CALIFORNIA- The serial killer convicted of several murders in the Modesto-Sacramento area, Roger Kibbe age 81, was found dead in his cell. According to a statement released by the California Dept of Corrections and Rehabilitation, his cell mate, Jason Budrow 40 year old is being investigated for the homicide.
Kibbe was convicted in 1991 of strangling a 17 year old prostitute in West Sacramento, Darcine Frackenpohl, who ran away from Seattle. Her body was found nude Echo Summit in 1987. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
At the time of that arrest, Kibbe was already in the Sacramento County jail for assault and attempted kidnapping of another prostitute. While he suspected of murdering several other women it wasn’t until DNA was utilized in the early 2000s that Kibbe was linked to six other killings.
With the new evidence, in 2008, San Joaquin County indicted him on the murders of Lou Ellen Burleigh in 1977 and Barbara Ann Scott, Stephanie Brown, Charmaine Sabrah, Katherine Kelly Quinones and Lora Heedrick in 1986. He pled guilty to all murders in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty.
Heedrick, 21, of Modesto, was last seen April 20, 1986 getting into a car headed toward Highway 99. Her body was found Sept. 6 that year near Highway 12 and I-5.
Brown, 19, of Sacramento, was found on June 15, 1986, in a ditch beside Highway 12 near Terminus Island. She had been strangled and raped.
Sabrah, 26, of Sacramento, was a mother of three returning home on Aug. 17, 1986, when her car broke down at Peltier Road and I-5. According to her mother who was still in the car, Sabrah got a ride to get help from a man driving a two-seater sports car. Her body was found Nov. 9, 1986 near Highway 124 in Amador County.
Karen Finch, 25, of Lodi, was found dead in a ditch along Kiefer Boulevard in 1987. She had also been sexually assaulted. She is believed to be another victim of Kibbe, but not enough evidence was ever found and he never confessed to the crime.
