California Murderer Executed…By Another Murderer

A California murderer, who confessed to killing at least seven young women between 1977 and 1987, was put to death at the state’s Mule Creek Prison on February 28, at the age of 81.  Appropriately, the criminal known as the I-5 Strangler died by strangulation at the hands of his cellmate, convicted murderer Jason Budrow.  Ryan Sabalow of the Sacramento Bee reports that Roger Kibbe confessed the murders to detectives in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty.  Vito Bertocchini, the retired San Joaquin Sheriff’s detective that worked the case, believes that Kibbe left more victims.  If this killer had been charged after Governor Newsom had granted a blanket reprieve to all the murderers on death row, it is unlikely he would have volunteered any information about his victims.  Thanks to Newsom’s edict, Budrow was able to kill his cellmate with relative impunity.   Even if prosecutors are able to secure a death sentence for him, it is unlikely he will ever be executed.  Perhaps the state should move this guy into another murderer’s cell.