Man arrested in 20-year-old rape case

Police hope an arrest at the Carson City courthouse Monday will finally solve a 20-year-old rape case.

Mark Eugene Gabrych, 44, a Fallbrook, Calif., resident, was arrested on charges that he and an accomplice kidnapped and raped a Reno woman at knifepoint in 1980. In court documents, Gabrych is charged with kidnapping with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to commit sexual assault.

Gabrych, who listed his occupation as real estate, came to the attention of Carson authorities after he was arrested in Orange County, Calif., for suspicion of driving with an open container. A background check revealed that he was wanted in Carson City on rape charges.

He posted a $100,000 bail in California and subsequently surrendered to Carson City authorities on Monday. He promptly bailed out of the Carson City Jail and is awaiting a preliminary hearing Dec. 22.

Gabrych is alleged to have kidnapped a then 22-year-old Reno woman at knifepoint on Oct. 5, 1980, forcing her into a car at Curry and Spear streets, then driving her up the dirt road in Kings Canyon where she was sexually assaulted.

The alleged accomplice, James Palmer, was convicted of sex-related crimes and served a 7-year sentence.

Court documents, and a written statement by the victim, described the alleged kidnapping and attack.

The victim told police she was going to Cactus Jack's Casino at 12:15 a.m. to meet her boyfriend when two men pulled up in a silver Datsun 260Z. The men asked her if she was interested in doing cocaine and if she knew anywhere to party. After some conversation, one of the men got out of the vehicle, and held the knife to the victim's back.

The women then got in the car and the trio proceeded up Kings Canyon Road. When they had gone part of the way up the dirt portion of the road, the attackers stopped the car, laid out a sleeping bag and told the victim to remove her clothing.

When the men saw the lights of an approaching vehicle, they got back in the car and drove farther up the road, according to reports. They then proceeded to sexually assault the victim five times.

The victim told police she talked to the men about going with them to Utah and Florida on a road trip. She said she needed to first go to Cactus Jack's to drop off her boyfriend's keys. Gaining her attackers' trust, she was allowed to go into the casino where she contacted police.

Despite a search that night by patrolling officers, the silver 260Z was not located.

Then-detective Scott Burau contacted the Reno Police Department which had previous contact with a similar car with two passengers that matched the same description. Two 15-year-old Reno girls had reported that two men had driven them to Pyramid Lake and had demanded sex or they would not drive the girls back to Reno.

Palmer had been cited that night after a traffic stop in Reno. Information about the Reno case was not immediately available because it is in microfilm archives, said Reno Police Deputy Chief Weston.

During later questioning, Palmer identified Gabrych as a friend he was with on a road trip to the Reno/Carson area.

According to court documents, Gabrych said Palmer had "picked up on a girl outside the casino," but the victim "was unable to positively identify Gabrych as the lighter hair suspect." The reports state that she had bad vision and her eyeglasses had been removed by one of the men at the beginning of the encounter.

Attorney Scott Freemen, retained by Gabrych, said he plans to "defend against the charges very aggressively.

"This is a very old case - 20 years old," he said, noting that Gabrych had not had a run-in with the law in 20 years and did not know that he was wanted. "We'll have to see how it shakes out. I hope they don't pursue (a conviction)."

If convicted, Gabrych faces possible life imprisonment.