After faking his own death and an international manhunt leading to his arrest, a notorious rapist was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month.
According to a report by the BBC, a team effort from local investigators at the Monterey County Sheriff's office, U.S. Marshals, Interpol and the Scottish authorities resulted in Kim Avis’ arrest and extradition back to Scotland where he was convicted of rape and sexual abuse offences committed over several years in the Highlands.
Avis is a market trader from Inverness, Scotland.
In February 2019, he had been on bail when he flew into Los Angeles International Airport using the name Ken Gordon-Avis. He eventually found himself in Carmel, and in late February his son reported him missing at one of the most treacherous beaches along the coastline, Monastery Beach.
The beach is near Carmel-by-the-Sea, and is well-known for its beauty as well as its water’s dangerously strong undertow and high surf conditions.
So much so that the spot has earned itself the nickname, "Mortuary Beach," after so many swimmers and divers died there.
"The beach is full of posted warnings," said Mary Schley, who has been a reporter on the Carmel Pine Cone newspaper for almost 23 years.
After his son alerted officials that his father never returned from an evening swim at the beach, an extensive three-day search of the shore and sea was carried out.
But investigators were skeptical from the beginning. "The water is very cold, so it's unusual for someone to go swimming only in a pair of shorts in the evening in late February, when it's nearing dark, as Avis was said to have done," said Schley.
For one officer, Sgt. David Murray, the story did not add up.
Avis appeared to have taken essential belongings, such as his passport, with him on the swim. There was also no record of him at the hotel he had purportedly been staying at. Murray tracked down Avis' relatives in Scotland, and learned of Avis’ charges of sexual attacks against women and girls.
The investigation eventually tracked Avis to Colorado Springs where he was arrested on July 27, 2019, more than five months after he’d gone missing.
The case was certainly unusual for Commander Derrel Simpson, a 30-year Monterey County Sheriff's office veteran. "We have had a lot of deaths at Monastery Beach, but I can't think of anyone using it as a ploy before."
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