Classmates feared alleged murderer

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- At first, Jeremy Joseph Strohmeyer's friends felt sorry for him. Then they feared him. Smart, but profoundly troubled, they said. Charming one minute, violent the next.

"A bad seed," one friend said Thursday.

Just two weeks shy of high school graduation, the 18-year-old with pierced nipples and a studded tongue has been arrested in the rape and murder investigation of a 7-year-old girl he allegedly followed into a women's restroom at the Primm Valley hotel-casino near the Nevada-California state line.

Metro Police homicide Sgt. Bill Keeton said Strohmeyer admitted to the murder after his arrest Wednesday night at his parents' Long Beach home.

"He did give us a reason but we're going to have to keep that to ourselves for a while," Keeton said.

Strohmeyer was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released after telling officers he had ingested an unknown type and quantity of pills, Keeton said.

Keeton called the pill-swallowing a "half-hearted attempt at suicide," which occurred shortly before officers arrived.

Strohmeyer, held without bail at Long Beach City Jail pending an extradition hearing, was under suicide watch, police spokeswoman Karen Kerr said. The earliest he could be in Las Vegas is next week, Metro Police said.

For the last few months, students at Woodrow Wilson High School said, Strohmeyer has lived on a heavy fuel of speed and alcohol. His parents recently kicked him out, classmates said.

"He was pretty nice until he didn't get his way. He'd get violent. He hit me hard," said former girlfriend Jennifer Ainley, 17.

Why Strohmeyer went to Nevada with school buddy David Cash and Cash's father wasn't disclosed Thursday. But it was at the Primm Valley hotel-casino where Sherrice Iverson, left unsupervised in the middle of the night at a video arcade, was raped and murdered in a toilet stall early Sunday morning.

Investigators say both students are shown on a casino surveillance video. One, identified by police as Strohmeyer, is seen following Sherrice into the women's bathroom. The other didn't enter.

The telephone went unanswered Thursday at the Strohmeyer family's Long Beach home.

Strohmeyer was arrested after Cash's parents and Strohmeyer's unidentified current girlfriend contacted police and told them the young man was "bragging" about the Memorial Day weekend incident, police said.

Cash's parents had recognized their son on the casino surveillance video, which was rebroadcast by the media, and confronted their son, police said. Cash hasn't been implicated in the killing and both father and son are cooperating with the investigation, police said.

Gretchen Hutchins, 17, trembled with anger and tears outside school Thursday. "He's just a bastard," she said of Strohmeyer. "I hate him. He deserves to go to jail and die. He pushed himself on my friend."

Her friend is Jennifer Ainley, who said she dated Strohmeyer for about a month, but broke up with him in April. Ainley said Strohmeyer had stayed for a few nights in the guest room of her parents' home after being kicked out of his own house.

He dreamed of being a pilot and excelled at volleyball, the girls said.

But the violence, drinking and drug abuse became too much, Ainley said.

"Once, in the car, he just started beating me up," Ainley said. "He was just partying too much." Strohmeyer punched her with his fists, Ainley said, sometimes leaving bruises. She never reported him.

A school district official said Strohmeyer enrolled last year at Woodrow Wilson. He had recently moved from Singapore, the official said, but refused to disclose any other details.

A school photograph of Strohmeyer shows an attractive, innocuous-looking young man with chin-length sandy hair, parted in the middle. He is wearing a tie and a tight smile.

Co-Principal Al Taylor said Strohmeyer had been suspended since his arrival in February 1996, but Taylor refused to say what for.

"He does not have an extensive discipline record," Taylor said. "He does not stand out."

SUN REPORTER Rachael Levy contributed to this report.

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