Ronald Mark Feldmeier (Screenshot from Bakersfield NBC affiliate KGET)
A kidnapping trial in California ended in a hung jury, and a mistrial was declared for a man dubbed the “Pillowcase Rapist,” who was released early from prison after three decades behind bars and was arrested this summer on suspicion of kidnapping a woman who jumped from a moving car he was accused of driving.
The trial for Ronald Mark Feldmeier, 72, ended in Bakersfield this week when jurors deadlocked on charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, court records show. In October, he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender. He faces up to 25 years to life at his sentencing. He is set to appear again in court on Jan. 26, local NBC affiliate KGET reported.
As Law&Crime reported, he was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping when police responded on June 26 at about 2 a.m. to a report of a disoriented woman with traumatic injuries yelling for help in the 1800 block of Glenarm Court in Bakersfield, more than 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The woman was taken to a hospital where she was listed in stable condition, officials said.
Police said the woman became concerned for her safety based on undisclosed statements Feldmeier allegedly made while she was in the car with him. She repeatedly asked him to stop and let her out of the vehicle, but he refused, and she jumped out. Feldmeier, a registered sex offender, was arrested at his home and booked into the Kern County Jail on kidnapping charges.
He was dubbed the “Pillowcase Rapist” for using a pillowcase to muffle his victims in California in the 1980s. One of the women sexually assaulted by Feldmeier years ago wasn’t surprised about his latest arrest in June.
“He’s horrible. He’s a monster,” said the woman, whose then 4-year-old daughter was also sexually assaulted by Feldmeier, CBS affiliate KOVR reported. “I’m dumbfounded but not surprised. I knew it was just a matter of time before he did something.”
Feldmeier was imprisoned on May 15, 1986, to serve 67 years for oral copulation with force, attempted rape, rape, sodomy with force, and robbery, according to a statement to Law&Crime from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
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He received 885 days of presentence credits awarded by the sentencing court for time served while awaiting trial, the statement said. He was also eligible for day-for-day prison work credits under the law.
He served 33 years, four months, and six days when released to parole supervision on Sept. 21, 2019. His parole supervision ended on Sept. 20, 2022, officials said.
In 2020, he was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender, KGET reported.
The lawyer said then he was no longer a threat.
“He served his time, which was worse than time served by other people because he was repeatedly assaulted, stabbed and attacked by other inmates,” said Humphrey, the station reported then.
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