As the cold wind begins to bite across the city, along with the pressure of rising interest rates, residents in this bayside suburb are bunkering down for the winter.

As I walked along Bay Street, double garage doors could be seen wide open as an elderly woman cheerfully watered a pot on her balcony.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

A sense of tranquillity permeated the neighbourhood.

It was hard to imagine that months earlier, this same street was gripped by fear as a serial predator lurked in-and-out of yards and near windows in the dead of night.

“Where did he go?” asked another as I stopped to discuss this enigma of the dark who, thankfully, hasn’t been seen around these parts since late summer.

He had hit at least 25 houses in Geelong, Torquay and Melbourne in a prolific spree between January and March before his offending, suddenly, stopped.

On one chilling occasion, in Bell Post Hill, he even took his shoes off as he entered a home while a family slept upstairs.

What he did inside remains an unnerving mystery.

As I strolled past St Helens Place and by a beautiful two-storey home, a guard dog sprung to life from inside a gate.

As the barking grew louder it dawned on me; this man had walked the exact same path one February night, only preferring the cover of darkness and with deviant intent in mind.

The dog, an imposing german shepherd, had chased him from the front yard after a sensor light illuminated his now distinctive surgical mask, broad brimmed hat and black gloves.

Police would later reveal he was armed with some sort of tool during these witching hour haunts.

“The dog nearly had him,” said Julia, 50, as her co-worker prepared a coffee from a nearby cafe.

“I know the owners, he closed the gate just in the nick of time.”

It was as close as anyone, or animal, has been to unmasking him.

“Do you think he has just stopped?” she asked.

“It’s so bizarre, everyone still talks about him.”

Another shopkeeper, on Melbourne Rd, said many were still anxious during the pre-dawn dark of winter mornings.

“It’s a bit strange that he hasn’t been caught,” he said

“Especially after his face was plastered all over the news.

“I wonder if he’ll pop up again somewhere?”

Later, as I walked along Vautier Street, a place he returned to more than once, their questions swirled.

TIM Watson-Munro is, perhaps, Australia’s best criminal psychologist.

He admits to being intrigued by the case now commonly known as the Geelong night stalker series.

“I know people in Geelong, and they tell me they are worried about this bloke,” he said.

The highly respected shrink and forensic profiler is normally quizzed about paraphilias resulting in the sexual assault of victims and, sometimes, far worse.

He’s delved inside the mind of Ivan Milat and worked on some of the country’s most frightening mysteries, such as the unsolved Mr Cruel case.

“The good thing is that no one has been hurt yet, but that is not to say that if he returns he won’t escalate,” he said.

“He is obviously a creepy guy, and he is also a good planner.

“He knows what he is doing, I suspect he picks his mark and the fact that he has now gone underground speaks to his intelligence as well.”

It has baffled Geelong police who, despite the formation of a specialist task force and a nationwide media push, are yet to identify him.

A request to interview the detective leading the investigation, Gavin Mullins, was turned down by Victoria Police, but they did confirm there’d been no further reported incidents since a press conference in April.

I asked Watson-Munro the queries raised by those Rippleside residents, and the many others across Geelong.

What is the likelihood he has just stopped?

“If I was a betting man, and I’m not, I would say he will resurface,” he said.

“And the basis for that is if it is driven by sexual excitement or just excitement, often they get addicted to the adrenaline.

“They may try to sit on those urges, but ultimately the urges overwhelm them and they think they’ll just start doing it again.

“And that is what tends to happen.”

His exact motive remains unknown.

His prowling has not escalated to physical violence, that we know of, and he hasn’t taken anything from the homes he has peered through and inside.

So why do it?

“It is like peeping Tom at another level,” Watson-Munro explained.

“The planning is often exciting, they fantasise about it. The execution of the crime is exciting for them.

“We don’t know him, but they may take souvenirs.

“There is obviously something that is driving this guy, he knows what he is doing, he is not out of touch with reality and he is very organised.”

He gained access to a second home in Werribee in March, believed to be his last known offence.

On that evening, he was confident enough not to conceal his face. The images would beam on prime-time TV and across every major news publication in the state.

And like a phantom in the night, he dissapeared.

“He obviously enjoys the excitement,” Watson-Munro said.

“And in the absence of treatment and the absence of knowing what is driving it, he is either sufficiently scared or intelligent enough to know that he needs to back off.”

There’s a chance he has skipped town.

“It could be geographical, he may have moved,” he said.

But as Watson-Munro explained, it was highly probable he was just an average-joe citizen walking among us.

“Looking at this bloke, he doesn’t look like an itinerant to me,” he said.

“They do blend in, which is often the case with these offenders.

“It is their ordinariness that allows them to have this duel life.

“They blend into the community like chameleons and people are always very surprised when they are caught.”

THE case remains a top priority for police, who would feel a sense of relief that his offending has temporarily ceased.

But they, along with the rest of the community, won’t fully relax until he’s sitting at a table inside a cold interview room.

As Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Mullins put it “until we know and understand his motivations we are concerned that something could escalate into an assault or something more serious.”

Leading US criminal profiler Mike King had no doubt his predatory desires are still there “simmering inside this coward.”

“What we could hope for is that family members, friends, co-workers or others who suspect someone might contact police,” he said.

“We can also hope that police have recovered forensic evidence they are testing and analyzing to put this case together.”

Ultimately, Watson-Munro says, there’s a strong chance this bizarre offender will eventually come unstuck.

Whether it will be here, or another location, remains to be seen.

“I think what will solve this is teamwork,” he said.

“Community vigilance, cooperation with the police involving geographic profiling and other sorts of profiling from psychologists.

“Geelong is a great city, it is a very close knit city, so I know people would be anxious about what has gone on and keen for some resolution.”

As the chill of winter settles in, we wait.

Do you know the night stalker? If you have information that can assist Victoria Police contact crime stoppers on 1800 333 000

Mark Murray is a crime writer for the Geelong Advertiser. Get in touch at mark.murray@news.com.au