San Francisco police have renewed their appeal to identify “The Doodler”, a serial killer who targeted gay men more than 50 years ago.
Investigators believe the killer murdered six gay men between January 1974 and June 1975, and police are now offering a US$250,000 reward for information.
Police say the victims were targeted because they were gay, and that each met the suspect shortly before being killed in isolated coastal locations.
Four bodies were found around Ocean Beach, while another was discovered in Golden Gate Park.
The victims were Gerald Cavanaugh, 49, drag and comedy performer Joseph “Jae” Stevens, 27, Klaus Achim Christmann, 31, lawyer Warren Andrews, 52, nurse Frederick Elmer Capin, 32, and Harald Gullberg, 66.
The killer became known as “The Doodler” after a surviving victim said the suspect described himself as a cartoonist and had been sketching during their conversation at a late-night diner.
Police say he typically met men at after-hours bars and restaurants, sketched them, and then lured them to secluded locations before attacking.
He was described as a clean-shaven African-American man, around 5’11”, and in his early 20s at the time. He would now likely be in his mid-70s.
Police have identified a person of interest who is reportedly still alive and living in the Bay Area.
Investigators are also said to be working with the FBI to compare the killings with other cases across the United States.
The renewed appeal comes as police continue to search for answers in one of San Francisco’s most notorious unsolved cases, and as the families and communities affected by the killings wait for accountability more than five decades later.
