Here we have a chart that I created showing the types of incidents (mere prowling, a burglary/ransacking, and the two violent confrontations) attributed to the Visalia Ransacker throughout his known criminal career (1973-1976). Most likely it appears quite small in your browser window — simply click on it to enlarge it.
Laid out in this manner, not only can you see the ratio of prowlings to ransackings, but you can get a feel for any patterns that might’ve occurred, and you can clearly see when he was most active and when he was dormant. You can also see what seems to be escalation and a frenzy of activity at certain points.
It’s my hope that this can help folks gain a better understanding of how prolific this offender was, and that insights can be gained as to perhaps why he was active at the times that he was, and why he might’ve laid low during some of the quieter times. It’s also interesting to note that the first incidence of violence, the Snelling murder, didn’t stop him, but he did seem to be gradually slowing down after what appears on the surface to be the 1975 peak. I should also note that the data becomes a bit skewed in that month because of the fact that the Snelling murder, being a homicide investigation, resulted in a much more thorough sweep of the area and more prowling incidents were recorded that would’ve otherwise been left unreported.
The Visalia Ransacker, a unique brand of offender who terrorized a very small area of California for a period of over two years, caught my attention a long time ago due to the case’s possible association with the East Area Rapist.