“Pillowcase Rapist” Found Guilty in 40-Year-Old Miami Sexual Assault

More than four decades after a brutal 1984 attack, Robert Koehler — long known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” — has been convicted in Miami-Dade. The 66-year-old was found guilty of sexual battery, kidnapping, and burglary after jurors deliberated for just 90 minutes on Monday. Sentencing is set for November 24.

The victim, then 25, testified through tears as she recounted waking up in her townhouse to a man threatening her with a knife pressed to her throat. She said he covered her head with fabric, likely a pillowcase, and forced her into another room before assaulting her. The case went cold for 35 years until a 2020 DNA match linked Koehler to the crime.

Koehler pleaded not guilty, with his attorney arguing the DNA did not match. Prosecutors, however, said the attack fits a pattern of assaults across South Florida in the 1980s in which the attacker broke into homes, used a weapon, and covered victims’ faces.

Koehler has a long record: a 1990 rape conviction in Palm Beach County and a 2023 conviction in Miami-Dade that resulted in a 17-year sentence. He has been a registered sex offender since 1991.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said the verdict delivers “long-delayed justice” to a woman who waited 40 years to hear a guilty verdict. Several additional cases against Koehler are still pending.