Who is the freeway killer

I told her, when I was calling her back, that I was in Michigan. Then she told me that she wanted to rape me, have sex with me, and that she loved me - just to keep me on the line so that the cops could trace the call to find out where I was at. I stayed on the line for about 15 minutes. I did not know that they were tracing the call until it was too late for me. After I hung up the phone, I was still eating a sandwich when I heard a knock on the door.

My cousin, Cindy, opened the door and the police came in. There were cops everywhere. It looked like the president of the United States was here. The cop that had a clipboard asked Cindy her name. Then he asked Jeff his name. Then he asked me my name. Then as he was leaving he looked at the report, and I matched the description that Bonin gave to the cops.

So they got me, and took me outside. As I went outside there was reporters, TV cameras, and cops everywhere. They had taped off the entire area, and hundreds of people were watching - as I was being led off by the Michigan State Police and the Detectives of Michigan. When I got in the car my cousin asked me in shock, "What the hell did you do?

As my parents were sitting down for their evening meal - they had the news on - like they always did in that house - when the following report came over the news that shocked the state. Good evening. We are live in Port Huron - where a 18 year old from St. Clair has been arrested in connection with the California Freeway Killings.

Clair, has been arrested in connection with the California Freeway Killings. Another man who is currently under arrest is William Bonin, the prime suspect. Robbery homicide detectives, from California, are on their way to Michigan, by jet, to get Munro. Munro was arrested at 5pm at his cousins home, and we are waiting for the California authorities to arrive.

Thank you. This was the broadcast that aired all over my home state of Michigan. It shocked all my friends and family members. I viewed this tape so that I would remember what was said on TV about me. I can only imagine the horror and shock in my familys eyes. This is the list of Bonins' victims. He had killed each one out of the 45 killings. Vernon Robert Butts had killed the remaining 25 victims. Bonin had been the leader of these killings.

Los Angeles, California - Monday March 15, - am - Upon the above date, the defendant being present in court with counsel, James Goldstein. The people are being represented by Sterling E. Munro case number A The record will indicate the defendant is present with counsel, Mr. James Goldstein. People are present by Sterling Norris.

The court has read and considered the probation report. That will be received into evidence for reference in this matter. All right.

Do you desire to add anything to the report Mr. However, before we get to that - I have noted that Mr. Munro has written a letter to the court requesting that he be allowed to, number one: withdraw his previous plea of guilty, enter a plea of not guilty, and to have me relieved as counsel of record and to proceed to jury trial on the original charges.

All those motions will be denied. All of them are ridiculous. There is absolutely no bases for them. So they will simply be denied. Only, by way of emphasis, I would indicate to the court that I do feel that Mr. Munro, although not being guilt free, has also been a victim of Bonin, as well as others, in Bonins' crimes. By way of emphasis, I remind the court that Mr. Munro also, at one point in time, came very close to being a victim - in the sense that he too was tied up, and that his life was almost taken by Bonin.

Munro has stated this to the probation officer, and he has also maintained with some consistancy, that the only reason he participated in the acts that he did was out of fear of Bonin. I would just like to bring that to the courts attention - by way of emphasis. The court understands that, but the court finds no excuse at all for the type of conduct that this defendant has participated in. I think he should, every few seconds, say a prayer that he is not going to the gas chamber with Bonin.

For what he has done - I would have no problem sending him there. So I think he is very fortunate. As you read them, to this date, I still am hoping to get the trial I never got in this matter. I am not guilty of murder. I was forced to plead guilty, and threatened with death by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office - that if I did not go into court and plead guilty I would be killed.

I know by now, that you have read my book about the case. I hope that everyone who reads this will sit back, think about it, and look in to their hearts to see if they can forgive me for my actions in this case. I hope Mr. Wells are able to get on with their lives - now that Bonin has been executed. Wells, I am asking you to please forgive me for my actions. I know that I should not have helped Bonin kill your son Steven Wells.

But honestly, I did not kill him, Bonin did. Yes by law I am just as guilty. In fact I feel very very bad for what has happened to all these kids in this case. I hope to God that some day you will be able to look into your hearts to forgive me for my actions.

If not, I will understand that also. But please, believe me, I did not kill your son. Thank You for this time. Since , I have sat in prison wondering if some day I will get out, or would I spend the rest of my life in prison. I do understand, after years in prison, what I did was wrong. But do you all out there honestly say - he is guilty of murder, or was I in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ya I was, and I for some reason got caught up in this case. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about what has happened, and how sorry I am for my actions. If anyone out there cares, or could see your way to look into this case - please do. See if you can help me get free, because I am not guilty of murder.

All I want is my life back. James Michael Munro C P. When you write - if your choose to - please send stamps so I can write you back. May God be with all of you out there. I hope that someone out there can forgive me, stand up, and demand my release.

On February 23, , the people of the state of California finally followed through on their decision that the world would be a better place without William Bonin. Pete Wilson, paid for his crimes with his life, but his method of death was infinitely more pleasant than that of his victims.

Anyone who has had surgery using a local anesthetic, or undergone a colonoscopy or an abortion can relate to how Bonin felt in the few moments before his execution. The gurney at San Quentin - Stoned on state-sanction Valium, Bonin was strapped to a hospital gurney in the refurbished California gas chamber and pumped full of three different chemicals.

The first, sodium pentathol, a. The next dose, pancuronium bromide, paralyzed his muscles and made it impossible for him to breathe, much like curare in a South American Indian blow-gun. The final dose — potassium chloride -- came a few seconds later and instantly stopped his heart.

Three minutes after the first injection, Bonin was declared dead. Outside the walls of San Quentin, William Bonin had nearly as many supporters as he had enemies. Capital punishment has become such a divisive issue in America that executions become excuses for pro- and anti-capital punishment rallies. Activists and celebrities like Mike Farrell, formerly B. Hunnicutt on MASH, and friends and relatives of the victims — and the just plain curious — squared off in the cold rain outside the prison until the word was sent down that Bonin was dead.

Bonin added some words of advice for potential serial killers: "I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously. By seven years old, William Bonin was already on his way to being a lost cause.

The child of an abusive, alcoholic father who once gambled away the family home, Bonin and his brother were often left by their mother in the care of her father. Alice Benton left them with their grandfather despite the fact that she had grown up being sexually abused by the man, a well-known pedophile. During his eighth year, Bonin served his first stint behind bars, being jailed in juvenile hall for stealing license plates.

In that hellhole of a reformatory, Bonin became the sexual plaything to older boys, setting the stage for his own twisted understanding of sex. The detention home was a veritable house of horrors where sexual sadism, Inquisition-like punishments such as submersion in ice water, and threats at the point of a knife were commonplace.

While in detention, according to Connecticut medical records, Bonin had been approached for sex by an older boy and although young William was afraid of the attacker, agreed to participate, provided that he be restrained: "An older boy approached Bonin for homosexual contact, and Bonin was frightened, but Bonin agreed to it if the older boy would tie his hands behind his back--allowing Mr.

Bonin to feel more secure and less frightened," the records showed. To Dr. Jonathan H. Pincus, a Georgetown University Hospital neurologist who examined Bonin during his incarceration for the freeway killings, the incident suggests much about Bonin's earlier years.

The fact that Bonin, at age 8, was sexually aware and asked for restraints led Pincus to believe he had been a prior victim of sexual assault. William eventually returned to his home, where he began fondling his brother and other children in the area.

William joined the U. Air Force and logged hours in combat or patrol while serving as an aerial gunner in Vietnam, where his service record indicates he was a good soldier, winning a good conduct medal. He moved from his native Connecticut to Southern California, where he began the dark descent into savagery that would end in San Quentin twenty-one years later. His first known interaction with the law came in when he was accused of sexually abusing five boys in Los Angeles County.

In each case, Bonin picked up the boys while driving around then handcuffed and sodomized them. He was examined by several neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, but what treatment he received for his damaged psyche is unknown. Bonin had no memory of being physically abused. Doctors suspect he repressed the memory. Doctors found a variety of other physical and psychological anomalies: brain damage in the area that is thought to restrain violent impulses; manic-depressive illness, and several unexplained scars on his head and backside.

Bonin, the doctors said, could not explain the scars. Five years later, Bonin was released from the state hospital and placed on probation for five years.

Clearly, by this point, William was unable to control his sick urges. On the last day of summer vacation in David McVicker was thumbing for a ride to Huntington Beach. He was Bonin offered McVicker a ride. Bonin asked the young man for sex and McVicker asked him to stop the car. William pulled out a gun, drove to a remote area and raped the boy. Bonin began to choke McVicker with his own T-shirt--the same method Bonin would later use to kill several of his victims.

McVicker, gagging, thought he was going to die. The attack on McVicker was especially notable for a couple of events: first, McVicker was the last successful attack for Bonin in which he did not kill, and it was the last time he would ever be known to admit regret for his actions. Feeling dirty and ashamed, he told only his best friend what happened.

His mother never wanted to hear the details, McVicker said. School no longer mattered and he quit school that same year. He attended continuation high schools, but never received a diploma.

As Bonin's execution neared, McVicker said nightmares replaying the rape plagued him. McVicker did go to the police and based on his testimony, Bonin was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct and sent back to prison. He served about three years behind bars. Despite having been convicted of kidnapping and two counts of sodomy with a child in , being diagnosed as a sexual predator and demonstrating criminal sexual conduct seven years later, Bonin was released by the California prison system in Less than a year after being released from prison for the McVicker attack, Bonin found himself behind bars once again.

He was picked up by Orange County officers while he assaulted a year-old hitchhiker. Incredibly, a records mix-up allowed Bonin to walk out of jail before his trial.

Not surprisingly, he never showed for his day in court. That simple clerical error would eventually result in the deaths of more than three dozen young men. Freed by a stroke of fate, Bonin had no intention of ever leaving witnesses to his crimes.

Parents were afraid to let their children out of the house, and it appeared that the police were powerless to stop a vicious killer who liked to rape, strangle and stab. The Freeway Killer could practice his grisly trade at will. The first to die was an exchange student from Germany named Marcus Grabs. The year-old was on a backpacking tour of the United States. His last mistake in this world was accepting a lift from William Bonin. Sometime between 6 p.

Grabs had been stabbed more than 70 times and was found with a yellow nylon rope around his neck. An electrical cord was wrapped around one ankle. William later told a friend that he had killed Marcus Grabs out of self-defense, although this explanation is unlikely to be true. Butts accompanied Bonin on several of his killing forays, and was as depraved and twisted as William.

Butts would eventually be arrested for his role in the freeway killings and saved the taxpayers of California a great deal of time and expense by hanging himself in his Los Angeles County jail cell.

Bonin and Butts had struck again. Hyden was raped and strangled with a ligature. His throat had also been slashed and an attempt had been made to castrate him. He had disappeared while riding his bike to the movies three days earlier. His head had been bashed in with a tire iron, he had been sodomized and strangled with a ligature. For some time, Orange and Los Angeles County officials denied that they had a serial killer on their hands. But the facts were there: somewhere in Southern California a serial killer was loose leaving few clues and seemed free to murder whenever the mood struck.

Psychiatrists at his Los Angeles trial said Bonin was likely in a manic state when he killed. His violent sexual urges would finally be irresistible.

Earl Hanson, a Los Angeles attorney who represented Bonin when he confessed to the murders, compared Bonin's thirst for violence to a dope habit. On the morning of February 3, Bonin and another sexual psychopath, Gregory Matthew Miley, were cruising the highways when they saw year-old Charles Miranda in West Hollywood.

Picking up the young man, they drove for several blocks and parked the van. Frustrated with his impotence, Miley raped the teen with a blunt object. Then Bonin took over again. Sterling E. Norris, the prosecutor who convicted Bonin of 10 murders, said Bonin often goaded and belittled his accomplices into helping with the killing.

Miranda's nude body was found in a Los Angeles alley. They wanted to kill again. Their next victim was year-old James McCabe who was waiting at a bus stop for a bus to Disneyland. James McCabe, who was looking for a trip to the Magic Kingdom and met lurking death instead, was found three days later near a dumpster in Walnut City. Other murders followed quickly: Ronald Gatlin, 18, of Van Nuys.

Disappeared from North Hollywood March 14, Sexually assaulted and strangled. His body was discovered the next day in Duarte. Harry Todd Turner, 14, Los Angeles.

Disappeared from Hollywood on March 20, His body was found five days later near the Santa Monica Freeway. Glen Norman Barker, 14, Huntington Beach. His body was found March 22, , beside Ortega Highway. Russell Duane Rugh, 15, Garden Grove. Disappeared while waiting for a bus to take him to his fast-food job. Steven Wood, 16, Bellflower. Last seen April 10, , on his way to school. His body was found the next day. Lawrence Eugene Sharp, 18, Long Beach.

Last seen April 10, His body found May 18, , in a trash bin behind a Westminster service station. Darin Lee Kendrick, 19, Cypress. Disappeared April 29, , from a Stanton store where he worked.

His body was found the next morning. Bonin had the police running in circles and was enjoying the publicity his killings were receiving. A nondescript arrest would soon blow the case wide open, however. In May, police busted a car thief named William Pugh.

The year-old was more than just a thief, however. He had been along for the ride when Bonin killed Harry Turner and would eventually serve six years for voluntary manslaughter — part of a plea deal in exchange for his testimony.

In an attempt to save his own skin, Pugh told authorities that he had accepted a ride home from a man who had boasted of the Freeway Killings. On the morning of June 2, , Bonin and another accomplice, a mentally challenged drifter named James Munro picked up year-old Steven Wells. Wells agreed, Munro said, and shortly after he was bound, Bonin began to assault him verbally and physically.

Munro said he watched TV in another room while Bonin tied up and sexually assaulted the youth in his own mother's bedroom. Bonin called him in, he said: "At that point I knew it was real. Bonin went to get a glass of water and I told him, 'No, don't do this.

There is nothing that you or I can do to stop it. Bonin said Munro helped kill Wells, but Munro claims he was in another room when the man was strangled. Regardless, his actions amounted to first-degree murder, which could have put him in the gas chamber right next to Bonin and Butts.

Sadly, if the killers had tarried just a little longer at their apartment, they would have been observed by the LAPD detectives who had begun surveillance of William Bonin. Capture and Confession - Over the next few days, detectives kept a close eye on William Bonin. For the next week his activities were unremarkable. He would go to work as a truck driver each day and return home to his apartment late at night, after visiting with friends around town.

Munro, fearful for his own life, fled back home to Michigan. Police officers tailing his van observed him trying to pick up five different young men, finally succeeding with a year-old boy. They watched as Bonin drove to a deserted beach parking lot and by the time they approached the van, they were able to arrest Bonin in the process of sodomizing the teenager. Butts was picked up shortly after Bonin, and Munro was arrested by Michigan State Police a month later. The Freeway Killer team was behind bars.

This time there would be no clerical errors. Bonin expressed no remorse for what he had done although he did demonstrate embarrassment and regret at being apprehended. Once confronted with the evidence he freely confessed to police. After his arrest Bonin told a reporter "I'd still be killing. I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time.

Bonin confessed to killing 21 young men and boys. He shared aspects of each crime in horrifying detail. Describing how he Munro murdered Wells, Bonin sounded like he was describing a weekend event to coworkers on Monday morning.

I twisted it, and he was strangled. Norris, the Los Angeles deputy district attorney who prosecuted Bonin. Here we are talking about killing kids, killing one and throwing him out like a piece of trash, and then going back to get another. It made me sick. He took advantage of the American legal system and appealed his sentence. Every time an appeal failed, he tried a different route. Finally, 17 years after the judge pronounced sentence, the U.

Supreme Court told the lower federal courts that no more stays would be issued unless they were issued by the Supreme Court.

Bonin, had a date with the executioner. In his year fight, Bonin encountered one piece of good luck. After Robert Alton Harris died slowly and uncomfortably in the California gas chamber, a state court ruled that that method of execution was cruel and unusual. An alternate method would have to be found. California settled on lethal injection. In almost every instance, lethal injection was found to be a quick and relatively painless way to execute a convict.

By the time Bonin had worn out his appeals, he had published a book of short stories, had an exhibition of his abstract paintings at a gallery in Seattle, and corresponded with many of the survivors of his victims. The day of the execution, Bonin was taken to a special holding cell on Death Row, issued new uniform pants and shirt, and given access to his spiritual advisor.

For his last meal, he ate pepperoni and sausage pizza, Coca-cola and chocolate ice cream. He ate alone. An hour earlier, technicians had been in the chamber, preparing the syringes and other medical supplies needed for the execution. Fifteen minutes before midnight, Bonin was taken from the holding cell and walked into the execution chamber.

We have to take the word of the prison staff for how he acted during this time, because no witnesses were allowed to see William until he was strapped down on the gurney and the tranquilizer had been administered. The execution was scheduled to begin at a. Witnesses said it was impossible to tell if he was even alive at this point, because he was laying with his eyes closed, breathing in a very shallow manner. By a.

William Bonin was dead. The benefit payments, which Bonin began receiving for a mental disability in , should have ended when he went to prison in But the money kept flowing even though prison officials notified the Social Security Administration that Bonin was behind bars.

Of the men who assisted Bonin during his killing spree, only Miley and Munro remain in prison. Miley is serving a to-life term for 1st Degree murder, and Munro has served more than the minimum of his 15 to life sentence for his second-degree murder plea.

He was eligible for parole in , but the parents of Steven Wells have made it a point to make sure he serves the maximum. If I'd known that 15 years to life meant I was never going to get out of prison, I would never have pleaded guilty," Munro told the LA Times. Well, I'm still waiting. I wish I could be happy; I just can't find my way out of this maze. We tried up until two or three minutes before the execution," said Barbara Brogli, whose year-old son disappeared about the time Bonin was plying his gruesome trade.

His bones were found years later near Ortega Highway. If [Bonin] did do it, the man's been punished and he'll be dealt with at a higher level. For quite a while, I've been really praying to find out, to know whether he's dead or alive, and I've been praying for strength to get through it.

I really believe my prayer was answered and God will take care of the rest. Along with several accomplices, Bonin raped and killed as many as 20 young men and boys, crimes for which Bonin was eventually executed. Early life. Bonin was born and raised in Connecticut. His father was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic, and his mother frequently left Bonin and his brother in the care of their grandfather, a convicted child molester.

At the age of eight, Bonin was arrested for stealing license plates, and he soon ended up in a juvenile detention center for other minor crime; here, he was sexually abused by older boys. By his teens, back home with his mother, Bonin began molesting younger children. After high school, Bonin joined the U. After a brief marriage ended in divorce, Bonin moved to California. In , at age 23, Bonin picked up his first arrest for sexually assaulting young boys. He was imprisoned and released in , but was soon back behind bars for raping a year-old boy.

By , Bonin was back on the streets, and reportedly told a friend that he had no intention of going back to prison; not because he was going to give up preying on youngsters, but because he had no intention of leaving witnesses. Murder spree. Bonin's first victim was a year-old hitchhiker named Thomas Lundgren.

The youth was kidnapped, assaulted and killed on 28 May An autopsy showed that he had been strangled to death. Bonin carried out the crime with his primary accomplice, Vernon Butts, a year-old factory worker who boasted of being a wizard, and who slept in a coffin. Cruising around in his van, Bonin sometimes accompanied by Butts would hunt for victims around Los Angeles, usually selecting young male prostitutes or hitchhikers as victims.

Before the end of , seven more teenaged boys were found raped and murdered. On the first day of , year-old Michael McDonald was brutalized and killed. A month later, on 3 February in Hollywood, Bonin abducted and killed year-old Charles Miranda, this time assisted by a young man named Gregory Miley. The victim was garroted, and his nude corpse dumped in an alleyway.

Bonin then suggested to Miley, "Let's do another one," and so they went hunting for the second victim of the day. A few hours later, they abducted, raped and killed James McCabe who, at age 12, was the youngest victim. Bonin killed three more boys in March, another three in April and two in May. The final victim was a teenager named Steven Wells, who was killed on 2 June Bonin was assisted in this final murder by his roommate, year-old James Munro.

By then, Bonin was under suspicion in the recent spate of murders due to his criminal record. The police put him under surveillance, and, on 11 June they arrested him in the act of assaulting a year-old boy, Harold T.

Confession and execution. In custody, Bonin confessed to abducting and killing 21 boys and young men. Police also suspect him in approximately 15 other murders. He was eventually charged with 14 of the murders to which he confessed.

He expressed no remorse and told one reporter, "I couldn't stop killing. Convicted on all counts, Bonin was sentenced to death. It was not until 23 February , 16 years after his arrest, that he was executed by lethal injection.

He was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in California history. His main accomplice, Vernon Butts, was accused of taking part in six of the murders, but he hanged himself while awaiting trial.

Gregory Miley and James Munro were given sentences of 25 years to life and 15 years to life, respectively, after pleading guilty to taking part in one murder each.

Both men are still incarcerated. Munro has been trying to appeal, claiming that he had been tricked into accepting a plea bargain.

A fourth accomplice, who had been present at one murder, was given a six-year sentence for manslaughter. Other 'freeway killers'. Young men and boys continued to turn up dead along the freeways of Southern California after Bonin's arrest, leading police to initially believe that he had other accomplices who were still active.

However, these later murders turned out to have been committed by Randy Steven Kraft, who acted entirely separately from Bonin but who happened to have a similar method. In fact there was a third freeway killer, Patrick Kearney, who also happened to select young men as victims from the freeways of Southern California during the s. The three independent killers collectively may have claimed up to victims. William Bonin Bibliography.

August 9, Boston Globe. January 29, Blake, Gene. December 15, January 21, Jigsaw John, L. Detective, Retires At March 15, San Diego Union- Tribune. October 6, San Diego Union-Tribune. Los Angeles Times. June 30, Holding, Reynolds. San Francisco Chronicle. Egelko, Bob. December 6, B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options.

Bonin, was killed in prison, authorities said. By Richard Winton Staff Writer. Richard Winton. Follow Us twitter instagram email facebook. Subscribers Are Reading. Lifestyle The L. Lifestyle For Subscribers. California For Subscribers. Top cast Edit. Cole Williams Kyle as Kyle. Michael Rooker Det. John as Det. Mercy Malick Lisa as Lisa. Tyler Neitzel Alex as Alex. Christian Badami Doctor as Doctor. Sonu Dham Prisoner as Prisoner. Stevin Espinoza Voight as Voight. Doug Haley Sean as Sean.

Chris Merkle Priest as Priest. John Murlowski. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit. Based on the horrifying true story of William Bonin. Rated R for strong brutal violence, some graphic sexuality, drug use and language. Did you know Edit. Trivia A couple of graphic crime scenes photos that Vernon shows Kyle are real. Goofs Every city shot contains background vehicles that are clearly makes and models contemporary to when the movie was filmed.

Bonin was apprehended in June User reviews 27 Review.