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Florida’s notorious ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ guilty, ending 40-year quest to bring him to justice

Grethel Aguila
·3 min read

After four decades of evading justice, the Pillowcase Rapist was found guilty in a Miami court for sexually assaulting a woman in the 1980s.

On Wednesday, Robert Koehler, 63, was convicted for the assault of a 25-year-old woman in December 1983. The “Pillowcase Rapist,” as he was nicknamed because he typically shielded his face with a pillowcase or shirt, was one of the most notorious serial rapists in Florida history. Though charged with only one case in this trial, police have linked Koehler to dozens of rapes from the 1980s.

Robert Koehler gazes up at the courtroom’s clock as his attorney Vivian Pitchik listens to the prosecution’s final arguments during his criminal trial on Jan. 25, 2023, before Judge Daryl Trawick at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami.
Robert Koehler gazes up at the courtroom’s clock as his attorney Vivian Pitchik listens to the prosecution’s final arguments during his criminal trial on Jan. 25, 2023, before Judge Daryl Trawick at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami.

Jurors, after deliberating for just three hours, found him guilty on all charges — sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary. Koehler, sandwiched between his visibly anxious attorneys, appeared unfazed when the jury returned with a verdict.

The blank expression on his face remained, even as corrections officers took him out of the courtroom.

Robert Koehler enters the courtroom for his trial before Judge Daryl Trawick at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
Robert Koehler enters the courtroom for his trial before Judge Daryl Trawick at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.

The prosecution centered its case against Koehler around DNA evidence, calling up experts, police detectives and the victim, who recounted the horror she endured.

The defense, however, opted for a bizarre conspiracy that claimed rogue police officers kidnapped, sexually tortured and drugged Koehler to frame him. He even took the witness stand on Monday, sharing violence-filled accounts of the alleged abductions.

But for the jury, the DNA evidence clearly proved persuasive.

Prosecutor Laura Adams, right, speaks to the jury during final arguments as Robert Koehler and his attorney Vivian Pitchik listen to the prosecution’s final arguments during Koehler’s criminal trial on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
Prosecutor Laura Adams, right, speaks to the jury during final arguments as Robert Koehler and his attorney Vivian Pitchik listen to the prosecution’s final arguments during Koehler’s criminal trial on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Laura Adams narrated the traumatic events the victim suffered in 1983, walking the jury through how the state proved each charge Koehler faced.

“As long as she didn’t see him and as long as he was careful enough not to leave his fingerprints behind, he figured he was OK,” Adams said. “He didn’t count on science and technology catching up to him.”

While facing the jury, public defender Damaris Del Valle argued that the state hadn’t come close to proving Koehler committed the crimes of which he was accused. They didn’t explain contradictions in the evidence, Del Valle said, such as how the sperm analyzed wasn’t motile but Koehler was able to have three kids later on in life.

Public defender Damaris Del Valle speaks to members of the jury during final arguments in Robert Koehler’s trial before Judge Daryl Trawick at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
Public defender Damaris Del Valle speaks to members of the jury during final arguments in Robert Koehler’s trial before Judge Daryl Trawick at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.

“The state tailored their evidence,” she said. “They showed all the things that they believed pointed to Koehler’s guilt.”

The hunt for the Pillowcase Rapist, which was the subject of a series of stories that won legendary Miami Herald crime reporter Edna Buchanan the Pulitzer Prize, was cold until a DNA hit in 2020 after the arrest of Koehler’s son. It led police to Koehler, a registered sex offender who had settled in Palm Bay.

After his conviction, Koehler will be tried for six cases in Broward. He will be sentenced for the 1983 rape on March 17 and faces a life sentence.

The verdict has finally put an end to the terror that women in South Florida faced for decades, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement Wednesday evening.

“With a DNA trail linking Koehler to at least 25 sexual batteries in Miami-Dade alone, the work of two generations of police officers and forensic scientists seems to have come to a just and final end,” she said. “This community owes a debt of gratitude to the courage of our victim who had to look this man in the eye years after her own sexual assault and still had the strength to testify against him.”