Former Student Radical Beaten to Death; Police Holding Suspect

OAKLAND —  A former University of California radical, imprisoned for dynamiting a utility tower in 1968, was beaten to death in an apartment he shared with members of the punk rock band Bloodbath, police said Friday.

An autopsy found that Anthony Tankersley, 47, died Wednesday of “blunt trauma” suffered in the Oct. 14 beating, a coroner’s official said.

Police said Tankersley, the band’s manager, had argued with a rock group “roadie” identified as Daniel S. Reeder, 20, and ordered him to stay away from the apartment.

Reeder was arrested the night of the beating while driving Tankersley’s car and was held in Sacramento County jail on a warrant for attempted murder. Oakland Police Sgt. Jerry Medsker said Friday that the warrant would be changed to murder.

Tankersley had said he blew up the tower in the Oakland hills in September, 1968, as a statement against the Establishment.

In 1971, while serving two years in state prison at Tracy, he renounced revolutionary violence, according to his wife, Suzan.

She said he later got a master’s degree in computer sciences and worked for computer companies.

Seven months ago, Tankersley quit his job and left her and their 14-year-old daughter to manage the band, Mrs. Tankersley said.