Kern County Obituaries

Rudolph Peprek

Submitted by Don Stowell; 13 Feb 2008

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Source Unknown; 14 Mar 1957

Despondent Man Commits Suicide
The body of 82 year old Rudolph Peprek was discovered Monday morning at the 
William L. Smith 1 ranch, 11 miles west of Rosamond, on Willow Springs Road. 
Investigating officers declared his death a suicide.	
R. Peprek, born in Yugoslavia came to Kern County about 25 years ago. He had 
lived in the Willow Springs area for about ten years and was employed as a ranch 
hand on the Wm. L. Smith ranch.	
Peprek had been despondent since the death of his friend, Charlie Elich, February 
10th. He was also apparently in poor health.	
Ralph Sanchez, fellow employee, reported he and Peprek had coffee at 7:00 a. m. 
Monday morning. Sanchez then went to work and when he returned to the storage 
shed at 8:00 p.m. he found Peprek who had died from a bullet wound in the head. A 
.32 caliber automatic kept in the bunkhouse with other guns, used to kill coyotes and 
other animals around the ranch was listed as the suicide weapon.
A note was later found in the bunk house. It read "Don't blame nobody for I killed 
myself. I been suffer too much sickness for sometime so I end my life. Good bye. . 
Forgive me, Rudolph Peprek. Find me in the bunk house.	]
The body was removed to the O'Donnell Funeral Home, Mojave. Inquest is pending.