Serial killer known as ‘1-5 Strangler’ found strangled to death in prison cell

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American serial killer and rapist Roger Reece Kibbe, known as the “I-5 Strangler,” was found strangled to death inside his cell at the Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) in California, USA.

Kibbe, 81, strangled and raped at least seven women in the 1970s to 1980s. He was found dead by an MCSP correctional officer conducting institution population counts on Feb. 28, the MCSP said in a release on March 1.

At around 12:40 a.m. on that day, the officer said he saw Kibbe lying on the ground while his cellmate, 40-year-old Jason Budrow, was just standing.

Medical staff checked on Kibbe and conducted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m.

Kibbe was sentenced on Nov. 5, 2009, in San Joaquin County to serve six consecutive life-without-parole sentences for six counts of first-degree murder, authorities disclosed. Prior to that, he was sentenced in El Dorado County on May 10, 1991, to serve a life-with-parole sentence for first-degree murder and was admitted to state prison on June 7, 1991.

The Amador County Sheriff’s Office has since labeled the case a homicide and disclosed that autopsy reports showed Kibbe was manually strangled to death, as per The Sacrament Bee on March 3.

Kibbe was dubbed the “I-5 Strangler” because he used to abduct victims from their cars and dump their bodies along highways, according to the report.

He was first convicted back in 1987 for the murder and rape of 17-year-old Darcie Rene Frackenpohl. His DNA evidence was linked to Frackenpohl’s death and two other murders. To avoid the death sentence, Kibbe also confessed to murdering and raping four other women.

His other victims include Lou Ellen Burleigh in 1977, Stephanie Brown, Charmaine Sabrah, Lora Heedrick, Katherine Kelly Quinones and Barbara Ann Scott in 1986, the report said. Ian Biong /ra

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