The Cadillac's Last Ride

What Ex-MMA Fighter Zachary Andrews's Crimes Reveals About Domestic Violence and Serial Rape

The Portland courtroom was silent as Zachary Lee Andrews finally spoke the truth. After months of claiming his victims wanted "force play," after insisting the women who screamed "no," "help," and "rape" were actually consenting, the former MMA fighter known as "The Cadillac" dropped his mask.

thirty-three-year-old Zachary Lee Andrews

check out this article’s highlights!

"I'm going to ask for as much help as I can, because there's something wrong with me," he told Judge Celia Howes. "I pray to God to somehow change me."

It was September 19, 2025. Too late for remorse to matter. Too late for the woman who had died since the attacks. Too late for the survivors who couldn't bring themselves to attend the sentencing. And far too late for the homeless women Andrews had hunted in their tents, strangling them until they couldn't breathe, holding them captive for hours, telling police afterward that they liked it rough.

The judge sentenced him to 50 years. In a system where even the most heinous crimes rarely draw maximum sentences, Senior Deputy District Attorney Robin Skarstad had asked for fifty-eight. She said she usually tried to find some glimmer of redeemability in defendants. But with Andrews? "There was only a void here," she said.

As a forensic psychologist who's evaluated my share of predators, I've learned that the most dangerous ones often hide in plain sight. They're the ones who know exactly which victims to choose, the ones who understand that some screams will never be heard. Andrews wasn't just a rapist. He was a serial predator who understood the brutal mathematics of vulnerability. And his case reveals two disturbing but enlightening truths about predatory violence.

From the Octagon to the Streets

Zachary Andrews's MMA career was brief and unremarkable. Fighting under the nickname "The Cadillac" (a name he'd keep using on the streets), he compiled a 3-1 record between 2016 and 2017, earning a grand total of $1,500. Standing 6'1" with a 73.5-inch reach, he fought as a welterweight out of Dragon House MMA in San Francisco. His last professional fight was in February 2017 for Bellator Fighting Championships.

By 2021, the former fighter from Stockton had traded the octagon for the streets of Portland. Homeless, addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs, Andrews had become part of the very community he would prey upon. It's a detail that matters, not because homelessness or addiction excuse his crimes, but because it gave him something every predator needs: access.

Between October 2021 and October 2022, Andrews attacked at least three homeless women, ages 40, 47, and 60. The pattern was consistent and horrifying. He would approach women in their tents, their only private space, their only sanctuary. Then he would force his way in and begin his attack.

The first victim, on October 24, 2021, fought back as Andrews strangled and raped her. She kicked, she screamed, she did everything we tell people to do. Andrews only became more violent. When police found her, she had visible scratch marks and abrasions on her neck. She told officers and medical personnel that he choked her so hard she couldn’t breathe.

The second attack came on March 29, 2022. Again, Andrews entered a woman's tent. Again, he raped and sodomized her while she struggled to resist. This time, he also punched her. And again, he strangled her. When questioned by police, Andrews admitted everything but claimed she liked "force play."

The third known victim endured the longest ordeal. On October 1, 2022, Andrews didn't just rape and strangle her in her tent. He held her captive there for 12 hours. Twelve hours in a tent on a Portland street, while he assaulted her repeatedly. She yelled "no," "help," and "rape" during the attack, facts Andrews himself admitted to police. His explanation? She too had a "force fantasy."

Prosecutor Skarstad revealed during sentencing that Andrews had at least two other victims, but they couldn’t prosecute them. One woman had lost contact with authorities, the other case lacked sufficient evidence. It's a reminder that the three convictions likely represent only part of Andrews's predatory pattern.

From Domestic Violence to Serial Rape

Andrews had a documented history of domestic violence, including strangulation. It's a detail that, to many, might seem like just another line in a criminal history. But not to anyone whose been a victim of domestic violence or worked with violent predators. We know. It’s a loaded pistol.

But it’s not just strangulation that predicts a grab bag of different kinds of violence. The research on domestic violence as a predictor of broader sexual violence is both strong and deeply disturbing. Recent studies reveal that the men who sexually assault intimate partners often don’t stop there.

A 2018 analysis of unsolved sexual assault kits, for example, found that more than one-third of intimate partner sexual assault (IPSA) perpetrators were serial sex offenders, meaning they assaulted their partners and at least one other victim, often strangers or acquaintances. Another study of 789 incarcerated sex offenders showed that nearly half with prior sexual convictions had crossed over between victim types: family members, acquaintances, strangers, and intimates. The pattern is clear: men who commit sexual violence against partners frequently expand their victim pool. Domestic violence isn't just a relationship problem; it's often a preview of coming attractions.

In Andrews's case, the strangulation component made this progression even more predictable. Strangulation isn't just another form of assault. It's an intimate act of domination that requires sustained, deliberate effort. Unlike throwing a punch in anger, strangulation means maintaining pressure on someone's throat for seconds or minutes, feeling them struggle, watching their panic, and choosing to continue. It's about power and control in its purest, most terrifying form.

The statistics are chilling. A victim who has been strangled by an intimate partner is 750% more likely to be murdered by that partner. But strangulation also represents something deeper psychologically. Put your hands around someone’s neck and you’re literally holding someone's life in your hands. It’s the ultimate control. It also creates a specific type of arousal pattern, linking sexual gratification with life-or-death power. When someone has crossed that line, when they've felt that specific kind of power and gotten away with it, they often seek to recreate it.

Andrews fits this pattern perfectly. His progression from domestic violence involving strangulation to serial rape with strangulation wasn't a coincidence. It was an escalation along a predictable path. The domestic violence wasn't separate from his later crimes. It was practice.

The Dangerous Type

I haven't personally evaluated Andrews. But I think the victims’ statements to police offer us some critical about his modus operandi, motivations and typology. First, from the moment he entered their tents, he attacked his victims with extreme violence. This was not someone who tried to have consensual sex and then got angry when they refused. Second, when victims fought back, kicking, screaming, resisting, he became even more brutal.

This pattern is consistent with what we call the anger or vindictive rapist typology. These offenders aren’t just seeking sexual gratification; they're punishing, dominating, expressing a deep-seated rage that finds its target in vulnerable women. Unlike opportunistic rapists who might flee when confronted with strong resistance, anger-motivated offenders double down. A victim's "no" doesn't deter them; it enrages them. Any resistance is seen as a personal affront or challenge to their dominance. Andrews's immediate use of excessive force, his escalation when faced with resistance, and his targeting of women he saw as beneath him all fit this profile of the pervasively angry offender.

Anger and vindictive rapists have a higher violence risk than some of the other sex offender subtypes. Their violence is "expressive" rather than instrumental; they don't just use force to achieve compliance; they use it to punish, humiliate, and vent rage. This makes them particularly dangerous, as their attacks often involve gratuitous violence that continues even after the victim has stopped resisting. They're driven by a fundamental hostility that makes them perpetual threats to any woman they encounter. And it’s why Andrews's 50-year sentence, while rare, was absolutely justified.

This case is yet another example of why we need to get the “domestic” out of domestic violence. It’s not just a family matter or relationship problem. Interpersonal violence is often the first chapter in a longer, darker story. When someone commits sexual violence against a partner, when they strangle someone they claim to love, they're showing you who they are. They're telling you what they're capable of. We need to listen.

Blood Sport or Scapegoat?

Within hours of Andrews's sentencing, the headlines started appearing: "MMA Fighter Convicted of Serial Rape." The implication was clear; here was another violent fighter who couldn't keep his aggression in the cage. It's a narrative that surfaces every time a combat sports athlete commits a violent crime. But is it accurate?

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not an MMA fan. I can’t watch the fights; they make me sick. And I’ve tried; my sons and my husband love them. It’s something they bond over.

But no matter how I personally feel, the research is clear: MMA did not make Zachary Andrews a rapist.

Studies consistently show that participation in combat sports doesn't create violent personalities. Millions of people train in MMA, boxing, wrestling, and other combat sports. The vast majority never commit violent crimes. Many martial artists I know describe their sport as an outlet that helps them manage aggression in healthy ways. The discipline, structure, and controlled environment of training can be therapeutic for people struggling with anger or past trauma.

However, there are people with pre-existing aggressive tendencies and antisocial traits who are drawn to these sports. The ones who commit crimes outside the ring almost always have histories that predate their combat sports involvement; childhood trauma, early antisocial behavior, substance abuse, domestic violence. The sport didn't make them violent. They brought their violence to the sport, and eventually, it followed them everywhere else.

It's selection bias, not causation.

Think about it this way: Andrews's brief MMA career (four professional fights over two years) doesn't explain his predatory behavior. His fights ended in 2017. His known sexual assaults began in 2021. That's a four-year gap filled with homelessness, drug addiction, and escalating antisocial behavior. If MMA was the causal factor, we'd expect to see violence during or immediately after his fighting career, not years later.

What's more telling is Andrews's behavior pattern. Serial rape isn't about uncontrolled aggression or fighter's adrenaline. It's calculated predatory behavior. Andrews carefully selected vulnerable victims. He attacked them in locations where they were isolated. He had ready-made excuses for his violence. This isn't someone who couldn't control his fighter's instincts, this is someone who made deliberate choices to hunt and harm.

The focus on his MMA background also obscures the real risk factors in Andrews's history: the domestic violence, the strangulation, the substance abuse, the antisocial personality traits. These are the elements that predict sexual violence, not whether someone knows how to throw a punch.

The Void Where Empathy Should Be

As I write this, one of Andrews's victims is dead. We don't know if her death was related to the trauma she endured, but we know she'll never see justice personally. The other two survivors couldn't bring themselves to attend the sentencing. That's not unusual—facing your attacker in court requires a kind of strength that trauma often steals.

What strikes me most about this case is the sheer emptiness at its center. Andrews operated for at least a year, attacking woman after woman, strangling them until they couldn't breathe, holding them captive in their own tents. When caught, he crafted elaborate lies about consensual "force play." Only when faced with 50 years in prison did he finally admit to his "very evil" acts and claim something was wrong with him.

But that admission rings hollow. True remorse requires empathy, and nothing in Andrews's pattern suggests he possesses it. Predators like him don't see victims as full humans deserving of dignity and safety. They see opportunities. They see objects. They see a world divided into those who matter and those who don't.

The judge understood this. That's why she gave him 50 years—not quite the maximum 58 the prosecutor sought, but enough to ensure he'll be in his eighties before possible release. As District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said, it "gets the job done."

But does it? Andrews is locked away, and that's exactly where he belongs. Here's what's remarkable about this case: it happened at all. Three homeless women—society's most vulnerable, most dismissed, most invisible victims—were heard. They were believed. Their rapist didn't get a plea deal or probation or a slap on the wrist. He got 50 years.

Think about how recently this outcome would have been impossible. Twenty years ago, these cases likely never would have been prosecuted. The victims were homeless, struggled with addiction, had no fixed addresses. One victim was held captive for 12 hours in a tent—who would have taken that seriously back then? Even ten years ago, Andrews's "force play" defense might have created enough reasonable doubt to walk.

But Detective Nathan Wollstein investigated. DA Investigator Heather Hughes and victim advocate Amina Dureti worked compassionately with traumatized women who had every reason not to trust the system. Senior Deputy District Attorney Robin Skarstad looked at Andrews and saw not a former athlete or a troubled man, but a predator who needed to be stopped. Judge Celia Howes understood that 50 years wasn't excessive—it was necessary.

This is what justice looks like when the system works.

The Road Forward

Here's what I know after decades in this field: we can't therapy our way out of predation. We can't rehabilitate those who lack basic empathy. But we can recognize the patterns, protect the vulnerable, and stop making excuses for inexcusable violence. And increasingly, we are.

The Zachary Andrews case gives me hope. Not because of what he did—that will always be horrifying. But because of what happened next. Because when homeless women said they were raped, investigators listened. Because when a predator claimed his victims wanted it rough, a jury saw through the lie. Because when the prosecution asked for a sentence that would keep him locked up until he was too old to hurt anyone else, the judge agreed.

The Cadillac has been impounded. For good.

Yes, there are other predators still cruising the streets, looking for the vulnerable. Yes, we still need better protections, better training, better responses to domestic violence before it escalates. But this case proves something important: when we pay attention to the red flags, when we listen to all victims regardless of their circumstances, when we take violence against women seriously—we can stop them.

Fifty years. For three homeless women whose voices almost certainly would have been ignored in another era. That's not just justice. That's progress.

And for those of us who work in this field, who see the patterns, who understand what domestic violence really means? It's a reminder that our work matters. Every risk assessment that flags an escalating offender, every prosecution that takes strangulation seriously, every advocate who stands with a vulnerable victim—it all adds up to this: predators being recognized, stopped, and locked away before they can destroy more lives.

The women Andrews attacked mattered. Their cases mattered. And in a Portland courtroom in September 2025, the system finally got it right.

References

• Daye, C. E., Knight, R. A., Mogaji, A. A., & Yaksic, E. (2023). Grievance-fueled sexual violence. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1070484. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1070484 (Supports anger and vindictive rapists as grievance-driven, with high expressive violence, escalation risks, and grievance as a factor in sexual recidivism and broader violence propensity.)

• Daigneault, I., Hébert, M., Bourgeois, C., Villeneuve, É., & Tremblay-Perreault, A. (2024). Differences in criminogenic risk factors and risk prediction based on offender type in a sample under federal jurisdiction for sexual crimes. Psychological Assessment, 36(2), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001292 (Examines criminogenic needs in sexual offenders, including anger-related factors linked to higher violence risk in adult rapists compared to other types.)

• Gómez, J. M., & Smith, A. B. (2024). How severity of intimate partner violence is perceived and related to attitudinal variables? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 75, Article 101925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2024.101925 (Meta-analysis on perceived severity of sexual IPV, with ties to attitudinal risk factors like rape myth acceptance that align with vindictive motivations in rapist typologies.)

• Park, S., & Kim, S. H. (2021). Predicting rapist type based on crime-scene violence, interpersonal involvement, and criminal sophistication in U.S. stranger rape. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 23(4), 398–411. https://doi.org/10.1177/14613557211036564 (Predicts rapist types using crime-scene data, highlighting anger-retaliatory types with high violence escalation and risk when resistance occurs.)

• de Assis, D., Ghosh, A., Oreffice, S., & Quintana-Domeque, C. (2025). Non-fatal strangulation laws and intimate partner homicides (IZA Discussion Paper No. 18006). IZA Institute of Labor Economics. https://docs.iza.org/dp18006.pdf (Discusses non-fatal strangulation [NFS] as a key predictor of intimate partner homicide [IPH], noting victims of NFS are much more likely to be killed later, often by gunshot or stabbing, and citing a 7.48-fold increase in homicide risk.)

• Pritchard, A. J., Reckdenwald, A., Nordham, C., & Holton, J. (2023). Factors associated with non-fatal strangulation victimization in intimate partner violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231207874 (Reviews factors linked to NFS in IPV, emphasizing it as a critical risk indicator for future homicide and escalation of lethal violence.)

• Matias, A., Gonçalves, M., Soeiro, C., & Matos, M. (2020). Intimate partner homicide: A meta-analysis of risk factors. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 50, Article 101358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.101358 (Meta-analysis identifying physical violence indicators, including strangulation, as strong predictors of IPH, with overlaps to threats and coercive control.)

• Campbell, R., Feeney, H., Pierce, S. J., Sharma, D. B., & Fehler-Cabral, G. (2018). Tested at last: How DNA evidence in untested rape kits can identify offenders and serial sexual assaults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33(24), 3792–3814. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516675926 (Analyzes untested sexual assault kits, finding that over one-third [>33%] of offenders linked to IPSA cases were serial offenders who also assaulted non-partners, highlighting crossover offending patterns.)

Thank you for reading this issue of The Mind Detective (and maybe checking out the highlight video). If you enjoyed the content, please send it to just one of your true-crime-following friends.