One of California's most prolific serial killers and rapists, known as the I-5 Strangler, has died in prison.
Roger Reece Kibbe exerted a reign of terror by tricking vulnerable women in the Sacramento area with a Good Samaritan ruse.
Who was Roger Reece Kibbe?
Roger Reece Kibbe was an American serial killer and rapist known as the 'I-5 Strangler' after he began his vile crime spree in 1997.
He was a married furniture maker with a brother who was a police detective.
Kibbe stalked the freeways south of Sacramento late at night, hoping to find young women experiencing car trouble.
After offering to help his unsuspecting victims, they were abducted, taken to desolate locations, before he raped the women and strangled them with items of their own clothing.
Kibbe was first convicted of the 1987 murder of 17-year-old runaway Darcine Frackenpohl, while he was serving a jail term at Sacramento County for the attempted kidnap and assault of a prostitute.
He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for Frackenpohl's murder, after her naked body was discovered at Echo Summit.
Police had long suspected Kibbe could be linked to other crimes, but it wasn't until advanced evidence and DNA from previous cases were resubmitted in the early 2000's.
A fresh indictment from the San Joaquin County in 2008 accused Kibbe of Lou Ellen Burleigh's 1977 slaying and the murders of Barbara Ann Scott, Stephanie Brown, Charmaine Sabrah, Katherine Kelly Quinones and Lora Heedrick in 1986.
The following year, Kibbe pleaded guilty to the new murder charges that incorporated the brutal rape and kidnapping of his victims. To avoid the death penalty, he took a plea bargain to serve another six consecutive life sentences.
How did Roger Reece Kibbe die?
A homicide investigation has been launched into the death of Roger Reece Kibbe.
The 81-year-old was found lifeless on the floor of his cell during a routine population count at Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County on February 28, 2021 at around 12:40am.
Kibbe was rushed to the prison's health care facility where he was pronounced dead an hour later.
His cell mate, Jason Budrow, 40, was standing in the cell according to The Sacramento Bee.
Budrow, who is serving life for first-degree murder as a second-striker, has since been rehoused in the Administrative Segregation Unit pending investigation.
Who were Roger Reece Kibbe's victims?
Kibbe's first known victim was 21-year-old Lou Ellen Burleigh, who left her home for a job interview and never returned in September 1977. He confessed to luring her into a van before binding, raping and killing her, before dumping her body in a dry river bed.
In April 1986, part-time sex worker Lora Heedick, 21, was seen climbing into a car with a man in his 50's and was never seen again. Her drastically decomposed remains were found the next month off Interstate-5, southeast of Sacramento.
Kibbe abducted 29-year-old Barbara Ann Scott in July 1986, before murdering her and leaving her body along a stretch of road in Contra Costa County.
The pace of his murder spree continued to increase, seeing him rape and strangle Stephanie Brown, 19 just 12 days later. Her abandoned vehicle was found along the I-5 and her body was dumped in a drainage ditch.
Just a month later, Kibbe lured 26-year-old Charmaine Sabrah into his car after she and her mother had broken down along the I-5. Her body was found by a hunter three months later showing signs of sexual abuse and strangulation.
Katherine Kelly Quinones, 25, a sex worker from the Sacramento area, dissapeared in November 1986 after leaving the Sacramento County Jail. Her remains were located near Lake Berryessa the following month.
In 1987, Kibbe murdered a 17-year-old runaway from Seattle. Darcine Frackenpohl was strangled to death and her nude body was abandoned at Echo Summit.
Kibbe was finally arrested after he attempted to abduct a sex worker in downtown Sacramento in September 1987. Cops searched his car and found evidence linking him to the slayings.
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