Between 1984 and 1987, he murdered at least six men in Kansas City, Missouri. Rhoades was identified as a suspect . Waitresses were the first to kick you out. Silence fell over the Sacramento County courtroom as Judge Loyd H. Mulkey . By her own account, she had been raped at least twenty times and had already had a baby. Women couldn't really get on the "zoo channel," as they called it then, because the sound of their voice would trigger twenty minutes of crass chatter. Getting sleep was pretty easy with a boyfriend, because one of us could always stay awake. Word filtered back that the dead girl was a teenage hitchhiker. She had existed enough for me to call my dad all those years ago and warn him about what he would read. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. The trucker went to pay for gas, and my boyfriend and I went to use the bathroom. But I thought about what she'd said"It would just be my word against his," which was clearly followed by the unvoiced thought: And who is going to believe me? Robert Ben Rhoades known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. An FBI agent who reviewed the contents of the briefcase dubbed it a "rape kit," and he claimed it was one of the most "refined" kits he'd ever seen, leading him to conclude Rhoades had been torturing and abusing victims for a very long time. My memory may have been bent by sleep deprivation, but I was not crazy. Even the guys who were trying to help had used it. As we pulled away, I looked once more in the side mirror. She was on a trip with her husband, Bob, the last she ever took in his truck. On the show, Debra talked about a point in the relationship where she found Robert with another woman at a party. Piercings around the breasts, bruising, and other signs of torture were also frequently found. It was getting dark. While we were asleep, he pulled into a small truck stop, and I woke to his hand down my shirt. After his eventual arrest for murder, this ex-spouse told the FBI that Rhoades would often organize orgies. They get more nuanced and elaborate, but the basic topography remains the same. Similarly, Rhoades' hometown newspaper also noted that he was suspected of the torture, rape, and . 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. Maybe they would remember something the others hadn't. I remember sitting in the drizzle in a truck while the crime-scene tape was strung around a Dumpster. I called as soon as I landed. I stayed there until I saw the truck pull onto the interstate. '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. The trucker bought me lunch and didn't even try to have sex with me, which made him a prince in my world. "No," she said, "I never heard of anything like that anywhere.". Rhoades immediately exited the cab of his truck and attempted to give a hasty explanation of what the patrolman was seeing. The serial killer's name was Robert Ben Rhoades. Suspected of killing and raping 100+ women while on the road in the 1980s and early 1990s. . Const., art. 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). The more I learned about Rhoades, the more I saw parallels between us. 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. He was not wearing flannel. Narrowing the field to those last seen around truck stops and rest areas, the bureau counted over 500 bodies, almost all women. The true number of victims of Robert Ben Rhoades may never be fully known, for a variety of reasons. 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. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Or rather, I remember what he was not wearing. Walsh was murdered, and her body was dumped in Utah. A month after Robert brutally murdered Douglas and Patricia, he picked up his next victim, an eighteen-year-old transient who lived in Houston. Behind him was a shoulder-high pink plastic castle. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know. "I just want you to know," he said, looking me squarely in the eye, "that what Rhoades did to women, he did to women. Patricias remains were found in October of 1990, it would take thirteen years for her to be identified. In her weeks with Rhoades, many drivers saw her, but somehow no alarm was raised. In the summer of 1985, the author was such a girl. De 1975 a 1990 acredita-se que tenha torturado, violado e matado mais de 50 mulheres, contudo foi condenado por apenas trs homicdios devido a ausncia de provas. October 20, 2022. I had to jump when you slowed down because you were going to rape me. 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. It wasn't the early '70s, it was 1987, and the woman killed was 19-year-old Lamonica Cole. 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. My whole body relaxed. This kit included numerous sex toys, chains, whips, fishhooks, pins, and other items used to inflict on his captives. 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. I hadn't been able to get a copy of Shana Holts's police report because I was told there was no official suspect. "Do you remember what he was wearing?" As I saw it, it didn't matter if I left, because in so many ways I was already gone. Robert Ben Rhoades was a truck driver with a torture chamber attached to his semi. It was a solution that worked for both of us and looked like redemption but didn't last. He would then keep them alive, torturing and sexually assaulting them for weeks at a time before murdering them and disposing of their bodies. I was accepted, and that provided a thin strip of pride on which to stand while I made contact with my family. I hitchhiked in Europe and settled in Vienna for a few years. 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. Robert's victims were hitchhikers. He grew taller in his seat, and his face muscles relaxed into something both arrogant and blank. "Wait a minute. That was way back in the early '70s, though.". Holes in the ozone layer. Robert remained a free man and continued to attack and kill more victims. They were heading west on I-10 and stopped somewhere in Arizona at a busy truck stop. Magazine porn often dominated the aislesglossies like Hustler and Barely Legal but also newsprint rags with cheap color covers. Robert Ben Rhoades Father Killed himself after being charged with Fondoleding a fourteen year old girl. He welcomed me into his spacious living room. She didn't do what he expected. "Her body was found months later so she was probably kept alive for a while," Smith said. That ride turned out to be fine. 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 . Around her neck was a dog chain with a padlock attached to the ring that had been used to restrain her neck. While in prison, Robert pled guilty to the murders of Patricia and Douglas. the Murderpedia project stay alive. But an expert in what, I thought, killing? Then he said one word: Run. Robert Ben Rhoades, 59, was linked by DNA in 2003 to the murder of 24-year-old Patricia Candice Walsh. The pair were on their way to attend a religious conference but sadly never made it. Unlike those of other young women on the road, my story was now recognizable. So, if youre curious about where Debra might be today, heres what we know! Of the 200 people on a suspect list, almost all of them were long-haul truckers. I imagined for a moment flying to Illinois. I pulled up a map of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, and that's where things started to get hazy. You told me I owed you sex for the ride and chicken-fried steak and threatened to drop me off somewhere dangerous. 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. If there was any way to connect my story to Rhoades, it would be through the body of the girl in the Dumpster. Another is called "Beat Me Daddy," another "Frigid Woman." The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. His bearing shifted. In the end, Debra was able to escape Roberts fury and worked on moving on. Eventually, law enforcement discovered Robert Ben Rhoades was a serial killer, in addition to being a sexual sadist who enjoyed torturing women and girls. 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. 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. A few minutes later, I got up like nothing had happened. Rhoades had been arrested in early 1990 for a similar kidnapping in Houston, in which he kept an 18-year-old girl in the cab of his truck for two weeks, shaving her pubic 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. 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. "He's 67. Serial Killer and Rapist Robert Ben Rhoades Case Review Profiling Evil The Interview Room Profiling Evil 129K subscribers 28K views Streamed 2 years ago Robert Benjamin Rhoades, also known as. Ricky Lee Jones body has never been found. It's me, Sugar Bear, in party row. This former trucker is believed to have killed over 20 people spanning from 1975 to 1990. Criminals. 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. Robert was immediately arrested and charged with unlawful confinement, and sexual and aggravated assault. I thought that maybe in a truck stop where known murders had occurred, people would be more forthcoming. Robert Ben Rhoades (born November 22, 1945), also known as The Truck Stop Killer, is a serial killer and rapist and a native of Council Bluffs. He may be right, but certainly not because he's innocent. Rhoades' attorneys did not respond to requests for comment from ABCNews.com. After all, it's just going to be his word against mine. It was a raw moment. Like Regina, I also had a little journal and probably wrote something in it that night, because it was far too cold to sleep. While the first few months were great, Debra noticed that Roberts appetite for sex increased. Jailed for kidnapping and assault, Rhoades had his house and truck combed over by investigators, who made some gruesome discoveries. Watching the driver of my truck walk back across the wet asphalt, a second thought arose: It could be him. He also wanted $500. * 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. I said it was his choice. He said a gun was about control but a knife is personal. 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. Why didn't I go to anyone? Megan Fox. Watch with discovery+. He talked about it frequently and applied its ideas. This is the last picture ever taken of Regina Walters. 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