Among the photographs recovered from Rhoades' home while he was jailed was several of Walters. Jones was promptly killed, and his remains were discovered later in Mississippi. Rhoades has spent the past few years in a Texas prison, but will soon be sent back to Illinois to serve the life sentences. Robert Ben Rhoades will serve two life sentences without parole. Reading it, I found it hard not to hear the man telling me to "run.". It's actually from a Halloween party in Houston where he went as a "slave," led on a chain by his wife, who was dressed as a dominatrix. "That's him! When authorities in Texas were notified, they recognized her as being the same girl in some eerie photographs they seized from Rhoades' home after his April 1990 arrest. In the summer of 1985, the author was such a girl. After Robert Ben Rhoades graduated from high school he decided to follow in his fathers footsteps and joined the Marine Corps. His trucking logs place him in the area of fifty unsolved murders in the three years prior to his arrest alone. 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. But I hadn't seen any shackles. "They don't use that emblem now. The remarkable thing is that when she did, she didn't dump him. Please enable javascript before you are allowed to see this page. It is glossy black and long. He's there with his neatly pressed shirt and colossal arrogance. Or rather, I remember what he was not wearing. It's just going to be my word against his. Rhoades is considered one of the most dangerous and notorious serial sex offenders and killers in the United States. 16. The question of what you do with your old SWAT jacket when you retire had never entered my mind. Robert Boyd Rhoades was sentenced to death Friday for the 1996 brutal attack on 8-year-old Michael Lyons. Eventually the locus shifted to the Houston FBI, because at some point every thread ran through Texas. Police photo. "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." Most truckers occupied the middle of the scale, but the trucker who resembled Rhoades didn't have a place on it. Lisa Pennal's full statement, it turned out, had been destroyed for file space. Sagittarius. Robert's first confirmed victims were in 1990. Fondoleding a fourteen year old girl. Adhering to my rule (that the only safe truck was a moving truck) meant I woke when a truck took an exit. When they found her, there was shouting. His bearing shifted. Further compounding this problem is that Rhoades did not presumably kill his victims where he met them. When investigators searched Roberts house they found several nude photos of Regina and Patricia. I got the sense Lee appreciated brevity, so I dispensed with small talk and went straight to my questions, but he stopped me. 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. . There are articles, TV episodes, and books on himDriven to Kill, Roadside Prey, Killer on the Roadand from these sources I learned that every grim and secret fear I have about the human race is manifest in Robert Ben Rhoades. I was 15. Whatever the man thought he had broken in her had already been broken and healed back stronger. She came over and gave me an open smile. I asked. I expected that to be the end of it, but I got another letter. Upon approaching Roberts vehicle he heard screaming and discovered a naked woman in the bed of his truck. The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. Rhoades in Bond County IL Barn. Robert Ben Rhoades at one of his swingers clubs in Houston TX 1985. Rhoades swiftly killed Jones so he could abduct Walters and keep her to abuse at his will. "So was the trucker I met a true psychopath?" She's shown sitting in Rhoades's truck wearing a gray hoodie. Between 1984 and 1987, he murdered at least six men in Kansas City, Missouri. The whole thing seemed so uncanny. His truck is said to have contained a homemade torture chamber. Debra Davis and Rhoades met in the early '80s at a Houston bar called Chipkikkers. While he was in the Marine Corps, he committed a robbery and was dishonorably discharged in 1968. 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. Over lunch at a local sushi place, he taught me the difference between a mode of operation and a signature. 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. According to The Daily Nonpareil, Rhoades' truck logs placed him in the area where at least 50 unsolved murders were believed to have taken place. Described by authorities as a sadistic killer, Rhoades was charged with their 1990 abductions and slayings, and pled guilty to their murders. Robert was pulled over on the I-90 with his hazard lights flashing when a state trooper drove by and decided to check if the driver needed help. She looks like any other skinny kid just out of middle school. 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. 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 . After that, she spoke of feeling inadequate and questioning if something was wrong with her. Young, a six-foot-four Texan and third-generation lawman, opened his laptop and pulled up a picture of a woman named Shana Holts. I remember a fuel island in the blue morning light and a driver with a white shirt that stood out like a flag, and taking the turn back east, then south, and a gray day just before a storm so pressurized my ears hurt. "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. Rhoades antas ha torterat, vldtagit och mrdat fler n 50 kvinnor, [ 2] men endast 3 har bekrftats. Robert Ben Rhoades, truck driver, is a serial killer, and rapist. The interior of the truck's cab contained a hidden compartment that could only be seen if you were between the seats. People Also Viewed . Rhoades avtjnar ett livstidsstraff p Menard Correctional Center i Chester i Illinois . 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. "There was that hitchhiker. I remember being in the woods off I-95. "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. Police looked at the photos, noting that the growth of Regina Walters' hair and the changing color of her bruises meant that she had been in Robert Ben Rhoades' clutches for several weeks (per All That's Interesting). TV-14. Bruce Willis. This spring a friend sent a news story link about a serial killer with the subject line "Is this your guy?" This modus operandi makes it difficult for authorities to determine how many victims Robert Ben Rhoades had. 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. He shows it and asks what they think is going on. Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. Sleeping by myself on the street made me a target, and having sex with some creepy old guy for a spot on a mattress also held little appeal. The newspapers were equally silent. 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. 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." The phrase "play, pass, run" is used twice in the letter. Lists about who they murdered, how they did it, and other horrifying facts that will keep you wide awake tonight, shaking your head at humanity. 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. Every trucker I ever met had a gun, so the knife seemed significant. The serial killer's name was Robert Ben Rhoades. 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. And then you were still a prostitute. There was only one word for woman on the CB, and that was beaver. 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. They were both deeply religious, and they had intended to preach about Christianity when they reached the east coast. 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. He would then take them to his torture chamber (yes, he had a torture chamber . She started to . In January 1990, Douglas Zyskowski and his wife Patricia Candace Walsh were hitchhiking to Georgia from Seattle on their honeymoon when they accepted a ride from Robert. She maintained that the trucker repeatedly sexually assaulted her while inflicting her with various forms of torture. In this automatic appeal ( Cal. 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 . Today Rhoades is a prisoner of the Illinois Department of Corrections. "The hairs on my arm stand up right now talking about it.". All rights reserved. "You see that, Debbie," he whispered in her ear. All That's Interesting tells us that this trucker was Rhoades. When the FBI extradited him to Illinois, he was able to get a phone number off a waitress while shackled hand and foot and wearing an orange prison suit. 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. : 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. Rhoades was from Texas. She also claimed that Rhoades was bringing men into their home to act as her sex slaves. 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. There was that one girl. She hid there until she was sure she heard his truck leave. 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. After his eventual arrest for murder, this ex-spouse told the FBI that Rhoades would often organize orgies. HOUSTON . 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. While I was hitchhiking, he was driving. When it turned, when it downshifted, when it drifted toward the shoulderI woke. He was grave and methodical as if preparing to dress a deer. Robert Ben Rhoades, 59, was linked by DNA in 2003 to the murder of 24-year-old Patricia Candice Walsh. Why didn't I go to anyone? She's tried to put the years with Rhoades behind her but still gets letters from him sporadically. I was sure he would remember where he took me back then, so last spring I called him. "What I find interesting is that he told you about the body of the girl and talked about the Laughing Death Society while he was still driving. Roberts relationships didnt last very long, he had been married three times. "No," she said, "I never heard of anything like that anywhere.". I stuck to trucks because they were safer than cars. Rhoades didn't live a double life as much as a shadowed one. "Wait a minute. One night on I-95, she hitched a ride from a stranger and endured the most terrifying moments of her life. 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. Ricky Lee Jones body has never been found. Walters and Walsh had been held captive by Rhoades while he traveled the interstate highways in his truck. I needed visibility to stay alive. Original. Like Young and Lee, she had never heard of the Laughing Death Society, and since it had featured so strongly in my experience, I thought it salient. Some of these were women left in Dumpsters. A few minutes later, he pulled the truck onto the shoulder of the road by some woods, took out a hunting knife, and told me to get into the back of the cab. The ruling went on to question the admissibility of eyewitness testimony. It was getting dark. Unbeknownst to Regina Walters or Ricky Jones, the man behind the wheel was Robert Ben Rhoades, also known as the Truck Stop Killer. Although I'd told it more in the preceding week than in the past two decades, I still wasn't used to doing it, and the nausea still came. The picture was given to Young by Regina's mom. I spent a week on the road in Appalachia, visiting truck stops, interviewing the older truckers and waitresses. 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 . It said he would see me if I promised never to say that I had seen him or what had passed between us. Ricky Lee Jones body has never been found. 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. If there was any evidence, I would file. Rhoades is thought to have killed Zyskowski while the young man slept. She knew how to survive. The memory was twenty-seven years old, and nothing in it was actionable. The morning I left, I asked him to take me to the closest truck stop so I could get a ride going toward California. A few minutes later, I got up like nothing had happened. 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. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In one, he relaxed on the grass in a park. When questioned by police, The Daily Nonpareil reports that Rhoades calmly told officers that the woman was "clearly crazy," and the officers believed him. Last Photo Taken of Regina before she was killed by Robert Ben Rhoades in Bond County IL Barn. Serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades kidnapped and tortured his victims inside a chamber set up inside his big rig truck. I crouched on netted twigs and breathed into my shirt to muffle the sound. 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. Her remains were found in September 1990. It seems our profound fascination with serial killers is matched by an equally profound lack of interest in their victims. The victim began saying anything she could think of to try and save her own life. Inside the briefcase, officers found dildos, alligator clips, handcuffs, leashes, and whips, as well as pins which Rhoades had used to pierce the young woman's nipples and genitals. This gave me a screen behind which to observe drivers when they thought I was distracted. He'd told Shana Holts to "sit there and be a good girl." Most Popular #231965. "Do you remember what his cab looked like? I lived among artists in the Lower East Side squats. And I remember being in the woods off I-95. Click to reveal We were back on the road before dawn, walking down a highway covered in black ice, shivering in our hoodies. I called the office. The photo was of a beautiful young girl, possibly Native American. This is the last picture ever taken of Regina Walters. Debra stated that he seemed like a nice guy, and they eventually started dating. Could Debra help solve an active investigation? 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. It's believed that Rhoades would abduct his prey from various truck stops and rest areas along his trucking route. "That's from my old SWAT jacket." Rhoades had told her to "sit there and be a good girl." "Bob was obsessed with how they used an imaginary secret society to keep her from running away," Davis said. I was still in shock, so I walked back out to the same road and started hitching south. 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. It made sense. 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