Between January 1974 and September 1975 at least five men were stabbed to death in San Francisco, their bodies left at Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park and Land's End. Gerald Cavanagh, Joseph Stevens, Klaus Christmann, Frederick Capin and Harald Gullberg were the confirmed victims, and police have linked as many as fourteen deaths to the same offender.
The name came from what he did in the bars and late-night diners on Castro Street and in the Tenderloin. He drew. He would sketch a man he had struck up conversation with, show him the drawing, and leave with him.
Three men survived attacks and could identify him. One was a well-known entertainer, one a European diplomat, and one a man who had not told his family. In San Francisco in 1975 giving evidence meant being publicly identified as gay, at a time when that could cost a career, a family and a security clearance, and all three refused. Police interviewed a suspect in 1976 and, without the survivors, could not charge him. The Harvey Milk campaign publicly urged them to come forward and they did not.
The case has been reopened repeatedly. A new age-progressed sketch was released in 2018, the reward was raised to a quarter of a million dollars in 2022, and San Francisco police have since said publicly that they have a named suspect. No charge has been brought.