in the house growing up, he said, although he admitted that their father was a strict disciplinarian.
But court records for several of the Goudeau brothers and sisters tell a different story.
One quotes an older sister as saying that alcoholism ran in the family and that the children were verbally abused.
And drugs have come up repeatedly in the siblings' court records, both as charges and as the reason things went wrong.
Accusation of rape
Trouble began for Mark Goudeau in 1982, when he was 18. He and one of his brothers were accused of raping a young woman. The brothers were never charged because the victim did not want to go forward with the prosecution.
He was charged with trespassing for a bar argument in 1987 and with driving while intoxicated in 1988.
In August 1989, again according to court records, Goudeau was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and aggravated assault in the beating of a woman with a shotgun and the chasing of two witnesses at the scene at 28th Street and Osborn Road.
The woman said Goudeau raped her and tried to force cocaine up her nose, that he beat her first with a barbell and the shotgun, threw her in the bathtub, then beat her again in the parking lot.
Goudeau said she had willingly performed oral sex on him and that they were about to take a bath when two people knocked at the door: a man who beat her up and another who held a gun on Goudeau.
Goudeau was allowed to plead no contest to three counts of aggravated assault.
In August 1990, before he had been sentenced, he pulled a gun on a cashier at a Fry's supermarket at 30th Street and Thomas Road and robbed her of about $850, then forced employees to follow him out of the store. He told a probation officer that he needed money for his crack cocaine addiction.
Long prison term
Goudeau was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the assaults and 21 years for the robbery.
And after serving 13 years as a model prisoner, he was paroled in 2004 by the Arizona Executive Clemency Board.
Friends and relatives had written letters of support to the Clemency Board.
"Mark's transformation from a young, sad boy to a mature, remorseful, ambitious and introspective man has been inspiring," one wrote. "Although Mark could have fallen in to the abyss of bitterness and anger, he has chosen to see the positive side of life and the many possibilities it offers."
Goudeau told the Clemency Board that he had changed and hoped to work in construction.
Board members said they had no reason not to take him at his word.
At the time of his arrest Wednesday, Goudeau was working for a company called SelectBuild.
Company officials would not comment on his performance.
A company executive, Gary Burleson, said, "We are cooperating with authorities in any way requested. We will let the justice system take care of what it needs to do."
Liked by neighbors
After Goudeau got out of prison, he moved into the house that his wife, Wendy Carr, bought in 1995. It's on Pinchot Street, just a long block north of Thomas Road, where the Baseline Killer committed many of his crimes.
Goudeau's neighbors knew he had been in prison, but they liked him so much that they didn't care.
He had even confided to his next-door neighbor that police were questioning him in the Baseline Killer case, but she didn't believe it.
"He's a sweet, sweet guy," said Sue-Ellen Bennett. "He was always home or with Wendy. He was a very hard worker."
Another neighbor, Burt Lewin, said he would see Goudeau doing yard work and they would talk or wave.
"I would never suspect him of hurting somebody," Lewin said.
Goudeau's sister Wilma said her brother liked to spend time with his wife.
"They hiked and biked. They were almost always doing something together," Wilma said, adding that she doesn't believe the accusations.
"I cannot see him doing something like that," she added.
Oscar Goudeau said that he and his sister Monica had visited Goudeau in Phoenix in April.
"It was like being born again," Oscar said of his brother.
Those don't sound like descriptions of a man who would shove a gun into the side of a pregnant young woman and rape her as she pleads for her life and the life of her unborn baby.
They don't make him sound like a man who would threaten to kill the woman and her younger sister, then drag them into the bushes and assault them repeatedly.
That's what Goudeau is accused of.
Whether he's a good man or a bad man is no longer the question.
It will be up to the court to decide whether he's innocent or guilty.
