Hello to all. I was a teen when Kathy Kalberer was murdered. Her husband, Jack, was my dad's best friend, my mother accompanied Jack to the scene of the crime when he had to go identify her body, and Jack relayed information from authorities that, to my knowledge, did not appear in the news. I hope to fill in some pieces of the puzzle and bring further understanding to people who knew any of the victims -- reducing the lingering "haunts" that families and friends will forever carry.
As a coping mechanism, I do not recall the murderer's name, nor do I try to bring it back to memory. It provides me a false, albeit necessary, sense of safe distance. I will refer to him by his nickname for this case -- "Pick Man." Investigators believed Pick Man spotted Sherry Kennedy (his first known victim) one night after she left a residence where her friend was babysitting. Pick Man at one time hoped to be a policeman but did not qualify. He sometimes drove to police calls, imagining himself as a member of the force. Authorities speculated he may have posed as an off-duty officer, gained Sherry's confidence to let him drive her home, something alerted her that he was not authentic, and he killed her so she could never expose him. In earlier years, Pick Man was accused of being as a child molester (do not know if he was actually convicted of the charge), treated, and eventually deemed "cured" by his doctors/shrinks.
Pick Man worked at a gas station located near Montgomery Mall -- not far from the apartments where Kathy Kalberer lived. If an attractive blonde made payment with a credit card, he kept an extra flimsy sheet for himself. When investigators searched his home, in which he lived with his mother, they found a thick stack of flimsies -- all from blondes of various ages, hair styles, shades of blonde. He had jotted their addresses on the flimsies.
News reports stated that police were going door to door at the apartments near where Sherry Kennedy's body was found to see if anyone had noticed anything that could help solve Sherry's death. Presumably, Pick Man sorted through his flimsies, found that Kathy lived at the apartments, posed as an officer working on the Kennedy case, gained entry into Kathy's home and then stabbed and sliced her. He put her in the back seat of her car, drove around a lengthy period of time, returned her car to lot, and left in his car. Two women in separate residences saw what they thought was a woman cleaning the inside of her rear window -- it was Kathy trying to pull herself up, grasping for help. Due to blood loss, she died.
Subsequently, another blonde lady was murdered. After getting enough evidence to create a list of suspects, investigators spotted Pick Man in a photo taken when people had gathered at the scene of the Kennedy death. (Often times an attacker will return to the scene(s) of his/her crime.) He was suspected in at least two other cases but do not recall if they were ever confirmed. Pick Man was convicted, sent to prison in California, and at some point in the 1970s/early 1980s, my father called to tell me Pick Man was diagnosed as well again and was released. I see from an earlier entry on this blog, Pick Man committed murder again and was put back behind bars.
The reason "sleuths" were/are unable to get any "cold case" information is because this is a "closed case," thank God! My apologies if some of my recollection is not 100% accurate. I blocked out a lot of things or filed them away in my memory in a way that did not allow them to hinder my own quality of life. I pray my input provided some clarity.
