Microchips in her brain. I'd put off writing Rhoades, mostly because I didn't want him to write me back. She walked out about a year and a half into their marriage, and months later, Robert was arrested for kidnapping a woman in Arizona. As we pulled away, I looked once more in the side mirror. Ricky Lee Jones body has never been found. Lee still uses the tape when he trains police detectives in interrogation. But Rhoades was cunning and highly charismatic. She'd been picked up in a truck stop, shackled into the back of the cab, tortured and raped for weeks. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Rhoades was dressed that night as an airline pilot, and it was months before Davis found out he wasn't one. I spent a week on the road in Appalachia, visiting truck stops, interviewing the older truckers and waitresses. Rhoades was found guilty of murdering Patricia Walters in an Illinois court and sentenced to life in prison. Regina Walters and Ricky Jones were from Texas. It was later determined that Rhoades kept Walters alive for weeks while he subjected the young woman to an immeasurable amount of cruelty. Everywhere I looked, evidence of these girls was disappearing. A week before the girl was found in the Dumpster, though, I'd gone to see my dad in Virginia. Rhoades saw what Debra was looking at. We had $60 and a Smith Wesson five-shot with one bullet in it, which we accidentally fired off in a field in Maryland during a discussion about whether the safety was on. My emotions were a planet around which I spun like a moon. I needed to understand what my responsibility was and to find my own answers, if nobody else's, so I began to look. 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. I looked at the letter. Rhoades immediately exited the cab of his truck and attempted to give a hasty explanation of what the patrolman was seeing. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. He was married. Although he was convicted of three murders, the police have always believed he was responsible for many more. I go through the paperwork, get fingerprinted and led through a channel of air-locked doors into a room with him. Rhoades was a sexual sadist. I looked at the picture on Young's computer. (Robert Ben Rhoades) October 20, 2022. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Regina would end up being the main focal point in a photo that would later be deemed one of the most terrifying photographs in the world. In the morning, they talked me into applying to the college. After receiving my friend's e-mail, I left messages with the FBI but was relieved when they were not returned. I pulled up a map of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, and that's where things started to get hazy. Despite the initial deception, Debra wanted to give the relationship a shot and continued to date him. He was sentenced to death for the crime. 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 came around behind her and grabbed her shoulders. I lived in that gap. I parked in front of the family travel plaza, then walked back past a sign that read TRUCKS ONLY. 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. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. When it turned, when it downshifted, when it drifted toward the shoulderI woke. Her arms are in front of her chest, with both hands positioned as if they were recoiling in fear of the person behind the camera. plans and enthusiasm But Holts, 18 years old, had been on the street since she was 12. There was no safe way for me to get it. 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. TV-14. In this automatic appeal ( Cal. The newspapers were equally silent. I have no fascination with serial killers, so I didn't realize that Rhoades was famous. 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. 76 Year Old Criminal #4. The question of what you do with your old SWAT jacket when you retire had never entered my mind. Before serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades killed his victims, he like to snap a photo of them. I didn't recognize him from the initial photos, but as I found pictures of him as a younger man, his face came to seem more familiar. Criminals. Regina Walters had been seen in Chicago standing freely outside his truck in a public place. He was charged with kidnapping and assault. The Daily Nonpareil reports thatRobert Ben Rhoades was set to be free on work release when Illinois police identified the body of 14-year-old Regina Walters. I said I knew he didn't want to do it. I lived among artists in the Lower East Side squats. Young was a profiler for the bureau as well as a field agent. While I was hitchhiking, he was driving. Once out on the road, though, he changed. A signature, however, does not change. To her shock and horror, she realized Rhoades had converted the cab of his truck into a mobile torture chamber, equipped with chains, shackles, and handcuffs to help him restrain his victims. Robert "Bob" Berdella (also known as known as The Kansas City Butcher and The Collector) was a serial killer and torturer who documented his sinister slayings in photographs. 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 finally spoke to a woman and asked if they had a homicide record for a girl who may have been found in the Martinsburg truck stop during the summer of 1985. Like Regina, I also had a little journal and probably wrote something in it that night, because it was far too cold to sleep. The victim, Lisa Pennal, told Miller that Rhoades had picked her up at a coffee shop in Buckeye, Arizona. They kept her from running away by convincing her that a secret society called The Company would find her and bring her back. What evidence was she lacking? Thinking that it would be her word against his, his victim recanted her statement, and Rhoades was free to go. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. The ruling went on to question the admissibility of eyewitness testimony. He will die in prison.". I knew in my body that it was over. I asked. Debra also talked about Robert having sex with her against her will one time, which finally pushed her to end things with him. Her body was left in the very barn she was last photographed in in rural Illinois. She had been strangled at Breezewood. I was sure he would remember where he took me back then, so last spring I called him. He struck a deal with prosecutors in Texas, pleading guilty to avoid the state's death penalty for the murder of both Patricia Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski. The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. Robert found pleasure in taunting Reginas father about his daughters disappearance and the fact he had cut off her hair. 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. She came over and gave me an open smile. I said he could do it in a few minutes. 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. 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." She had a stocking down her throat, I think. But, months later, she learned that Robert wasnt a pilot. 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. I flew to Austin to meet with two retired FBI men, special agents Mark Young and Robert F. Lee, who'd both worked on the case. 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 FBI theorized Robert had killed at least three women per month. I asked her the same questions I was asking everybody: Did you ever hear about a hitchhiker in a Dumpster? Along with cutting off her hair, he also shaved her pubic hair and pierced her genitals with fishhooks. She also claimed that Rhoades was bringing men into their home to act as her sex slaves. In one, he relaxed on the grass in a park. 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. 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. He attempted college but he soon decided it wasnt for him and dropped out, becoming a long-haul truck driver instead. But Rhoades held desires went well beyond the limits of consensual sexual activity. What is known about him in the 1980s is murky. He was grave and methodical as if preparing to dress a deer. need your help for this. 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. "Wait a minute. While passing through various states, he thought he could pick up a hitchhiker here or a sex worker there and no one would notice if they disappeared. He wore a cotton button-down with the sleeves rolled neatly up over his biceps and had the cleanest cab I ever saw. ", "Oh no, not at all!" Robert Ben Rhoades, un serial killer amricain, vient de trouver un accord avec le bureau du procureur. 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. : 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. I asked him. He then killed her and dumped her body in Millard County, Utah. While she slept, he handcuffed her hands and feet. Debra said she looked about 18 or 19 and desperate. While the first few months were great, Debra noticed that Roberts appetite for sex increased. Her statement was videotaped the night she was freed from Rhoades's truck. While he was in the Marine Corps, he committed a robbery and was dishonorably discharged in 1968. 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. They found her near a Dumpster behind the restaurant at the Gateway Travel Plaza in Breezewood. The dungeon-like compartment was described in "Roadside Prey" by Alva Busch, a book written about Rhoades. 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. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help Not even the FBI knew that he had already tortured, raped, and killed at least two people along his routes. There were other points where she saw similarities and would say, "That sounds like Bob," but these were less emphatic, and it was hard to tell what she really thought. Viswa Vanapalli. I could easily imagine my own teenage voice whispering those same words. "That was the problem with him," Smith said. As a 15-year-old, the author left home and became a hitchhiker, hopping from semi to semi on the interstate. 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. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know! 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. "We laugh at death," he told me. Robert was immediately arrested and charged with unlawful confinement, and sexual and aggravated assault. It's more like a set of still photos. The story was that she was too scared, but I wondered if there was more. I did a search on towns named Martinsburg. The light in my memory is strange, too. Rhoades liked to think of himself as an "expert," and now Rhoades suggested he be paid as one. She was a prostitute. Knowing the capacity of his sadism made this unbearable. Ted Bundy. I finally got to Davis through agent Young. Debra also mentioned that she remarried and worked with domestic abuse and rape survivors. She hid there until she was sure she heard his truck leave. She was a drifter." "Do you remember what his cab looked like? Over lunch at a local sushi place, he taught me the difference between a mode of operation and a signature. Robert Ben Rhoades was a truck driver with a torture chamber attached to his semi. Robert Ben Rhoades (born November 22, 1945), also known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. 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. It brought her back to that terrifying night in 1985. 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." It doesn't matter what he says. Last Name Rhoades #7. The glasses were the same, the curve of the cheekbone, and something about the expression, particularly the set of the mouth. Had I confused the state? It had the same neutral arrogance. She'd escaped when Rhoades pulled into a Houston brewery. Silence fell over the Sacramento County courtroom as Judge Loyd H. Mulkey . Getting sleep was pretty easy with a boyfriend, because one of us could always stay awake. He immediately killed Doug and dumped his body in Texas. I could rest but not dream. I wrote him back and told him that journalistic standards wouldn't allow me to pay for interviews. Lisa Pennal's full statement, it turned out, had been destroyed for file space. At the time, he was struggling himself, living with several other guys in a house where you flushed the toilet with a bucket of water and working what little construction there was in the county. In one photo, the teen is standing in a barn, clad in a black dress and wearing high-heeled shoes. The more I learned about Rhoades, the more I saw parallels between us. * 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. Adhering to my rule (that the only safe truck was a moving truck) meant I woke when a truck took an exit. Truck stops in the 1980s were closed worlds where what went on passed unnoticed on the outside. Going through the truck stops, I'd heard about women getting their throats slit or strangled. Without any hesitation he said Martinsburg, West Virginia. In her weeks with Rhoades, many drivers saw her, but somehow no alarm was raised. Also like me, Regina became dependent upon the grace of truck drivers. Griselda Blanco. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a1905de5cd6c356 And who's going to believe him? Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. "He liked people to think he was in uniform," she said. I lived with my mom in New York, and the fights between us were growing in intensity and emotional violence. Then he said one word: Run. Clearly the answer is: Make a throw pillow. Just a few months after she left Robert, he was taken into custody for a kidnapping. It was agent Young who recognized the small gap in Regina's teeth and noticed that a few freckles were in the same place. 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. And I remember being in the woods off I-95. By then, though, I had been kicked out of two schools for absences and was cutting myself regularly. When I got home from West Virginia, a letter from Rhoades was waiting. And if it happened, she could be found. 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. "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. You didn't do it.". I only saw the man with the knife. Rhoades is currently being held in an Illinois prison where he will spend the rest of his days behind bars. Rhoades is currently serving life sentences in Illinois for three murders. Several days later, though, heading south on I-95 through the Carolinas, I got picked up by another trucker who was not fine. The true number of victims of Robert Ben Rhoades may never be fully known, for a variety of reasons. In the 1990s, the Berkeley County sheriff's department's computer crashed and burned. After that, she spoke of feeling inadequate and questioning if something was wrong with her. This spring a friend sent a news story link about a serial killer with the subject line "Is this your guy?" Among the photographs recovered from Rhoades' home while he was jailed was several of Walters. Around her neck was a dog chain with a padlock attached to the ring that had been used to restrain her neck. Ex-Wife Of Serial Killer Robert Ben Rhoades Speaks Out | Evil Lives Here: After the Evil. Candace Walsh and her husband Douglas Zyskowski were hitchhiking when Rhoades' picked them up in a truck stop. 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