Darcie Frackenpohl, a 17-year-old Caucasian female, was murdered on September 17, 1987. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she had run away from home and was living in Sacramento, California at the time of her death. Her body was discovered in South Lake Tahoe, California. Investigators later determined that she had fallen victim to Roger Kibbe, a serial killer known as the "I-5 Strangler".
Kibbe was first arrested in 1987 for assault and battery after attempting to handcuff a woman.
While serving an eight-month sentence for that crime, police built a murder case against him. In 1988, he was arrested for the murder of Darcie Frackenpohl. He was convicted of first-degree murder in 1991 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Kibbe was later linked to six additional murders, leading to further convictions and life sentences. His modus operandi involved kidnapping his victims, binding them with parachute rigging cord, silencing them with duct tape, and cutting their clothing in irregular shapes before strangling them to death.
Kibbe was serving his life sentence at Mule Creek State Prison when he was murdered by his cellmate, Jason Budrow, on February 28, 2021. Budrow, a convicted murderer, claimed he killed Kibbe to avenge his victims. The Frackenpohl family expressed relief upon learning of Kibbe’s death, stating that it brought them closure after more than three decades of grief.
