Freeway Killers - Part 1
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This episode contains details of extremely violent and disturbing crimes committed against young men. Listener discretion is [00:01:00] advised. It was the end of a bright and sunny California day, when a young man in his late teens stood by the side of a freeway, his thumb out. With an air of adventure about him, he hoped to catch a ride soon, as the sun was setting, and he did not want to be out hitchhiking in the dark.

When a van pulled over, he grabbed his backpack and ran closer. He walked up to the window, and the driver flashed a friendly smile, encouraging him to get in. The passenger also chimed in, assuring him with a nod. For a moment, the young man hesitated. But he shrugged off his apprehension and jumped into the van, the door closing with a heavy, final thud behind him.

As soon as the van pulled out from the shoulder of the road, the atmosphere changed. The driver was menacing, making it clear that the [00:02:00] hitchhiker was now at his mercy and there was no way out. The van disappeared into the haze of the dusky highway. And the young man would never be seen alive again. A night of unimaginable torture was about to seal his tragic fate.

the 1970s, California was a land of contrasts. Its sun soaked beaches, sprawling cities, and endless highways promised freedom and opportunity. The state's vast freeway network symbolized the American dream. Mobility, independence, and the open road. For many, especially young people, the highways offered a sense of adventure, a means to explore new horizons, and for some, an escape from the constraints of their daily lives.

But this freedom came with [00:03:00] a dark underside. The very anonymity that made the highways alluring also made them dangerous. The vast stretches of concrete and asphalt. Cutting through deserts, forests, and urban jungles created the perfect hunting grounds for those with sinister intentions. For others, these roads became the silent witnesses to their final moments. In those days, California's cultural landscape was undergoing significant changes. The LGBTQ plus community was beginning to emerge more visibly, seeking acceptance in a society that often met them with hostility and prejudice.

While San Francisco became a beacon of hope for many, other areas of California remained rife with intolerance. For young men, particularly those who were gay or perceived as different, life was often a delicate balance between seeking community. And avoiding [00:04:00] danger. The bars and clubs that served as safe havens for these men were often in the shadow of the very highways that brought them together, but the same places that offered solace and companionship could also make them targets. The stigma surrounding the LGBTQ plus community meant that when young men went missing, their disappearances were not always taken seriously.

They were often written off as runaways or victims of their own risky behavior. And the connection between these cases went unnoticed for far too long. For a time, the killers operated in the shadows. Exploiting the vulnerabilities of their victims and the gaps in the system. The full horror of what was happening would only become clear in the years to come, as investigators began to piece together the gruesome puzzle that was unfolding before their very eyes.

As the 1970s wore on, a disturbing pattern began to emerge. [00:05:00] Bodies of young men, often brutally murdered, started appearing with increasing frequency along California's freeways. Many of these victims had last been seen hitchhiking or leaving bars late at night, their lives cut short in violent and tragic ways.

The sheer number of cases should have set off alarms, but the fragmented nature of law enforcement at the time and under reporting in the media meant that these incidents were often treated as isolated atrocities. On Christmas Eve, 1972, 20 year old Marine Edward Daniel 'Eddie' Moore was last seen leaving Camp Pendleton.

His body was discovered two days later beside the 405 freeway in Seal Beach. Eddie had been beaten, strangled, and his body showed signs of horrific abuse, including bite marks and a sock forced into his rectum. The brutal nature of the crime baffled investigators, initially leading them to suspect a jealous [00:06:00] lover.

This ferocious murder was not the first of its kind. At first, police thought the victims were all gay men, and that a majority of the deaths could have been attributed to kink adventures gone terribly wrong. However, as more remains were discovered, they began to see that the victims were not always gay.

In fact, they did not seem to have much in common, other than the fact that they were young men who happened to cross paths with a killer. But between 1971 and 1975, more than ten young men had lost their lives. In 1976 alone, another eight were killed, and the spree carried on into the following year.

On Sunday, March 13, 1977, 17 year old John LaMay went out and never returned home. He left at 5. 30 p. m., telling his neighbor that he was heading to Redondo Beach to see a man, whom he had met at a gym in downtown Los Angeles. By the next day, there was no [00:07:00] sign of John. His distraught mother contacted the El Segundo police fearing something had happened. However, police dismissed it as a runaway case. Sadly, it wasn't. On March 18th, John's dismembered and carefully cleaned remains were found south of Corona, packed into five trash bags with his head missing.

A birthmark confirmed his identity. The manner in which John's body had been disposed of concerned investigators. It bore the same markings as some of the other victims they had found. Victims they had pinned on the elusive criminal called the Trash Bag Killer.

Despite their best efforts, they were not making any headway in the investigation. That is, until John LaMay's horrendous death. John had mentioned to his neighbor that he was going to meet someone named Dave at Redondo Beach, giving police enough to work with in order to uncover the man's identity. Dave turned out to be David Hill, a 34-year-old [00:08:00] unemployed man who lived with his partner, Patrick. Police, paid them a visit at their home in Culver City and asked about John LaMay. The men were cooperative and agreed to help investigators where possible. However, as soon as the detectives left, they fled.

David and Patrick spent some time in El Paso, Texas, where they evaded capture for a while. Their abrupt departure intensified police suspicion of them, and the alarm was raised with all agencies to keep a lookout for the couple. Then, On July 1st, 1977, David Hill and Patrick Kearney turned themselves in to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office.

On the wall, they saw a wanted poster with their photographs, pointed to it, and said "We're them." Police looked into the background of these men and soon established that Hill was very much under Kearney's control. Kearney took full responsibility for the murders. [00:09:00] Police quickly determined that Hill had nothing to do with the crimes, and he was released on the same day.

Originally from Lubbock, Texas, David Hill dropped out of high school and joined the Army in 1960, only to be discharged soon after due to an unspecified personality disorder. Returning to Lubbock, Hill married his high school sweetheart, but the marriage was short lived. In 1962, he met Patrick Kearney, who was stationed with the Air Force in Texas.

And the two quickly became close. By 1966, Hill divorced his wife and moved to California with Kearney, where they started their life together. Patrick Wayne Kearney was born in 1939, the youngest of three sons, in East Los Angeles. His mother Eunice was a homemaker, and his father George a police officer.

Despite his family's relatively stable environment, Kearney faced significant bullying due [00:10:00] to his small stature and introverted nature, which led him to withdraw socially. His early years were marked by fantasies of revenge, laying the groundwork for his later violent tendencies. Kearney's personal life included a brief marriage that ended in divorce.

While serving in the Air Force in Texas, he met David Hill. When they moved to their new home in Culver City, Kearney worked as an electronics engineer for Hughes Aircraft. A position that gave him a seemingly stable and respectable life. Hill never had a job, and saw himself as the homemaker. Kearney was known for his intelligence, and his co workers described him as a quiet man who preferred to keep to himself.

Despite his outwardly normal life, Kearney struggled internally with dark fantasies that eventually manifested in cold blooded murder. His preoccupation even haunted him at work. Forensic investigators were able to determine that the heavy duty [00:11:00] plastic bags he used in the disposal of his victim's body parts came from his aircraft company.

Police only took notice of Kearney's killings in 1975, because this is when he began disposing of the bodies, using the trash bags. The case was that of 20 year old Albert Rivera, whose severed body parts were discovered in various locations. He had been shot in the head, sodomized, and then dismembered. Exactly how Albert came to meet Kearney is not exactly clear, but what we do know is that he was not Kearney's first victim. In fact, Kearney started his murder spree in the early 1960s.

He claimed to have driven to deserted locations where he sodomized and then killed his victims, leaving them in the desert. He could not recall his first victim's name or the exact date, but estimated that it took place in the spring of 1962. In [00:12:00] 1968, he met someone called George and took him home.

George was shot in the head while sleeping, then placed in a bathtub where Kearney engaged in necrophilia. He then dismembered the body in his garage before burying the body parts in an area behind his house. He didn't commit another murder for an entire year, fearing law enforcement may have been looking for George. After his arrest in 1977, however, Kearney voluntarily directed police to the location behind his home in Culver City, where they uncovered skeletal remains.

A year after killing George, Kearney continued his diabolical work, satisfying his urges if, and when, he needed to.

He methodically preyed on vulnerable young men, and his hunting ground was the open roads of Southern California. He told police that he killed because it excited him and gave him a feeling of [00:13:00] dominance. And Kearney always stuck to his M. O. He would approach his victims either along the freeway or at gay bars.

With a friendly demeanor, he then lured them by offering a ride in his Volkswagen Beetle. His charm disarmed them. But once inside the car, he would strike. With his right hand gripping a Derringer 22 pistol, he would calmly steer with his left, drawing any attention from other drivers or law enforcement.

In a matter of moments, Kearney would fire a single shot into the temple of his victim, just above the ear. The fatal wound would kill them instantly, leaving them slumped in the passenger seat. His movements were so calculated, so precise, that no one around him had any reason to suspect that something was amiss. Chillingly Kearney claimed that it was his police [00:14:00] officer father who taught him how to use a gun, and showed him how to kill pigs by shooting them just behind the ear.

Once he had shot and killed his victims, Kearney began with the torture. He would drive to a secluded location, the victim's body still propped upright beside him. Once isolated, he would sexually violate the corpse, a haunting act that would become part of his disturbing ritual.

After dismembering the body parts, he would wash them individually and drain them of blood to keep them from smelling. Then, he'd place the severed remains in trash bags and go for a drive, discarding the evidence along the freeway. He claimed that he was inspired by Houston Serial killer Dean Corrl, who murdered 17 young men and discarded of their remains in a similar fashion, Kearney's victims had the same profile as Corrl's, ranging in age from teenagers to young adults. The more [00:15:00] Kearney killed, the more callous he grew and his victims became younger. Ronald Dean Smith was only five when he disappeared in Lenox on August 24th, 1974. His remains were discovered two months later.

The same with eight year old Merle Hondo Chance from Venice, who was last seen cycling in the vicinity of Kearney's work in April of 1977. His remains were found at the end of May, possibly making him Kearney's last victim. The question needs to be asked, though. With many of these victims being taken to Kearney and Hill's home, how much did Hill know about the murders?

It was common knowledge among their friends that Patrick and Dave often had arguments, which caused Dave to stay with friends for periods at a time. Did Patrick Kearney only commit his murders during these times?

One can wonder exactly how much Hill knew, despite [00:16:00] the fact that he was never charged with anything. And what about John LaMay? Was Dave not the one who lured him to Redondo Beach that night? It would seem that there was some lenience when it came to Hill. The randomness of Kearney's crimes, picking up hitchhikers and strangers, made it difficult for authorities to connect the dots at first.

By the time Kearney turned himself in, he confessed to three murders. However, to avoid the death penalty, he agreed to disclose the complete list of his victims. Eventually confessed to 18 more murders. He also confirmed where he had dumped all his victims' remains. Still, that was not the full body count.

After receiving a life sentence, he added more victims to his list, bringing the total to 32. If that number's conclusive, we can only guess. But as one killer was taken off the streets, [00:17:00] others still remained in the shadows. And for the next two years, the killings seemed to subside.

Two more bodies were found, bearing similarities to Eddie Moore's murder in 1972, who, as it turned out, was not one of Kearney's victims. The injured bodies discovered in the late 70s revealed the true torment the victims endured before their deaths. They were subjected to unimaginable cruelty. In April, 1978, the body of 18-year-old Marine Scott Michael Hughes was found next to a freeway on-ramp in Anaheim.

He was fully clothed and his shoe laces had been taken. A post-mortem examination found that Hughes was drugged with Valium before his killer split open his scrotum and removed one of his testicles. He died of ligature strangulation, the killer probably using his shoelaces. Less than two months after that, the body of 23 [00:18:00] year old Roland Gerald Young turned up next to a freeway in San Diego. Like Scott Hughes, Roland Young had been emasculated. He was not strangled, however, but stabbed to death. Marks on his body indicated that he was pushed from a vehicle traveling at high speed.

A week later, the body of another Marine was found next to a road on Moulton Parkway. Richard Allen Keith was last seen alive by his girlfriend and Carson. Richard died of strangulation with a ligature, and his throat showed signs that he drowned due to someone forcing him to drink a large amount of florazepam and alcohol.

And then, in 1979, a feverish new surge in killings commenced. Was the freeway killer becoming reckless? Bolder, even? He had adapted his M. O., no longer drugged his victims or inflicted prolonged torture. And on closer inspection Investigators realized that they [00:19:00] were dealing with something else altogether.

They had to consider the strong probability that there was a new killer at work in the same area. It become a dark concern when. Teenage boys began vanishing all over Southern California. In May 1979, 13 year old Thomas Lundgren was last seen hitchhiking near Reseda and was never seen alive again. His partially clothed body was found on the same day in Agora, the rest of his clothes and his severed genitals discarded in a nearby field. year later, and almost to the day, another 14 year old boy, Sean King, disappeared without a trace from Southgate.

Were the disappearances connected to the murders? Sadly, 13 more victims would die before May 1980. Then, police finally received the much needed tip off that was needed to blow the case wide open. William Pugh was in prison [00:20:00] on auto theft, when he heard about a string of murders on the radio. Pugh confessed to his counselor that he knew the man responsible for the killings.

According to Pugh, a man named William Bonin had once bragged about how easy it was to pick up boys, sexually assault them, and kill them. Bonin, he claimed, reveled in the thrill of murder. What Pugh did not reveal at this point was that he was not only Bonin's friend, but also a former accomplice. With this new lead, police placed Bonin under constant surveillance.

They had their suspect, but they needed evidence to put an end to his reign of terror. Bonin's criminal record made him an obvious suspect. He had previously been convicted of sexually assaulting minors and authorities knew it was unlikely that he had stopped. Yet, Bonin's mobility, using the web of freeways to abduct his victims and quickly dispose of them, made him difficult to [00:21:00] track.

On June 11, 1980, the police finally had their chance. They watched from a distance as Bonin drove his green Ford Econoline van through the streets of Downey. That van had been mentioned in witness statements before, linking the Ford to a number of the freeway killer's victims. As the officers followed him, they observed Bonin pick up a teenage boy, 15 year old Harold Tate.

immediately, they waited. The decision to hold off would haunt them, but they needed to catch him in the act to ensure he couldn't escape on a technicality. They observed as his van parked at a service station near the Hollywood Freeway. They waited a few minutes, then approached the vehicle.

As they got closer, they heard frantic cries and loud thuds coming from inside the van. Forcing their way inside, they found a nauseating [00:22:00] scene. In that short amount of time, Harold had been handcuffed and bound, and Bonin was in the act of sexually assaulting him.

This was game over, and William Bonin was arrested on the spot. The search of his van confirmed detectives worst suspicions. They found several restraining devices, knives, and a tire iron, along with door handles that had been removed, making it impossible for victims to escape.

Inside the glove box, investigators came across a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings about the murders. A forensic investigation would later uncover numerous And although Bonin was caught in the act, he denied being the notorious freeway killer.

After several days, Bonin confessed when police presented him with a letter from Sean King's mother, pleading for the location of her son's body. However, Bonin made it clear that his decision to come clean wasn't motivated by compassion for a grieving mother, [00:23:00] but rather because King was buried in San Bernardino County, and this meant that the trip would likely result in the police buying him a hamburger for lunch.

Over several evenings, Bonin provided graphic confessions to abducting, Raping and murdering 21 young men and boys. He expressed no remorse for his crimes, only deep frustration and embarrassment for being caught. An Orange County investigator later remarked that every officer in the room wanted to kill Bonin after hearing his detailed admissions.

Bonin was physically connected to several of the murders through blood and semen evidence. Carpet fibers from his van were an exact match to those found on seven victims, and hair samples from three bodies matched Bonin's own. Medical evidence revealed that six of the murders were carried out using a distinct windlass strangulation technique. , which the prosecutor later described Bonin's signature. [00:24:00] How this worked was, Bonin would use a twisting motion to tighten a ligature with increased force, making it more lethal by cutting off air flow or blood circulation more effectively. In the end, William Bonin was formally charged between July 26th and 29th with 14 counts of murder, sodomy, and robbery. But he didn't work alone. One of his accomplices, Vernon Butts, a drifter, had assisted in several of the murders.

Butts was a strange fellow who dabbled in the occult and believed himself to be a wizard. He also slept in a coffin. The two men had an on again, off again relationship, as Butts idolized Bonin. Police arrested 22 year old Vernon Butts on July 25, charging him as an accomplice in six of the freeway murders.

Butts quickly cooperated, implicating others in the crimes as well. [00:25:00] Additional accomplices, James Michael Monroe and Gregory M. Miley, were soon apprehended. Bowen's Associates began pleading guilty in exchange for testimony detailing the tortures. Court proceedings were relentless with Bonin showing little remorse for his heinous crimes. In fact, during his trial, Bonin was reported to be jovial and even made light of the situation. Further cementing his image as a cold blooded killer devoid of any empathy.

One of the key pieces of evidence that led to Bonin's conviction was the testimony of his accomplices. Butts himself would later take his own life while in custody, unable to cope with the gravity of the atrocities he had helped commit. William Miley told the court that he was Bonin's lover, and testified that Bonin was responsible for the deaths of Charles Miranda and James McCabe.

On February 3rd, 1980, Bonin picked up Miranda in Hollywood, [00:26:00] sexually assaulted him, and with Miley's help, beat and strangled him. Later that day, they picked up McCabe in Huntington Beach, engaged in consensual sex, and then repeated the brutal process. Miley admitted to his role in the murders, accepting a plea deal of 25 years to life in exchange for testifying against the defendant.

Munro was 19 when he had his own love affair with Bonin. Munro testified that on June 2, 1980, Bonin picked up Stephen Wells while hitchhiking. According to Monroe, Bonin and Wells engaged in consensual sex inside the van. Then, Monroe helped Bonin to restrain Wells, tying him up and taking $10 from his wallet.

Bonin then strangled him with his own t-shirt and together Monroe and Bonin disposed of their victim behind a gas station.

Monroe. Also stated that Bonin had boasted to him that he was the freeway killer. Bonin's trial [00:27:00] was one of the most sensational of the era with the courtroom packed. As the graphic details of his crimes were laid bare. Jury found him guilty of 14 murders, though authorities believe the number could be much higher, and he was sentenced to death in 1982. Despite help from accomplices, it was clear that Bonin was the instigator and manipulator. Police looked into the background of this monster, hoping to learn why he committed those awful crimes.

William George Bonin was born on January 8, 1947, in Willimantic, Connecticut, and was raised in a deeply troubled household. His father was an abusive alcoholic, and his mother largely neglected him and his siblings. Because of this childhood marked by abuse and neglect, William Bonin's path to infamy was a tragic trajectory.

Bonin was exposed to a toxic environment that would shape his twisted worldview. He saw the abuse his mother suffered at the hands [00:28:00] of his alcoholic father. His mother was no stranger to abuse herself, as she had been the victim of her own father's demented actions from a young age.

And when her father started abusing his grandchildren, she did not have the wherewithal to intervene. She withdrew and often left the kids home to fend for themselves. In fact, at times, all the boys went to live with their grandfather, a known pedophile.

At the age of ten, Bonin was sent to acorrectional facility for stealing hubcaps and license plates.

It was like throwing him into the lion's den as he became the object of severe sexual abuse from older boys in the facility. Bonin experienced sexual sadism and was threatened with a knife or plunged into an ice bath if he didn't comply. There is an unsettling account in Bonin's childhood medical records of an older boy who proposed consensual sex.

Young Bonin agreed, [00:29:00] provided the older boy's hands were tied behind his back so Bonin could feel secure and less frightened. This aggravated the older boy, who then proceeded to sexually assault him. Bonin's countless experiences of sexual abuse and violence set the stage for his own predatory behavior.

He dropped out of high school in 1966 and spent his idle time hanging around the neighborhood streets, where he himself molested younger boys. By this time, his parents were no longer together, and his mother, aware of her son's issues, was ill equipped to deal with the situation. She tried reprimanding him, she prayed for him, and eventually, she kicked him out. His mother made a last desperate attempt and introduced him to a girl named Linda, hoping that dating her would somehow cure him from his interest in younger boys.

Eventually got engaged to Linda. It's believed that his mother encouraged this. However, there was no [00:30:00] wedding. Bonin enlisted in the army. After a brief stint in Alaska, he was deployed to Vietnam, where his service record indicates that, as an aerial gunner, he was a good soldier. He even won a good conduct medal. Yet, despite serving in the U. S. Air Force with a distinguished record, Bonin's inner demons were never far from the surface.

His honorable discharge was marred by sexual assaults on two fellow soldiers, a hint that darkness always lurked beneath his seemingly normal exterior. During his time away, Linda gave birth to their son, but ended up marrying another man. Although, Bonin was not overly keen on the relationship with Linda, the way it ended aggravated him tremendously. He moved back in with his parents in Downey and started a dark descent into the world of a sexual predator. Driving around at night, picking up hitchhikers, he sometimes had consensual sex, but not always. He was [00:31:00] charged with five counts of kidnapping, four counts of sodomy, one count of oral copulation, and one count of child molestation against the five individuals he had abducted and assaulted during this time.

In June, 1969. He arrived at the Atescadero State Hospital, where psychiatric testing revealed that he was highly intelligent, but also showed signs of sexual sadism disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and manic depression. He served his time and received therapy.

However, his extremely disturbed methods of social interaction with others did not make him very popular During this time, his continuous sexual activity caused problems and he was sent to the California medical facility . After three years there. In 1974, he was released as he was no longer considered a danger to society.

They could have not been more wrong.

After taking odd jobs, first as a bartender, then a truck driver, and even a [00:32:00] stint at a community college, Bonin's demons got the better of him. Despite being in a relationship with a single mother, he continued cruising, looking for hookups. Due to his severe social and sexual deviancy, these encounters often turned out badly, eventually landing him in prison once more, s entenced to 1 to 15 years. During his time in prison, he suffered a stroke and was released to Long Beach Veterans Hospital, where his mom worked as a nurse. While recovering, he also received psychiatric treatment and progressed so well, he was released on probation in October, 1978. After his release, he moved into an apartment just a mile away from his parents' home. Here, he met a neighbor, Everett Scott Frazier, who invited Bonin to his parties.

For the first time, Bonin felt confident to discuss his homosexuality openly, and Frazier introduced him to some of his [00:33:00] friends. Frazier's parties that Bonin met Vernon Butts. He would later tell a prison psychologist the following: "I met Vernon Butts, and I admired him. He had it all together. Everybody liked him. It was cool having him like me. Made me feel real important. I never had no friends". This was a match made in hell, and the two encouraged the other's dark side. Butts would later claim that he adored and feared Bonin at the same time. That Bonin had a hypnotic effect on him.

Bonin pulled him into his world of sexual sadism. And Butts assisted him in his crimes, cruising the streets of Southern California. However, their vile acts would soon escalate to murder. When Bonin and lured 13-year-old Thomas Glenn to a skate park, Thomas was the first of countless [00:34:00] victims.

What set Bonin apart as a serial killer was the sheer savagery of his attacks. His victims, ranging in age from 5 to 19, were subjected to unimaginable cruelty. offering them rides in his van, before assaulting them and leaving their bodies to be discovered by a horrified passerby.

However, even when Bonin was behind bars, the murders simply continued. authorities have the right guy or was there yet, another serial killer on the prowl?

The question everyone was too afraid to ask, however, was exactly how many serial killers were still out there.

Join us next week for part two of this unsettling exploration into the true crimes of the Freeway Killers.

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