State correctional officials said Monday that a correctional officer found 81-year-old Roger Reece Kibbe dead in his cell at Mule Creek State Prison after midnight Sunday.
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The suspect in his death, his cellmate, was standing nearby.
Kibbe was initially convicted in 1991 of strangling a 17-year-old who had run away from home in Seattle.
Investigators at the time said Kibbe was also a suspect in six other killings.
In 2009, a San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office investigator used new developments to connect him to the old slayings.
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Authorities say he picked up most of his victims along the 5 freeway.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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