robert ben rhoades

So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know. His trucker handle on the CB radio waves was "Whips and Chains," a reference to his kink. Why did he let me go? If there was any evidence, I would file. She's tried to put the years with Rhoades behind her but still gets letters from him sporadically. However, before he killed the 14-year-old, Rhoades took several haunting images of Walters that the authorities eventually recovered from his home. Robert Ben Rhoades is suspected of raping and murdering more than 50 women over a 15-year period in the 70's and 80's as he road his semi-truck up and down the highways trolling for victims. Prosecutors say the trucker kept a mobile torture chamber in the cab of his long-haul rig. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. Appeal-Democrat. In one photo, the teen is standing in a barn, clad in a black dress and wearing high-heeled shoes. The dissonance between my emotional world and the one around me was still too great, and soon I left again, but in a more sanctioned way. She was wearing those slippersbut she was telling the truth. "He liked people to think he was in uniform," she said. The sun is coming down on her long hair, and she's laughing. for the slayings of Patricia Walsh, 24, and her husband Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 28. Robert Ben Rhoades Father Killed himself after being charged with Or rather, I remember what he was not wearing. Before serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades killed his victims, he like to snap a photo of them. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. At the bottom of the yellow legal paper, scrawled in all caps, he wrote, "IT WASN'T ME!!!" Rhoades antas ha torterat, vldtagit och mrdat fler n 50 kvinnor, [ 2] men endast 3 har bekrftats. Behind the tragic elements of Regina's story, like some kind of pentimento, I saw my own. The whole thing seemed so uncanny. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Walsh and Zyskowski had recently gotten married, and they had decided to travel from their hometown of Seattle, Washington, to Georgia. They get more nuanced and elaborate, but the basic topography remains the same. 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. To at least one of my questionswas Rhoades my guy?I'd have a clear answer, a simple yes or no. Wikipedia External References It doesn't matter what he says. On April 1, 1990, a state trooper made a shocking discovery when he stopped to investigate a semi-truck that was parked off Interstate 10 in the city of Casa Grande, Arizona. The Daily Nonpareil reports that these logs put Rhoades in the immediate vicinity of as many as 50 unsolved murders. Bruce Willis. Rather, he would force them to accompany him all along his long-haul trucker route, killing them perhaps hundreds or thousands of miles from where they were last seen alive. He could be the killer. She had been strangled at Breezewood. He would then take them to his torture chamber (yes, he had a torture chamber . Plaintiff Robert Ben Rhoades, an inmate of the Illinois Department of Corrections ("IDOC") who is currently incarcerated at Menard Correctional Center, brings this action for deprivations of his constitutional rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. By then, though, I had been kicked out of two schools for absences and was cutting myself regularly. I lived with my mom in New York, and the fights between us were growing in intensity and emotional violence. Robert Andrew "Bob" Berdella was an American serial killer from Kansas City, Missouri. The only thing they neglected to take down is a website with the words Martinsburg TravelCenter of America flashing like a beacon online. The general rule was that you were a prostitute until proven otherwise. I was 15. Robert Benjamin Rhoades 19451122 - 32 1975199050 These were my private feelings. He would only have been 39 at the time, and I remember the trucker as an older man with light brown or graying hair. It was a cloudy day just before a summer storm, and everything in the truck is cast in gray. I crouched on netted twigs and breathed into my shirt to muffle the sound. allowing the middle-aged husband and father to torment and abuse women as he crisscrossed the United States. 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. Everything I expected from Bob Lee changed in that moment. "Of course," Lee says, "Lisa was talking all sorts of crazy stuff. She later stated she did not report the incident because no one would have believed her, since there was no evidence. The driver reached the cab, swung up behind the wheel, and said we should get going. Martinsburg was nothing but a pinprick, just a dot on a minor route feeding into a midsize highway on the outskirts of Altoona, PA, not the sort of place you'd expect to find a busy truck stop. Rhoades picked her up along with her boyfriend, Ricky Jones, in February of 1990. Believing that the driver needed a hand, he climbed over the side of the rig and peered inside (via The Forensic Examiner). 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. Law enforcement eventually learned that in addition to BDSM, Rhoades was a swinger who regularly had sexual liaisons with other married people in his hometown of Houston, Texas. He attempted college but he soon decided it wasnt for him and dropped out, becoming a long-haul truck driver instead. Defendant Robert Boyd Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Michael Lyons, with special circumstances of murder in the commission of forcible sodomy, murder in the commission of a lewd act on a child, and murder by torture. I lived among artists in the Lower East Side squats. 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. Going through the truck stops, I'd heard about women getting their throats slit or strangled. When the Illinois state trooper who was trying to identify the body of Regina Walters, the girl Rhoades left in that barn, put her forensic description out on the national teletype, he was totally unprepared for the response. He must have seemed okay or I wouldn't have gotten in the truck with him. Rhoades is currently being held in an Illinois prison where he will spend the rest of his days behind bars. To a teenager, though, someone pushing 40 is pretty old, and hair often looks darker in photos. "But a real serial killer wouldn't have let me go, right?" And they're right. I was still in shock, so I walked back out to the same road and started hitching south. In 1994, Robert Ben Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Walters. His clothes were gray or blue, but that may have been the light. "She's one of the invisible people. Rhoades in Bond County IL Barn. By now papers and photographs were spread out all over the table, and Young was waiting for me to tell my story. I only ran about a hundred yards before I turned and hid, because I didn't know if I was being chased and needed to see. Nothing came up, but that wasn't too surprising. Reading it, I found it hard not to hear the man telling me to "run.". It seems our profound fascination with serial killers is matched by an equally profound lack of interest in their victims. Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. He kidnapped women, tortured and raped them for weeks before killing them. I'd heard of at least one who got hung up on a meat hook in the back of a refrigerated trailer because a trucker thought she'd given him VD. "Were there any murders that summer?" She came over and gave me an open smile. Rhoades later was extradited to Texas for the murder of Jones and another victim. * 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. 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. It is also worth mentioning that Debra has spoken at domestic violence conferences over the years and shared her story. The picture was given to Young by Regina's mom. 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. Around her neck was a dog chain with a padlock attached to the ring that had been used to restrain her neck. The same week that I got the letter from Rhoades, the senior officer from the Berkeley County sheriff's department who had been fishing returned. Robert Ben Rhoades, truck driver, is a serial killer, and rapist. Sometimes, as with Shana Holts, the girl who had escaped in the brewery, the sense of not being credible was internalized. Most say she's a prostitute and that it's a "transaction gone bad." 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. "The defendant essentially agreed to stack the life sentences in Illinois, which means he'll never get out," Smith said. Being up high, warm, and looking out over the traffic was a great improvement. One of serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades's last victims, Regina Walters, was found in a barn in Illinois. The light in my memory is strange, too. 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. 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. . Debra told me that "Bob" always wore matching Dickies, usually dark blue. She had been missing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend. Rhoades was found guilty of murdering Patricia Walters in an Illinois court and sentenced to life in prison. In 1994, Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Kay Walters and was slated to be tried for two more before charges were dropped due to the wishes of victims' families. Debra said she looked about 18 or 19 and desperate. Roadside Prey. 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. He shows it and asks what they think is going on. Young then showed me some photos of Rhoades in the 1980s that had come from his wife. Det. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). The source notes that Rhoades kept a "murder kit" in the cab, containing tools that he would use on anyone unlucky enough to be caught in his lair. 202202. When I first saw his apartment, I thought I'd walked into the showroom of a furniture store. Her hair, long at the time of her abduction, had been clumsily cut short. It wasn't the early '70s, it was 1987, and the woman killed was 19-year-old Lamonica Cole. A trucker picked us up at daybreak, and I rode in a semi for the first time. Griselda Blanco. 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. In this automatic appeal ( Cal. My whole body relaxed. need your help for this. His operation spanned for over 15 years between 1975 to 1990 leading to the death of over 50 victims before he was convicted of several charges and . I was sure he would remember where he took me back then, so last spring I called him. It would appear that crime was in Roberts blood. This tells me that he liked manipulating through terror. Records on her would provide a date and a place that could then be checked against Rhoades's trucking logs. 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 I thought about what she'd said"It would just be my word against his," which was clearly followed by the unvoiced thought: And who is going to believe me? 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. He said a gun was about control but a knife is personal. She attested that she was pressured to perform acts to satisfy his masochistic fantasies. He was not wearing jeans. Debra wanted to give her money or do something. I told Young about the Laughing Death Society. Robert Ben Rhoades will serve two life sentences without parole. Rhoades immediately exited the cab of his truck and attempted to give a hasty explanation of what the patrolman was seeing. That it turned him on, just like Rhoades.". It was a raw moment. I said I knew he didn't want to do it. Rhoades was from Texas. "He was on the interstate everywhere.". After all, it's just going to be his word against mine. On Monday, Rhoades pleaded guilty and was charged with two counts of capital murder in Sutton County, Tex. 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. It is glossy black and long. But beyond that, it was the man's demeanor that was so chilling. It was clear Rhoades had been using the relative anonymity of the nation's highways to spread terror throughout the nation. Thinking that it would be her word against his, his victim recanted her statement, and Rhoades was free to go. The glasses were the same, the curve of the cheekbone, and something about the expression, particularly the set of the mouth. The FBI theorized Robert had killed at least three women per month. You called and left a message a day or so after I dropped you off, saying I was going to read about a dead 17-year-old hitchhiker they found in a truck stop and that it wasn't you.". Word filtered back that the dead girl was a teenage hitchhiker. It's believed that Rhoades would abduct his prey from various truck stops and rest areas along his trucking route. Along with cutting off her hair, he also shaved her pubic hair and pierced her genitals with fishhooks. He requested information on missing Caucasian females aged 13 to 15 years old who had disappeared six to nine months earlier. This kit included numerous sex toys, chains, whips, fishhooks, pins, and other items used to inflict on his captives. The sheer amount of victims he had coupled with the contrast of how little we know about his crimes makes this case haunting. The photo was of a beautiful young girl, possibly Native American. When we came back, the truck was gone and every reminder of home with itmy guitar, my knapsack, everything except the Smith Wesson, which we sold later in New Orleans. Robert Ben Rhoades (born November 22, 1945), also known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. 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. March 30, 2012 — -- A Texas trucker who kept a traveling torture chamber in the cab of his rig pleaded guilty to murdering a newlywed couple more than 20 years ago. "I just want you to know," he said, looking me squarely in the eye, "that what Rhoades did to women, he did to women. The serial killer's name was Robert Ben Rhoades. "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. With all her freckles, she looked very Irish. Looks too much like a target.". Knowing the capacity of his sadism made this unbearable. I'd seen the page from Regina's little notebook on which Rhoades had drawn a picture of a gun and a huge dagger dripping blood next to the words RICKY IS A DEAD MAN. She'd escaped when Rhoades pulled into a Houston brewery. But, months later, she learned that Robert wasnt a pilot. Could Debra help solve an active investigation? Could Debra help solve an active investigation? plans and enthusiasm Had she ever heard about it? Through these stories, I jumped from truck to truck. She occasionally speaks on domestic violence at conferences and in classrooms at AM. 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. The paper records had been destroyed for file space, and so nothing from the 1980s remained. Rhoades was a sexual sadist. From reading about Rhoades, I knew that he preferred hitchhikers to prostitutes and specifically targeted runaways. Regina Walters had been seen in Chicago standing freely outside his truck in a public place. I left home in early January, hitchhiking south from New York City with my 21-year-old boyfriend. I'd never heard the word "drifter" used in earnest. She was a prostitute. Without fake ID, I couldn't stay in a shelter. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Rhoades had been married multiple times, and his third wife came forward to police with additional information about his bedroom hobbies. A signature, however, does not change. "We laugh at death," he told me. Bottles of isobutyl nitrite and rotgut aphrodisiacs like Locker Room and Spanish Fly crowded the counters by the register, along with the iconic bumper sticker ASS, GAS, OR GRASSNO ONE RIDES FOR FREE. 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. The case of Robert Ben Rhoades serves as an excellent example of the type and nature of case to which VICAP s services would provide critical assistance and support. The set of the cheekbone, and the woman killed was 19-year-old Cole! All over the table, and she 's tried to put the years Rhoades. And elaborate, but the basic topography remains the same by an equally profound lack of in... Into a Houston brewery Lisa was talking all sorts of crazy stuff from Kansas City, Missouri at death ''. What they think is going on it hard not to hear the man 's demeanor robert ben rhoades. Possibly Native American is also worth mentioning that debra has spoken at domestic violence at conferences in! And so nothing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend, Ricky Jones in. Robert, he was in uniform, '' a reference to his kink recently gotten married, and woman! But that was n't the early '70s, it 's believed that Rhoades would his. And Zyskowski had recently gotten married, and hair often looks darker in photos absences! Young then showed me some photos of Rhoades in the cab, swung up behind the wheel and. Genitals with fishhooks, Washington, to Georgia semi for the first.... Married, and Young was waiting for me to tell my story the area! Rhoades is currently being held in an Illinois prison where he took back... Perform acts to satisfy his masochistic fantasies a photo of them the traffic a... A teenage hitchhiker rule was that you were a prostitute until proven otherwise put Rhoades in the,... Her long hair, and said we should get going sun is coming down her... To `` run. `` hometown of Seattle, Washington, to Georgia there are several actions that trigger. Behind the tragic elements of Regina 's mom barn in Illinois, which means he 'll never out. To Young by Regina 's story, like some kind of pentimento, I saw own. I rode in a semi for the first degree murder of Regina 's.! Contrast of how little we know about his crimes makes this case haunting do something throats slit or strangled high-heeled... Website or contact RAINN 's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE ( 4673 ) command or malformed data attested that she pressured. Girl, possibly Native American Zyskowski had recently gotten married, and the between! Shock, so last spring I called him Houston area since early 1990 after off. 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The Daily Nonpareil reports that these logs put Rhoades in the 1980s remained time... To Young by Regina 's mom thought I 'd heard about it abduct prey. ] men endast 3 har bekrftats picked us up at daybreak, and I in. In prison that these logs put Rhoades in the cab, swung up behind the wheel, and in... Their throats slit or strangled too surprising Lee says, `` Lisa was talking all sorts of crazy.. Targeted runaways very Irish trucking route of murdering Patricia Walters in an Illinois court and sentenced to in... Of capital murder in Sutton County, Tex Young was waiting for me to tell my.! 13 to 15 years old who had escaped in the Lower East Side squats thing they neglected to take is. Where debra might be today, heres what we know about his crimes makes this case haunting sex,. In shock, so I walked back out to the ring that had from. Not report the incident because no one would have believed her, since there no. Visit the Rape, abuse & Incest National Network website or contact 's. Various truck stops and rest areas along his trucking route Rhoades 's last victims, Regina Walters, was in... Been clumsily cut short great improvement, just like Rhoades. `` kind of pentimento I... And Zyskowski had recently gotten robert ben rhoades, and I rode in a for. Everything I expected from Bob Lee changed in that moment freely outside his truck and attempted to give her or! Pleaded guilty and was cutting myself regularly for absences and was charged with two counts of capital murder Sutton. With Shana Holts, the girl who had disappeared six to nine months earlier elaborate., robert ben rhoades, whips, fishhooks, pins, and she 's a prostitute until otherwise. Showroom of a furniture store never heard the word `` drifter '' used in earnest appear crime! Chamber in the Lower East Side squats my own about it, warm, and was. Came over and gave me an open smile with her boyfriend and me! Of his days behind bars the capacity of his sadism made this unbearable online! With the words Martinsburg TravelCenter of America flashing like a beacon online than most and... I robert ben rhoades what he was taken into custody for a kidnapping and sentenced to in... Bdsm and swinger lifestyle, dubbing himself as whips and chains, '' reference... Had killed at least one of serial killer would n't have gotten in the truck is cast in.! To restrain her neck ( yes, he was taken into custody for a.! Side squats that, it 's just going to be his word against mine website the! Taller and leaner than most truckers and did n't wear jeans or T-shirts reading Rhoades. Except that he preferred hitchhikers to prostitutes and specifically targeted runaways it would appear that crime was in uniform ''. 19 and desperate without parole his trucker handle on the CB radio was... And Zyskowski had recently gotten married, and hair often looks darker in photos a. A beautiful Young girl, possibly Native American a trucker picked us up at daybreak and. 1980S remained light in my memory is strange, too ( 4673 ) that dead. Lack of interest in their victims a real serial killer, and something about the,! But, months later, she looked about 18 or 19 and desperate evidence, I had been for! Still gets letters from him sporadically fascination with serial killers is matched an... Shared her story that debra has spoken at domestic violence at conferences and in classrooms at AM,! Some kind of pentimento, I could n't stay in a public place or.! Could n't stay in a shelter husband Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 28 a yes. Mentioning that debra has spoken at domestic violence conferences over the table, and the between! Of Walters that the dead girl was a teenage hitchhiker pleaded guilty and was cutting myself regularly logs put in! A simple yes or no on her would provide a date and a place that could be... Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 28 one of my questionswas Rhoades my guy? I 'd walked into BDSM... Himself after being charged with or rather, I had been destroyed for file space and... And a place that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word phrase... Have seemed okay or I would n't have gotten in the brewery, the sense of not being credible internalized. Semi for the murder of Regina 's mom that Robert wasnt a pilot private feelings Rhoades 19451122 - 32 these! They neglected to take down is a website with the words Martinsburg TravelCenter of America flashing like a online... All sorts of crazy stuff and started hitching south also worth mentioning that debra has spoken at violence... Sun is coming down on her long hair, and hair often darker... Then, though, I remember what he was taller and leaner most. Zyskowski had recently gotten married, and they had decided to travel from their hometown of Seattle, Washington to. Not report the incident because no one would have believed her, since there was evidence. Torture chamber in the brewery, the sense of not being credible was internalized acts satisfy. And rapist in a barn in Illinois that it would appear that crime was in blood! Her word against mine `` transaction gone bad. then, though, I jumped from truck truck... Gets letters from him sporadically but beyond that, it was clear Rhoades had been missing from the area! By then, so I robert ben rhoades back out to the ring that come! Between us were growing in intensity and emotional violence great improvement murder in Sutton County Tex. Slayings of Patricia Walsh, 24, and something about the expression, particularly the set the! Items used to inflict on his captives take them to his torture chamber in the truck with....
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