Police offer $250,000 reward in San Francisco cold case murders of gay men in 1970s
Police in San Francisco are seeking the public's help in multiple cold case murders from the mid-1970s that may involve a serial killer, and are offering a reward for identifying who is responsible.
In a press release on Wednesday, the San Francisco Police Department said investigators believe the victims were targeted because they were gay, white men. Their bodies were all found in isolated areas around Ocean Beach in 1974 and 1975. investigators believe the victims met the suspect shortly before they were murdered, police said.
The first victim, 49-year-old Canadian American Gerald Cavanaugh, was found dead on January 24, 1974, near the area of Ulloa Street and Great Highway. The other victims included Joseph "Jae" Stevens, 27, a drag queen and comedic performer: Klaus Achim "Claus" Christmann, 31, a German-American immigrant; Warren Andrews, 52, a U.S. Postal Service lawyer; Frederick Elmer Capin, 32, a nurse and veteran; and Harald Gullberg, 66, a Swedish American immigrant.
Previous investigators believed there was a possible connection between these murders and two other violent attacks that occurred in July of 1975 at the Fox Plaza building on Market Street near Civic Center, but police said that despite similarities in the two cases, a solid linkage has never been confirmed.
The department identified a suspect involved in the Fox Plaza attacks earlier in the investigation, and even without a proven connection, that suspect is still considered a person of interest in the Ocean Beach killings. This person of interest is alive and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to an April crime bulletin release by SFPD.
Investigators also said they have information that the suspect may have traveled by car from the Bay Area through the southeastern United States. They are working with the FBI to review homicide cases nationwide from that time period in search of similarities.
The department is offering a $250,000 reward for the identification of a suspect or suspects in the Ocean Beach homicides.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the Police Department's homicide cold case unit at 415-553-1450, or the our tip line at 415-575-4444.
