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. Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. Wikipedia External References Rhoades was born to his middle name sake, Ben and his mother, Betty Rhoades, on November 22, 1945 in Council Bluffs Iowa, and was reportedly raised by his mother for most of his childhood. Walters and Walsh had been held captive by Rhoades while he traveled the interstate highways in his truck. It was later determined that Rhoades kept Walters alive for weeks while he subjected the young woman to an immeasurable amount of cruelty. This obviously doesn't recommend the waitress's judgment, but at least some of the credit has to go to Rhoades. He'd told Shana Holts to "sit there and be a good girl." robert ben rhoades, serial killer, torture, trucker Caught by Accident Robert Ben Rhoades. The sun is coming down on her long hair, and she's laughing. Debra also talked about Robert having sex with her against her will one time, which finally pushed her to end things with him. 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. His trucker handle on the CB radio waves was "Whips and Chains," a reference to his kink. Despite the initial deception, Debra wanted to give the relationship a shot and continued to date him. It had the same neutral arrogance. Megan Fox. It was a made-up destination, a Grapes of Wrath narrative of brighter futures. She later stated that she wasnt comfortable with some of the things he made her do. He would then keep them alive, torturing and sexually assaulting them for weeks at a time before murdering them and disposing of their bodies. We drove up to Ohio drinking Diet Coke and listening to Bruce Springsteen. Friend, 43, says she wants "California voters to know what kind of offenders are on death row," men like Robert Boyd Rhoades, who sodomized, tortured and killed 8-year-old Michael Lyons two . But to ex-wife Debra Davis, when they. Suspected of killing and raping 100+ women while on the road in the 1980s and early 1990s. She was a drifter." 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. The time had come to do it anyway. This spring a friend sent a news story link about a serial killer with the subject line "Is this your guy?" Rhoades must have just picked her up, because he hasn't cut her hair yet. How could she lack evidence? 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. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know! Last Photo Taken of Regina before she was killed by Robert Ben And then you were still a prostitute. 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. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. To a teenager, though, someone pushing 40 is pretty old, and hair often looks darker in photos. The serial killer's name was Robert Ben Rhoades. Another prostitute had been grabbed there as well, in 2006, but was found farther down the road with her throat slit. Debra had a difficult time coping with the news that Robert had tortured women and killed multiple people. In 1984, he started dating Jerry Howell, a good-looking 19-year-old male prostitute. If there was any evidence, I would file. Rhoades was identified as a suspect . Rhoades, dressed for a Halloween party, was an active member of the S&M scene in Houston. We were back on the road before dawn, walking down a highway covered in black ice, shivering in our hoodies. Several days later, though, heading south on I-95 through the Carolinas, I got picked up by another trucker who was not fine. I asked about the knife. Recently, the New Jersey State Supreme Court handed down a statement on memory, describing it as complex and often unreliable. The photo was taken by serial rapist, torturer and murderer, Robert Ben Rhoades, who dressed the young teen in a black dress and heels, forcibly cutting her hair for the occasion. This photograph, of 14-year-old Regina Kay Walters, was taken by Robert Ben Rhoades, a serial executioner who was later discovered driving a 18-wheeler with a torture chamber in the back. 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, since he traveled so much. "He liked people to think he was in uniform," she said. Between the seats in the rear of the cab was a woman bound by chains. The idea that I might have been responsible for what happened to girls like Regina was devastating, and Lee's directness startled me. 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. Neither of these women were the one I was looking for, but a sentence in the article caught my attention. Movie Actor. There was a gap before that line, and most truckers wouldn't take it that far. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really Listening to her, it occurred to me that this investigation of mine wasn't a detective novel. Rhoades in Bond County IL Barn. It was getting dark. 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. 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. After dispatching with her new husband, Rhoades allegedly held Walsh captive for approximately one week, repeatedly torturing and abusing the young woman, before shooting her to death and disposing of her dead body in central Utah. 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. But Holts, 18 years old, had been on the street since she was 12. 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.". I said I wouldn't go to the cops if nothing happened to me, but it was his choiceuntil he looked at me and I went still. We have many Walsh was murdered, and her body was dumped in Utah. Everything I expected from Bob Lee changed in that moment. 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. Investigators from various law enforcement agencies along his route poured over his driving logs. 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. Last Photo Taken of Regina before she was killed by Robert Ben He said he didn't want to get caught up in anything time-consuming. Years later, Veselka read a news story about a serial killer who had been a long haul trucker named Robert Ben Rhoades. After she was rescued from Robert Ben Rhoades's vehicle, the woman told law enforcement that she had met the middle-aged husband and father at a truck stop, and he had agreed to give her a ride to her destination. A few minutes later, I got up like nothing had happened. 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. 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. It was clear Rhoades had been using the relative anonymity of the nation's highways to spread terror throughout the nation. 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. In one, he relaxed on the grass in a park. 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. These are narratives we know. Movie Actress. Jones was promptly killed, and his remains were discovered later in Mississippi. I could tell you the last three songs played on the radio if you asked, but only if you asked. I crouched on netted twigs and breathed into my shirt to muffle the sound. Then he started talking about the dead girl in the Dumpster and asked me if I'd ever heard of the Laughing Death Society. Like me, she left home with her older boyfriend. Instead, police suspect he held the teenager captive for at least two weeks, subjecting her to sickening acts of torture and rape, before he strangled her to death with a garrote and dumped her corpse in an abandoned barn in Illinois. Rhoades was a sexual sadist. ", "Oh no, not at all!" 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Rhoades saw what Debra was looking at. I would file charges and sue him.". In a letter to his wife on the subject of psychological games, he wrote: "I always told you there were three things you could do: play, pass, or run." 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's just going to be my word against his. Robert Boyd Rhoades was sentenced to death Friday for the 1996 brutal attack on 8-year-old Michael Lyons. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Young was a profiler for the bureau as well as a field agent. When they visited his home, they uncovered a number of disturbing photographs, taken right before he murdered one of his teenage victims- photos that are perhaps even more disturbing than Rhoades's mobile torture chamber. One story Debra Davis told still haunts me. 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. Robert Ben Rhoades was a truck driver with a torture chamber attached to his semi. I imagined for a moment flying to Illinois. If there was any way to connect my story to Rhoades, it would be through the body of the girl in the Dumpster. But an expert in what, I thought, killing? Robert Ben Rhoades. I kept my eyes closed, stayed still, then rolled away from him, pretending I was still asleep. "The hairs on my arm stand up right now talking about it.". 14-year-old Regina Kay Walters and her boyfriend Ricky Lee Jones had run away from their homes and like Roberts first victims, they were hitchhiking when he picked them up. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know. Bruce Willis. Robert is believed to have tortured, raped, and murdered over fifty women between 1975 and 1990 during truck stops, but because most of his victims were sex workers and hitchhikers it is difficult to confirm exactly who and how many people he has killed. Word filtered back that the dead girl was a teenage hitchhiker. She also had children from another marriage. Debra stated that he seemed like a nice guy, and they eventually started dating. 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. 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. In the summer of 1985, somewhere near Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, the body of a young woman was pulled from a truck-stop Dumpster. 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. I knew in my body that it was over. Born in Council Bluffs, IA #7. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. He welcomed me into his spacious living room. In 1994, Robert Ben Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Walters. She'd been picked up in a truck stop, shackled into the back of the cab, tortured and raped for weeks. ", "That sure sounds like Bob. Had I confused the state? "But a real serial killer wouldn't have let me go, right?" 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). From 1975 to 1990 he is believed to have tortured . That was way back in the early '70s, though.". 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. She had been strangled at Breezewood. TV-14. I was accepted, and that provided a thin strip of pride on which to stand while I made contact with my family. I lived in that gap. Most Popular #231965. 1983. As we pulled away, I looked once more in the side mirror. Regina Kay Walters is remembered among his victims for the terrifying photograph he took of her moments before he murdered her. Six weeks later, though, we parted ways. At the center of everything was my own breath. It is glossy black and long. They are more like habits, he said, and can adapt to circumstances or mood. He will die in prison.". All That's Interesting tells us that this trucker was Rhoades. She brought the police right back to Rhoades's truck but then balked at pressing charges, so they had to let him go. The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. I was still in shock, so I walked back out to the same road and started hitching south. One game in the book is called "Courtroom." 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. ", 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. You didn't do it.". 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. I called the office. Could Debra help solve an active investigation? 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. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. 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. . Instagram: @openshuddetspodcast. Who was the girl in the Dumpster? Rhoades was a long-haul trucker, in jail since 1990, who had recently been convicted of a couple of new "cold cases." I didn't recognize him. Young then showed me some photos of Rhoades in the 1980s that had come from his wife. Will one time, which finally pushed her to end things with him. `` years later I! I would file Halloween party, was an active member of the degree. They had to let him go in a park his driving logs is believed to have tortured near Martinsburg Pennsylvania! So, if youre curious about where debra might be today, what... 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