William Bonin

William Bonin

Mug shot of William Bonin, taken after his arrest in 1980
Born January 8, 1947
Willimantic, Connecticut, United States
Died February 23, 1996(1996-02-23) (aged 49)
San Quentin, California, United States
Cause of death Lethal injection
Other names The Freeway Killer
Criminal penalty Death
Conviction(s) First-degree murder
Robbery
Sodomy
Mayhem[1]
Killings
Victims 21–36+
Span of killings
 May 28, 1979–June 2, 1980
Country United States
State(s) California
Date apprehended
 June 11, 1980

William George Bonin (January 8, 1947 – February 23, 1996) was an American serial killer and twice-paroled sex offender, also known as the The Freeway Killer,[2] who committed the rape, torture and murder of a minimum of 21 boys and young men in a series of killings between 1979 and 1980 in southern California. Bonin is also suspected of committing a further fifteen murders.

Described by the prosecutor at his first trial as "the most arch-evil person who ever existed",[3] Bonin was convicted of 14 of the murders linked to the Freeway Killer in two separate trials in 1982 and 1983 and was subsequently executed in February 1996.[4]

Bonin became known as the "Freeway Killer" due to the fact that the majority of his victims' bodies were discovered alongside numerous freeways in southern California. He shares this epithet with two separate and unrelated serial killers: Patrick Kearney and Randy Steven Kraft.

Early life

Childhood

Bonin was born in Connecticut in January 1947, the second of three brothers born to Robert and Alice Bonin. Both of Bonin's parents were alcoholics, and his father was a compulsive gambler who was physically abusive towards both his wife and children.[5] Bonin and his brothers were severely neglected as children, and were often fed and clothed by sympathetic neighbors.[6] In addition, the brothers were often placed in the care of their grandfather, a convicted child molester who had molested Bonin's mother when she had been a child and who is known to have sexually abused his three grandsons.[7]

In 1953, Bonin's mother placed her sons inside an orphanage in an effort to protect her children from their father's physical violence.[8] This establishment was known to severely discipline the children it housed for both minor and major breeches of conduct, with the punishments administered including severe beatings, enduring various stress positions, and partial drowning in sinks filled with water.[9] Although Bonin would later freely discuss many aspects of his childhood and adolescence, he would resolutely refuse to discuss his memories of being housed within this establishment. He was to remain at this orphanage until the age of 9, when he returned to live with his parents.[6]

At the age of 10, Bonin was arrested for stealing vehicle license plates and was placed in a juvenile detention center for other minor crimes.[10] While housed at this juvenile detention center, he was repeatedly physically and sexually abused by several individuals, including his adult counselor.[11][12] Four years later, in 1961, Bonin's parents opted to relocate to California; the Bonin family settled in a modest home on Angell Street in the city of Downey,[13] although shortly thereafter, Bonin's father died from cirrhosis of the liver.[14] While living at this address, Bonin is known to have molested both his younger brother, and several neighborhood children, all of whom were younger than he.

Engagement and U.S. Air Force

Shortly after graduating from high school in 1965, Bonin became engaged to marry, although this engagement had largely been at the behest of his mother,[15] who believed the prospect of marriage would quell her son's evident sexual preference for males.[16] The same year of his graduation, Bonin joined the U.S. Air Force. He later served five months of active duty in the in the Vietnam War as an aerial gunner, logging over 700 hours of combat and patrol time[17] and earning a Good Conduct Medal. Bonin himself was to later claim his experiences in Vietnam had installed a belief within him that human life is overvalued.[18] Nonetheless, on one occasion, while under enemy fire, he did risk his own life to save the life of a wounded fellow airman,[19] but also later admitted to sexually assaulting two fellow soldiers at gunpoint.[20]

Bonin served three years in the U.S. Air Force before he received an honorable discharge in October 1968.[5] Upon his discharge, Bonin returned to Downey to live with his mother.[16] Shortly thereafter, he married his fiancée, although the couple soon divorced.

First convictions

On November 17, 1968,[21] at age 21, Bonin committed a sexual assault on a youth. He was to commit three further sexual assaults upon boys and youths over the following four months. The victims of these assaults were aged between 12 and 18[22] and in each instance, he would bind or otherwise restrain his victim before forcibly engaging in sodomy, oral copulation,[23] and methods of torture which included bludgeoning and the squeezing of his victims' testicles.[24]

In the spring of 1969, Bonin was arrested as he attempted to restrain a 16-year-old youth whom he had lured into his vehicle; he was indicted on five counts of kidnapping, four counts of sodomy, one count of oral copulation, and one count of child molestation against the five youths he had abducted and assaulted or—in the case of the final youth he had abducted—attempted to assault since the previous November.[25] Bonin pleaded guilty to molestation and forced oral copulation and was sentenced to the Atascadero State Hospital as a mentally disordered sexual offender amenable to treatment.[22] While detained at this hospital, Bonin was subjected to a battery of psychiatric examinations:[26] these examinations revealed that although Bonin possessed a higher than average IQ of 121, he displayed traits of manic depression in addition to damage to the prefrontal cortex of his brain—which would likely reduce his ability to restrain any violent impuses; his physical examinations also revealed extensive scars on his head and buttocks, which he had likely sustained while housed at the juvenile detention center, although Bonin himself claimed to have no memory of any such incidents of abuse.[27]

Two years after his arrival at the Atascadero State Hospital, Bonin was sent to prison, declared unamenable for further treatment.[28] In May 1974, he was released from prison after doctors concluded he was "no longer a danger to the health and safety of others."[29]

Further offenses and imprisonment

In September 1975, Bonin encountered a 14-year-old named David McVicker[30] hitchhiking in Garden Grove; McVicker accepted Bonin's offer to drive him to his parents' home in Huntington Beach, although shortly after McVicker had entered Bonin's vehicle, he was taken aback by Bonin asking him if he was gay. When McVicker asked Bonin to stop his car, Bonin produced a gun and drove the youth to a deserted field, where he ordered McVicker to undress, then beat and raped him.[31] After assaulting the youth Bonin began to strangle McVicker with his own T-shirt, although he immediately became apologetic when the youth began screaming. He then drove McVicker home before casually stating, "We'll meet again."[32]

McVicker immediately informed his mother of the rape; she in turn notified Garden Grove police. Shortly thereafter, Bonin was charged with the rape of a minor and the attempted abduction of another teenager,[22] for which he was sentenced to between one and 15 years' imprisonment at the California Men's Facility in San Luis Obispo. He was released from detention on October 11, 1978, albeit with 18 months' supervised probation.

Release

Acquaintance with Vernon Butts

Upon his release, Bonin moved to an apartment complex in Kingswood Village in southeast Los Angeles County (approximately 1 mile from his mother's home), where he found employment as a truck driver for a delivery firm named Dependable Drive-Away.[33] He also began dating a young woman whom, he informed acquaintances, he would regularly accompany to Anaheim on Sundays.[33]

Shortly after moving to Kingswood Village, Bonin became acquainted with a 43-year-old neighbor of his named Everett Fraser. Bonin became a regular attendee at the frequent parties Fraser held at his apartment and through these social gatherings he became acquainted with a 22-year-old named Vernon Butts[33] and a 19-year-old Texas native named Gregory Miley.[34] Butts, a porcelain-factory worker and part-time magician,[35] would later claim to have been both fascinated with and terrified of Bonin, while freely admitting to taking a great delight in watching Bonin abuse and torture his victims.[36]

Murder spree

Bonin usually selected young male hitchhikers, schoolboys or, occasionally, male prostitutes as his victims. The victims, aged 12 to 19, were either enticed or forced into his Chevrolet camper van,[37] where they would be overpowered and bound hand and foot with a combination of handcuffs,[38] and wire or cord.[39] They were then sexually assaulted, extensively beaten and tortured before typically being killed by strangulation with their own T-shirts, although some victims were stabbed or battered to death. One victim, Darin Kendrick, was forced to drink hydrochloric acid; two victims had ice-picks driven into their ears[40] and another victim, Mark Shelton, died of shock.[41]

In order to minimize the chances of a potential victim escaping from his vehicle, Bonin removed all inner handles from the passenger-side and rear doors of his van,[42] and invariably stowed a variety of ligatures, knives, household tools and other instruments in his vehicle to facilitate the restraining and torture of his victims. The victims were usually killed inside this van before their bodies were discarded alongside or close to various freeways in southern California. In a minimum of 12 of the murders, Bonin was assisted by one or more of his four known accomplices.[43][44]

First murder and initial arrest

The first murder for which Bonin was charged was that of a 13-year-old hitchhiker named Thomas Glen Lundgren.[45] Lundgren was last seen leaving his parents' house in Reseda on the morning of May 28, 1979: his body was found the same afternoon in Agoura.[46] An autopsy revealed that Lundgren had suffered emasculation and bludgeoning to his face and head. In addition, the youth had been slashed across the throat, stabbed, and strangled to death.[38] In the abduction and murder of Lundgren, Bonin was assisted by Vernon Butts, who is suspected of accompanying Bonin on eight further murders attributed to the Freeway Killer.

In the summer of 1979, Bonin was again arrested for molesting a 17-year-old boy in the coastal community of Dana Point.[33] This violation of the conditions of his parole should have resulted in Bonin being returned to prison. However, an administrative error committed prior to Bonin's scheduled court date resulted in him being released.[33] Everett Fraser drove to collect Bonin from the Orange County Jail where he had been incarcerated.

Fraser later recollected that as he drove Bonin home, Bonin told him: "No one's going to testify again. This is never going to happen to me again."[47]

Freeway Killer murders

Two months after the murder of Thomas Lundgren, on August 4, 1979, Bonin and Butts abducted a 17-year-old from Westminster named Mark Shelton as the youth walked to a movie theater near Beach Boulevard.[48] Shelton was violated with foreign objects, causing his body to enter a state of shock which proved fatal. His body was then discarded in San Bernardino County. The following day, Bonin and Butts encountered a 17-year-old West German student named Markus Grabs attempting to hitchhike from Pacific Coast Highway. Grabs was bound with lengths of cord and ignition wire and driven to Bonin's home[49] where he was sodomized, beaten and stabbed a total of 77 times[50] before his nude body was discarded alongside a Malibu freeway. His body was found the following morning.[49]

On August 27, Bonin and Butts abducted a 15-year-old Hollywood youth named Donald Ray Hyden. Hyden was last seen alive walking along Santa Monica Boulevard at one a.m.;[51] his body was found by construction workers later the same morning in a dumpster located near the offramp of the Ventura Freeway. Prior to his death by ligature strangulation, Hyden had been bound, beaten about the face, sodomized, then stabbed in the neck and genitalia and bludgeoned about the skull. Evident attempts had also been made to remove his testicles.[52]

David Murillo, aged 17. Murdered September 9, 1979

Two weeks after the murder of Donald Hyden, on September 9, Bonin and Butts encountered a 17-year-old La Mirada youth named David Louis Murillo cycling to a movie theater.[53] Murillo was lured into Bonin's van where he was bound, repeatedly raped, bludgeoned about the skull with a tire iron,[54] then strangled with a ligature before his body was discarded in ivy alongside Highway 101.[55] Eight days later, an 18-year-old Newport Beach youth named Robert Wirostek was abducted as he cycled to his job at a grocery store: his body was found on September 19 alongside Interstate 10.[56]

Bonin was not known to have killed again until on or about November 29, when he and Butts abducted and murdered an unidentified youth estimated to be around 19 years old. This victim was savagely beaten, then strangled to death before his body was discarded in Kern County. The following day, Bonin—operating alone—abducted and strangled a 17-year-old named Frank Dennis Fox;[57] his nude body was found two days later alongside a highway five miles east of San Diego.[58] Ten days after the murder of Frank Fox, a 15-year-old Long Beach youth named John Kilpatrick disappeared after leaving his parents' home to socialize with friends. Kilpatrick was strangled to death before his body was discarded in a remote area of Rialto.[59]

On January 1, 1980, Bonin brutalized and strangled a 16-year-old Rialto youth named Michael Francis McDonald; his fully clothed body was found in San Bernardino County two days after his murder,[60][61] although his body was not identified until March 24.[62]

Participation of Gregory Miley

On February 3, Bonin, assisted by an acquaintance of his named Gregory Matthews Miley, drove from Downey to Hollywood, where they encountered a 15-year-old named Charles Miranda hitchhiking along Santa Monica Boulevard.[63] Miranda was forced to hand his wallet to Bonin before he was overpowered, then raped by Bonin. Miley did also attempt to rape the youth, but was unable to sustain an erection. In frustration, Miley assaulted Miranda with various sharp objects, before Bonin strangled the youth to death with a tire iron as Miley repeatedly jumped on his chest. His nude corpse was dumped in an alleyway.[64]

James Macabe, aged 12. Murdered February 3, 1980

Shortly after the pair had discarded Miranda's body, Bonin suggested to Miley: "I'm horny, let's go and do another one." A few hours later, in Huntington Beach, the pair encountered a 12-year-old named James Macabe at a bus stop on the corner of Beach Boulevard and Slater Avenue.[65][66] Macabe was lured into Bonin's van on the promise he would be driven to his intended destination of Disneyland. According to Miley, the boy entered the rear of the van voluntarily as Bonin drove to grocery store parking lot, where he parked the van, and entered the rear of the vehicle. Miley then heard Macabe crying as Bonin beat and raped him,[67] before he himself joined Bonin in beating the youngster simply because he "felt like" doing so. Bonin then strangled Macabe to death with his own T-shirt,[68] before discarding his fully clothed, beaten body alongside a dumpster in the city of Walnut. Macabe's body was found three days later.[65]

Subsequent killings

Bonin did not strike again until March 14, when he abducted and killed an 18-year-old Van Nuys youth named Ronald Gatlin. Gatlin was abducted shortly after he had left a friend's home. He was beaten, sodomized and suffered several deep, perforating ice pick wounds to the ear and neck before being strangled with a ligature.[21] Gatlin's body was found the following day in the city of Duarte. One week later, on March 21, Bonin lured a 14-year-old named Glenn Barker into his van as the youth hitchhiked to school. Barker was also raped, beaten and strangled to death with a ligature, although his body also bore evidence of numerous burns to the neck which had been inflicted with a lit cigarette.[69] At 4 p.m. the same day, a 15-year-old named Russell Duane Rugh was abducted from a bus stop in Garden Grove. Rugh was bound, beaten and strangled to death before his body was discarded alongside that of Glenn Barker in Cleveland National Forest. The youths' nude bodies were found on March 23.[70]

Encounter with William Pugh

One Friday evening in March, 1980, Bonin offered a 17-year-old named William Ray Pugh[71] a ride home as the pair left the house of Everett Fraser. Within minutes of accepting the ride, Bonin asked Pugh whether he would like to engage in sex. Pugh later stated he panicked upon hearing this question and, after sitting in silence for several minutes, attempted to leave the vehicle once Bonin had slowed the van at a stoplight. In response, Bonin wordlessly leaned across and grabbed Pugh by the collar, dragging him back into the passenger seat.[72] According to Pugh, Bonin then confided in him that he enjoyed "picking up" young male hitchhikers on Friday and Saturday nights, whom he would abuse before strangling to death with their own T-shirts. In a matter-of-fact tone, Bonin then informed Pugh: "If you want to kill somebody, you should make a plan and find a place to dump the body before you even pick a victim."[73] Bonin then informed Pugh he had not chosen to refrain from assaulting and killing him out of sentiment; he'd been spared because the pair had been seen leaving Fraser's party together.

Pugh was driven to his home without being assaulted.[74]

Murder of Harry Turner

On March 24, Bonin and Pugh abducted a 15-year-old runaway named Harry Todd Turner from a Los Angeles street. Turner had absconded from a boys' home in the desert community of Lancaster[64][75] four days prior to his meeting Bonin and Pugh. According to Pugh, he and Bonin lured Turner into Bonin's van with an offer of $20 for sex.[76] After binding, sodomizing and biting the youth,[64] Bonin ordered Pugh to "beat him (Turner) up." After Pugh had bludgeoned and beat Turner about the head and body for several minutes,[77] Bonin strangled the youth to death with his own T-shirt before discarding his body in a Los Angeles alleyway. Turner's autopsy subsequently revealed the youth had received a total of eight fractures to the skull inflicted by a blunt instrument before he had been strangled.[64]

Later killings and acquaintance with James Munro

On the morning of April 10, Bonin abducted a 16-year-old Bellflower resident named Steven Wood as the youth walked to school; his nude, strangled body was discarded beside the Pacific Coast Highway.[78]

Three weeks later, on April 29, while parked in the grounds of a Stanton supermarket, Bonin and Butts lured a 19-year-old employee of these premises named Darin Kendrick into Bonin's van on the pretext of selling the youth drugs.[79] Kendrick was driven to Butts' apartment, where he was overpowered and bound by both men.[49] In addition to enduring sodomy and partial ligature strangulation, Kendrick was forced to drink hydrochloric acid by Bonin, causing caustic chemical burns to his mouth, chin, stomach and chest.[80] Butts then drove an ice pick into Kendrick's ear, causing a fatal wound to the youth's cervical spinal cord. His body was discarded near the Artesia Freeway.[21][49]

On May 17,[81] Bonin abducted and murdered a 17-year-old acquaintance of his whom, he would later state, he had specifically opted to kill when he had awoken that morning simply because he was "tired of having him around".[82][83] The body of this acquaintance, Lawrence Sharp, was discarded behind a Westminster gas station. His body was found the following day; his subsequent autopsy would reveal that, in addition to being bound and sodomized, Sharp had been extensively beaten about the face and body, then strangled with a ligature.[84]

Two days after the murder of Lawrence Sharp, on May 19, Bonin asked Butts to accompany him on a killing; on this occasion, however, Butts reportedly refused to accompany him. Operating alone, Bonin abducted a 14-year-old South Gate youth named Sean King from a bus stop in Downey and discarded his body in Yucaipa.[85][86] Bonin then visited Butts' residence and bragged of the killing to his accomplice.[87]

Nine days after the murder of Sean King, Bonin invited a 19-year-old homeless drifter named James Munro to move into his apartment. Munro accepted Bonin's accommodation offer; later describing his initial impression of Bonin as being "a good guy; really normal." The youth also accepted a subsequent offer of employment at the Montebello delivery firm where Bonin worked.[88]

Surveillance

By the spring of 1980, the murders committed by the Freeway Killer, as he was known in the press, were receiving considerable media attention, and Bonin himself is known to have avidly collected newspaper clippings documenting his own manhunt.[89] Having by this stage determined a definitive link between the murders, investigators from the various jurisdictions where victims had been abducted or discovered had themselves begun collaborating information in their collective hunt for the perpetrator.[90]

On May 29, William Pugh, having been arrested by this date for auto theft, overheard the details of the ongoing series of murders on a local radio broadcast and confided to a counselor his recognition of the modus operandi of the perpetrator as being that described to him by Bonin two months previous.[91] The counselor reported his suspicions to the police, who in turn relayed the information to an LAPD homicide sergeant named John St. John.[91] Upon hearing the confidential tip from the counselor, St. John interviewed Pugh and deduced from his conversation with the youth that Bonin might indeed be the Freeway Killer.

A police investigation into the background of Bonin revealed his string of convictions for sexually assaulting teenage boys. Detective St. John assigned a surveillance team to monitor Bonin's movements. The surveillance of William Bonin began June 2, 1980.

Murder of Steven Wells

On June 2, the same day as police surveillance of Bonin began,[35] Bonin, accompanied by James Munro,[35] enticed an 18-year-old print shop worker named Steven Jay Wells from a bus stop on El Segundo Boulevard into Bonin's van. Wells was driven to Bonin's apartment where, according to Munro, the youth was raped, beaten, then strangled with his own T-shirt.[92] Bonin then placed Wells' body inside a cardboard box which he and Munro then carried to his van.[93] The pair then drove to the residence of Vernon Butts, whom Bonin first invited to view Wells' body with the enticement to "come look what we did". According to Munro, upon viewing Wells' body, Butts simply replied "Oh, you got another one!" before Bonin asked for advice as to how to dispose of Wells' body.[94] At Bonin's subsequent trial, Munro recalled Butts' response: "'Try a gas station like' or 'where' - I don't know which - 'we dumped the last one.'" Munro also later testified that as Bonin showed Butts the body of Wells, Butts had advised Bonin against discarding the youth's body in the nearby canyons due to the late hour. Wells' body was discarded behind a Huntington Beach gas station.

Arrest

On June 11, after nine days of surveillance, police observed Bonin unsuccessfully attempt to lure five different teenage boys into his van,[95] then succeed in luring a youth into his vehicle. 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.[95][96] Initially charged with the rape of a minor[97] and held on suspicion of the murder of Charles Miranda,[98][99] Bonin was detained in lieu of $250,000 bond. (The following day, Munro stole Bonin's car and fled to his native Michigan.[92][100])

Confession and indictment

Although initially protesting his innocence in any of the Freeway Killer murders, Bonin soon confessed to abducting, raping, and killing 21 boys and young men, naming Butts as his primary accomplice. Initially formally arraigned for the murder of Markus Grabs on July 25, by July 29, Bonin had been charged with an additional 15 murders to which he confessed and upon which the prosecution believed they had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.[101] In addition to the 16 murder indictments, Bonin was also charged with 11 counts of robbery, one count of sodomy, and one count of mayhem.[102]

According to one attorney present throughout Bonin's formal confession, the escalating levels of brutality Bonin exhibited towards his victims had been similar to that of a drug addict requiring an ever greater increase of dosage to attain a satisfactory level of euphoria.[103] Bonin himself expressed no remorse for his crimes and later casually informed one reporter who asked him what he would be doing if he were still at large: "I'd still be killing, I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time."[104] (Police also suspect Bonin to be responsible for approximately fifteen other murders.)

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 1979 and April 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 Macabe. Butts, Miley and Munro all agreed to testify against Bonin in exchange for being spared the death penalty.[105]

Bonin was physically linked to many of the murders by blood and semen stains, hair samples and numerous, distinctive green triskelion-shaped carpet fibers found upon six of the victims' bodies which were a precise match with the carpeting in the rear of Bonin's van.[106] Medical evidence also revealed that six of the murders for which Bonin was charged were committed by a unique windlass strangulation method, which would be referred to by the prosecutor at Bonin's upcoming trials as "a signature, a trademark."

Murder trials

Los Angeles County

Bonin was brought to trial in Los Angeles County, charged with the murder of 12 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."[107]

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 and Bonin drove to a McDonald's restaurant and purchased burgers with $10 taken from Wells' wallet. As they had eaten the burgers at Bonin's home, Bonin laughed and mused: "Thanks, Steve, wherever you are"[35] before the pair began laughing in amusement.[108] Miley testified to his participation in the murders of Miranda and Macabe;[109] 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.

"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.[110]

The trial lasted until January 6, 1982. Following closing arguments delivered by both counsels, the jury convicted Bonin of 10 of the murders for which he was tried on this date,[111] although he was found not guilty of the murders of Thomas Lundgren and Sean King. The jury further found that the special circumstances required within California Law (multiple murders and robbery) had been met in the 10 murder cases for which they had found Bonin guilty, and thus recommended he receive the death penalty.[112]

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;[113] he was cleared of Lundgren's murder because he chose to deny this particular killing at his trial.[114]

On March 12, in accordance with the recommendation of the jury, Superior Court Judge William Keene formally sentenced Bonin to death for the 10 murders of which he was convicted. Describing the murders as "a gross, revolting affront to human dignity", Judge Keene further ordered at this hearing that if Bonin's death sentence were commuted to one of life imprisonment, the sentences should run consecutively.[115] Bonin was then ordered to be remanded to the warden of San Quentin State Prison, to await execution in the gas chamber. He remained unmoved upon receipt of this sentence, having earlier informed his attorney he had expected to formally receive the death penalty.[116]

Orange County

Bonin was tried in neighboring Orange County on June 14, 1983.[117] He was charged with the murder of four further victims who had been found murdered within this jurisdiction between November 1979 and May 1980.[118] Prior to this second trial, Bonin's defense attorney, William Charvet, did attempt to secure a change of venue, citing the extensive pretrial publicity surrounding the case minimizing the chances of securing an untainted jury; however, this motion was refused by Superior Court Judge Kenneth Lae, who ruled in March there had only been minimal publicity surrounding the Freeway Killer case in Orange County following Bonin's earlier convictions.[119]

This second trial lasted six weeks, and saw Bonin's attorneys call just two witnesses in his defense—one of whom was James Munro, who conceded Bonin had communicated with him prior to this second trial requesting he lied when called to deliver his testimony.[120] Following less than three hours of deliberations on August 26, 1983, Bonin was convicted on all four counts of murder, with the jury recommending he be sentenced to death on each count.[121]

Death row

Bonin was to spend a total of 14 years on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison, awaiting execution in the gas chamber.

In his years on death row, Bonin undertook both painting and writing as hobbies, and did win minor awards for his artwork, short stories and poems. He also contended to his defense attorneys—in addition to several individuals who chose to contact him—that Vernon Butts had been the actual ringleader behind the murders, and that he had been simply an accomplice to the actual ringleader.[122] (These claims would be refuted by Stirling Norris, who had prosecuted Bonin at his trials, who stated: "He was the leader, and he chose weak people he could use."[123])

The actual method of Bonin's execution would be superseded with lethal injection by the state of California in 1992, following the execution of Robert Alton Harris, who had exhibited evident symptoms of discomfort for up to four minutes throughout his 15-minute execution in the gas chamber. These symptoms had included convulsions.[124] As such, 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.[125]

Appeals

Throughout his incarceration, Bonin did file numerous appeals against his conviction—all of which proved unsuccessful.[125] His final submission to the United States Court of Appeals was submitted in October 1994, with Bonin contending such issues as his being denied the effective assistance of counsel at both his trials, that he had been denied due process at his Los Angeles trial due to the judge's refusing to suppress the testimony of Munro and Miley,[126] and that the judge at his Orange County trial had denied his counsel's motion for a change of venue upon the basis that pretrial publicity had effectively minimized any chance of obtaining an unbiased jury within the county. This final appeal was rejected on June 28, 1995, with the appellate judges stating they had found no evidence of legal misconduct, and their satisfaction with the validity of Bonin's convictions.[127]

On 20 February, 1996, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a plea for clemency submitted by Bonin's attorneys on the grounds of inadequate legal representation at both his trials.[128] Scarcely one hour prior to his scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Bonin's final plea to overturn his death sentence, with the convened panel in almost unanimous agreement that Bonin's own attorneys had not failed to give their client adequate legal representation by not earlier discovering their submitted claims to have discovered evidence attesting to Bonin's innocence. Furthermore, these appellate judges ruled that Bonin's attorneys should not have waited until the last minute to submit arguments to overturn or postpone the impending death sentence of their client. These convened judges also rejected Bonin's final claim that he himself had a right to choose between either the gas chamber or lethal injection as his actual method of execution.[129]

Execution

Bonin was executed by lethal injection inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on February 23, 1996. He was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California,[130] and his execution occurred 14 years after his his first death sentence had been imposed.

William Bonin, pictured while incarcerated on Death Row

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. He added that his only real regret was that he had not pursued his teenage passion of bowling long enough to have turned professional.[131] 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."[132]

At 6 p.m. on the day he was executed, Bonin was moved from his cell to a death watch cell, where he ordered his last meal: two large pizzas, three pints of ice cream and three six-packs of Coke. At 11:45 p.m., Bonin was escorted from his holding cell into the execution chamber. In his final statement, given to the prison warden one hour prior to his scheduled execution at midnight, Bonin again expressed no remorse for his crimes and left a note that 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.[133] ”

William Bonin was pronounced dead at 12:13 a.m.[134] He was 49 at the time of his execution. Although no family member of Bonin chose to witness his execution, the event was witnessed by several relatives of his victims, many of whom wept and embraced when his death was officially confirmed.[135] According to several of these witnesses, Bonin's execution passed without complications, and he was heavily sedated throughout the latter stages of the procedure.[136]

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): c. November 29, 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 Macabe (12): February 3, 1980
13. Ronald Gatlin (18): March 14, 1980
14. Glenn Barker (14): March 21, 1980
15. Russell Rugh (15): March 21, 1980
16. Harry Todd Turner (15): March 24, 1980
17. Steven Wood (16): April 10, 1980
18. Darin Lee Kendrick (19): April 29, 1980
19. Lawrence Sharp (17): May 17, 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 14 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, 10 were committed in 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 (above on mobile).

Mugshots taken of William Bonin (left) and Vernon Butts (right) after their arrest

Serial killers with similar modus operandi

On July 1, 1977, Patrick Kearney, the prime suspect in a series of killings of young men known as the Trash Bag Murders, surrendered to Riverside Police.[144] Prior to his voluntarily surrendering to police, Kearney had been a fugitive for two months, following his being forensically linked to the murder of a 17-year-old named John LaMay—a confirmed victim of the Trash Bag Murderer.[145] Kearney subsequently confessed to the murders of 28 boys and young men; many of whom he had discarded alongside freeways in southern California. In contrast to Bonin, Kearney extensively dismembered the majority of his victims' bodies, before typically discarding their remains in trash bags.[146] Although primarily known as the Trash Bag Murderer,[147] Kearney is also known as the Freeway Killer.

Three years after the arrest of William Bonin, two California Highway Patrol officers arrested a 38-year-old Long Beach IT specialist named Randy Steven Kraft as he attempted to discard the body of a 25-year-old Marine from his car in Mission Viejo.[148] The victim had been drugged, bound and garrotted in a similar manner to that of numerous other young men whose bodies had been found alongside or close to various California and Oregon freeways since 1972 in a series of murders also attributed to a perpetrator known as the Freeway Killer.

A search of Kraft's vehicle revealed an envelope depicting containing over 50 Polaroid pictures of young men—either drugged or deceased—in suggestive poses. Several of these images were of confirmed victims of the Freeway Killer. In addition, police also discovered a coded list depicting cryptic references to his victims in the trunk of Kraft's vehicle, leading Kraft to also become known as the Scorecard Killer.[149]

Although his actual disposal method had been similar to that of William Bonin, Kraft is known to have both drugged his victims before he killed them and to have used differing torture methods upon their bodies, including the burning the victims' chest and genitals with an automobile cigarette lighter.[150] In addition, many of Kraft's victims had been aged in their early- or mid-twenties, and a small number of Kraft's victims had also been dismembered prior to their disposal.[151]

Collectively, Bonin, Kraft and Kearney may have claimed up to 131 victims.[152]

Vernon Butts, pictured after his arrest in July, 1980

Aftermath

Media

Film

Bibliography

Television

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Freeway Killer: Bonin Convicted for 10 Killings; Awaits Sentencing". The Daily Record (Ellensburg, Washington). United Press International. January 7, 1982. p. 8. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Around the Nation; California Murderer Gets Death Sentence". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 13, 1982. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  3. ↑ Gadsden Times February 3, 1981
  4. ↑ CNN.com Feb. 23, 1996
  5. 1 2 McDougal 1991, p. 161
  6. 1 2 "Execution Set for 'Freeway Killer'". Reading Eagle/Reading Times. Associated Press. February 19, 1996. p. A10. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  7. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 5
  8. ↑ S.F. Gate.com Feb. 19, 1996
  9. ↑ "Bonin Executed". Daily News of Los Angeles. February 23, 1996. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 161–162
  11. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 5
  12. ↑ N.Y. Daily News Mar. 25, 2008
  13. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 7
  14. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 161
  15. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 161
  16. 1 2 "59 F.3d 815: William George Bonin, Petitioner-appellant, v. Arthur Calderon, As Warden of San Quentin State Prison;james Rowland, Director of the Californiadepartment of Corre". Cases.justia.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  17. ↑ "TruTV.com". TruTV.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  18. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 9
  19. ↑ "Newsbank.com". Nl.newsbank.com. 1989-01-10. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  20. ↑ "News article". News.google.com. 1996-02-19. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  21. 1 2 3 CDCR.ca.gov. Bonin, William
  22. 1 2 3 "Justia.com". Cases.justia.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  23. ↑ People v. Bonin (1988)
  24. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 10
  25. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 162
  26. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 162
  27. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 10
  28. ↑ "Loislaw.com". Loislaw.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  29. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 162
  30. ↑ Resource.org
  31. ↑ LA Times February 22, 1996
  32. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 11
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 McDougal 1991, p. 163
  34. ↑ The Press Courier, Nov. 2, 1987.
  35. 1 2 3 4 McDougal 1991, p. 166
  36. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 173
  37. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 159
  38. 1 2 McDougal 1991, p. 153
  39. ↑ Record-Journal Nov. 5, 1981
  40. ↑ True Crime Jun., 1996. p.10
  41. ↑ "News article". News.google.com. 1980-05-07. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  42. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 15
  43. ↑ CDCR.gov. Bonin, William
  44. ↑ CrimeAbout.com
  45. ↑ Press Courier May 11, 1980.
  46. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 152–153
  47. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 163–164
  48. ↑ LA Times Oct. 21, 1980
  49. 1 2 3 4 McDougal 1991, p. 174
  50. ↑ McDougal 1992, p. 174.
  51. ↑ Ocala Star Banner Aug. 30, 1979.
  52. ↑ "News archives". News.google.com. 1979-08-29. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  53. ↑ The Bulletin Nov. 4, 1981.
  54. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 20
  55. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 153
  56. ↑ LA Times Aug. 27, 1980.
  57. ↑ "Frank Fox Death record". Vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  58. ↑ Palm Beach Post Sept. 21, 1980.
  59. ↑ The Bryan Times Aug. 6, 1980.
  60. ↑ LA Times Mar. 26, 1980.
  61. ↑ San Bernardino County Sun Jun. 13, 1980
  62. ↑ LA Times Jul. 30, 1980.
  63. ↑ "News archives". News.google.com. 1980-06-11. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  64. 1 2 3 4 5 6 McDougal 1991, p. 172
  65. 1 2 File:LA Times Macabe Found Bonin.pdf
  66. ↑ "James Macabe Death record". Vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  67. ↑ True Crime Jun., 1996. p.9
  68. ↑ LA Times February 11, 1996
  69. ↑ LA Times.com
  70. ↑ Sarasota Herald-Tribune Feb. 19, 1996.
  71. ↑ Ocala Star-Banner Feb. 7, 1981
  72. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 164–165
  73. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 164
  74. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 27
  75. ↑ Press Courier May 9, 1981
  76. ↑ Lodi News-Sentinel May 18, 1982.
  77. ↑ Lodi News Sentinnel May 18, 1982.
  78. ↑ "Beaver County Times. Sept. 21, 1980 edition". News.google.com. 1980-09-21. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  79. ↑ "News archives". News.google.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  80. ↑ CDCR.gov. Bonin, William
  81. ↑ People v. Bonin (1988)
  82. ↑ Bonin v. Calderon. Decided Jun. 28, 1995
  83. ↑ Eugene Register-Guard Aug. 27, 1983
  84. ↑ "Bonin execution chronology of crimes". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  85. ↑ "News archives". News.google.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  86. ↑ "News archives". News.google.com. 1980-12-26. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  87. ↑ "News archives". News.google.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  88. ↑ Merced Sun-Star Apr. 7 1981
  89. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 171–172
  90. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 45
  91. 1 2 McDougal 1991, p. 165
  92. 1 2 Times Jun. 18, 1998.
  93. ↑ LA Times Jun. 18, 1998.
  94. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 50
  95. 1 2 "TruTV.com". TruTV.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  96. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 159–161
  97. ↑ Encyclopedia of Serial Killers p. 66
  98. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 54
  99. ↑ Ottawa Citizen Jul. 30, 1980
  100. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 181
  101. ↑ Ottawa Citizen Jul. 30, 1980
  102. ↑ Eugene Register-Guard Jul. 30, 1980
  103. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 39
  104. ↑ True Crime Jun., 1996. p.11-12
  105. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 171–172
  106. ↑ People v. Bonin (1988)
  107. ↑ True Crime Jun., 1996. p.11-12-13
  108. ↑ Justia.com
  109. ↑ Press Courier Nov. 23, 1981.
  110. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 175
  111. ↑ Park City Daily News Jan. 7, 1982
  112. ↑ True Crime Jun., 1996. p.12
  113. ↑ Ellingwood, Ken (February 18, 1996). "Bonin Has Outlived Some of the Key Players From His Investigation, Trial". Los Angeles Times.
  114. ↑ News archives.
  115. ↑ Observer Reporter Mar. 13, 1982
  116. ↑ The Montreal Gazette January 7, 1982
  117. ↑ News archives
  118. ↑ Reading Eagle Jun. 15, 1983
  119. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 80
  120. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 82
  121. ↑ "Orange County's Condemned". Los Angeles Times. April 19, 1992.
  122. ↑ S.F. Gate.com Feb. 19, 1996
  123. ↑ S.F. Gate.com Feb. 19, 1996
  124. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 94
  125. 1 2 TruTV.com
  126. ↑ Bonin v. Calderon. Decided Jun. 28, 1995
  127. ↑ Justia. com
  128. ↑ L. A. Times Feb. 21, 1996
  129. ↑ S.F.Gate.com Feb. 23, 1996
  130. ↑ About.com - William G. Bonin.
  131. ↑ "Life After Death Penalty". Beach Magazine. Littoral. 2000-04-05. Archived from the original on 2001-04-30. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  132. ↑ Free Library.com
  133. ↑ ClarkProsecutor.org.
  134. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 104
  135. ↑ Kingman Daily Miner Feb. 23, 1996
  136. ↑ N.Y. Daily News Mar. 25, 2008
  137. ↑ McDougal 1991, pp. 173–174
  138. ↑ Tuscaloosa News Feb. 5, 1981
  139. ↑ "News article". News.google.com. 1981-02-05. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  140. ↑ The Bryan Times Aug. 6, 1980 edition
  141. ↑ Press Courier Apr. 1, 1981.
  142. ↑ Kingman Miner archives.
  143. ↑ Beaver County Times Sep. 21, 1980.
  144. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 118
  145. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 124
  146. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 137
  147. ↑ TruTV.com
  148. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 249
  149. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald May 14, 1989
  150. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 144
  151. ↑ McDougal 1991, p. 263
  152. ↑ Murder Casebook, p. 4679, ISBN 0-7485-3874-7.
  153. ↑ Wicked Deeds: Murder In America p. 177
  154. ↑ Boca Raton News Feb. 5, 1981
  155. ↑ Resource.org
  156. ↑ William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer p. 103
  157. ↑ CBS Los Angeles Dec. 24, 2011
  158. ↑ TruTV.com.
  159. ↑ Merced Sun-Star Apr. 7, 1981
  160. 1 2 "Inmate Locator". State of California. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  161. ↑ Orange County Register Aug. 21, 2014
  162. ↑ Lodi News Sentinel Feb. 6 1982
  163. ↑ Lodi News-Sentinel Feb. 6, 1982
  164. ↑ "Gregory Matthew Miley, Accomplice of "Freeway Killer" William Bonin, Seeks Parole". OC Weekly. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  165. ↑ cdcr.ca.gov: lifer scheduling and tracking system
  166. ↑ cdcr.gov p. 80
  167. ↑ Lodi News Sentinel May 18, 1982
  168. ↑ Lodi News-Sentinel May 18, 1982
  169. ↑ Crimeandinvestigation.com

Cited works and further reading

External links

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