Karen A. Fischer, murder victim

[ca. January 1976]

Coed seen 2d victim of a sex-strangler. A Brown University professor's daughter, found murdered last Sunday, may be the second victim of a sex-strangler who has been stalking this area for the past three months, police theorized yesterday. The body of Karen Fischer, 21, a University of Colorado coed, was found at 1:15 p.m. by a hiker lying in a trail atop Trinidad Head. Humboldt County Asst. Dist. Atty. Ed Parsons, said the girl appeared to have been strangled and sexually assaulted. Miss Fischer is from Barrington, R.I., and is survived by her parents, Prof. and Mrs. Glenn Fischer and a brother. Her body was transported to San Francisco for an autopsy. "We had a case about three months ago with almost identical circumstances," Parsons said. "We are fairly certain the same person is responsible for both murders." The first murdered girl was found on Highway 299, about 20 miles from here. Miss Fischer was reported missing last Wednesday by her boyfriend, a student at Humboldt State University. Police learned she came here to take pictures of this northern coastal town of 500. Miss Fischer's body was found 75 feet from a large concrete cross. A camera was found nearby. Witnesses told police they saw Karen alive here two or three days before her body was discovered. Her father, a professor of biochemical pharmacology at Brown University, said his daughter's trip to California had been planned for some time. Before joining the staff at Brown in 1969, Fischer was an associate professor at Yale for thirteen years. "We are following up on a number of leads, but I don't see an immediate arrest," Parsons said.