William Bonin was convicted of raping and killing 14 boys and young men ranging in age from 12 to 19 between 1979 and 1980, but he later claimed that he'd actually murdered more than 20.
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events.
Los Angeles Public Library ArchivesPedophile and serial killer William George Bonin raped and murdered between 14 and 44 victims while prowling the streets of southern California.
In the summer of 1979, a 32-year-old man named William Bonin set out on a grisly crime spree in southern California that left at least 14 boys and young men dead. His victims were between the ages of 12 and 19, and all of them were raped and strangled before their nude bodies were dumped along freeways or behind businesses.
Bonin, who was called “the most arch-evil person who ever existed” by prosecutors, was physically and sexually abused as a child. He began committing petty crimes before he was 10 years old, and he started molesting other children as a teenager.
In 1969, he was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting five boys, and he spent five years in state hospitals, where he was determined to be a sociopath. He was sent back to prison a year later for raping at least two more teens, and he remained behind bars until October 1978 — just months before he began his murder spree and became known as the “Freeway Killer.”
William Bonin was sentenced to death for his disturbing crimes, and he was executed at San Quentin State Prison on Feb. 23, 1996, at age 49. He used his final words to decry capital punishment — and to warn others not to follow in his bloody footsteps.
William Bonin’s Troubled Childhood And Early Crimes
Born in Connecticut in 1947, William George Bonin grew up with an alcoholic mother and a physically abusive father. As early as kindergarten, Bonin began mimicking the behavior he saw at home, and he was often scolded for his aggression toward his fellow students. He spent some time at a juvenile facility before he was sent to a Catholic convent in 1953 at the age of six, where he reportedly suffered sexual abuse from other boys.
By the time he was 10, Bonin was committing petty crimes like stealing hubcaps, and he was sent to a juvenile detention center once again. There, he was molested by an adult counselor, and when he was released, he began abusing boys himself, including his younger brother.
Public DomainWilliam Bonin’s 1963 high school yearbook photo.
Bonin’s family moved to California around 1962, and he spent his teenage years there. He was known as a loner with no friends, and he only dated one girl — because his mother thought it would stop his pedophilic urges. He ultimately dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1966.
He was stationed in Vietnam, where he sexually assaulted two fellow soldiers at gunpoint. He returned home to California in October 1968, and he began his first crime spree just one month later.
That November, he picked up a 14-year-old boy named Billy Jones and offered to give him a ride home. Billy tried to flee from the car when Bonin started asking him questions about homosexuality, but Bonin knocked him unconscious and raped him before dropping him off at a park.
Over the next two months, Bonin repeated this process at least four more times, offering rides and then sexually assaulting his victims. He was arrested in January 1969 when a police officer caught him with a 16-year-old boy in his car, and he was charged with kidnapping, sodomy, oral copulation, and child molestation. He pleaded guilty and was sent to Atascadero State Hospital, but he was transferred to the California Medical Facility two years later after continual sexual engagement with other inmates.
Public DomainThe mugshots of William Bonin (left) and one of his accomplices, Vernon Butts, taken in 1980.
Bonin remained at the California Medical Facility until June 1974, when he was deemed to no longer be a danger to others. That wouldn’t last long.
In September 1975, William Bonin abducted and raped at least two more teenage boys, and he pleaded guilty to those crimes that December. He was sent back to prison, but because he showed progress during therapy sessions, he was released in October 1978. He vowed to never get caught again — so he started murdering his victims to cover his tracks.
How William Bonin Became Known As The ‘Freeway Killer’
William Bonin didn’t commit his murders alone. He had at least four accomplices: Vernon Butts, Gregory Miley, James Munro, and William Pugh.
On Aug. 5, 1979, he and Butts picked up his first victim, Markus Grabs, a 17-year-old German student who was visiting the U.S. on a backpacking trip. They sodomized him, beat him, strangled him with a cord, and stabbed him 77 times before dumping his naked body along a road near Malibu.
Los Angeles Public Library ArchivesThe faces of several of the Freeway Killer’s victims.
William Bonin and Vernon Butts raped and murdered at least two more teens together before the end of the year, and Bonin also acted alone to kill 17-year-old Dennis Frank. Then, in early 1980, Bonin started bringing Gregory Miley along for his gruesome crimes. The two of them offered 15-year-old Charles Miranda a ride in West Hollywood on Feb. 3 and then sexually assaulted him, strangled him with his own t-shirt, and dumped his body in an alley.
Just five minutes later, according to court documents, Bonin told Miley, “I need another one.”
So, the men found 12-year-old James McCabe, who was on his way to Disneyland. Bonin raped the boy while Miley drove his van and then beat him, strangled him, and dropped his body off beside a dumpster.
By this point, the Los Angeles area was on edge. “You went home at the end of the day and held your breath that the damned phone didn’t ring with another one,” investigator Bernie Esposito told the Los Angeles Times in 1996.
The Freeway Killer’s crimes continued throughout the spring of 1980, as he killed four more teens in March, two in April, and one in May. His final murder took place on June 2, 1980.
Los Angeles Public Library ArchivesWilliam Bonin in chains following his arrest in June 1980.
That day, Bonin and James Munro picked up an 18-year-old hitchhiker named Jay Wells. The teen agreed to have sex with Bonin and let the serial killer tie him up, expecting to be paid after. Instead, Bonin and Munro took his money, beat him, strangled him, and left his naked body in a cardboard box behind a gas station.
That very day, the Los Angeles Police Department placed Bonin under surveillance. Four days prior, William Pugh, an accomplice to at least one of the Freeway Killer’s March murders, had been arrested for auto theft. While in custody, he told officers that he’d heard Bonin talking about hurting young boys while riding home with him from a party once — leaving out his own role in the crime.
With this information, detectives began following Bonin. Nine days later, they caught him red-handed.
The Freeway Killer Faces Justice
On June 11, 1980, officers followed William Bonin’s van to Hollywood, where the serial killer stopped to talk to five young men on the streets before a 15-year-old boy named Harold accepted a ride. When Bonin parked in an empty lot, the police approached his vehicle and caught him raping Harold. Inside the van, they found a length of white nylon cord, several knives, and a thick scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the Freeway Killer’s crimes.
Bonin went to trial and was ultimately convicted of 14 murders, though he confessed to killing 21 boys and young men — and some people believe he had as many as 44 victims. He was sentenced to death. While awaiting his execution, he showed little remorse for his crimes.
Los Angeles Public Library ArchivesWilliam Bonin was sentenced to death for killing 14 boys and young men.
On Feb. 23, 1996, William Bonin became the first inmate in California to die by lethal injection. His final meal was two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three pints of coffee ice cream, and three six-packs of Coca-Cola.
His last words were: “That I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. That I feel it sends the wrong message to the youth of the country. Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. And I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.”
After learning about the grisly crimes of William Bonin, the Freeway Killer of California, learn how Aileen Wuornos became history’s most terrifying female serial killer. Then, meet Pedro Rodrigues Filho, the real-life “Dexter.”
