17 Murders
Hitchhikers Death Tied To 17 Others
by Seal Beach (AP)
The murder of a young Long Beach hitchhiker may be related to a string of 17 sadomasochistic killings that date back to 1972. Seal Beach police said Wednesday The body of 22-year-old Michael Joseph Inderbieten who police say had been suffocated was found Saturday on a northbound freeway on-ramp in Seal Beach. He apparently had tried to hitchhike home after leaving a group of friends at a Long Beach bar. Although he was fully clothed when he left the bar police said his body was clad only in trousers. Seal Beach Police Chief Ed Sibarelli and Sgt GF Buzzard said it is possible that Inderbieten’s death is connected with 17 similar murders of young men.
Police said the murders could be loosely categorized as sado-masochistic killings. In general, the victims, all between the ages of 18 and 22, were about 6 feet tall slender with fair complexions and blond hair. Some of the victims they added were Marines. All were sexually mutilated, and it appeared that the longer the victim had been missing the more mutilated the body would be when found said police. The previous murders include: four recent Orange County killings (one in April two in June and one in July) an earlier string of unsolved murders between 1972 and 1975 in Orange County one body found in San Bernardino County last Sept 30 and one discovered in Imperial County in June 1974. The victim found in Imperial County like Inderbieten was last seen hitchhiking in Seal Beach. Seal Beach Police Officer Ross Smith said the killings were not being investigated as a group.
“Right now, they (Seal Beach police) are working with the other agencies involved” he said “We’re not ruling out the possibility of a connection, but we can’t say definitely right now that they are connected” he said. The unresolved killings came to a halt in 1975 and apparently resumed this year police said. They said the killings did not appear to be related to the “Trash Bag Murders” in which the dismembered bodies of young men were stuffed into plastic trash bags. Police said they would like to know the location of David Hill who was arrested and later released in connection with the Trash Bag killings but stressed that they did not necessarily consider Hill a suspect. Chief Sibarelli asked for the public’s help in investigating the murder and asked that citizens contact the Seal Beach police department if they had seen Inderbieten hitchhiking early Saturday morning if they found any of his clothes or his wallet or if they saw anything suspicious at the 7th Street onramp at the 605 Freeway around 6 am Saturday.
