Serial Killer: William Bonin

William Bonin (Wikipedia)

William George Bonin (January 8, 1947 - February 23, 1996) was an American serial killer and a twice-paroled sex offender, also known as "the Freeway Killer", a nickname he shares with two other serial killers. Along with several accomplices, Bonin raped and killed as many as 36 young men and boys. He was convicted and eventually executed for 14 of these murders.

Early life

Bonin was born in Connecticut in January, 1947 the second of three brothers. His father was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic, and his mother frequently left Bonin and his brothers in the care of their grandfather, a convicted child molester. At the age of eight, Bonin was arrested for stealing license plates, and he soon ended up in a juvenile detention center for other minor crimes; here, he was sexually abused by older boys. By his teens, back home with his mother, Bonin began molesting younger children.

After high school, Bonin joined the U.S. Air Force and served in the Vietnam War as a gunner, earning a Good Conduct Medal. After a brief marriage ended in divorce, Bonin moved to California.

In 1969, at age 23, Bonin was arrested for the first time for sexually assaulting young boys, and was indicted on five counts of kidnapping, and four counts of sexual assault. He was released in May 1974 after doctors concluded he was 'no longer a danger to others' but was back behind bars just sixteen months later for raping a 14-year-old hitchiker named David McVicker, for which he was sentenced to between one and fifteen years in prison.

In October 1978, Bonin was once again released, with eighteen months probation. Bonin took a job as a truck driver, rented an apartment in Downey and even found a girlfriend. In 1979, Bonin was again arrested for molesting a teenage boy. This parole violation meant that he should have been sent back to prison, but an administrative error meant he was released. Bonin reportedly told a friend that he had no intention of going back to prison; not because he was going to give up preying on youngsters, but because he had no intention of leaving witnesses.

Murder spree

It appears that Bonin's first two victims were killed in April 1979, just one month before his first known victim. Danny Jordan, the brother of Lord Walter Jordan, and Mark Proctor were traveling to Laguna Beach and were never heard from again. Proctor's body was found about a week after they were reported missing. Jordan's was found a few years later. Both of the young boys bodies were found in Palmdale off a hiking trail. Amounts of Chloral hydrate consistent with its use as a sedative were found in their systems. However, Bonin was never charged with either of these two murders.

The first murder for which Bonin was charged was that of a 14-year-old hitchhiker named Thomas Lundgren. The youth was kidnapped, assaulted and killed on the morning of May 28, 1979. An autopsy showed that he had been emasculated, stabbed, and strangled to death. Bonin carried out the crime with his primary accomplice, Vernon Butts, a 22-year-old factory worker who is suspected of accompanying Bonin on at least six of the murders. Butts also boasted of being a wizard, and slept in a coffin.

Cruising around in his van, Bonin (sometimes accompanied by one of his four known accomplices), would hunt for victims in and around Los Angeles, usually selecting young male hitchikers, schoolboys or prostitutes as victims. The victims were either enticed or forced into his van, overpowered, had their hands tied behind their back, sexually assaulted, tortured and then usually killed by strangulation with their own t-shirt, although some were stabbed or battered to death. Between August and December 1979, Bonin had killed seven more teenage boys. The last victim of 1979 was a 15-year-old boy named John Kilpatrick whom Bonin killed in December.

On January 1, 1980, Bonin brutalized and killed 16-year-old Michael McDonald. A month later, on February 3 in Hollywood, Bonin abducted and killed 14-year-old Charles Miranda, this time assisted by a young man named Gregory Miley. The victim was garroted, and his nude corpse dumped in an alleyway. Bonin then suggested to Miley, "I'm horny, let's do another one", and so they went hunting for the second victim of the day. A few hours later, they abducted, raped, and killed James McCabe who, at age 12, was Bonin's youngest victim. He was picked up while hitch-hiking to Disneyland.

Bonin killed four more boys in March, another three in April and one in May. The final victim was a teenager named Steven Wells, who was killed on June 2, 1980. Bonin was assisted in this final murder by his roommate, 18-year-old James Michael Munro.

By early 1980, the murders committed by the Freeway Killer, as he was known in the press, were receiving considerable media attention. One of Bonin's surviving victims suspected Bonin may be behind the killings and reported his suspicions to the police and, upon investigating Bonin's background and discovering he had a string of convictions for sexually assaulting teenage boys, the police decided to put him under surveillance. On June 11, they arrested him in the act of assaulting a 15-year-old boy, identified as "Harold T".

Victims

Bonin and his four known accomplices in murder were convicted of fourteen murders, however, the 'Freeway Killer', was suspected of at least 21 murders. The victims Bonin was convicted of killing are shown in italics

Although Bonin was cleared of killing Sean King in 1980 and Thomas Lundgren in 1979, he subsequently confessed to both killings.

Confession and execution

In custody, Bonin confessed to abducting, raping, and killing 21 boys and young men. Police also suspect him in approximately 15 other murders. He was eventually charged with 16 of the murders to which he confessed and upon which the prosecution believed they had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction. He expressed no remorse and told one reporter, "I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time." Bonin's trial began on November 5, 1981, and lasted until January 1982. Convicted on 10 counts, but cleared of the murders of Thomas Lundgren and Sean King (to which he subsequently confessed), Bonin was sentenced to death. He was later brought to trial in Orange County, charged with the murder of four further victims who had been found murdered between December 1979 and April 1980, and was convicted of all four murders. It was not until February 23, 1996, 16 years after his arrest, that he was executed by lethal injection inside the old gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison. He was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California. In his last statement, given to the Warden one hour prior to his execution, Bonin again expressed no remorse for his crimes and left a note which simply stated "I would advise anybody thinking of doing something serious against the law to go somewhere quiet alone and think about it seriously". Bonin was 49 at the time of his execution.

His main accomplice, Vernon Butts, was accused of taking part in six of the murders. After he was arrested, he told police the killing spree had been "a good little nightmare". On January 11, 1981, he hanged himself while awaiting trial.

Gregory Miley, a 19 year old casual labourer from Texas, was given a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder of Charles Miranda in February, 1980.

James Michael Munro was sentenced to 15 years to life, for the murder of Steven Wells. Munro has been trying to appeal, claiming that he had been tricked into accepting a plea bargain.

A fourth accomplice, aged 15, who had been present at the murder of Harry Turner, aged 15, in March 1980, was given a six-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter.

Other "Freeway Killers"

Young men and boys continued to turn up dead along the freeways of Southern California after Bonin's arrest, leading police to initially believe that he had other accomplices who were still active. However, these later murders turned out to have been committed by Randy Steven Kraft, who acted entirely separately from Bonin but who happened to have a similar modus operandi.

In fact, there was a third freeway killer, Patrick Kearney, who also happened to select young men as victims from the freeways of Southern California during the 1970s. The three independent killers collectively may have claimed up to 130 victims.

See also

• Capital punishment in California
• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of murderers by number of victims
• List of serial killers by country

References

• Lane, Brian; Wilfred Gregg (1992,1995). The Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers. New York City: Berkley Book. pp. 63-64. ISBN 0-42515-213-8. 
• William Bonin (1991). Doing time: Stories from the mind of a death row prisoner. Eagle Publishing. ISBN 978-1879027046.
• Mark Gribben. William Bonin: The Freeway Killer. Crime Library. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
• J.J. Maloney. The Freeway Killer. Crime Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
• James Michael Munro. Freeway Killer Accomplice - Ask Governor Davis for Parole. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
• James Michael Munro. In The Eyes Of A Killer - The California Freeway Killer. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
• William George Bonin. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
• William George Bonin. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.

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