The brutal rape and attack of a Highland Park woman more than 30 years ago was just one of many assaults committed by a former doctor, prosecutors say.
Katherine Bascone was left blind and mostly confined to a bed after she was raped and nearly strangled in her apartment on June 19, 1988.
In February 2018, she died from injuries stemming from the attack.
George Guo, 58, is charged with capital murder in Bascone's death. His trial is scheduled for September.
Bascone was packing to move to Louisiana to begin a medical residency when she was attacked. For nearly 30 years, she barely spoke, suffered hallucinations and required nursing care.
And during that time, Guo didn't stop stalking and assaulting women, prosecutors allege. They want jurors to hear about the UT Southwestern Medical Center graduate's connection to other attacks, including the 1990 attack of a Southern Methodist University student.
Two victims testified Friday during a pre-trial hearing. A judge has not yet ruled whether jurors can hear about the other cases.
In both cases, Guo pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault. In one of the cases, which occurred outside Houston, Guo was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Highland Park attack
A then-19-year-old SMU student was home alone and in bed Thanksgiving night 1990 when her puppy started growling. The woman, who is only identified in court records as K.A.B., said she got up and looked out in the dark hallway.
K.A.B. saw a shadow and felt like someone might be there. She slammed and locked her bedroom door and called 911.
A masked man broke down the door, yanked the phone from her hand and pulled the cord from the wall. Then he sprayed her in the face with what felt like pepper spray, she testified.
He pushed the woman onto the bed and tied her hands behind her back with the strap of her purse. He gagged her and started to grope her.
She heard the phone ring downstairs and hoped it meant police had received the 911 call. Moments later, she saw flashing lights outside the window. She testified that she thought it meant the man would stop.
But he kept touching her, even after the cops knocked on the door.
"He said, 'If you scream, I'll kill you,'" K.A.B. testified. "And I screamed as loud as I possibly could."
The man, who was later identified as Guo, jumped from the second-floor balcony, breaking both of his ankles. He was arrested outside the apartment. Police found him still wearing a mask and gloves. He had tear gas, a syringe, a sedative, needles and condoms, court records show.
"I wasn't sure I was going to survive the night," the woman testified.
Guo later pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault. He served three months before he was released on 10 years probation.
Houston attack
A University of Houston student was home alone in September 1998 when a man entered her bedroom wearing a ski mask and gloves.
The man repeatedly punched the woman, who testified under the initials F.M. He then wrapped the cord of a hair dryer around her neck until she blacked out.
"I thought I was going to die," the woman said.
The man undressed the woman and started fondling her. He asked how old she was and whether she was a virgin.
"I was afraid to answer," she testified. "He still had a good grip on the hair dryer."
F.M. played dead, hoping the man would leave her alone. Eventually he left, and the woman passed out. When she woke up, she stayed still until she was certain the man was gone and called 911.
A scan showed the woman has lesions on her brain from the attack. F.M. later identified Guo from a photo lineup as the man she had seen outside her home before she was assaulted.
Prosecutors said during the pre-trial hearing Friday that the Houston and Highland Park attacks should be allowed into the trial on Bascone's death because of the similarities between the cases.
Guo demonstrates a history of stalking, punching and assaulting women inside their homes, often gaining access through an unlocked door.
The former doctor was also accused of stalking a 13-year-old girl outside Houston. After he was arrested, investigators found a "treasure trove" linking him to several unsolved sex assaults in the area.
A photo of the teenage girl was found in his possession, and personal belongings and names of 17 women were found in Guo's home, truck and storage unit, court records show.
And when Guo was caught by police in the 13-year-old's backyard, he told police that he was "playing games...bad games," court records show.
