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Posted on Thu, Nov. 05, 2009

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Kansas looks at Colorado sex assault suspect

By Associated Press

PUEBLO, Colo. —A man suspected of sexually assaulting more than 12 women in New Mexico and Texas and trying to kill a Pueblo police officer has prompted inquiries from investigators in Colorado and Kansas, authorities said this week.

Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor said his investigators have been in contact with authorities in Fort Collins, Colo., and Lawrence about Robert Howard Bruce, 47, of Pueblo.

Kansas authorities checked on whether Bruce could have been connected to a series of sexual assaults in Lawrence and Manhattan, but they don't believe he was involved, said Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for the Kansas attorney general.

Bruce is being held in the Pueblo County jail on $3 million bail on charges including attempted first-degree murder and being a fugitive. Jail officials had no record of an attorney for him.

Pueblo County prosecutors allege Bruce tried to kill an officer who was to testify against him in a peeping Tom case.

DNA from the attempted-murder case linked Bruce to 11 sexual assaults in Albuquerque, N.M., starting in 1991 and one in Austin, Texas, in 2006, New Mexico authorities said.

Bruce is also suspected in three rapes in Lubbock, Texas, because of similarities with the New Mexico cases, Lubbock police Capt. Greg Stevens said.

Police in Fort Collins are looking into whether Bruce was involved in at least two sexual assaults in 2008, spokeswoman Rita Davis said.

The assailant in the Albuquerque cases was dubbed the "Ether Man" because victims were rendered unconscious with a chemical-soaked rag, although police say the chemical wasn't ether.

New Mexico authorities have issued a warrant for Bruce's arrest on charges including sexual assault, kidnapping, battery and burglary.