The girl, he said, "wasn't one of our own. I woke when it slowed for traffic. While I was hitchhiking, he was driving. She would be easy to dismiss. I stayed there until I saw the truck pull onto the interstate. Follows the disturbing story of truck driver Robert Ben Rhoades, whose obsession with violent sex prompted him to pick up prostitutes, runaways, and lonely women and torture them to death, a practice that went undetected for fifteen years. Rhoades didn't live a double life as much as a shadowed one. Read More: Where is Robert Ben Rhoades Now? He then killed her and dumped her body in Millard County, Utah. Back then, though, my thoughts weren't on misogyny; they were on logistics. We do the interview, but I don't take notes. Her eyes are partly closed, as if she's stoned or sleepy. "She's one of the invisible people. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. *Some of the victims names have been changed. How could she lack evidence? Watching the driver of my truck walk back across the wet asphalt, a second thought arose: It could be him. It is also worth mentioning that Debra has spoken at domestic violence conferences over the years and shared her story. Why didn't I go to anyone? If there are more murder confessions to make, there may be time yet for other families to find some semblance of closure and justice. There was only one word for woman on the CB, and that was beaver. Picture taken by the killer of Regina Kay Walters before her murder. "Of course," Lee says, "Lisa was talking all sorts of crazy stuff. I wrote him back and told him that journalistic standards wouldn't allow me to pay for interviews. A remembrance before rape, torture and murder. Games People Play was a bible for Rhoades. The time had come to do it anyway. But Rhoades held desires went well beyond the limits of consensual sexual activity. He'd told Shana Holts to "sit there and be a good girl." Without fake ID, I couldn't stay in a shelter. Sadly, while the remains of both Zyskowski and Walsh were discovered shortly after they were murdered, it took years for both of them to be identified and returned to their families. One library archivist explained that I was looking for the kind of news nobody wanted to read. 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. As many he would have picked up were transients themselves, they would most likely not be reported missing for some time after he abducted them. One snowy night several months later, I was hitchhiking through Amherst, Massachusetts, and a carful of students from Hampshire College picked me up and let me stay with them. He may be right, but certainly not because he's innocent. When rescued, she was wearing fuzzy lion slippers, talking secret prisons and being on a mission to see the presidentjust the kind of testimony that makes most detectives stop taking notes, since they're looking at someone who can't stand trial. The pair were on their way to attend a religious conference but sadly never made it. Drew Peterson, former police sergeant, was sentenced to 38 years for the murder of his 3rd wife, Kathleen Savio. Narrowing the field to those last seen around truck stops and rest areas, the bureau counted over 500 bodies, almost all women. Regina would end up being the main focal point in a photo that would later be deemed one of the most terrifying photographs in the world. * Only days before Regina Walters was taken, Rhoades had been detained by the police in Houston for the possible sexual assault and kidnapping of Holts. Robert kept her for over a week, torturing and raping her repeatedly. Nothing came up, but that wasn't too surprising. I kept my eyes closed, stayed still, then rolled away from him, pretending I was still asleep. The morning I left, I asked him to take me to the closest truck stop so I could get a ride going toward California. The original Rhoades investigation had woven a complex web, entangling local and federal agencies in five different states. 'Truck Stop Killer' Robert Ben Rhoades is thought to have tortured, raped and killed more than 50 women during a reign of terror lasting from 1975 to 1990. 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. Rhoades must have just picked her up, because he hasn't cut her hair yet. Robert Ben Rhoades Is A Member Of . "How many of those guys could there be?". It was a woman, probably in her midfifties. I left home in early January, hitchhiking south from New York City with my 21-year-old boyfriend. Robert Ben Rhoades Father Killed himself after being charged with Fondoleding a fourteen year old girl. I had not told him or anyone else how I felt about failing to go to the cops. Upon approaching Roberts vehicle he heard screaming and discovered a naked woman in the bed of his truck. 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. He was not wearing flannel. Criminal. She never reported the incident, as she had promised Robert. Young was a profiler for the bureau as well as a field agent. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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. She also claimed that Rhoades was bringing men into their home to act as her sex slaves. Then he said one word: Run. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a1905de5cd6c356 I finally spoke to a woman and asked if they had a homicide record for a girl who may have been found in the Martinsburg truck stop during the summer of 1985. Girls no one would miss. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know. His bearing shifted. After Evil: Master Manipulator. The Daily Nonpareil reports that these logs put Rhoades in the immediate vicinity of as many as 50 unsolved murders. It was a cloudy day just before a summer storm, and everything in the truck is cast in gray. I was sure he would remember where he took me back then, so last spring I called him. for the slayings of Patricia Walsh, 24, and her husband Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 28. It's more like a set of still photos. Lee told me that the final lines of Holts's police statement read, "I don't see any good in filing charges. Arizona state trooper Mike Miller was cruising along I-10 one April morning in 1990 when he noticed a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder of the highway. He even had a horse's bridle, which he had placed around the young woman's neck to immobilize and control her. Smith said prosecutors believe Rhoades killed Zyskowski relatively soon after picking him up and dumped his body along Interstate 10 in Ozona, Texas. It's just going to be my word against his. Then he started talking about the dead girl in the Dumpster and asked me if I'd ever heard of the Laughing Death Society. I crouched on netted twigs and breathed into my shirt to muffle the sound. Today, Robert, the Truckstop Killer, is 74 and is paying for his crimes, serving two life sentences in the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois. So I told him the truth, which I had not told othersthat I didn't say anything because I didn't think anyone would believe me. But Holts, 18 years old, had been on the street since she was 12. If we went missing, months could pass before a report was filed, and by then there was little to connect the missing person in one state with the decomposed remains in another. 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. People Also Viewed . I didn't recognize him from the initial photos, but as I found pictures of him as a younger man, his face came to seem more familiar. A month after Robert brutally murdered Douglas and Patricia, he picked up his next victim, an eighteen-year-old transient who lived in Houston. Waitresses were the first to kick you out. Anybody who pulls a knife on you in an enclosed space like a truck is terrifying. The question of what you do with your old SWAT jacket when you retire had never entered my mind. Her own sister had been on the street, and she was overwhelmed by the woman at the door and didn't want to just walk away. He was convicted for three murders, and slated to be tried for two more before charges were dropped due to the wishes of victims' families. Every trucker I ever met had a gun, so the knife seemed significant. It was off the side of the freeway and probably very much like the one Regina Walters was found in. I also knew the first thing he did was to get them into the back of his sleeper cab, which had anchor points for shackles. "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. That forced me into asking for rides in the hallway by the showers. 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 . Murder Victim. Last Name Rhoades #7. During the 80s, Robert was heavily into the BDSM and swinger lifestyle, dubbing himself as whips and chains. He continuously tried to involve his wife in his fantasies but she wasnt interested, so Robert found other ways to satisfy his sexual urges. Getting sleep was pretty easy with a boyfriend, because one of us could always stay awake. Roadside Prey. Stowing his paperwork, he released the brake. Robert Ben Rhoades (defendant), pursuant to negotiations with the State, on September 11, 1992, pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to imprisonment for natural life. Between Pennal and Rhoades, it's Rhoades they believe. Laying asleep next to her was the driver of the truck, Robert Ben Rhoades. One night on I-95, she hitched a ride from a stranger and endured the most terrifying moments of her life. Eventually, law enforcement discovered Robert Ben Rhoades was a serial killer, in addition to being a sexual sadist who enjoyed torturing women and girls. "The hairs on my arm stand up right now talking about it.". His eyes were greeted with a shocking scene. I had a guitar and a knapsack full of souvenirs of my girlhood: notes from friends, earrings, and song lyrics. The photo was of a beautiful young girl, possibly Native American. From 1975 to 1990 he is believed to have tortured,. According to the FBI, quite a few. The more I learned about Rhoades, the more I saw parallels between us. Even the guys who were trying to help had used it. "The defendant essentially agreed to stack the life sentences in Illinois, which means he'll never get out," Smith said. But then, Rhoades looks like a lot of guys. Debra met Robert at a bar in Houston, Texas, in the 1980s. I knew from talking to the Martinsburg police that the truck stop had been under the jurisdiction of the Berkeley County sheriff. Being up high, warm, and looking out over the traffic was a great improvement. Between the seats in the rear of the cab was a woman bound by chains. To a teenager, though, someone pushing 40 is pretty old, and hair often looks darker in photos. "He liked people to think he was in uniform," she said. It was clear Rhoades had been using the relative anonymity of the nation's highways to spread terror throughout the nation. Movie Actress. A report from 2012 stated that Debra lived in College Station, Texas. He then forced her to wear heels and a black dress before taking several photos of her, strangling her with baling wire, and leaving her body to decompose in the barn. I expected that to be the end of it, but I got another letter. Robert Ben Rhoades, a Houston trucker who kept a torture dungeon in the cab of his long-haul rig, accepted two life prison sentences http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-tx--serialkiller-texas,0,3734866.story Houston trucker already imprisoned in Illinois for murder avoids Texas death penalty with plea To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. She had been missing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend. Please enable javascript before you are allowed to see this page. In one, he relaxed on the grass in a park. Your IP: "Human memory is not like a video recording," they said. It would appear that crime was in Roberts blood. It brought her back to that terrifying night in 1985. His first known murder victims were 28-year-old Douglas Zyskowski and his wife, 24-year-old Patricia Walsh, a couple he'd picked up as hitchhikers at the end of 1989near El Paso, Texas. In the second installment of Death on the Open Road: Highway Homicides, we cover the case of evil serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades aka The Truck Stop Killer. He pulled the truck into a wooded area, took out a hunting knife, and told the girl to get into the bed of his truck. She was found running naked, screaming down a street in Houston with DNA all over her body, her head and pubic hair shaved, still with his chain around her neck. Born in Council Bluffs, IA #7. I needed visibility to stay alive. But beyond that, it was the man's demeanor that was so chilling. I said he could do it in a few minutes. Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. I only ran about a hundred yards before I turned and hid, because I didnt know if I was being chased. Javascript is required. Shana was a pretty girl with freckles and blank blue eyes. His clothes were gray or blue, but that may have been the light. Rhoades had been arrested in early 1990 for a similar kidnapping in Houston, in which he kept an 18-year-old girl in the cab of his truck for two weeks, shaving her pubic hair . He would then take them to his torture chamber (yes, he had a torture chamber . As a true sexual sadist, Rhoades would have been interested in a level of submission requiring no chains. Microchips in her brain. As a 15-year-old, the author left home and became a hitchhiker, hopping from semi to semi on the interstate. It allowed me to pretend not to hear scary red-flag comments so I could act dumb and get away later, and this is what I was doing that day, going through a tape case, chatting like an idiot and watching the driverwhich is why I saw him change. The natural light brought his hair closer to the color I remembered, and, again, the side view heightened the key similarities, his cheekbone shape, glasses, the expression; but as I had learned from the echo chamber of Martinsburgs, memory is strange territory. Or rather, I remember what he was not wearing. It had the same neutral arrogance. She had been missing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend. The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. She was the only person who asked me this, and of course I did. Not even the FBI knew that he had already tortured, raped, and killed at least two people along his routes. "You see that, Debbie," he whispered in her ear. I'd never heard the word "drifter" used in earnest. The body was found in 1990, but not identified until 1992. The rig was equipped with handcuffs on the ceiling, which enabled Rhoades to chain his female victims so that he could torture them before killing them. 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. Megan Fox. But his insistence that everything on board was consensual wasn't going to go without investigation by Miller, especially when a search of Rhoades revealed a loaded handgun. She'd been picked up in a truck stop, shackled into the back of the cab, tortured and raped for weeks. Behind the tragic elements of Regina's story, like some kind of pentimento, I saw my own. plans and enthusiasm Of the 200 people on a suspect list, almost all of them were long-haul truckers. "One thing I always did," I told Young, "was rifle through a trucker's cassette case as soon as we were out on the highway." I finally got to Davis through agent Young. "There's this compartment that's hidden completely from view other than between the seats," Steve Smith, first assistant for the 112th District Attorney's office in Texas, told ABCNews.com. Girls who'd run away. But Rhoades was cunning and highly charismatic. Rick Barnhart, Ed Russell, Troper Mike Miller. Young pulled out one last picture and slid it across to me. Upon searching Rhoades's vehicle, officials found he had converted his semi-truck into a mobile torture chamber, allowing the middle-aged husband and father to torment and abuse women as he crisscrossed the United States. Robert Ben Rhoades, 66, is already serving a life sentence without parole for the 1990 murder of 14-year-old runaway Regina Walters in Illinois. Walsh and Zyskowski, the newlywed victims, left Seattle in November 1989 to hitchhike to Georgia where they were going to preach the Christian gospel when Rhoades picked them up in Texas. This kit included numerous sex toys, chains, whips, fishhooks, pins, and other items used to inflict on his captives. Being 16 and in college is an easier thing to talk about. A signature, however, does not change. On the show, Debra talked about a point in the relationship where she found Robert with another woman at a party. He was convicted for three murders, and slated to be tried for two more before charges were dropped due to the wishes of victims' families. Robert Ben Rhoades is a 71 year old white male, 6' 1" 175 pounds, and currently resides in the Menard Correctional Facility in Chester Illinois. Rhoades was dressed that night as an airline pilot, and it was months before Davis found out he wasn't one. Robert Boyd Rhoades was sentenced to death Friday for the 1996 brutal attack on 8-year-old Michael Lyons. I called as soon as I landed. He picked up two of his other victims in Texas. She started to . Robert Ben Rhoades who is famously known as The 'Truck Stop Killer' is an American notorious serial killer and rapist who found taste in killing, raping and torturing young female teens. By the restaurant door was a young woman with a baby, trying to get a ride. Rhoades was first arrested when an Arizona state trooper found a screaming woman named Lisa Pennal* chained in the back of his cab. Click to reveal Her murder happened twenty-seven years ago and was essentially pre-Internet. 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. Robert Ben Rhoades, truck driver, is a serial killer, and rapist. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A few minutes later, I got up like nothing had happened. I remember coming down through the Blue Ridge Mountains in a truck with its brakes on fire and dropping over Chester Gap in the middle of the night when it was still hot and the air was loud with the chirping of bugs. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. At the time, she was out with friends when she came across Robert in a pilots uniform. Tall and square-jawed, Lee looked like he could probably still tackle a bank robber. Walters and Walsh had been held captive by Rhoades while he traveled the interstate highways in his truck. Debra had a difficult time coping with the news that Robert had tortured women and killed multiple people. I was 15. Though her remains were discovered within months of her death, it wasn't until 2003 that she was able to be positively identified (via The Daily Nonpareil). Rhoades whipped her repeatedly, causing red welts to appear all over her chest and back, and he had a briefcase in his truck, filled with toys and tools her used to sadistically torture and abuse the hitchhiker. When you get in a truck at a truck stop, everyone notices. I parked in front of the family travel plaza, then walked back past a sign that read TRUCKS ONLY. I had been a drifter. She was a drifter." From 1975 to 1990 he is believed to have tortured . Like a lemur in a canopy of trees, I barely saw the ground. It seems our profound fascination with serial killers is matched by an equally profound lack of interest in their victims. Behind him was a shoulder-high pink plastic castle. It was a made-up destination, a Grapes of Wrath narrative of brighter futures. 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