by Corey Mitchell

On the night of November 12, 1998, in San Luis Obispo, California, college student Rachel Newhouse was walking home alone when a stranger appeared wearing a skull-face Halloween mask. Beating her unconscious with his fists, the attacker threw her into his pick-up truck, took her to his secluded canyon cabin and raped her – still wearing the mask. Newhouse was hog-tied and left to strangle to death.

On March 11, 1999, in the same town, a stalker shadowing college student, Aundria Crawford, 20, broke into her apartment, pummeled her into insensibility, and carried her away in his truck to his canyon lair. There, she was raped, tortured, and murdered.

Parole officer David Zaragoza paid a visit to Rex Allan Krebs, 33, a violent serial rapist who served ten years of a twenty-year sentence in Soledad State Prison. After sending Krebs back to jail for violating his parole, Zaragoza discovered Crawford’s eight ball keychain on the premises.

An intensive search of the canyon discovered the two bodies buried in shallow graves on the rapist’s property. Krebs conceded, “If I am not a monster, then what am I?” A jury answered his question in May, 2001, sentencing him to death by lethal injection.

Krebs, Rex Allan

April 24, 1999

A severely abused child, Rex Allan Krebs got into trouble as a youth in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1984 & served 18 months in jail for a felony grand theft conviction for stealing a car & some cassettes; he also was sentenced to a boot camp program. & completed 8 months probation before moving to Grover Beach, California.

His problems seemed to mount after he moved to California where his mother had moved after remarrying. Although Rex never returned to Idaho, his father, Allan Krebs, visited him at least once in California before his father was arrested for drug trafficking in Montana; one of his brothers was murdered in Vancouver, Washington & his sister was murdered in Spokane.

By age 21, Rex had been arrested as a suspect in 3 burglaries & 2 violent rape-sodomy attacks & also a misdemeanor sex offense, for which he was sentenced to 20 years in 1987 but paroled in 10 years, in 1997, registered as a sex offender & was chased out of town.

On 11-12-98, in San Luis Obispo, he attacked college student Rachel Newhouse, beating her unconscious with his fists, raped her & left her hog-tied to strangle to death. In 1999, at age 33, in the same town, he beat, raped, tortured & killed college student Aundria Crawford, 20.

Upon arrest, the alcoholic sex-and-slaughter addict confessed, saying "If I am not a monster, then what am I?" In 2001, he was sentenced to death.

Suspect has long criminal history

Jamie Hurly and David Sneed - The Tribune

April 24, 1999

Rex Allan Krebs, whom police have identified as the prime suspect in the deaths of two young San Luis Obispo women, has spent more than 11 of the past 15 years in custody.

The sudden accusations against Rex Krebs are disturbing because he seemed to be doing well after his release from prison in 1997, said his uncle Art Krebs of Sandpoint, Idaho.

"We are shocked by it," he said. "It's not sitting very well with any of us.

"Our heart does go to the family of the victims, regardless of who did it."

Krebs, 33, got into some trouble as a youth in Sandpoint, according to his uncle. His first serious brush with the law came in 1984, with a felony grand theft conviction for stealing a car and some cassettes in Nez Perce County, Idaho. He was sentenced to up to three years and served most of his 18 months' jail time in nearly back-to-back stints at a boot-camp program, according to Mark Carnopis, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Corrections.

Krebs completed 11 months of probation in Idaho and then moved to Grover Beach in March 1987.

By June he was under arrest as the suspect in two violent sexual attacks in the South County. Krebs, then 21, initially pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, sodomy, assault with the intent to commit rape, an attempted rape and three burglaries. In August, when he changed his plea to no contest, court transcripts indicate he had also been convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense in an unspecified jurisdiction outside the county.

In October 1987, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

He started his term Nov. 3, 1987, at the California Institution for Men at Chino, and was paroled Sept. 2, 1997.

San Luis Obispo Police Capt. Bart Topham said he believes Krebs has lived in the county since his release on parole. Krebs lived in Atascadero on Bajada Avenue near Traffic Way from June to September last year. When a neighbor learned through Megan's Law that Krebs is a registered sex offender, a letter-writing campaign ensued and Krebs moved out.

Glenn Jordan, a neighbor and former San Luis Obispo police officer, said neighbors were thrilled when Krebs moved out. "We were all dancing," he said.

Krebs looked like an ordinary man and kept to himself while living there, Jordan said. Earlier this month, FBI agents canvassed the neighborhood with a photo of Krebs and asked residents what they knew about him, Jordan said.

Although Krebs' neighbors on Davis Canyon Road near Avila Beach estimated he had lived there for eight months, it's uncertain whether he moved there directly from Atascadero.

Krebs, who had worked as a garage door hanger when he first moved to California in 1987, had more recently worked at a San Luis Obispo lumberyard.

Art Krebs said his nephew's problems seemed to mount after he moved to California, where his mother had moved after remarrying.

"I think things went haywire down there," Art Krebs said.

Krebs said although Rex Krebs never returned to Idaho, his father visited California at least once.

Art Krebs said the family is no stranger to violence. He said one of his brothers was murdered in Vancouver, Wash., and a sister was murdered in Spokane. He did not provide details of either case.

"We've suffered a lot of pain and agony for the family."

Rex Krebs' father, Allan Krebs, faces trial for a drug-trafficking case in northwestern Montana, according to Deputy Lincoln County Attorney Bob Slomski. Krebs is suspected of possessing methamphetamine and marijuana for sale. He remains free on $75,000 bail.

Rex Allen Krebs

April 23, 1999