William Bonin “The freeway killer” By: Tim Milan & Ennis Um

Background and childhood Born: January 8, 1947 Died: February 23, 1996 at age 49 He grew up in Connecticut as a child lived with two alcoholic parents and a grandfather who was a known child molester. His mother often left him home with his brothers to care for the grandfather He and his brothers often scavenged meals from neighbors He was put into an orphanage from age 6 to age 9 When he went back home at age 10 he was caught stealing license plates and was sent to a juvenile detention center. In his later teen years he returned home and lived with his mother Charged with multiple cases of molestation Was in the Vietnam war as an aerial gunner Forced two men into sodomy at gun point during war After several molestations threatened molestation victim with gun again with a 14 year old boy

Serial killer Profile White male United States citizen Convicted of murdering 14-44 victims in the years 1972-1980 exhibiting cool down periods (fits requirement of 3 murders in a month’s time and cool down periods) High IQ 120 classified as very intelligent

Phases of the Killer Trolling- Bonin looked for young boys whom he could molest he would find them on the freeway, or on the side of the road anywhere and that looked like they needed a ride. (school boys, male prostitutes, or hitchhikers) Wooing-He acted as a friendly stranger who was offering a lift to where ever the boy or hitch hiker needed to go. He would act friendly and start a conversation with victim typically he would ask about sex eventually and then rape his victim. Capture-Once in the car with Bonin after being lured in. he would either handcuff, rope, stab or strangle the victim into submission. Also received assistance with capture from three accomplices (James Munro, Vernon Butts, and George Mathew Miley) Murder-He would strangle victims with their own shirt he even mentioned this to an almost victim who he let go. He would also stab or strangle victims to death with a knife or a rope. Totem-Sometimes after a victim had died Bonin would commit sodomy with their body however he usually did it before their death.

Further Profiling Death Toll-Bonin was convicted of 14 murders but was suspected of actually committing 44 He was a transient killer he selected many different places along different freeways and roads to find victims He was somewhat organized but he would exhibit many inconsistent and unintentional seeming behaviors and decisions. He captured one victim asked him to have sex refused to let him escape his car then dropped him off at home. However he did have a plan most of the time he would pick a place that looked good to dump the body then he would use rope or some other rope like material to tie up victims .He stated that he thought his method of strangling victims to death with their own shirt was a good way to kill victims and he often did this.

CONVICTION Bonin was caught during a 9 day surveillance period and was arrested after capturing a 15 year old boy and assaulting him in a parking lot in a white van. He also had been seen trolling for young males. Originally Bonin was convicted of 10 murders by the jury. Specifically in Orange county he was convicted of 4 accounts of 1st degree murder Bonin was eventually convicted of 14 murders by 1982 most of which being very young men. He was also charged with cases of robbery assault, and molestation. His sentence was death by lethal injection and he was on death row for over 16 years. He was also suspected of 30 other murders however many of these cases were dropped or acquitted.

Additional information He was the first person in California to be executed by lethal injection The amount of time he spent on death row in prison was longer than many of his victims lived He received a medal in the Vietnam War for saving a friend in the middle of a firefight Bonin’s Last words were "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.“

Bibliography "William George Bonin | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers." William George Bonin | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b1/bonin-william.htm "Execution Day." William Bonin: The Freeway Killer — — Crime Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/bonin/day_1.html