"I used to tell him not to go out so late at night because that is where you find the devil, that is where you find temptation,' said the devoutly Catholic woman.
A longtime parishioner at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Alice Rathbun said her son used to attend Mass and confession with her until a few years ago when he began attending services at Our Lady of Refuge, at Los Coyotes Diagonal and Stearns Street. About a month ago, she said her son told her he was going to confession and she was cheered at the news.
Asked if she thought he might have confessed the rapes, Alice Rathbun said, "He should have. Maybe he went because he wanted to stop. Maybe he was trying to get help.'
Father William O'Keefe of Our Lady of Refuge said he did not know Rathbun. He added that if someone were to confess a rape to a priest, they could not report it to police because of the church's sacred vows. The priest, however, would urge the individual to turn himself or herself in, he said.
Rathbun had been counseled by a priest in the past, his mother said. Convicted of burglary and trespassing when he was 17, Rathbun was sent to a youth camp where he often spoke with a priest who advised Rathbun to seek psychiatric counseling, his mom said.
