Similarities between rapes in Colo., NM

Posted at: 11/03/2009 2:28 PM
By: The Associated Press

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - Authorities in Pueblo say they're investigating whether a man suspected of raping 11 women in New Mexico and Texas may be responsible for unsolved assaults in Colorado.

Forty-seven-year-old Robert Howard Bruce was arrested Oct. 6 in Pueblo after he allegedly tried to blow up the home of Pueblo police officer set to testify against him in a peeping Tom case.

Investigators say there are similarities between the New Mexico rapes and a 2006 rape case in Pueblo.

Bruce is accused of breaking into victims' homes and rendering them unconscious by placing a rag soaked in a chemical compound over their mouths. That earned him the title "Ether Man" even though the chemical used wasn't ether.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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