PUEBLO, Colo. -- Police have discovered a hidden room in the home of a Colorado man suspected of sexually assaulting more than 12 women in New Mexico and Texas, the Pueblo Chieftain reported Wednesday.

Police confirmed the report, telling the newspaper the "room" was found in Bruce's bedroom closet. Sheriff Kirk Taylor said it was about 18-inches deep and the width of a "regular closet."

"We found that on the second search and nothing was in it," Taylor told the newspaper.

Taylor said his investigators have been in contact with authorities in Fort Collins, Colo., and Lawrence, Kan., about Robert Howard Bruce, 47, of Pueblo.

Bruce is being held on suspicion of trying to kill a Pueblo officer who was to testify against him in a peeping Tom case. Pueblo police theorized Bruce wanted to keep the officer from testifying because a conviction would force Bruce to be listed on the national sex offender database and force him to provide a DNA sample, which New Mexico authorities had already obtained from the Ether Man rapist.

Detective Rich Lewis of the Albuquerque Police Department's cold case unit is credited with identifying Bruce as a possible suspect, based on his Pueblo peeping Tom arrest. DNA from the attempted-murder case linked Bruce to assaults in Albuquerque, N.M., and Austin. Neighbors told the Chieftain that Bruce traveled to Albuquerque almost every weekend.

The Albuquerque rapist gained the "Ether Man" moniker from police for his use of a chemical-laced cloth to render his victims unconscious.

Police told the newspaper that Bruce is a suspect in 11 rapes in Albuquerque, one in Pueblo, two in Fort Collins, three in Lubbock, Texas, one in Austin, Texas, and one in Norman, Okla.

Taylor said Pueblo deputies have also been in contact with investigators in Lawrence, Kan., but the reason for their interest wasn't clear.