Sex&Murder

But to some in this ultraliberal neighborhood, Konopka was a polarizing figure. Shortly after he launched RAD, he told the San Francisco Chronicle that — although he'd been beaten up, called a Nazi, and received death threats after helping to start RAD — he felt it was "more dangerous to stay in the house and do nothing" about problems in the Haight.

Konopka's old patrol partner, Freddy Batres, who now oversees much of the West Coast operations as regional advisor for the Guardian Angels, says he remembers how Konopka "had this anger in him" because of crime in the Haight. But, Batres adds, Konopka stepped up and became "one of the greatest community leaders" he's ever known, someone who always pushed him and inspired him to commit to neighborhood activism. "He said, 'Freddy, when you want to do something, just go for it. Never stop. Because if you do stop, you're never going to accomplish anything,'" Batres says.

But then about seven years ago, Konopka stopped — stopped organizing street patrols, stopped agitating local politicians, stopped doing the things that made him a public figure. Some people believe Konopka withdrew after his crushing defeat in his 2000 bid for supervisor. In an 11-candidate field, Konopka got only 668 votes, more than 10,000 votes less than would-be Supervisor Matt Gonzalez.

"I don't think he ever recovered from the loss. I think he was shocked," says Calvin Welch, an Ashbury Street neighbor and longtime member of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, who often butted heads with Konopka during RAD's early days. "I think this guy really believed that he was an extraordinary political force. I think he was blown away that he did so poorly."

For Welch, Konopka's 2000 election loss showed "the level of isolation and delusion that characterized so much of RAD." Welch says he believes RAD was trying to turn Haight-Ashbury into a "gentrified clone zone," a political agenda not popular among most residents in the famously progressive neighborhood.

In recent years, Welch would occasionally run across Konopka around the neighborhood; Welch thought his neighbor looked ill whenever he saw him.

Konopka's health certainly may have been a factor in his decision to keep a low profile. According to Crommie, he suffered complications from spinal meningitis and encephalitis.

Konopka also apparently had a secret life: Ethel Konopka told police she found out seven years ago that her husband was gay, according to a search warrant and affidavit written by Inspector Michael Philpott.

She also told homicide inspectors that she knew her husband would have different lovers come over to the house on Wednesdays, when she was reportedly away at work or meetings.

"TOP MENACE," warned the headline of a classified ad in the May 17 and May 24 issues of the Bay Area Reporter, a local gay newspaper. Like lots of escort ads, the promise of sex was more than implied.

"Dirty White excon Total Top totally shaved tattooed with prison ink. experience in S.M. & B.D. Have much B.D. & S.M. equip. outcall only..."

It was signed, "Master Menace."

Police told the Bay Area Reporter that the ad was believed to have been placed by Terry D. Frazier, known among his friends as "Tye" (the credit card used to pay for the ad was under a different name). It was, Frazier told police, an ad Joe Konopka saw and responded to.

Frazier, 40, was a drifter who, during his years in San Francisco, often found himself homeless or crashing at friends' places.

Frazier has been in and out of jail over the years, mainly because of drug and burglary charges. He was caught stealing a couple of mirrors — valued at $700 — from a men's restroom at a San Francisco hotel in 2001 and sentenced to 16 months in state prison that July. He was allowed to enter a Salvation Army drug treatment program instead, but soon afterward, he failed to comply with the probation reporting and treatment programs. A January 2002 report to the court said Frazier had been homeless since being released. "As for his employment, he has not obtained a steady job," the report stated. "He indicated that he has been panhandling and collecting money with recycling in order to survive."

He wasn't showing up for his drug treatment program.