William Bonin

"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."

William George Bonin, a.k.a. "The Freeway Killer", was an American serial killer, rapist, hebephile, and ephebophile. Bonin also shares his nickname with two other killers, who were believed to be a single serial killer.

Background
Bonin was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, on January 8, 1947, as the second of three sons raised by alcoholic parents. Due to their parents' constant absences, Bonin and his brothers were frequently left with his grandfather, a convicted child molester. They were also neglected by their parents and fed by neighbors. When he was six years old, Bonin was sent to live in an orphanage and stayed there until he was nine. A year later, he was arrested for stealing licence plates and other crimes, and sent to a juvenile detention center. As a teenager, Bonin began to molest children. After graduating from high school in 1965, he became engaged and also joined the U.S. Air Force. He served in the Vietnam War as an aerial gunner, earning a Good Conduct Medal in the process. During his service, Bonin risked his life to save another airman but also raped two soldiers at gunpoint, though this crime was apparently never reported. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in October 1968. Afterwards, Bonin returned to Connecticut to live with his mother but eventually moved to California.

A month later, Bonin began abducting and sexually assaulting youths, claiming five victims. He was arrested a year later, convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault, and sent to the Atascadero State Hospital to be medically treated. He was later moved to a proper prison after it was ruled that he couldn't be treated. However, Bonin was released in May 1974 after doctors concluded he was no longer a danger to others. Sixteen months later, he was arrested again and charged with the rape of 14-year-old hitchhiker David McVicker at gunpoint and the attempted abduction of another teenager, being sentenced to between one and fifteen years at California Men's Facility. He was released on October 11, 1978, and moved to Downey, where he lived in an apartment complex. Bonin eventually found work as a truck driver and began to date a girl. In Downey, he became acquainted with his neighborn, Everett Fraser, and became an attendee at the parties Fraser held at his apartment. During one of these parties, he met and became acquainted with a factory worker and part-time magician named Vernon Butts and a Texas native named Gregory Matthews Miley.

Murders, Arrest and Execution
"I'd still be killing, I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time."

Bonin's first murder victim was thirteen-year-old hitchhiker Thomas Glen Lundgren, who was last seen leaving his house before being abducted by both Bonin and Vernon Butts. Later, Bonin was arrested again for raping a seventeen-year-old boy but was released due to an administrative error. After his release, he was driven home by Everett Fraser, to whom he constantly said that no one was going to testify against him again. Two months later, Bonin and Butts abducted seventeen-year-old Mark Shelton; he was raped and entered in a fatal state of shock, which resulted in his death. His body was then dumped in San Bernardino County. A day later, they killed seventeen-year-old hitchhiker Markus Crabs at his home, then dumped his body alongside a Malibu freeway. Several days later, they abducted and killed fifteen-year-old Donald Ray Hyden, and his body was found in a dumpster near the Ventura Freeway. Two weeks later, Bonin and Butts abducted seventeen-year-old David Murillo while he was cycling to a movie theater. He was lured to their van, and there, he was raped, bludgeoned, and strangled to death. Eight days later, they abducted and killed eighteen-year-old Robert Wirostek while he was cycling to work. On November 29, Bonin and Butts abducted an unidentified boy, who was beaten and strangled to death before being dumped in Kern County.

A day later, Bonin abducted, raped, and strangled seventeen-year-old Frank Dennis Fox, whose nude body was found two days later alongside a highway five miles east of San Diego. Ten days later, fifteen-year-old John Kilpatrick was abducted, killed, and his body dumped in Rialto. On January 1, 1980, Bonin mutilated and strangled sixteen-year-old Michael Francis McDonald. Though his body was found soon after, it was not identified until March 24. On February 3, with the help of Gregory Miley, Bonin stole the wallet of fifteen-year-old hitchhiker Charles Miranda before raping and strangling the boy to death with a tire iron. Hours later, they abducted twelve-year-old James Macabe while he waited for his bus to show up and take him to Disneyland. The boy was raped, beaten, and strangled to death with his own T-shirt; and his body was found days later alongside a dumpster in Walnut. On March 14, Bonin abducted eighteen-year-old Ronald Gaitlin. He was beaten and sodomized with an ice pick before being strangled to death, and his body was found a day later in Duarte. One week later, Bonin lured fourteen-year-old Glen Barker to his van, where he was raped, beaten, and burned with a lit cigarette before being strangled to death. Hours later, Bonin abducted fifteen-year-old Russell Rugh from a bus stop in Garden Grove. Like Barker, he was beaten and strangled to death. Both bodies were dumped in the Cleveland National Forest and found on March 23.

Days later, Bonin offered a ride home to seventeen-year-old William Ray Pugh and he accepted it. Minutes later, Bonin asked Pugh if he wanted to have sex; Pugh panicked and ignored him for several minutes before attempting to leave the van, but he was grabbed by the collar and dragged to the passenger seat. He then said how he enjoyed picking up hitchhikers and strangling them to death, terrifying Pugh even more. Strangely enough, Pugh was driven to his home without being assaulted. Days later, with the help of Pugh himself, Bonin lured fifteen-year-old Harry Todd Turner to the van, and there, Turner was sodomized by him and savagely beaten and bludgeoned by Pugh before being strangled with his own T-shirt by Bonin. On April 10, he abducted sixteen-year-old Steven Wood and strangled him to death. Hours later, he abducted and killed an eighteen-year-old acquaintance of his named Lawrence Sharp, beating and strangling him; his body was found behind a Westminster gas station. Three weeks later, Bonin and Butts lured nineteen-year-old supermarket employee Darin Kendrick to their van, and there, he was forced to drink hydrochloric acid and then stabbed with an icepick. His body was dumped near the Artesia Freeway, where it was eventually found. On May 19, Bonin abducted fourteen-year-old Sean King and strangled him to death, then dumped his body in Yucaipa. Nine days later, Bonin invited nineteen-year-old homeless drifter James Munro to his house. He did not kill Munro, but offered him a chance of employment at the Montebello delivery firm.

During the Freeway Killer investigation, a now-arrested William Pugh heard details about the case and said to a counselor that Bonin might be the killer. The counselor reported this to the police, resulting in an interview with Pugh. With Bonin as the prime suspect, police investigated his past and found that he was arrested for sexually assaulting boys. As a result, Detective John St. John ordered a surveillance team to monitor Bonin and his movements. On June 2, despite the monitoring, Bonin and Munro managed to lure eighteen-year-old Steven Jay Wells from a bus stop and kill him. On June 11, the surveillance team noticed Bonin luring a fifteen-year-old boy known only as Harold T. The team followed Bonin to a parking lot, where they arrested him in the act of assaulting the boy. In custody, Bonin confessed to abducting, raping, and killing 21 boys and young men, with Butts as his primary accomplice. Despite his confession, police believe that he may have murdered even more people. Bonin's accomplices were all arrested soon afterwards: Butts was arrested on July 25 and charged with four murders, Munro was arrested on July 31 and charged with the murder of Steven Wells, and Miley was arrested and charged with the murder of Charles Miranda and James Macabe. They all agreed to testify against Bonin in order to avoid the death penalty.

Bonin was linked to many of the murders by physical evidence. On November 5, 1981, his trial started in Los Angeles County, where he was charged with twelve of the murders relating to the victims whose bodies were found within the particular jurisdiction. After the trial ended, a jury deliberated for six days and found Bonin guilty of ten of the murders, acquitting him of the deaths of Thomas Lundgren and Sean King, Lundgren because Bonin explicitly denied involvement, King because Bonin led police to his body and was exonerated by a related plea deal. In March 1983, Bonin went to trial in Orange County for four other murders and was found guilty later that year. He was executed on February 23, 1996, being the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California. As with his accomplices, Butts hanged himself with a towel while awaiting trial on January 11, 1981. Munro was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life for the second-degree murder of Steven Wells and is currently incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison. William Pugh was sentenced to a six-year sentence for the voluntary manslaughter of Harry Todd Turner. Gregory Miley was sentenced to a term of 25 years to life for the murder of Charles Miranda and is currently incarcerated at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison.

Modus Operandi
Bonin's victims were young male hitchhikers, schoolboys, and male prostitutes. They were either enticed or forced into his camper van and when inside, they were bound hand and foot with handcuffs, wire, or cord. They were then raped, tortured, and killed by a variety of ways, mostly by a signature "windlass" strangulation method. After killing them, their bodies were dumped alongside freeways in southern California. He was also assisted by Butts, Munro, Pugh, and Miley in a minimum total of twelve murders.

Known Victims

 * Unspecified dates: Numerous unnamed children
 * Unspecified dates during the Vietnam War: Two unnamed soldiers
 * November 17, 1968: Unnamed youth
 * Unspecified dates from late 1968 to early 1969: Four unnamed youths, 12-18
 * 1975:
 * August: David McVicker, 14
 * Unspecified date: Unnamed boy
 * 1979:
 * May 28: Thomas Glen Lundgren, 13
 * Summer: Unnamed man, 17
 * August 4: Mark Shelton, 17
 * August 5: Markus Crabs, 17
 * August 27: Donald Ray Hyden, 15
 * September 9: David Murillo, 17
 * September 17: Robert Wirostek, 18
 * November 29: Unnamed male, 19
 * November 30: Frank Dennis Fox, 17
 * December 10: John Kilpatrick, 15
 * 1980:
 * January 1: Michael Francis McDonald, 16
 * February 3: Charles Miranda and James Macabe:
 * Charles Miranda, 15
 * James Macabe, 12
 * March 14: Ronald Gatlin, 18
 * March 21: Glenn Barker and Russell Rugh:
 * Glenn Barker, 14
 * Rusell Rugh, 15
 * March 24: Harry Todd Turner, 15
 * April 10: Steven Wood and Lawrence Sharp:
 * Steven Wood, 16
 * Lawrence Sharp, 18
 * April 29: Darin Kendrick, 19
 * May 19: Sean King, 14
 * June 2: Steven Jay Wells
 * June 11: Harold T., 15

On Criminal Minds
Bonin is similiar to serial killer Ben Bradstone. Both were ephebophilic serial killers who targeted high-risk victims, such as prostitutes, as well as other victims; abducted, raped, and tortured their victims (one of whom was forced to ingest acid); and killed their victims stabbing them (though that was only one of Bonin's killing methods) in areas of their body such as their genitals and neck.

Bonin is also similiar to budding serial killer Hugh Rollins. Both Both were hebephilic killers who were put in orphanages as children; were registered sex offenders; abducted, raped, and strangled their victims (though that was only one of Bonin's killing methods); and killed their victims to ensure that they would never be arrested again.

Bonin is also similar to serial rapist-turned-killer Michael Kosina. Both were serial killers, rapists, and abductors who committed sexual offenses prior to their murders; committed their murders with accomplices; had M.O.s that involved abducting, beating, raping, and strangling their victims; and killed their victims so they would never get arrested for their crimes