William Bonin
Encyclopedia
William George Bonin was an American serial killer
and a twice-paroled sex offender
, also known as the Freeway Killer
, a nickname he shares with two other serial killers. Between 1979 and 1980, Bonin torture
d, rape
d and killed a minimum of 21 boys and young men, and is suspected of committing a further fifteen murders. Bonin was convicted and eventually executed
in 1996 for 14 of these murders.
in January, 1947, the second of three brothers. His father was a compulsive gambler
and alcoholic, who beat his wife and sons. Bonin's mother, Alice, was also an alcoholic, who frequently left Bonin and his brothers in the care of their grandfather, a convicted child molester. Bonin and his brothers were neglected as children, and were often fed by neighbors.
In 1953, aged six, Bonin was placed in an orphanage, where he remained until the age of nine.
At the age of ten, Bonin was arrested for stealing license plates, and he soon ended up in a juvenile detention center
for other minor crimes where he was sexually abused
by older boys. By his teens, back home with his mother, Bonin began molesting younger children.
After graduating from high school in 1965, Bonin became engaged to marry, and joined the U.S. Air Force
. He served in the Vietnam War
as an aerial gunner, logging over 700 hours of active duty and earning a Good Conduct Medal
. While serving in Vietnam
, Bonin risked his own life under fire to save the life of a fellow soldier, but also later admitted to sexually assaulting two fellow soldiers at gunpoint.
Bonin was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in October, 1968 and returned to Connecticut to live with his mother before moving to California.
On November 17, 1968, at age 21, Bonin committed a sexual assault
on a youth. In late 1968 and early 1969, he kidnapped and assaulted a further four youths between the ages of twelve and eighteen. In 1969, he was indicted on five counts of kidnapping and four counts of sexual assault on five youths. He pled guilty to molestation and forced oral copulation and was sentenced to the Atascadero State Hospital
as a mentally disordered sexual offender amenable to treatment. In 1971, he was sent to prison, declared unamenable for further treatment.
Bonin was released in May 1974 after doctors concluded he was "no longer a danger to others," but was back behind bars just sixteen months later for raping
a 14-year-old hitch-hiker named David McVicker at gunpoint and attempting to abduct another teenager, for which he was sentenced to between one and fifteen years in prison at Orange County
Jail.
In October 1978, Bonin was once again released, with eighteen months probation. He took a job as a truck driver, rented an apartment in Downey
and even found a girlfriend. In 1979, he was again arrested for molesting a teenage boy. This parole violation meant that he should have been sent back to prison, but due to an administrative error he was released. A close friend who collected him from the Orange County police station later recalled that as he was driving Bonin home, Bonin told him: "No one's going to testify again. This is never going to happen to me again."
The first murder for which Bonin was charged was that of a 13-year-old hitch-hiker named Thomas Lundgren. The youth was kidnapped, assaulted and killed on the morning of May 28, 1979. Lundgren's body was found near a freeway in Agoura
. An autopsy
showed that Lundgren had been emasculated, bludgeoned, stabbed, and strangled to death. Bonin carried out the crime with his primary accomplice, Vernon Butts, who is suspected of accompanying Bonin on at least nine of the murders.
Three months later, on August 4, 1979, Bonin and Butts abducted and killed a 17-year-old Westminster youth named Mark Shelton and the following day, again accompanied by Vernon Butts, a West German exchange student named Markus Grabs, who was stabbed more than seventy times and discarded alongside a Malibu freeway. On August 27, Bonin and Butts abducted and killed a 15-year-old Hollywood youth named Donald Hyden and discarded his body in a dumpster near the Ventura Freeway
. Between September and December 1979, Bonin killed five more teenage boys, either operating alone or with the assistance of Butts or another accomplice, 19-year-old James Munro, who assisted Bonin in the November 30 murder of 17-year-old Frank Dennis Fox.
On January 1, 1980, Bonin brutalized and killed a 16-year-old named Michael McDonald; his body was found in San Bernardino County two days later. A month later, on February 3 in Hollywood
, Bonin, assisted by a young man named Gregory Miley, abducted a 15-year-old hitch-hiker named Charles Miranda. The victim was forced to hand his wallet to Bonin before he was overpowered, raped, assaulted with other objects, then garrote
d. Miranda's nude corpse was then dumped in an alleyway. Bonin then suggested to Miley: "I'm horny, let's go and do another one." A few hours later, in Huntington Beach
, Bonin and Miley abducted, raped, and killed James McCabe who, at age 12, was Bonin's youngest victim. McCabe was picked up while hitch-hiking to Disneyland. According to Miley, the boy entered the rear of the van voluntarily as he drove: then he heard crying sounds made by McCabe as Bonin beat and raped him. Bonin then strangled McCabe with a tire iron
as Miley repeatedly jumped on his chest. His naked, beaten body was found three days later alongside a dumpster in the city of Walnut.
Bonin did not kill again until March 14, when he abducted and killed an 18-year-old Van Nuys youth named Ronald Gatlin, but by the end of the month he had killed a further three times. On April 10, Bonin killed twice on the same day: abducting a 16-year-old Bellflower
youth named Steven Wood and discarding his nude body beside the Pacific Coast Highway, then, hours later, abducting and killing an 18-year-old acquaintance of his named Lawrence Sharp. Sharp was beaten, strangled and discarded behind a Westminster gas station. Three weeks later, on April 29 in Stanton
, Bonin and Butts lured a 19-year-old supermarket employee named Darin Kendrick into Bonin's van while parked in the parking lot of the store where Kendrick worked. Kendrick was forced to drink chlorohydrate acid by Bonin before Butts drove an ice pick into his ear. His body was discarded near the Artesia Freeway.
On May 19, Bonin again asked Butts to accompany him on a killing: however, Butts reportedly refused to accompany him. Bonin – operating alone – abducted a 14-year-old South Gate
youth named Sean King from a bus stop in Downey and discarded his body in Yucaipa
. Bonin then visited Butts' residence and bragged of the killing to his accomplice.
By early 1980, the murders committed by the Freeway Killer
, as he was known in the press, were receiving considerable media attention. On May 29, one of Bonin's acquaintances, a teenager named Billy Pugh, serving a prison sentence for auto theft, heard the details of the murders on a local radio broadcast and suspected Bonin may be behind the killings. Pugh reported his suspicions to the police and, upon investigating Bonin's background and discovering he had a string of convictions for sexually assaulting teenage boys, the police decided to place him under surveillance
. The surveillance of Bonin began June 2, 1980.
On June 2, the same day as police surveillance of Bonin began, Bonin killed his final victim, an 18-year-old print shop worker named Steven Wells, whom Bonin abducted from a bus stop on El Segundo Boulevard. Wells was killed in Bonin's own apartment, where he was raped, beaten, then strangled with his own t-shirt. Bonin was assisted in this final murder by his lodger, James Munro, and in the disposal of the body by both Munro and Vernon Butts.
On June 11, after nine days of surveillance, police observed Bonin attempting to pick up five separate teenage boys, then succeed in luring a youth into his van. The police followed him until his van parked in a desolate parking lot, where they arrested him in the act of assaulting a 15-year-old identified as Harold T.
and told one reporter who asked Bonin what he would do if he were still at large: "I'd still be killing, I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time."
Based on Bonin's confession, police arrested Vernon Butts on July 25, and charged him with accompanying Bonin on five of the murders. He was later charged with four other murders committed between August 5, 1979 and April 29, 1980. On July 31, Munro was arrested in Michigan
and charged with the murder of Steven Wells and on August 22, Miley was arrested in Texas and charged with the murders of Charles Miranda and James McCabe. Butts, Miley and Munro all agreed to testify against Bonin in exchange for being spared the death penalty.
Bonin was brought to trial in Los Angeles County, charged with the murder of twelve of his victims whose bodies had been found within this constituency, on November 5, 1981. Deputy District Attorney, Stirling Norris, who prosecuted Bonin, sought the death penalty for each count of murder for which Bonin was tried, stating in his opening speech to the jury: "We will prove he is the Freeway Killer, as he has bragged to a number of witnesses. We will show you that he enjoyed the killings. Not only did he enjoy it, and plan to enjoy it, he had an insatiable demand, an insatiable appetite - not only for sodomy, but for killing."
Bonin was physically linked to many of the murders by blood and semen stains, hair and carpet fibers. Medical evidence showed that six of the murders for which Bonin was charged were committed by a unique "windlass
" strangulation method, which was referred to by Stirling Norris as "a signature, a trademark."
Both Miley and Munro testified against Bonin at this trial, describing in graphic detail the murders in which they had accompanied Bonin. Munro testified that after the murder of Stephen Wells, he, Bonin and Butts drove to a McDonald's
restaurant and purchased burgers with money taken from Wells' wallet. As the trio ate, Bonin laughed and mused: "Thanks Steve, wherever you are." Miley testified to his participation in the murders of Miranda and McCabe; describing in graphic detail how both youths were beaten and tortured with a crowbar before their murders and how he heard a "bunch of bones cracking" as one of the youths was strangled by Bonin.
The trial lasted until January 5, 1982. After six days of deliberation, the jury convicted Bonin of ten of the murders, but cleared him of the murders of Thomas Lundgren and Sean King. Bonin was sentenced to death
for the ten murders of which he was convicted.
Bonin was cleared of the murder of Sean King because he had led police to the body of the victim in December, 1980, with the agreement that his leading police to King's body could not be used against him in court. He was cleared of Thomas Lundgren's murder because he chose to deny this particular killing at his trial.
In March, 1983, Bonin was tried in neighboring Orange County
, charged with the murder of four further victims who had been found murdered between November 1979 and April 1980. On August 26, 1983, Bonin was convicted on all four counts of murder.
Bonin spent fourteen years on California's Death Row
, awaiting execution in the gas chamber. While incarcerated, he filed numerous appeals against his conviction - all without success. His final submission to the United States Court of Appeals was submitted in October, 1994: this appeal was rejected on June 28, 1995.
In 1992, following the execution of Robert Alton Harris
, the State of California opted to use lethal injection
as an alternate method of execution to the gas chamber, branding the gas chamber a "cruel and unusual
" method of execution.
inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison. Bonin was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California.
In a final interview given to a local radio station less than 24 hours before he was executed, Bonin claimed he had "made peace" with the fact he was about to die. When asked whether there was anything he had to say to the families of his victims, Bonin simply stated: "They feel my death will bring closure, but that's not the case. They're going to find out."
At 6:00 p.m. on the day he was executed, Bonin was moved from his cell to a special death watch cell, where he ordered his last meal
, which consisted of two large pizzas, three pints of ice cream and three six-packs of coke. In his last statement, given to the Warden one hour prior to his scheduled execution at midnight, Bonin again expressed no remorse for his crimes and left a note which simply stated: 'I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. I feel it sends the wrong message to the people of this country. Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. I would advise that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.' William Bonin was 49 at the time of his execution.
, who also selected young men as victims from the freeways of Southern California, was arrested. He had also discarded many of his victims alongside freeways; many of his victims were dismembered and discarded in trash bags.
Following Bonin's arrest, police continued to discover bodies of young men and teenagers along the freeways of Southern California, leading some officers to theorize that Bonin had other accomplices who were still active. However, these later murders were committed by a Long Beach IT Specialist named Randy Steven Kraft
, who was arrested in May 1983. Kraft acted separately from Bonin, but did happen to have a similar disposal modus operandi
. In addition, many of Kraft's victims were United States Marines who were drugged before they were killed.
Collectively, Bonin, Kraft and Kearney may have claimed up to 130 victims.
Books
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
and a twice-paroled sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
, also known as the Freeway Killer
Freeway Killer
The Freeway Killer was a nickname given by the media—and later police forces—to what they believed was a single serial killer claiming victims in California, USA, during the 1970s and often dumping the victims along the freeways...
, a nickname he shares with two other serial killers. Between 1979 and 1980, Bonin torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d and killed a minimum of 21 boys and young men, and is suspected of committing a further fifteen murders. Bonin was convicted and eventually executed
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in 1996 for 14 of these murders.
Early life
Bonin was born in ConnecticutConnecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in January, 1947, the second of three brothers. His father was a compulsive gambler
Compulsive gambling
Problem gambling is an urge to continuously gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others, rather than by the gambler's behavior. Severe problem gambling may be diagnosed as clinical...
and alcoholic, who beat his wife and sons. Bonin's mother, Alice, was also an alcoholic, who frequently left Bonin and his brothers in the care of their grandfather, a convicted child molester. Bonin and his brothers were neglected as children, and were often fed by neighbors.
In 1953, aged six, Bonin was placed in an orphanage, where he remained until the age of nine.
At the age of ten, Bonin was arrested for stealing license plates, and he soon ended up in a juvenile detention center
Reform school
A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
for other minor crimes where he was sexually abused
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
by older boys. By his teens, back home with his mother, Bonin began molesting younger children.
After graduating from high school in 1965, Bonin became engaged to marry, and joined the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. He served in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
as an aerial gunner, logging over 700 hours of active duty and earning a Good Conduct Medal
Good Conduct Medal
The Good Conduct Medal is one of the oldest military awards of the United States military. The Navy Good Conduct Medal was first issued in 1869, followed by a Marine version in 1896. The Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal was issued in 1923 and the Army Good Conduct Medal in 1941. The Air Force was...
. While serving in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Bonin risked his own life under fire to save the life of a fellow soldier, but also later admitted to sexually assaulting two fellow soldiers at gunpoint.
Bonin was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in October, 1968 and returned to Connecticut to live with his mother before moving to California.
On November 17, 1968, at age 21, Bonin committed a sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
on a youth. In late 1968 and early 1969, he kidnapped and assaulted a further four youths between the ages of twelve and eighteen. In 1969, he was indicted on five counts of kidnapping and four counts of sexual assault on five youths. He pled guilty to molestation and forced oral copulation and was sentenced to the Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital is located on the central coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County, half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is an all-male, maximum-security facility, that has patients from all over the state...
as a mentally disordered sexual offender amenable to treatment. In 1971, he was sent to prison, declared unamenable for further treatment.
Bonin was released in May 1974 after doctors concluded he was "no longer a danger to others," but was back behind bars just sixteen months later for raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
a 14-year-old hitch-hiker named David McVicker at gunpoint and attempting to abduct another teenager, for which he was sentenced to between one and fifteen years in prison at Orange County
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Jail.
In October 1978, Bonin was once again released, with eighteen months probation. He took a job as a truck driver, rented an apartment in Downey
Downey, California
Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died...
and even found a girlfriend. In 1979, he was again arrested for molesting a teenage boy. This parole violation meant that he should have been sent back to prison, but due to an administrative error he was released. A close friend who collected him from the Orange County police station later recalled that as he was driving Bonin home, Bonin told him: "No one's going to testify again. This is never going to happen to me again."
Murder spree
Bonin usually selected young male hitch-hikers, schoolboys or, occasionally, male prostitutes as his victims. The victims, aged between twelve and nineteen, were either enticed or forced into his Chevy van, overpowered, had their hands tied behind their back, were sexually assaulted, tortured and then usually killed by strangulation with their own T-shirts, although some were stabbed or battered to death. One victim, Darin Kendrick, was forced to drink chlorohydrate acid, two victims had ice-picks driven into their ears and another victim, Mark Shelton, died of shock. The victims were usually killed inside Bonin's van and most were discarded alongside various freeways in southern California. In at least thirteen of the murders, Bonin was assisted by one of his four known accomplices.The first murder for which Bonin was charged was that of a 13-year-old hitch-hiker named Thomas Lundgren. The youth was kidnapped, assaulted and killed on the morning of May 28, 1979. Lundgren's body was found near a freeway in Agoura
Agoura, California
Agoura is an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, which is located southeast of the city of Agoura Hills, California, adjacent to the city of Calabasas in Los Angeles County. Agoura was the historical name of the area, before much of the area was developed and before the incorporation of the...
. An autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
showed that Lundgren had been emasculated, bludgeoned, stabbed, and strangled to death. Bonin carried out the crime with his primary accomplice, Vernon Butts, who is suspected of accompanying Bonin on at least nine of the murders.
Three months later, on August 4, 1979, Bonin and Butts abducted and killed a 17-year-old Westminster youth named Mark Shelton and the following day, again accompanied by Vernon Butts, a West German exchange student named Markus Grabs, who was stabbed more than seventy times and discarded alongside a Malibu freeway. On August 27, Bonin and Butts abducted and killed a 15-year-old Hollywood youth named Donald Hyden and discarded his body in a dumpster near the Ventura Freeway
Ventura Freeway
The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. It is the principal east-west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. From Ventura to its intersection with the Hollywood Freeway in the southeastern San...
. Between September and December 1979, Bonin killed five more teenage boys, either operating alone or with the assistance of Butts or another accomplice, 19-year-old James Munro, who assisted Bonin in the November 30 murder of 17-year-old Frank Dennis Fox.
On January 1, 1980, Bonin brutalized and killed a 16-year-old named Michael McDonald; his body was found in San Bernardino County two days later. A month later, on February 3 in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, Bonin, assisted by a young man named Gregory Miley, abducted a 15-year-old hitch-hiker named Charles Miranda. The victim was forced to hand his wallet to Bonin before he was overpowered, raped, assaulted with other objects, then garrote
Garrote
A garrote or garrote vil is a handheld weapon, most often referring to a ligature of chain, rope, scarf, wire or fishing line used to strangle someone....
d. Miranda's nude corpse was then dumped in an alleyway. Bonin then suggested to Miley: "I'm horny, let's go and do another one." A few hours later, in Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...
, Bonin and Miley abducted, raped, and killed James McCabe who, at age 12, was Bonin's youngest victim. McCabe was picked up while hitch-hiking to Disneyland. According to Miley, the boy entered the rear of the van voluntarily as he drove: then he heard crying sounds made by McCabe as Bonin beat and raped him. Bonin then strangled McCabe with a tire iron
Tire iron
A tire iron is a specialized metal tool used in working with tires that have inner tubes.Tire irons have not been in common use for automobile tires since the shift to the use of tubeless tires in the late 1950s...
as Miley repeatedly jumped on his chest. His naked, beaten body was found three days later alongside a dumpster in the city of Walnut.
Bonin did not kill again until March 14, when he abducted and killed an 18-year-old Van Nuys youth named Ronald Gatlin, but by the end of the month he had killed a further three times. On April 10, Bonin killed twice on the same day: abducting a 16-year-old Bellflower
Bellflower, California
Bellflower is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is a suburb of Los Angeles. It was incorporated on September 3, 1957. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 76,616, up from 72,878 at the 2000 census....
youth named Steven Wood and discarding his nude body beside the Pacific Coast Highway, then, hours later, abducting and killing an 18-year-old acquaintance of his named Lawrence Sharp. Sharp was beaten, strangled and discarded behind a Westminster gas station. Three weeks later, on April 29 in Stanton
Stanton, California
Stanton is a city located in western Orange County, California. The population was 38,186 at the 2010 census, up from 37,403 at the 2000 census. Like most of Orange County, it is more politically conservative compared to the rest of the state. The City was incorporated in 1956 and operates under...
, Bonin and Butts lured a 19-year-old supermarket employee named Darin Kendrick into Bonin's van while parked in the parking lot of the store where Kendrick worked. Kendrick was forced to drink chlorohydrate acid by Bonin before Butts drove an ice pick into his ear. His body was discarded near the Artesia Freeway.
On May 19, Bonin again asked Butts to accompany him on a killing: however, Butts reportedly refused to accompany him. Bonin – operating alone – abducted a 14-year-old South Gate
South Gate, California
South Gate is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The sixteenth largest city in Los Angeles County, it encompasses . South Gate is located just southeast of downtown Los Angeles It is part of the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County...
youth named Sean King from a bus stop in Downey and discarded his body in Yucaipa
Yucaipa, California
Yucaipa is a city located east of San Bernardino, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 51,367 at the 2010 census, up from 41,207 at the 2000 census...
. Bonin then visited Butts' residence and bragged of the killing to his accomplice.
By early 1980, the murders committed by the Freeway Killer
Freeway Killer
The Freeway Killer was a nickname given by the media—and later police forces—to what they believed was a single serial killer claiming victims in California, USA, during the 1970s and often dumping the victims along the freeways...
, as he was known in the press, were receiving considerable media attention. On May 29, one of Bonin's acquaintances, a teenager named Billy Pugh, serving a prison sentence for auto theft, heard the details of the murders on a local radio broadcast and suspected Bonin may be behind the killings. Pugh reported his suspicions to the police and, upon investigating Bonin's background and discovering he had a string of convictions for sexually assaulting teenage boys, the police decided to place him under surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
. The surveillance of Bonin began June 2, 1980.
On June 2, the same day as police surveillance of Bonin began, Bonin killed his final victim, an 18-year-old print shop worker named Steven Wells, whom Bonin abducted from a bus stop on El Segundo Boulevard. Wells was killed in Bonin's own apartment, where he was raped, beaten, then strangled with his own t-shirt. Bonin was assisted in this final murder by his lodger, James Munro, and in the disposal of the body by both Munro and Vernon Butts.
On June 11, after nine days of surveillance, police observed Bonin attempting to pick up five separate teenage boys, then succeed in luring a youth into his van. The police followed him until his van parked in a desolate parking lot, where they arrested him in the act of assaulting a 15-year-old identified as Harold T.
| Freeway Killer victims |
| 1. Thomas Lundgren (13) May 28, 1979 |
| 2. Mark Shelton (17) August 4, 1979 |
| 3. Markus Grabs (17) August 5, 1979 |
| 4. Donald Hyden (15) August 27, 1979 |
| 5. David Murillo (17) September 9, 1979 |
| 6. Robert Wirostek (18) September 17, 1979 |
| 7. John Doe (19-25) November 28, 1979 |
| 8. Frank Dennis Fox (17) November 30, 1979 |
| 9. John Kilpatrick (15) December 10, 1979 |
| 10. Michael McDonald (16) January 1, 1980 |
| 11. Charles Miranda (15) February 3, 1980 |
| 12. James McCabe (12) February 3, 1980 |
| 13. Ronald Gatlin (18) March 14, 1980 |
| 14. Harry Todd Turner (15) March 20, 1980 |
| 15. Glen Barker (14) March 21, 1980 |
| 16. Russell Rugh (15) March 22, 1980 |
| 17. Steven Wood (16) April 10, 1980 |
| 18. Lawrence Sharp (18) April 10, 1980 |
| 19. Darin Lee Kendrick (19) April 29, 1980 |
| 20. Sean King (14) May 19, 1980 |
| 21. Steven Wells (18) June 2, 1980 |
Victims
Bonin and his four known accomplices in murder were convicted of fourteen murders committed between August 5, 1979 and June 2, 1980, although Bonin was also charged with two additional murders for which he was acquitted at his first trial in Los Angeles County. Of these murders for which Bonin was convicted, ten were committed in the Los Angeles County and four in nearby Orange County, however, the "Freeway Killer" was suspected of committing at least 21 murders. The killings for which Bonin was convicted are shown in italics on the table to the right.- In nine murders; those of Lundgren, Shelton, Grabs, Hyden, Murillo, Wirostek, Kendrick, Wells and a John Doe found in Kern County in November 1979, Bonin was assisted by his primary accomplice, Vernon Butts, a 22-year-old factory worker who, according to Bonin, was an extremely active accomplice. Butts, who had met Bonin at a party in 1978, was a part-time magician who hired out his talents to private parties. Butts also boasted of being a wizard, and slept in a coffin.
- Bonin was assisted by 19-year-old Gregory Matthews Miley in the February 3 murders of Miranda and McCabe. Miley then returned to his native Houston in March 1980.
- James Michael Munro, Bonin's lodger and co-worker, accompanied Bonin on two murders: those of Frank Dennis Fox and Steven Wells. The day after Bonin was arrested, Munro fled to his native Michigan.
- Following Bonin's arrest, police discovered through Bonin's friends that 18-year-old William "Billy" Pugh, Bonin's acquaintance who had informed them Bonin may be the Freeway Killer, knew Bonin better than he had initially divulged; police later discovered that Pugh had actually accompanied Bonin on one of his killings, that of Harry Turner, a 15-year-old runaway from LancasterLancaster, CaliforniaLancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
, who was killed on March 20, 1980.
- Bonin was not brought to trial for the murders of Mark Shelton, Robert Wirostek, John Kilpatrick, Michael McDonald or a 'John Doe' whose body was found in a Kern County reservoir in November 1979 because police did not find sufficient evidence upon any of the victims' bodies which could conclusively link Bonin alone to the crimes: police did charge Bonin and Butts with the murder of the John Doe, and those of hitch-hiker Mark Duane Shelton and grocery clerk Robert Christopher Wirostek (alongside that of Darin Kendrick) in October 1980. Shelton had been linked to the manhunt for the freeway killer upon his body being found in August 1979, as had both the John Doe and Darin Lee Kendrick. Wirostek, who vanished en route to his job on September 17, 1979, was not confirmed as a Freeway Killer victim until his body was found and identified in July 1980.
- Three months after all charges had been filed against each defendant, Vernon Butts committed suicide, rendering his recorded testimony in these three cases inadmissible as evidence. Police therefore chose not to charge Bonin with any of these three crimes, although sufficient physical evidence was nonetheless still present in the case of Darin Kendrick – a murder for which Bonin was subsequently convicted.
- On August 5, 1980, a body previously identified as a 'John Doe' which had been linked to the Freeway Killer was identified as that of John Frederick Kilpatrick, a 15-year-old Long BeachLong Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
youth who disappeared December 10, 1979 and who was found strangled December 13 in RialtoRialto, California-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Rialto had a population of 99,171. The population density was 4,434.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Rialto was 43,592 White, 16,236 African American, 1,062 Native American, 2,258 Asian, 361 Pacific Islander, 30,993 from other...
. Neither Bonin nor any of his accomplices were ever charged with the murder of Kilpatrick - although Bonin never disputed the youth as being a victim of his. - Bonin was charged with, but subsequently cleared of, the murders of Sean King and Thomas Lundgren. However, Bonin did confess to both murders.
Confession
In custody, Bonin confessed to abducting, raping, and killing 21 boys and young men, naming Butts as his primary accomplice. Police also suspect Bonin to be responsible for approximately fifteen other murders. Between July 26 and July 29, Bonin was charged with 16 of the murders to which he confessed and upon which the prosecution believed they had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction. He expressed no remorseRemorse
Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or violent. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment...
and told one reporter who asked Bonin what he would do if he were still at large: "I'd still be killing, I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time."
Based on Bonin's confession, police arrested Vernon Butts on July 25, and charged him with accompanying Bonin on five of the murders. He was later charged with four other murders committed between August 5, 1979 and April 29, 1980. On July 31, Munro was arrested in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and charged with the murder of Steven Wells and on August 22, Miley was arrested in Texas and charged with the murders of Charles Miranda and James McCabe. Butts, Miley and Munro all agreed to testify against Bonin in exchange for being spared the death penalty.
Trial
| "He had a total disregard for the sanctity of human life. Sadistic, unbelievably cruel, senseless and deliberately premeditated. Guilty beyond any possible or imaginary doubt." |
| Los Angeles County Judge William Steele pronouncing sentence upon Bonin. |
Bonin was brought to trial in Los Angeles County, charged with the murder of twelve of his victims whose bodies had been found within this constituency, on November 5, 1981. Deputy District Attorney, Stirling Norris, who prosecuted Bonin, sought the death penalty for each count of murder for which Bonin was tried, stating in his opening speech to the jury: "We will prove he is the Freeway Killer, as he has bragged to a number of witnesses. We will show you that he enjoyed the killings. Not only did he enjoy it, and plan to enjoy it, he had an insatiable demand, an insatiable appetite - not only for sodomy, but for killing."
Bonin was physically linked to many of the murders by blood and semen stains, hair and carpet fibers. Medical evidence showed that six of the murders for which Bonin was charged were committed by a unique "windlass
Windlass
The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder , which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt...
" strangulation method, which was referred to by Stirling Norris as "a signature, a trademark."
Both Miley and Munro testified against Bonin at this trial, describing in graphic detail the murders in which they had accompanied Bonin. Munro testified that after the murder of Stephen Wells, he, Bonin and Butts drove to a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
restaurant and purchased burgers with money taken from Wells' wallet. As the trio ate, Bonin laughed and mused: "Thanks Steve, wherever you are." Miley testified to his participation in the murders of Miranda and McCabe; describing in graphic detail how both youths were beaten and tortured with a crowbar before their murders and how he heard a "bunch of bones cracking" as one of the youths was strangled by Bonin.
The trial lasted until January 5, 1982. After six days of deliberation, the jury convicted Bonin of ten of the murders, but cleared him of the murders of Thomas Lundgren and Sean King. Bonin was sentenced to death
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
for the ten murders of which he was convicted.
Bonin was cleared of the murder of Sean King because he had led police to the body of the victim in December, 1980, with the agreement that his leading police to King's body could not be used against him in court. He was cleared of Thomas Lundgren's murder because he chose to deny this particular killing at his trial.
In March, 1983, Bonin was tried in neighboring Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, charged with the murder of four further victims who had been found murdered between November 1979 and April 1980. On August 26, 1983, Bonin was convicted on all four counts of murder.
Bonin spent fourteen years on California's Death Row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, awaiting execution in the gas chamber. While incarcerated, he filed numerous appeals against his conviction - all without success. His final submission to the United States Court of Appeals was submitted in October, 1994: this appeal was rejected on June 28, 1995.
In 1992, following the execution of Robert Alton Harris
Robert Alton Harris
Robert Alton Harris was an American career criminal and murderer who was executed in San Quentin's gas chamber in 1992. This marked the first execution in the state of California since 1967. Harris had killed two teenage boys in 1978...
, the State of California opted to use lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
as an alternate method of execution to the gas chamber, branding the gas chamber a "cruel and unusual
Cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
" method of execution.
Execution
William Bonin was executed on February 23, 1996, sixteen years after his arrest. He was executed by lethal injectionLethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison. Bonin was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California.
In a final interview given to a local radio station less than 24 hours before he was executed, Bonin claimed he had "made peace" with the fact he was about to die. When asked whether there was anything he had to say to the families of his victims, Bonin simply stated: "They feel my death will bring closure, but that's not the case. They're going to find out."
At 6:00 p.m. on the day he was executed, Bonin was moved from his cell to a special death watch cell, where he ordered his last meal
Last meal
The last meal is a customary part of a condemned prisoner's last day. Often, the day of, or before, the appointed time of execution, the prisoner receives a last meal, as well as religious rites, if they desire. In the United States, inmates generally may not ask for an alcoholic drink...
, which consisted of two large pizzas, three pints of ice cream and three six-packs of coke. In his last statement, given to the Warden one hour prior to his scheduled execution at midnight, Bonin again expressed no remorse for his crimes and left a note which simply stated: 'I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. I feel it sends the wrong message to the people of this country. Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. I would advise that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.' William Bonin was 49 at the time of his execution.
- Bonin's main accomplice, Vernon Butts, accused of accompanying Bonin on at least nine of the murders, hanged himselfSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
with a towel on January 11, 1981, while awaiting trial. Butts had told police the killing spree had been "a good little nightmare."
- Gregory Miley, a 19-year-old casual labourer from TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, was given a sentence of 25 years to lifeLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for the February, 1980 murder of 15-year-old Charles Miranda.
- James Michael Munro was sentenced to 15 years to lifeLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
, for the murder of Steven Wells. Munro has repeatedly appealAppealAn appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed his sentence, claiming that he had been tricked into accepting a plea bargainPlea bargainA plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
.
- Bonin's fourth accomplice, Billy Pugh, aged 18, who had been present at the murder of 15-year-old Harry Turner in March 1980, was given a six-year sentence for voluntary manslaughterManslaughterManslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
.
Other "Freeway Killers"
In July 1977, three years prior to Bonin's arrest, Patrick KearneyPatrick Kearney
Patrick Wayne Kearney is an American serial killer who preyed on young men in California during the 1970s. He is sometimes referred to as "The Freeway Killer", a nickname he shares with two other separate serial killers, William Bonin and Randy Steven Kraft.-Early life:He was the youngest of three...
, who also selected young men as victims from the freeways of Southern California, was arrested. He had also discarded many of his victims alongside freeways; many of his victims were dismembered and discarded in trash bags.
Following Bonin's arrest, police continued to discover bodies of young men and teenagers along the freeways of Southern California, leading some officers to theorize that Bonin had other accomplices who were still active. However, these later murders were committed by a Long Beach IT Specialist named Randy Steven Kraft
Randy Steven Kraft
Randy Steven Kraft is an American serial killer. He was convicted of 16 murders and is strongly suspected of committing at least 51 others.-Early life:...
, who was arrested in May 1983. Kraft acted separately from Bonin, but did happen to have a similar disposal modus operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
. In addition, many of Kraft's victims were United States Marines who were drugged before they were killed.
Collectively, Bonin, Kraft and Kearney may have claimed up to 130 victims.
Media
In film- In February 2010, Image EntertainmentImage EntertainmentImage Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
released Freeway Killer; a film directly based upon the murders committed by Bonin and his accomplices. The film cast Scott Anthony Leet as William Bonin and Dusty Sorg as Vernon Butts.
Books
- Angel of Darkness, written by Dennis MacDougal (ISBN 978-0-7088-5342-9).
See also
- Capital punishment in CaliforniaCapital punishment in CaliforniaCapital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the U.S. state of California. The first recorded execution in the area that is now California took place on April 11, 1878 when four Native Americans were shot in San Diego County for conspiracy to commit murder. These were the first of 709...
- Capital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
- List of murderers by number of victims
- List of serial killers by country