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On the night of November 12, 1998, in San Luis Obispo, California,
college student Rachel Newhouse was walking home alone when a stranger
appeared wearing a skull-face Halloween mask. Beating her unconscious
with his fists, the attacker threw her into his pick-up truck, took her
to his secluded canyon cabin and raped her – still wearing the mask.
Newhouse was hog-tied and left to strangle to death.
On March 11, 1999, in the same town, a stalker shadowing college student,
Aundria Crawford, 20, broke into her apartment, pummeled her into
insensibility, and carried her away in his truck to his canyon lair.
There, she was raped, tortured, and murdered.
Parole officer David Zaragoza paid a visit to Rex Allan Krebs, 33, a
violent serial rapist who served ten years of a twenty-year sentence in
Soledad State Prison. After sending Krebs back to jail for violating his
parole, Zaragoza discovered Crawford’s eight ball keychain on the
premises.
An intensive search of the canyon discovered the two bodies buried in
shallow graves on the rapist’s property. Krebs conceded, “If I am not a
monster, then what am I?” A jury answered his question in May, 2001,
sentencing him to death by lethal injection.
Krebs, Rex Allan
The Tribune
April 24, 1999
A severely abused child,
Rex Allan Krebs got into trouble as a youth in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1984
& served 18 months in jail for a felony grand theft conviction for
stealing a car & some cassettes; he also was sentenced to a boot camp
program. & completed 8 months probation before moving to Grover Beach,
California.
His problems seemed to
mount after he moved to California where his mother had moved after
remarrying. Although Rex never returned to Idaho, his father, Allan
Krebs, visited him at least once in California before his father was
arrested for drug trafficking in Montana; one of his brothers was
murdered in Vancouver, Washington & his sister was murdered in Spokane.
By age 21, Rex had been
arrested as a suspect in 3 burglaries & 2 violent rape-sodomy attacks &
also a misdemeanor sex offense, for which he was sentenced to 20 years
in 1987 but paroled in 10 years, in 1997, registered as a sex offender &
was chased out of town.
On 11-12-98, in San
Luis Obispo, he attacked college student Rachel Newhouse, beating her
unconscious with his fists, raped her & left her hog-tied to strangle to
death. In 1999, at age 33, in the same town, he beat, raped, tortured &
killed college student Aundria Crawford, 20.
Upon arrest, the
alcoholic sex-and-slaughter addict confessed, saying "If I am not a
monster, then what am I?" In 2001, he was sentenced to death.
Suspect has long criminal history
Jamie Hurly and
David Sneed - The Tribune
April 24, 1999
Rex Allan Krebs, whom police have identified as the
prime suspect in the deaths of two young San Luis Obispo women, has
spent more than 11 of the past 15 years in custody.
The sudden accusations against Rex Krebs are
disturbing because he seemed to be doing well after his release from
prison in 1997, said his uncle Art Krebs of Sandpoint, Idaho.
"We are shocked by it," he said. "It's not sitting
very well with any of us.
"Our heart does go to the family of the victims,
regardless of who did it."
Krebs, 33, got into some trouble as a youth in
Sandpoint, according to his uncle. His first serious brush with the law
came in 1984, with a felony grand theft conviction for stealing a car
and some cassettes in Nez Perce County, Idaho. He was sentenced to up to
three years and served most of his 18 months' jail time in nearly back-to-back
stints at a boot-camp program, according to Mark Carnopis, a spokesman
for the Idaho Department of Corrections.
Krebs completed 11 months of probation in Idaho and
then moved to Grover Beach in March 1987.
By June he was under arrest as the suspect in two
violent sexual attacks in the South County. Krebs, then 21, initially
pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, sodomy, assault with the intent
to commit rape, an attempted rape and three burglaries. In August, when
he changed his plea to no contest, court transcripts indicate he had
also been convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense in an unspecified
jurisdiction outside the county.
In October 1987, he was sentenced to 20 years in
prison.
He started his term Nov. 3, 1987, at the California
Institution for Men at Chino, and was paroled Sept. 2, 1997.
San Luis Obispo Police Capt. Bart Topham said he
believes Krebs has lived in the county since his release on parole.
Krebs lived in Atascadero on Bajada Avenue near Traffic Way from June to
September last year. When a neighbor learned through Megan's Law that
Krebs is a registered sex offender, a letter-writing campaign ensued and
Krebs moved out.
Glenn Jordan, a neighbor and former San Luis Obispo
police officer, said neighbors were thrilled when Krebs moved out. "We
were all dancing," he said.
Krebs looked like an ordinary man and kept to himself
while living there, Jordan said. Earlier this month, FBI agents
canvassed the neighborhood with a photo of Krebs and asked residents
what they knew about him, Jordan said.
Although Krebs' neighbors on Davis Canyon Road near
Avila Beach estimated he had lived there for eight months, it's
uncertain whether he moved there directly from Atascadero.
Krebs, who had worked as a garage door hanger when he
first moved to California in 1987, had more recently worked at a San
Luis Obispo lumberyard.
Art Krebs said his nephew's problems seemed to mount
after he moved to California, where his mother had moved after
remarrying.
"I think things went haywire down there," Art Krebs
said.
Krebs said although Rex Krebs never returned to Idaho,
his father visited California at least once.
Art Krebs said the family is no stranger to violence.
He said one of his brothers was murdered in Vancouver, Wash., and a
sister was murdered in Spokane. He did not provide details of either
case.
"We've suffered a lot of pain and agony for the
family."
Rex Krebs' father, Allan Krebs, faces trial for a
drug-trafficking case in northwestern Montana, according to Deputy
Lincoln County Attorney Bob Slomski. Krebs is suspected of possessing
methamphetamine and marijuana for sale. He remains free on $75,000 bail.
Rex Allen Krebs
April 23, 1999
Human remains have been found on the
property of a convicted rapist who has become the "sole suspect" in the
deaths of two missing college students in San Luis Obispo.
Rex Allen Krebs, a 33-year-old
registered sex offender, has not been arrested for crimes related to the
cases of the dead women. Instead, he has been in custody since March 20
on possession of a simulated weapon and alcohol -- both parole
violations. Police say murder charges are imminent.
