May Fujiwara, 73, was given a free whistle from the Maui County Office on Aging after two elderly Kahului women were sexually assaulted a couple of months ago.

Yesterday, on learning that an 82-year-old Kihei woman was raped by a man who entered her home through an unlocked window Wednesday afternoon, Fujiwara found that whistle and firmly attached it to her key chain.

"I just can't believe it," said Fujiwara, a resident of Lahaina. "This is scary."

Seniors across Maui were jolted by news of the latest sex crime and the possibility that all three assaults might have been by the same person. Yesterday they reacted with disgust and dismay.

"It's scary — very scary," said Betty De Lima, president of the Kula Camellia Club, an Upcountry seniors group. "You think you're safe growing older. They say it's your golden years. But I don't know, maybe it's not so golden.

"Whoever the perpetrator is, I hope they catch him."

Police detectives yesterday were canvassing the North Kihei neighborhood where Wednesday's attack took place.

Police said a man described as slim and 6 feet tall, wearing black pants and a gray tank top, entered the woman's Makalauna Street home and raped her, then took some cash before fleeing.

The rapist fled when the woman's daughter arrived at the residence, police said. The daughter called police, and the victim was treated at Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku.

The Kahului attacks occurred 10 miles away.

The first one was at 3 a.m. May 30 when an 87-year-old woman was raped in the bedroom of her home. The intruder broke a window to enter the house and stole a purse.

Then, on June 14, a 78-year-old resident of the Hale Mahaolu senior residential community was walking on Wakea Avenue around 5:30 a.m. when she was forced into bushes and assaulted.

Lt. Glenn Cuomo of the Maui Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division said investigators are not sure that the same attacker was involved in all three assaults. But they haven't ruled out the possibility.

"We'll be seeking whatever help from other agencies we can get," Cuomo said. "Hopefully, we can catch this guy, and it will be all over."

After the initial attacks, residents of the Kahului senior community of Hale Mahaolu held a "Silence Violence" rally, and Fujiwara was among two busloads of seniors who came from Lahaina to lend their support.

Fujiwara, who is president of the Lahaina Honolua Senior Citizens Club, said many older people have recently become more cautious and aware of their surroundings. They are locking their doors more often.

Even so, she said, the club is going to have to invite a police officer to make a presentation on safety issues.

"I still see seniors walking alone. And now it's not even safe during the day," she said.

Dorothy Nakata, 77, a retired educator, said she hopes police can apprehend the rapist and give him some help so that he doesn't do it again. "I certainly don't want that to happen to me," she said.

Maui County Council member Jo Anne Johnson said the series of sex assaults on the elderly indicate Maui has entered an era of big-city crime fostered by population growth.

"Maui, sadly, has gained a different kind of status, with a different level of problems," she said. "This is a wake-up call to the fact that we have multiple issues to prioritize and deal with."

Johnson, also a member of the county's Council on Aging, said Maui leaders are going to have to consider organizing citizen patrols and should address mental-health issues and drug problems.

"It's such a sad day when these kinds of things happen in our community," she said.

Anyone with information about these cases is asked to call Maui police at (808) 244-6400. To remain anonymous, call Maui CrimeStoppers at (808) 242-6966.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.