East Coast Rapist Admits Guilt, Has Awful Life Story

The East Coast Rapist has confessed to his crimes and admitted that he made up an alter-ego in an early attempt to plead insanity, the Washington Post reports. Awaiting trial in Virginia, Aaron Thomas says he committed a dozen rapes across several states and, when finally arrested, blamed the assaults on a split personality. But he always knew right from wrong: "They were objects,” he says. “Whoever came down the street, an object. . . . It’s awful. It’s scary. ... It’s something not right because people are getting hurt." His life story provides a tragic backdrop to his crimes—from being abused by his father to acting out as a child to spending three years in a psychiatric alternative school.

As an adult, he suffered a terrible shock being shot in the buttocks before testifying in a robbery case, and bawled his eyes out when his first son died. He did manage to keep a truck-driving job, have two relationships with women, and raise a son. People also considered him charming and intelligent. But he experienced bouts of disappointment and rage for which he found a terrible antidote: going out and raping women. His victims were unreal to him, he says, until he had to hear their stories in court: "I was melting in my seat. I was disgusted." Now he needs to be punished, he admits, and has only one request: "Tell me what the hell is wrong with me."