Victim Gets Look At Hyde Park Rapist

TAMPA - She saw Bobby Joe Helms in person for the first time today in a Hillsborough County courtroom. After serving 13 years in prison for rape, he was a free man.

The woman, now 60, is one of about a dozen women whom Helms acknowledged attacking in the early 1980s as part of a plea agreement decades ago in which he linked himself to about 10 rapes and four attempted rapes.

"I wanted to see what he looks like now. I was just curious," she said afterward. "He covered my face, so I heard his voice, but I never saw his face."

Called the "Hyde Park Rapist," Helms, 49, attacked women between 1982 and 1984 during burglaries. He was released in 1999 on probation and has spent most of that time in forced treatment, except for a period from 2002 through 2003.

In 2002, Helms signed a contract with Hillsborough County for his release, which, among other things, required he continue treatment on an outpatient basis. But a failed lie detector test a few months later put him back in the treatment center in 2003.

Two psychiatrists evaluated him and determined he is not a danger, so prosecutors entered into a contract with him, providing for his release today and setting conditions, which include a curfew and no contact with his victims.

Prior to his conviction in 1986, Helms was a kitchen worker at the Colonnade restaurant, 3401 S. Bayshore Blvd., and at two TGI Friday's locations in Tampa.

His previous criminal charges include a 1976 felony arrest for marijuana possession and a 1986 arrest for felony cocaine possession. He was not prosecuted in either case, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Tampa police later learned that Helms had committed one sexual assault less than a month after the 1986 drug arrest. At the time, he had been released from a Hillsborough County Jail under an administrative order aimed at relieving jail overcrowding, news reports state.

Authorities said the rapist covered his hands with gloves or socks to hide his identity, covered women's faces, and threatened them with knives sometimes taken from their own kitchens.

"He thrived on open doors and windows. That was his bread and butter," Detective David Wolf, who is now retired, said in a news report at the time.

His victims included a then-15-year-old girl, two sisters and the woman who spoke to a reporter today. She was attacked in 1983 after moving to Tampa. The Tampa Tribune is not identifying her because of the nature of the crime.

The woman said today that two other victims have died. Others have left the Tampa area.

Although she is "a little bit nervous because he's out now," the woman said she thought there was "very little chance" Helms would target her again.

Leaving court today, Helms said he no longer is a danger. "I don't plan on going out and hurting anyone no more," he said. "My goal is to go out and do right. ... I am going to do a lot better than in then '80s, when I was out of control. I got my life under control."

The woman said she wishes him luck.

"I wish him all the best. I really do, sincerely," she said. "I hope he can maintain that in his mind and his heart and his actions."

The woman learned late last week through a victim's assistance coordinator at the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office about Helms' impending release. The coordinator discussed with the woman and other victims conditions of the release.

"Our side didn't have a leg to stand on as far as keeping him in," she said.

The woman said the attack changed her. "It has made me more aware of the strength I have," she said. "It has given me a constant awareness of everyone's vulnerability, how your education and background doesn't protect you from this kind of crime. It can happen to everybody."

She now has an alarm system and a dog at her home but doesn't like to live fearfully. "Twenty-four years is a long time to heal and go on with your life, which I certainly have," she said. "A lot has happened in my life. A great deal has been very positive."