Oregon Man Suspect In Rape-Killings

PORTLAND - A convicted rapist accused of robbing a woman and throwing her from a moving car is a suspect in a string of 1981 rape-killings, a Portland newspaper reported.

The accusations against Alvin H. Brown, 35, are included in a sealed 40-page affidavit, The Oregonian reported in yesterday's editions. The newspaper quoted unidentified sources detailing the case against Brown.

The killings occurred during a 30-day period in the spring of 1981. Each of the slayings occurred in the general area where Brown lived and each of the women is thought to have been raped by the killer, sources said.

Brown is being held on $1 million bail at Portland's Justice Center Jail. He is charged with robbing a woman who was beaten and shoved from a car in October, and is a suspect in a similar assault that occurred Nov. 18.

The victims were:

-- Kimberley Ann Stevens, 17, strangled May 8, 1981.

-- Melina Crist, 17, reported missing May 9, 1981, and found Nov. 17, 1983.

-- Norene K. Davis, 31, stabbed and strangled May 18, 1981.

-- Sheila Burnett, 57, who disappeared May 29, 1981.

Burnett's skeletal remains were found in August in the back yard of a Tigard, Ore., home that was rented by Brown at the time of her disappearance.

The string of 1981 killings occurred shortly after Brown was arrested and charged with the rape and sodomy of a 15-year-old high school student. He was convicted of those charges and served three years in prison.