Recent sexual assaults and attacks on at least seven elderly women in Texas have residents and law enforcement on high alert.
The first attack was reported in January and is among a string of attacks in women over the age of 60 who live alone in rural areas.
Two of the crimes happened in Bell County, one in the town of Zabcikville.
Zabcikville residents described their home town as a laid back small country town with no worries.
"Used to leave the door unlocked. Now you can't," resident Charlie Begesse said.
Begesse said that hasn't changed since August, when news spread of the sexual assault of a woman in her 90s in her home.
"It's a shock, you know, a tremendous shock, you know, seven houses down from ours," Begesse said.
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Elderly attacks
News 8's Bonnie Gonzalez shows us how one community has changed since the attacks.
 
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Now, Begesse and his wife have taken extra precautions to make sure they don't become victims
"We've got a loaded gun now. We've never had that before," he said.
He's seen how the rest of the community has changed since the attack as well.
"It used to be we might see a sheriff car go by once every few days," he said.
Begesse said now, he sees patrol cars in the area on a daily basis.
Even though elderly women have been the targets of these attacks, it still has other residents like Dana Webb concerned.
"We lock all of our windows at night before we go to bed. We lock the gate. I don't let my kids play outside after dark," Webb said.
As a mother, Webb worries about her family's safety.
"If they're that sick and demented to do that to an elderly woman, who's to say they're not going to do that to my kids," she said.
Webb and Begesse said they are both more aware of their surroundings, as is the rest of the community.
Investigators haven't confirmed whether the seven cases are linked, but are looking for a suspect.
According to the Leon County Sheriff's Office, all the attacks took place in total darkness, and none of the victims have been able to give a description of the suspect.
The Leon County Sheriff Law enforcement officials suspect a home invasion in Leon County is connected to a serial rapist who has been terrorizing elderly women in rural areas of Texas for months.
On Saturday, police say a man broke into the home of an 81-year-old woman. The woman had a handgun and managed to fire several shots, scaring the man away. The burglar got away with some cash and other items, but the woman was not hurt.
Investigators believe this incident may be connected to a series of sexual assaults on elderly women across four Central Texas counties, including Bell County.
Leon County Sheriff Jerry Wakefield said authorities don't have much information yet, but he wouldn't exactly call the attacks random.
Campbell said the locations of the attacks are really scattered, not limited to one particular neighborhood or county, all the houses are similar looking on the outside, and all the elderly women who have been attacked are widows.
Several counties have held, and will continue to host town hall meetings, to give residents more information and tips on how to keep safe.
