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. He was grave and methodical as if preparing to dress a deer. 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. 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. 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 . When I first saw his apartment, I thought I'd walked into the showroom of a furniture store. 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. In the morning, they talked me into applying to the college. And while I was getting more adept at survival, he was very likely getting more adept at killing. 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. Candace however was not so lucky. I'd never heard the word "drifter" used in earnest. Eventually, law enforcement discovered Robert Ben Rhoades was a serial killer, in addition to being a sexual sadist who enjoyed torturing women and girls. A few minutes later, I got up like nothing had happened. He welcomed me into his spacious living room. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. As per the show, when Debra decided to leave the next day, he flew into a rage, physically assaulting her. Inside the cab of the truck was a woman, chained to the wall and screaming, with only a pair of slippers on her feet. If we went missing, months could pass before a report was filed, and by then there was little to connect the missing person in one state with the decomposed remains in another. Rhoades must have just picked her up, because he hasn't cut her hair yet. She also claimed that Rhoades was bringing men into their home to act as her sex slaves. If Rhoades hadn't been stopped by a patrolman on I-10 in Casa Grande, Ariz., in 1990, his crimes might never have been discovered. Sometimes they're threatening, sometimes cajoling, but always manipulative. He shaved her head and pubic hair, pierced her with fishing hooks, dressed her up in a black dress and heels, and photographed her in moments of terror, then killed her with a garrote made of baling wire, leaving her one-hundred-pound body to decompose in a barn in Illinois off Interstate 70. 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 without parole at Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois. Robert Ben Rhoades, 66, is already serving a life sentence without parole for the 1990 murder of 14-year-old runaway Regina Walters in Illinois. Viswa Vanapalli. Rhoades allegedly dumped the body of Walsh's husband, Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 28, in Texas. Debra also talked about Robert having sex with her against her will one time, which finally pushed her to end things with him. I needed to find rides and usually couldn't get into the restaurant. When you get in a truck at a truck stop, everyone notices. 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. An unidentified girl, shown here in a photograph taken by Rhoades. I had a guitar and a knapsack full of souvenirs of my girlhood: notes from friends, earrings, and song lyrics. They were heading west on I-10 and stopped somewhere in Arizona at a busy truck stop. But nobody had to tell me that people like Rhoades killed people like me and got away with it. Among the photographs recovered from Rhoades' home while he was jailed was several of Walters. From 1975 to 1990 he is believed to have tortured,. Rhoades' attorneys did not respond to requests for comment from ABCNews.com. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. I don't think either of us knew what to do about it. Adhering to my rule (that the only safe truck was a moving truck) meant I woke when a truck took an exit. Defendant Robert Boyd Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Michael Lyons, with special circumstances of murder in the commission of forcible sodomy, murder in the commission of a lewd act on a child, and murder by torture. They were both deeply religious, and they had intended to preach about Christianity when they reached the east coast. I have no fascination with serial killers, so I didn't realize that Rhoades was famous. Robert Benjamin Rhoades 19451122 - 32 1975199050 Between Pennal and Rhoades, it's Rhoades they believe. It's just going to be my word against his. ", "Oh no, not at all!" Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). From reading about Rhoades, I knew that he preferred hitchhikers to prostitutes and specifically targeted runaways. The arrest set off a chain of events that led to Robert being convicted for three murders and suspected of many more. 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. Robert Ben Rhoades used his job as a long haul truck to satisfy his sexually sadistic needs. "He liked people to think he was in uniform," she said. She had been missing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend. The store for professional drivers was clean and quiet. He then tried to join the police force but was ultimately denied due to his robbery conviction. Getting sleep was pretty easy with a boyfriend, because one of us could always stay awake. 14-year-old Regina Kay Walters and her boyfriend Ricky Lee Jones had run away from their homes and like Roberts first victims, they were hitchhiking when he picked them up. Martinsburg was nothing but a pinprick, just a dot on a minor route feeding into a midsize highway on the outskirts of Altoona, PA, not the sort of place you'd expect to find a busy truck stop. 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. 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. I remember sitting in the drizzle in a truck while the crime-scene tape was strung around a Dumpster. He said a gun was about control but a knife is personal. Berdella was conscious of his homosexuality. Thank you very much in advance. It had the same neutral arrogance. The ruling went on to question the admissibility of eyewitness testimony. I only saw the man with the knife. Looks too much like a target.". She attested that she was pressured to perform acts to satisfy his masochistic fantasies. Wearing down from lack of sleep and trying to get a handle on my risk level, I began to work off a 1-to-5 scale of sexually aggressive behavior: You (the driver) kept your urges to yourself. I crouched on netted twigs and breathed into my shirt to muffle the sound. But to ex-wife Debra Davis, when they. That's where my fantasy ends, in a game of "Who Is Credible Now?". You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. The memory was twenty-seven years old, and nothing in it was actionable. Five years ago, the truck stop was demolished along with its restaurant. The picture was given to Young by Regina's mom. 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. This tells me that he liked manipulating through terror. When he grew tired of her, he choked her to death with a garrote made of baling wire (via The Daily Nonpareil). Ex-Wife Of Serial Killer Robert Ben Rhoades Speaks Out | Evil Lives Here: After the Evil. Ricky Lee Jones body has never been found. Javascript is required. October 20, 2022. It was in this compartment that Robert Ben Rhoadesconstructed a tiny room of horrors to hold his undetermined number of victims. Before serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades killed his victims, he like to snap a photo of them. One night on I-95, she hitched a ride from a stranger and endured the most terrifying moments of her life. I also knew the first thing he did was to get them into the back of his sleeper cab, which had anchor points for shackles. She later stated that she wasnt comfortable with some of the things he made her do. Rhoades saw what Debra was looking at. This Picture was the key evidence photo. She started to . We do the interview, but I don't take notes. In Roberts truck, the authorities found his murder kit which contained cords, chains, whips, leashes, and fishhooks. She hid there until she was sure she heard his truck leave. 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. Prosecutors say the trucker kept a mobile torture chamber in the cab of his long-haul rig. I thought that maybe in a truck stop where known murders had occurred, people would be more forthcoming. Bruce Willis. Her eyes are partly closed, as if she's stoned or sleepy. creator of The Wicked Truth - a true crime blog https://ko-fi.com/fatim. Watch with discovery+. To a teenager, though, someone pushing 40 is pretty old, and hair often looks darker in photos. 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