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Murder at the Pink Tarantula 

Carmel Sanger's death -- a walk-in shooting at a SOMA hair salon called the Pink Tarantula -- was professionally brutal. Her life was a wondrous combination of the drag queens and musicians and druggies and gays and bikers and lesbians and tattooists and

Wednesday, Jun 18 1997
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Page 7 of 7

When Carmel's mother arrived from Sydney to claim her daughter's body, she and Penny Small met SFPD Homicide Officer Joseph Toomey in front of the Pink Tarantula. Pat Strelein had visited San Francisco before, but this may have been her first inkling that her daughter had achieved any financial success. The bullet hole was still in the building's front window. Before unlocking the door, Toomey explained that things might appear disturbed because his men had searched the salon. He opened the door, and the two ladies stepped gingerly into the murder scene. The place looked as though it had been ransacked by burglars. Toomey motioned them over to one wall. They followed him through the debris, and he pointed to a framed document. It was Carmel Strelein's Catholic confirmation certificate.

Marco Ranjel and Amber Tyler are believed to be in Mexico. Their mug shots were shown on a recent edition of America's Most Wanted.

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Jack Boulware

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