Mark Goudeau


Mark Goudeau, also called the Baseline Killer and the Baseline Rapist, is an American serial killer and kidnapper who committed the rape, robbery, and murder of nine victims in the Phoenix metro area between August 2005 and June 2006. In addition, his extensive crime spree included 77 other felony crimes, totaling 86 felonies over the ten-month period. The term "Baseline Killer" was adopted since most, but not all, of his victims were found along Baseline Road.
Goudeau was active at the same time as two other Phoenix serial killers, jointly known as the "Serial Shooters." Goudeau faced two separate trials—one for 19 charges related to an attack on two sisters whom he raped and sexually assaulted, and another related to 58 more charges including murder, robbery, rape, kidnapping, sexual abuse and/or assault of minors and adults. All but one of his victims were females. Goudeau was convicted on a total of 76 of 93 crimes, and was sentenced to death 9 times and given a sum total of 1,762 years and 3 months in Arizona state prison.

Background

Goudeau was first referred to as the Baseline Rapist when Phoenix Police announced that a light-skinned black male was sexually assaulting females as young as 12 years old at gunpoint near Baseline Road. Goudeau would later be dubbed the Baseline Killer in the spring of 2006 after investigators linked him to a series of murders and armed robberies. The crimes later spread north, primarily in the North Central area of Phoenix, Arizona.
Goudeau is believed to have committed nine counts of first degree murder, in addition to 15 sexual assaults on women and young girls, 11 counts of kidnapping, and 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 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 Goudeau matched the sketch of the Baseline Killer. Parole officers searched Goudeau's residence and found a ski mask and a realistic "toy" handgun. Police used this information to obtain a search warrant for Goudeau's residence and found additional items that linked him 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. On November 30, 2011, a Phoenix jury sentenced him to death on the murder charges relating to the Baseline Killings. Goudeau is held on death row in ASPC Florence, awaiting execution.

Timeline

  • August 6, 2005, two sexual assaults
  • * 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, Georgia Thompson, 19.
  • 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, 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, robbery and sexual assault
  • * separate robbery at 8:01 pm, 4019 N. 32nd St, Phoenix, then sexual assault at 8:10 pm, 3131 E. Indian School, 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.
  • 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 before entering 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.
  • December 12, 2005, homicide
  • * 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.
  • February 20, 2006, two homicides
  • * 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.
  • March 15, 2006, two homicides
  • * 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, sexual assault
  • * 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 2006.
  • June 29, 2006, homicide
  • * 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 a 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 away. The attack was captured on closed-circuit television. This is the last crime attributed to the Baseline Killer.

    Investigation

Documents release

Phoenix police released hundreds of pages of documents that detailed their investigation into the Baseline Killer. The paperwork obtained by ABC15 News revealed that police had at least 10 names of possible suspects that they had looked into, and that they had already ruled out some of those people. The 20,000 pages of police reports were primarily of other suspects with very little mention of Mark Goudeau. The documents revealed information on nine cases ranging from a double homicide to sexual assaults, robberies and kidnappings. The new information included police reports and narratives that described where and who police were looking at in the investigation. They also discussed 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 worked to obtain partial hand prints, DNA and ballistics reports to build their case; but those results were redacted/blacked out on the paperwork.