Crime Junkie is examining the murder of Roberta “Bibi” Lee, who was bludgeoned to death by her boyfriend, Bradley Nelson Page, as the pair jogged in the Oakland hills in northern California.
On November 4, 1984, 21-year-old Lee and Page went for a run with their friend Robin Shaw. Lee and Page had already been arguing, and there were signs that their relationship was in trouble.
At one point, Lee became separated from the other joggers, and Page went to look for her. The boyfriend returned to Shaw about 20 minutes later, claiming he couldn’t find her.
The following day, Page reported his girlfriend missing when she failed to come home.
A massive search began for the UC-Berkeley linguistics student. Page played an integral role in the hunt for Lee, personally organizing searches of the hills and handing out thousands of fliers across the Bay Area.
Five weeks later, the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit deployed a dog trained to pick up the scent of decaying flesh, and the animal discovered Lee’s remains in a hollow near where she had been jogging. She had suffered multiple blunt trauma impacts to the head.
Bradley Page confessed to killing girlfriend Bibi Lee
The police took Page in for questioning and embarked on a controversial night-long interview that included a confession from Page. He admitted to bashing Lee’s head with a rock following a quarrel.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelDisturbingly, Page also confessed to returning to the scene later to have sex with the corpse before covering it with dirt and leaves.
Page suggested to the police that he might have multiple personalities that caused him to do evil things.
At one point during the interview, Page spoke about another woman friend who had been killed in the Santa Cruz Mountains a few years previously. The cops asked if he was involved in her murder, and he responded, “Well, I am running around doing things I don’t know I am doing. . . . Then maybe . . . that’s the same type of thing I’m capable of playing out.”
Page later renounced his confession, claiming he was intimidated by the cops and physically and emotionally drained by being questioned throughout the night.
Bradley Page convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Bibi Lee murder case
A trial in 1986 ended with an acquittal for murder, and the jury deadlocked over a manslaughter charge. A second trial in 1988 led to a conviction for voluntary manslaughter and a sentence of six years.
Page was paroled after just two years and eight months. He was released to an undisclosed location in northern California.
At the time, his father, Jack Page, told reporters, “My son has been punished for ten years for a crime he didn’t commit, and I hope the media will let him assume a useful life.”
MURDERED: Roberta “Bibi” Lee is available to download now on Crime Junkie.