He came around behind her and grabbed her shoulders. "So was the trucker I met a true psychopath?" So I went back to hitchhiking in circles and discovered a state of half-consciousness wherein I could be asleep and not asleep at the same time. In the summer of 1985, somewhere near Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, the body of a young woman was pulled from a truck-stop Dumpster. Believing that the driver needed a hand, he climbed over the side of the rig and peered inside (via The Forensic Examiner). Robert Benjamin Rhoades, fdd 22 november 1945, r en amerikansk seriemrdare och vldtktsman, aktiv mellan 1989 och 1990. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Robert Boyd Rhoades was sentenced Friday to die by lethal injection for the rape, torture and murder of an 8-year-old Yuba City boy kidnapped three years ago while walking. On my way out, I destroyed every single picture of me over the age of 12 so that there would be nothing to give to the police. Young was a profiler for the bureau as well as a field agent. "What I find interesting is that he told you about the body of the girl and talked about the Laughing Death Society while he was still driving. The photos stayed in my head, though, and with them came questions: What if the man who pulled the knife on me really did murder the hitchhiker? Instagram: @openshuddetspodcast. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know. the Murderpedia project stay alive. In the end, Debra was able to escape Roberts fury and worked on moving on. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Robert Ben Rhoades was set to be free on work release when Illinois police identified the body of 14-year-old Regina Walters. Prosecutors believe Rhoades may have put many other women through the cycle of "kidnap, torture, and kill," but Smith said they do not know how many women he may have hurt, since he traveled so much. Movie Actress. By the restaurant door was a young woman with a baby, trying to get a ride. I was sure he would remember where he took me back then, so last spring I called him. They were stringing crime tape around the Dumpster just as another state trooper rolled into the lot. To at least one of my questionswas Rhoades my guy?I'd have a clear answer, a simple yes or no. Being 16 and in college is an easier thing to talk about. I had just hitched a ride and was sitting in a nearby truck waiting for the driver to pay for gas so we could leave. What we do know about this dark story shines a light on the hell faced by as many as 50 women before they met their ultimate demise. I'd always read that she got away because Rhoades forgot to chain her in, but I found out from Young that she'd not been shackled when she escaped. I expected that to be the end of it, but I got another letter. Rhoades is currently being held in an Illinois prison where he will spend the rest of his days behind bars. While not all fifty cases have been tied to Rhoades yet and Rhoades himself has admitted to only three murders, the FBI has strong reason to believe that at his peak he was killing one to three women a month. Without looking back, I ran into the woods and hid. Listening to her, it occurred to me that this investigation of mine wasn't a detective novel. You didn't do it.". plans and enthusiasm The serial killer's name was Robert Ben Rhoades. He kept Walsh alive for an undisclosed amount of time, subjecting her to the same cruel treatment that he would later dole out to Walters. Robert Ben Rhoades, who is serving a life sentence in Illinois for killing a 14-year-old girl, pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder when he appeared before a West Texas judge . All rights reserved. I'd put off writing Rhoades, mostly because I didn't want him to write me back. Police looked at the photos, noting that the growth of Regina Walters' hair and the changing color of her bruises meant that she had been in Robert Ben Rhoades' clutches for several weeks (per All That's Interesting). Approximately one month after killing Patricia Walsh, Robert Ben Rhoades picked up 18-year-old Ricky Lee Jones and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Regina Kay Walters, not far from their hometown of Pasadena, Texas. I lived with my mom in New York, and the fights between us were growing in intensity and emotional violence. : r/pics r/pics 10 yr. ago Posted by punkindrublicrpp Before serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades killed his victims, he like to snap a photo of them. He requested information on missing Caucasian females aged 13 to 15 years old who had disappeared six to nine months earlier. The barn had a loft with wind coming through broken slats and was surrounded by the same kind of brown grassy field and frozen mud. He held Patricia captive in his makeshift torture room in the bed of his truck for over one week where he continuously raped and tortured the poor woman. She walked back out onto the road and hitchhiked south. She also said Rhoades often left his gun at home in the beginning and could have used a knife. The original Rhoades investigation had woven a complex web, entangling local and federal agencies in five different states. We both had our own systems, our own rituals, and our own beliefs about what people were really like and how they acted under pressure. In January 1990, Douglas Zyskowski and his wife Patricia Candace Walsh were hitchhiking to Georgia from Seattle on their honeymoon when they accepted a ride from Robert. One of serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades's last victims, Regina Walters, was found in a barn in Illinois. The sentence of death had been a possibility because on May 6, 1992, the State had filed a notice that it intended to seek the death penalty. But to ex-wife Debra Davis, when they. "There was that hitchhiker. One library archivist explained that I was looking for the kind of news nobody wanted to read. Robert Ben Rhoades: From 1989 to 1990, Robert Ben Rhoades is believed to have tortured, raped and killed more than fifty women, although he has only three confirmed victims. He was not wearing jeans. Looks too much like a target.". The trucker went to pay for gas, and my boyfriend and I went to use the bathroom. Through these stories, I jumped from truck to truck. She was wearing those slippersbut she was telling the truth. I remember driving around Ohio howling along with Bruce Springsteen and buzzed out of my brain on Diet Cokes and being sad that the ride ended because it was a safe one and I had almost been able to be myself for a second, but that second had passed. The 40+ Best Companies To Work For By The Beach in Southern California. Robert Ben Rhoades, born November 22, 1945, in Council Bluffs, Iowa turned out to be one of the most sadistic sexual predators that the US had ever encountered. Rhoades is currently serving life sentences in Illinois for three murders. However, she fell asleep shortly after climbing into the vehicle, and when she awoke, she found Rhoades had placed restraints around her wrists and ankles. Eventually, law enforcement discovered Robert Ben Rhoades was a serial killer, in addition to being a sexual sadist who enjoyed torturing women and girls. Like Regina, I also had a little journal and probably wrote something in it that night, because it was far too cold to sleep. "He was on the interstate everywhere.". "That was the problem with him," Smith said. Robert Ben Rhoades' love for the BDSM scene wasn't something that he kept a secret. Around the same time that Robert joined the military, his father was arrested for molesting a twelve-year-old girl and ultimately committed suicide while awaiting trial. The time had come to do it anyway. Modes of operation change. The more I learned about Rhoades, the more I saw parallels between us. Once out on the road, though, he changed. People Also Viewed . Similarly, Rhoades' hometown newspaper also noted that he was suspected of the torture, rape, and . Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. You were not under his control. I asked. At the time, he was struggling himself, living with several other guys in a house where you flushed the toilet with a bucket of water and working what little construction there was in the county. As per the show, when Debra decided to leave the next day, he flew into a rage, physically assaulting her. Why didn't I go to anyone? I only saw the man with the knife. According to the FBI, quite a few. She looks happy. He then tried to join the police force but was ultimately denied due to his robbery conviction. From 1975 to 1990 he is believed to have tortured,. He shaved her head and pubic hair, pierced her with fishing hooks, dressed her up in a black dress and heels, and photographed her in moments of terror, then killed her with a garrote made of baling wire, leaving her one-hundred-pound body to decompose in a barn in Illinois off Interstate 70. Without fake ID, I couldn't stay in a shelter. ", Inside the briefcase, officers found dildos, alligator clips, handcuffs, leashes, and whips. I would file charges and sue him.". Ricky Lee Jones body has never been found. Robert Benjamin Rhoades (born November 22, 1945), also known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. Robert Ben Rhoades known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. *Some of the victims names have been changed. Akin to the murders of Douglas and Patricia, Robert killed Ricky immediately and disposed of his body but held Regina captive for a long period of time, periodically calling her father from a payphone. I knew from talking to the Martinsburg police that the truck stop had been under the jurisdiction of the Berkeley County sheriff. She hid there until she was sure she heard his truck leave. He'd told Shana Holts to "sit there and be a good girl." The trucker bought me lunch and didn't even try to have sex with me, which made him a prince in my world. I kept my eyes closed, stayed still, then rolled away from him, pretending I was still asleep. There was a Martinsburg truck stop somewhere in my story, and there was a dead 17-year-old hitchhiker. This former trucker is believed to have killed over 20 people spanning from 1975 to 1990. While I was hitchhiking, he was driving. She attested that she was pressured to perform acts to satisfy his masochistic fantasies. Sexual sadists in particular work off erotic maps established early on. The glasses were the same, the curve of the cheekbone, and something about the expression, particularly the set of the mouth. He was sentenced to life without parole at Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois. Ex-Wife Of Serial Killer Robert Ben Rhoades Speaks Out | Evil Lives Here: After the Evil. He wasn't nervous, angry, or excited. Debra Davis and Rhoades met in the early '80s at a Houston bar called Chipkikkers. Lee still uses the tape when he trains police detectives in interrogation. He was not wearing flannel. I finally got to Davis through agent Young. A week before the girl was found in the Dumpster, though, I'd gone to see my dad in Virginia. She didn't do what he expected. Among the photographs recovered from Rhoades' home while he was jailed was several of Walters. "Lot lizards" is what truckers call prostitutes who work truck stops, and since many drivers don't distinguish between hitchhikers and prostitutes, I was a lot lizard, too. These were my private feelings. The woods were blue in the gray light, which was either dusk or a coming storm. Maybe they would remember something the others hadn't. On April 1, 1990, Roberts murder spree finally came to an end. It was agent Young who recognized the small gap in Regina's teeth and noticed that a few freckles were in the same place. Silence fell over the Sacramento County courtroom as Judge Loyd H. Mulkey . Appeal-Democrat. I said he could do it in a few minutes. When I got to the part about the sudden switch in his behavior, she got excited. Jailed for kidnapping and assault, Rhoades had his house and truck combed over by investigators, who made some gruesome discoveries. Who was the girl in the Dumpster? Robert Benjamin Rhoades 19451122 - 32 1975199050 ", Vanessa Veselka is the author of Zazen (Red Lemonade), which won the 2012 PEN/ Bingham Prize for fiction, Apply Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon and save 25% Off your entire purchase, Target Circle: up to 50% Off with Target promo code, With Asos Promo Code you take 70% OFF Select styles, Michael Kors Promo Code: sign up for KORSVIP + Get 10% Off on First Order, 2023 Cond Nast. Robert Andrew "Bob" Berdella was an American serial killer from Kansas City, Missouri. "Don't you think that fact starts to rule him out? I wrote him back and told him that journalistic standards wouldn't allow me to pay for interviews. He was sentenced to life in prison. Now the whole Martinsburg truck stop had been swallowed by a Walmart Supercenter. Patricia was newly married to Douglas Zyzkowski. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Reading it, I found it hard not to hear the man telling me to "run.". Performance & security by Cloudflare. It was a raw moment. Holes in the ozone layer. VI, 11, subd. Every trucker I ever met had a gun, so the knife seemed significant. I stayed there until I saw the truck pull onto the interstate. Robert Ben Rhoades. In 1985 my biggest problem was sleep. However, shortly after they accepted a ride from Rhoades, the middle-aged trucker shot Zyskowski and dumped the 28-year-old's corpse near a Texas highway. Before serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades killed his victims, he like to snap a photo of them. "You see that, Debbie," he whispered in her ear. Candace however was not so lucky. I told Young about the Laughing Death Society. I don't remember much about him except that he was taller and leaner than most truckers and didn't wear jeans or T-shirts. , Debbie, '' Smith said tape around the Dumpster just as another trooper. 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