07/20/2007
Arrest Made in S&M Death of San Francisco Activist
Terry Frazier, 40, was arrested today and charged in the July 11 death of 65-year-old San Francisco community activist Joseph Konopka, the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
"Police found Konopka's body at his home on the 500 block of Ashbury Street in the Upper Haight after someone called authorities from the address. He was bound with handcuffs and his face was covered with plastic. Frazier was arrested at Sixth and Market streets on suspicion of murder, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment. He was also being held on an unrelated warrant for drug charges. According to sources familiar with the case, investigators believe that Frazier bound Konopka with handcuffs during a bondage session and disabled an automatic release mechanism. As Konopka choked on the plastic, Frazier took his laptop computer, jewelry and cell phone, police believe."
According to the paper, Konopka was once a leader in an activist group called RAD (residents against druggies) that attempted to rid the Upper Haight, where he lived, of street-level drug dealers.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 4:15 PM EST by Andy in Crime, News, San Francisco | Permalink
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I get the feeling San Francisco police have watched the movie 'Cruising' too many times at the station house. The fact that Konopka was wearing handcuffs when he was found indicates nothing except that the person who put him in handcuffs wanted to restrain Konopka...apparently in order to rob him, not to engage in SM play.
I've never known anyone in the S/M community to wrap only someone's head in plastic wrap. Usually the top wraps the entire body (from head to toe) or merely the person's trunk in plastic wrap for an extreme sort of bondage. Any knowledgeable top (or anyone with common sense for that matter) would know to leave the mouth and nostrils unwrapped to allow the bottom to breathe. It sounds to me as though Konopka was simply restrained by handcuffs to allow a robbery to occur...the plastic wrap would have been placed on his head to obscure his view of what was going on in his apartment as well as prevent him from screaming...or possibly with the intention of smothering him. Nothing I've heard so far suggests murder.
Posted by: peterparker | Jul 21, 2007 2:52:13 PM