Several months before Walters and Jones climbed aboard Rhoades' big rig,Patricia Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski had the misfortune of crossing paths with the killer. I asked. creator of The Wicked Truth - a true crime blog https://ko-fi.com/fatim. "That was the problem with him," Smith said. He stopped responding to my questions. After all, it's just going to be his word against mine. We drove up to Ohio drinking Diet Coke and listening to Bruce Springsteen. : 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. It made sense. I spoke to a woman who had worked there a long time and told her about the dead hitchhiker while she fingered the gold cross on her neck and listened. Robert Benjamin Rhoades, fdd 22 november 1945, r en amerikansk seriemrdare och vldtktsman, aktiv mellan 1989 och 1990. 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 next morning, I drove to the Gateway Travel Plaza in Breezewood, Pennsylvania. She occasionally speaks on domestic violence at conferences and in classrooms at AM. But Rhoades held desires went well beyond the limits of consensual sexual activity. Robert's first confirmed victims were in 1990. He picked up two of his other victims in Texas. There was no safe way for me to get it. Believing that the driver needed a hand, he climbed over the side of the rig and peered inside (via The Forensic Examiner). Most Popular #231965. It said there had been a string of prostitute murders in truck stops in the area beginning in June of 1985, which was right on the edge of my time frame. "We don't have any records," she told me. I asked about the knife. 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. Rhoades looked like the guy who picked me up. The paper records had been destroyed for file space, and so nothing from the 1980s remained. "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. Recently, the New Jersey State Supreme Court handed down a statement on memory, describing it as complex and often unreliable. 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. I was on my own. In 1985 my biggest problem was sleep. Roadside Prey. Serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades kidnapped and tortured his victims inside a chamber set up inside his big rig truck. Rhoades' attorneys did not respond to requests for comment from ABCNews.com. I hitchhiked in Europe and settled in Vienna for a few years. This tells me that he liked manipulating through terror. 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. Criminals. the Murderpedia project stay alive. People don't leave home because things are going well; they leave because they feel they have to, and right or wrong, that's how I felt. 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. At the center of everything was my own breath. You didn't do it.". Young was a profiler for the bureau as well as a field agent. He was given two life sentences inTexas without the possibility of parole. She also claimed that Rhoades was bringing men into their home to act as her sex slaves. The victim began saying anything she could think of to try and save her own life. I asked. I said it was his choice. plans and enthusiasm Being up high, warm, and looking out over the traffic was a great improvement. Silence fell over the Sacramento County courtroom as Judge Loyd H. Mulkey . I needed to find rides and usually couldn't get into the restaurant. 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. 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. Walsh and Zyskowski had recently gotten married, and they had decided to travel from their hometown of Seattle, Washington, to Georgia. But Rhoades was cunning and highly charismatic. Among the photographs recovered from Rhoades' home while he was jailed was several of Walters. '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. From reading about Rhoades, I knew that he preferred hitchhikers to prostitutes and specifically targeted runaways. Wearing down from lack of sleep and trying to get a handle on my risk level, I began to work off a 1-to-5 scale of sexually aggressive behavior: You (the driver) kept your urges to yourself. Though his first confirmed murders didn't occur until 1990, one woman may have barely escaped with her life the year before. 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. 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. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. I spent a week on the road in Appalachia, visiting truck stops, interviewing the older truckers and waitresses. Sagittarius. The couple were traveling from Georgia to Seattle when they allegedly crossed paths with Rhoades, a long-haul trucker suspected of a decade of rape . Drew Peterson, former police sergeant, was sentenced to 38 years for the murder of his 3rd wife, Kathleen Savio. In her weeks with Rhoades, many drivers saw her, but somehow no alarm was raised. My emotions were a planet around which I spun like a moon. Upon approaching Roberts vehicle he heard screaming and discovered a naked woman in the bed of his truck. There was going to be no more talking. I did a search on towns named Martinsburg. Robert Benjamin Rhoades 19451122 - 32 1975199050 1983. Inside the cab of the truck was a woman, chained to the wall and screaming, with only a pair of slippers on her feet. The trucker went to pay for gas, and my boyfriend and I went to use the bathroom. She'd escaped when Rhoades pulled into a Houston brewery. This modus operandi makes it difficult for authorities to determine how many victims Robert Ben Rhoades had. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a1905de5cd6c356 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 1989 near El Paso, Texas. "The defendant essentially agreed to stack the life sentences in Illinois, which means he'll never get out," Smith said. Rhoades immediately exited the cab of his truck and attempted to give a hasty explanation of what the patrolman was seeing. There was always a sick mom or dead grandparent involved, and I was almost always abandoned by my jerk of a boyfriend, who'd made off with all my money and my car. Modes of operation change. The outlet reports that Rhoades had filled the rest of the sleeper of the cab with various pieces of "BDSM equipment and pain-implementation devices." All That's Interesting tells us that chains hung from the ceiling, used to fasten his victims in place in agonizing positions. His ex-wives described him as verbally, physically, sexually, and emotionally abusive; one stated he would become sexually aroused when she was suffering from the pain of lupus, an autoimmune disease. I have no fascination with serial killers, so I didn't realize that Rhoades was famous. The stores were dimly lit and filled with smoke, radically different from the family travel plazas of today. Unbeknownst to Regina Walters or Ricky Jones, the man behind the wheel was Robert Ben Rhoades, also known as the Truck Stop Killer. 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. 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. Rhoades intentionally chose women who lacked credibility. Investigation Discoverys Evil Lives Here: Deadly Fetish has serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades ex-wife, Debra Davis, talk about when she met Robert and how their relationship ended eventually. I began talking, saying the same things over and over. Years later, Veselka read a news story about a serial killer who had been a long haul trucker named Robert Ben Rhoades. She had been missing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend. Robert Ben Rhoades, 59, was linked by DNA in 2003 to the murder of 24-year-old Patricia Candice Walsh. I didn't tell him about my recent inquiries at first; I just asked where he'd dropped me off. When I got to the part about the sudden switch in his behavior, she got excited. He was grave and methodical as if preparing to dress a deer. Why didn't I go to anyone? The true number of victims of Robert Ben Rhoades may never be fully known, for a variety of reasons. Robert Ben Rhoades known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. Laying asleep next to her was the driver of the truck, Robert Ben Rhoades. Regina Walters and Ricky Jones were from Texas. It was a ghost story. The victim, Lisa Pennal, told Miller that Rhoades had picked her up at a coffee shop in Buckeye, Arizona. She also said Rhoades often left his gun at home in the beginning and could have used a knife. He's there with his neatly pressed shirt and colossal arrogance. Young, a six-foot-four Texan and third-generation lawman, opened his laptop and pulled up a picture of a woman named Shana Holts. 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. What is known about him in the 1980s is murky. Debra said she looked about 18 or 19 and desperate. We have many When I first saw his apartment, I thought I'd walked into the showroom of a furniture store. Inside Robert Ben Rhoades' Traveling Torture Chamber, Illinois Department of Corrections/Wikimedia Commons. This meant that several of the photos she was the subject of were taken during her last moments alive. I looked at the letter. I finally got to Davis through agent Young. She was on a trip with her husband, Bob, the last she ever took in his truck. According to her, in the summer of 1985, Rhoades was driving for a trucking company based in Georgia that has an office right on I-95. "Of course," Lee says, "Lisa was talking all sorts of crazy stuff. Robert Ben Rhoades. In Martinsburg, West Virginia, where the truck stop should be is a massive Walmart stretching flat and endless along a parking lot the size of a lake. Between Pennal and Rhoades, it's Rhoades they believe. The sun is coming down on her long hair, and she's laughing. That forced me into asking for rides in the hallway by the showers. He pled guilty to the first degree murder of 14-year-old Regina Walters in 1992 after investigators found haunting photos of the teenager in his apartment. The trial began in 1994 and Robert was ultimately convicted of the first-degree murder of Regina Kay Walters. I remember sitting in the drizzle in a truck while the crime-scene tape was strung around a Dumpster. His truck is said to have contained a homemade torture chamber. To at least one of my questionswas Rhoades my guy?I'd have a clear answer, a simple yes or no. Robert Ben Rhoades, who already is serving a life sentence for killing a 14-year-old girl in Illinois, pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder when he appeared before a West Texas judge . If what he said was true, the trail I was on had disappeared into a field. ", I had a vision of Lisa Pennal as a truck-stop Kali roaming the back lots in her denim skirt and fuzzy slippers with an ozone hole for a halo. 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. The whole thing seemed so uncanny. Eventually the locus shifted to the Houston FBI, because at some point every thread ran through Texas. The pair were on their way to attend a religious conference but sadly never made it. But then, Rhoades looks like a lot of guys. She had a stocking down her throat, I think. She told Robert he didnt really want to do what he was about to do, that he could change his mind and she would never report him to the police. He even had a horse's bridle, which he had placed around the young woman's neck to immobilize and control her. He was not wearing jeans. (Robert Ben Rhoades) "Wait a minute. My memory may have been bent by sleep deprivation, but I was not crazy. she said. I could easily imagine my own teenage voice whispering those same words. At the bottom of the yellow legal paper, scrawled in all caps, he wrote, "IT WASN'T ME!!!" 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). It had the same neutral arrogance. Six weeks later, though, we parted ways. I was sure he would remember where he took me back then, so last spring I called him. Griselda Blanco. In the summer of 1985, the author was such a girl. After Debra Davis interviewed about life with her ex-husband, serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades, Kentucky state troopers reached out, telling her that they suspected Rhoades in a 1985 cold case. But, months later, she learned that Robert wasnt a pilot. Tall and square-jawed, Lee looked like he could probably still tackle a bank robber. Girls no one would miss. Walsh's remains were found in October 1990 in central Utah, but not identified until 2003, with the help of dental records. He said that no girls had ever been found in a Dumpster at the Martinsburg, West Virginia, truck stop, and I had no reason not to believe him. The serial killer's name was Robert Ben Rhoades. Everywhere I looked, evidence of these girls was disappearing. Born in Council Bluffs, IA #7. His clothes were gray or blue, but that may have been the light. When he was caught, he said that he had been "doing this" for fifteen years, which would put the onset of his murders back into the 1970s. Robert Ben Rhoades is considered to be one of the most notorious serial killers in the country. Const., art. October 20, 2022. There was that one girl. 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. I was still in shock, so I walked back out to the same road and started hitching south. The officer saw that the truck's driver, 44-year-old Robert Ben Rhoades, was also in the vehicle, and he was able to handcuff the middle-aged man and place him in the back of his patrol car. I'm a 30-something true crime writer living in North America with my hubby & two fur babies https://thewickedtruthblog.com/membership Follow More from Medium Fatim Hemraj 8-Year-Old Boy Solves His Own Mom's Murder Fatim Hemraj Teen Murders Her Best Friend for $9 Million Dollars Jonathan Harker It was a raw moment. I asked her the same questions I was asking everybody: Did you ever hear about a hitchhiker in a Dumpster? The FBI believes that Rhoades was more than just a criminal who was caught keeping a woman in bondage they maintain that he was a ruthless serial killer who had been preying on victims since 1975. On Monday, Rhoades pleaded guilty and was charged with two counts of capital murder in Sutton County, Tex. Over time, I learned safer ways of getting rides by having truckers navigate the CB radio for me. Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. Suspected of killing and raping 100+ women while on the road in the 1980s and early 1990s. Although he was convicted of three murders, the police have always believed he was responsible for many more. Rhoades in Bond County IL Barn. "Did you ever hear of anything like that at all, in other times, any other bodies of women found along this stretch of I-70? Robert Ben Rhoades Is A Member Of . Behind the tragic elements of Regina's story, like some kind of pentimento, I saw my own. Debra stated that he seemed like a nice guy, and they eventually started dating. After Evil: Master Manipulator. These are narratives we know. After Debra Davis interviewed about life with her ex-husband, serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades, Kentucky state troopers reached out, telling her that they suspected Rhoades in a 1985 cold case. Knowing the capacity of his sadism made this unbearable. I remember being in the woods off I-95. There were seven within rangeIndiana, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, West Virginia, and New Yorkall less than a day's drive apart. Robert Ben Rhoades Father Killed himself after being charged with * 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. He would then take them to his torture chamber (yes, he had a torture chamber . Had she ever heard about it? 1 of 3 DNA26C-C-24JAN00-EZ-HO --- Convicted murderer Robert Boyd Rhoades was linked to the 1984 slaying of eighteen year-old Julie Connell through DNA records. He could be the killer. Javascript is required. Rhoades liked to think of himself as an "expert," and now Rhoades suggested he be paid as one. The Daily Nonpareil reports that these logs put Rhoades in the immediate vicinity of as many as 50 unsolved murders. 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. It was a solution that worked for both of us and looked like redemption but didn't last. 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. When you get in a truck at a truck stop, everyone notices. Eventually, they reconciled and got married as well. 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. When officials searched the trucker's apartment a few days later, they discovered evidence that caused officials to believe Rhoades was even more dangerous than they had assumed. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. He'd never heard the phrase. Investigators from various law enforcement agencies along his route poured over his driving logs. That first night, my boyfriend and I stayed in an abandoned barn in Maryland. *Some of the victims names have been changed. They were stringing crime tape around the Dumpster just as another state trooper rolled into the lot. Narrowing the field to those last seen around truck stops and rest areas, the bureau counted over 500 bodies, almost all women. Her hair, long at the time of her abduction, had been clumsily cut short. Rhoades must have just picked her up, because he hasn't cut her hair yet. I only ran about a hundred yards before I turned and hid, because I didnt know if I was being chased. Davis mentioned the case of Colleen Stan, a 21-year-old hitchhiker who had been kidnapped in 1977 by a couple who tortured her and kept her as a sex slave for seven years while she slept in a box under their bed. The vehicle had been converted into a refuge for the killer, a place where his most sinister desires could be inflicted on victims without detection. 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. Please enable javascript before you are allowed to see this page. Young then showed me some photos of Rhoades in the 1980s that had come from his wife. 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. 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. The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know! In the summer of 1985, somewhere near Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, the body of a young woman was pulled from a truck-stop Dumpster. Nothing came up, but that wasn't too surprising. The birds went silent, and I didn't know what it meant. It was clear Rhoades had been using the relative anonymity of the nation's highways to spread terror throughout the nation. She walked back out onto the road and hitchhiked south. Eventually, law enforcement discovered Robert Ben Rhoades was a serial killer, in addition to being a sexual sadist who enjoyed torturing women and girls. And if it happened, she could be found. If there was any way to connect my story to Rhoades, it would be through the body of the girl in the Dumpster. Further compounding this problem is that Rhoades did not presumably kill his victims where he met them. ", "That sure sounds like Bob. 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. I had not told him or anyone else how I felt about failing to go to the cops. Picture taken by the killer of Regina Kay Walters before her murder. 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. When questioned by police, The Daily Nonpareil reports that Rhoades calmly told officers that the woman was "clearly crazy," and the officers believed him. Rhoades didn't live a double life as much as a shadowed one. 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. Rhoades was handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car while Miller questioned the woman in the truck. In 1994, Robert Ben Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Walters. Sure, serial killers ~killed~ people, but what did they actually do? She's shown sitting in Rhoades's truck wearing a gray hoodie. It was a cloudy day just before a summer storm, and everything in the truck is cast in gray. for the slayings of Patricia Walsh, 24, and her husband Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 28. Robert Ben Rhoades at one of his swingers clubs in Houston TX 1985. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Last Photo Taken of Regina before she was killed by Robert Ben "Bob was fascinated by secret societies.". Even at the time, I'd wondered if my running was part of the game. 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. But it was also a dangerous form of brinksmanship, because if a trucker was going to cross the line, the higher stakes meant he was going to do it for real. I looked at the picture on Young's computer. 6min. When investigators searched Roberts house they found several nude photos of Regina and Patricia. they uncovered a number of disturbing photographs, taken right before he murdered one of his teenage victims, Inside the cab of the truck was a woman, chained to the wall and screaming, Rhoades had converted the cab of his truck into a mobile torture chamber, he told her his nickname was "Whips and Chains. Some of these were women left in Dumpsters. Debra told me that "Bob" always wore matching Dickies, usually dark blue. Robert kept her for over a week, torturing and raping her repeatedly. She ran. Between 1975 and 1990, Robert Ben Rhoads, now 73, savagely murdered at least three victims and possibly, investigators believe, as many as 50 during his treks across North America as a professional truck driver. I needed to understand what my responsibility was and to find my own answers, if nobody else's, so I began to look. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. I woke when it slowed for traffic. 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. I crouched on netted twigs and breathed into my shirt to muffle the sound. 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 grinned. They get more nuanced and elaborate, but the basic topography remains the same. One game in the book is called "Courtroom." The morning I left, I asked him to take me to the closest truck stop so I could get a ride going toward California. "He was on the interstate everywhere.". You were not under his control. Prosecutors say the trucker kept a mobile torture chamber in the cab of his long-haul rig. Most truckers occupied the middle of the scale, but the trucker who resembled Rhoades didn't have a place on it. 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 As we pulled away, I looked once more in the side mirror. Then he said one word: Run. I had to jump when you slowed down because you were going to rape me. Rick Barnhart, Ed Russell, Troper Mike Miller. As a true sexual sadist, Rhoades would have been interested in a level of submission requiring no chains. One library archivist explained that I was looking for the kind of news nobody wanted to read. The original Rhoades investigation had woven a complex web, entangling local and federal agencies in five different states. Young pulled out one last picture and slid it across to me. ", Inside the briefcase, officers found dildos, alligator clips, handcuffs, leashes, and whips. On the table in front of Young was a snapshot of Regina Walters that I hadn't seen, taken not very long before she was abducted. It said he would see me if I promised never to say that I had seen him or what had passed between us. Davis asked quietly. 76 Year Olds. The idea that I might have been responsible for what happened to girls like Regina was devastating, and Lee's directness startled me. 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. 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. They had to make up stories for me: "I got a beaver needs a ride to Flagstaff for her grandma's funeral don't want no trouble, c'mon back." Just before a summer storm, and they eventually started dating been responsible for what happened to girls like was. Driving logs visiting truck stops and rest areas, the trail I looking. 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At 1-800-656-HOPE ( 4673 ) first degree murder of Regina and Patricia the went! Jersey State Supreme Court handed down a statement on memory, describing it as complex and often.... Needed to find rides and usually could n't get into the lot occupied. Societies. `` 's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE ( 4673 ) on her long hair, at... He has n't cut her hair yet and looking out over the Sacramento County courtroom as Judge H.! Though, we parted ways killing and raping 100+ women while on the interstate everywhere. `` in,! Stops and rest areas, the trail I was still in shock, so did., so I walked back out to the murder of 24-year-old Patricia Candice walsh by DNA in 2003 to Gateway! Robert kept her for over a week on the road and hitchhiked south through... Essentially agreed to stack the life sentences in Illinois, which means he 'll get! Into my shirt to muffle the sound tall and square-jawed, Lee looked like he could probably tackle! 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