Jason Budrow is a convicted killer from California, who already serving a life sentence in prison, who is now accused of killing his cellmate, Roger Reece Kibbe.
Kibbe was a convicted serial killer serving multiple life sentences for first-degree murder. He was nicknamed the “I-5 Strangler” because the murders occurred in Sacramento and Stockton along the interstate, the Associated Press reported.
Roger Kibbe Murder
Kibbe was believed to have raped and killed at least seven women, as the Mercury News reported, and would cut the victims’ hair and clothes to keep as souvenirs.
Kibbe began his state prison sentence in June 1991, according to the California Department of Corrections. Officials have not specified how long Kibbe and Budrow had been cellmates.
Prison Guard Statement
According to the California Department of Corrections, a guard at Mule Creek State Prison was doing a routine population count on February 28 around 12:40 a.m. when he noticed Kibbe lying on the floor of his cell. Kibbe was described as “unresponsive.”
Budrow was standing up in the cell. The news release did not specify whether he was standing over top of Kibbe’s body or touching Kibbe in any way. Officials did not share whether the guard had heard a struggle or an argument between the two men.
Kibbe was taken to the prison’s health care facility where medical staff attempted to resuscitate him. But the efforts were unsuccessful and Kibbe was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m. He was 81.
Crime Record
Budrow is a registered sex offender in California. According to his profile on the registry, Budrow was convicted in 2004 for “sexual penetration with a foreign object by force or fear.”
The victim was a 14-year-old girl, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to court documents obtained by The Press-Enterprise, Budrow assaulted the teenage girl while he was visiting his grandparents near Lake Elsinore in 2003. She was a neighbor and police said Budrow “slipped” into her bedroom.
The victim told police she told Budrow to stop but was too afraid to scream or resist. Budrow told police he had been drinking beer and smoking marijuana believed the sex acts had been consensual and that the girl was 17.
Budrow received a prison sentence and according to the sex offender registry, he was released in 2006. As the Patch reported, Budrow had to wear an ankle monitor once he was released. He was still wearing it when he killed Dalton in 2010.
