Where Is Jon Simonis Now? His Crimes Earned Him a Terrifying Nickname by Police

In the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, Jon Simonis traveled across the United States on a crime spree that was beyond comprehensible. The army veteran was initially robbing women when he "stumbled upon" an interest in sexual assault, reported United Press International (UPI). Once he unlocked that dark piece inside him, there was no turning back. Where is Jon Simonis now? He was nicknamed the Ski Mask Rapist, and he knew what he was doing the whole time.

Simonis is currently 43 years into a harsh but fair sentence of 21 life terms, plus 2,406 years. He is incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., and as of the time of this writing is 73 years old. Due to the sheer amount of victims, Simonis had at least six court appearances in December 1981, reported The Observer. He apologized every time. "I am extremely guilty of these crimes. I knew extremely well what I was doing beforehand, and I know now," he said on Dec. 10, 1981.

He was arrested Nov. 27, 1981 in Lake Charles, La., where he grew up. Based on criminal profiling information provided to local law enforcement from the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, authorities were looking for a man driving a flashy car. When Simonis was caught, he was driving a red 1981 Trans Am. It matched the description of a car seen near one of the attacks. He immediately confessed to "81 armed robberies or burglaries in 30 cities in 12 states, many of them involving rape or other sexual crimes."

In 1999, criminal profiler Roy Hazelwood released a book he co-authored with true-crime writer Stephen G. Michaud titled The Evil That Men Do: FBI Profiler Roy Hazelwood's Journey into the Minds of Sexual Predators. In it, he spoke with Simonis alongside Ken Lanning, another profiler. It provided jaw-dropping insight into the mind of a serial rapist.

They started by asking about his victims and the nature of his crimes. Simonis mentioned his armed robberies and rapes, which Hazelwood then needed clarification for. He was interested in how many of his break-ins actually involved rape. "Between 45 and 50 rapes. Actual sexual assaults probably would get a little higher, anywhere between 60 or 75," said Simonis.

His crimes escalated because Simonis' intention was always to "inflict fear" upon the women he assaulted. Simonis wanted to "make them do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do." Although his crimes were motivated by money, Simonis he had uncontrollable urges that just "came upon him," which only got worse as time dragged on. His sexual deviancy began as a teenager, which involved looking into women's windows, which he said was just to get a response. "I would feed off this fear."

This interview ended with Simonis saying that getting caught was probably a good thing, as he was growing bored. By that he didn't mean that sexual assault no longer interested him but rather, it wasn't enough. He was starting to fantasize about murder.