Between December 1972 and June 1980, authorities in seven Southern California counties recorded the violent deaths of at least 44 young men and boys, attributing their murders to an unknown "Freeway Killer." Of eleven victims slaughtered prior to 1976, most were known or suspected homosexuals, their deaths lending credence to the notion that the murderer himself was gay. While strangulation was the favored mode of death, some victims had been stabbed with knives or ice picks, and their bodies bore the earmarks of sadistic torture. Homicide investigators noted different hands at work in several of the murders, but they finally agreed that 21 were almost certainly connected. (Sixteen others would be solved in 1983, with the arrest of "Scorecard Killer" Randy Kraft.)

The first "definite" victim was 14-year-old Thomas Lundgren, abducted from Reseda on May 28, 1979, and discarded the same day, near Malibu. Mark Shelton, 17, was next, reported missing from Westminster on August 4, his body recovered a week later at Cajon Pass. The day after Shelton's disappearance, 17-year-old Marcus Grabs was kidnapped in Newport Beach, his violated corpse discovered at Agoura on August 6. Donald Hyden, 15, was also found in Agoura, on August 27 -- the same day he disappeared from Hollywood. On September 7, 17-year-old David Murillo vanished from La Mirada, his body found in Ventura five days later. The remains of Robert Wirostek were found off Interstate 10, between Banning and Palm Springs, on September 27, but eleven months would pass before he was identified. Another "John Doe" was discovered in Kern County, on November 30, with 18-year-old Frank Fox murdered at Long Beach two days later. The killer's last victim for 1979 was another unidentified male, aged 15 to 20, his violated body found on December 13. The new year began badly in Southern California, with 16-year-old Michael McDonald abducted from Ontario on January 1, 1980, found dead two days later in San Bernadino County. Charles Miranda, 14, disappeared from Los Angeles on February 3, his body discarded in Hollywood later that day. On February 5, 12-year-old James McCabe was kidnapped in Huntington Beach, his body recovered three days later in Garden Grove. Ronald Gatlin, 18, disappeared from Van Nuys on March 14, found dead the next day in Duarte. Fifteen-year-old Russell Pugh was reported missing from Huntington Beach March 21, his body found next day at the Lower San Juan Campground, along with the corpse of 14-year-old victim Glen Barker. Three days later, police found 15-year-old Harry Turner slain in Los Angeles proper.

The killer claimed two victims on April 10, 1980, abducting 16-year-old Steven Wood from Bellflower, rebounding to snatch 18-year-old Lawrence Sharp from Long Beach hours later. Wood's body was found April 11, at Long Beach, but Sharp remained missing until May 18, when his remains were discovered in Westminster. Meanwhile, on April 29, 19-year-old Daren Kendrick was reported missing in Stanton, his body recovered from Carson on May 10, with traces of chloral hydrate ("knockout drops") in his system. On May 19, 14-year-old Sean King vanished without a trace in South Gate; he remains among the missing. Eighteen-year-old Stephen Wells, the last to die, was kidnapped in Los Angeles June 2, his body discovered the next day at Huntington Beach.

Police got their break on June 10, when 18-year-old William Ray Pugh confessed "inside" knowledge of the murder series. Pugh identified the killer as William George Bonin, a 32-year-old Vietnam veteran and truck driver residing in Downey. A glance at the record revealed Bonin's 1969 conviction, in Torrance, on counts of kidnapping, sodomy, child molestation and forcible oral copulation. The charges stemmed from four separate attacks, between November 1968 and January 1969, with Bonin diagnosed as a mentally disordered sex offender, committed to Atascadero State Hospital. He was released in May 1974, on the recommendation of psychiatrists who found him "no longer dangerous." Two years later, he was back in prison, convicted of kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old boy. Bonin had been paroled in October 1978, seven months before the death of Thomas Lundgren.

Officers established round-the-clock surveillance on Bonin, striking paydirt after 24 hours. On the night of June 11, 1980, their suspect was arrested while sodomizing a young man in his van, booked on suspicion of murder and various sex charges. Held in lieu of $250,000 bond, Bonin was still in jail when police picked up 22-year-old Vernon Butts on July 25, charging him as an accomplice in six of the "freeway" murders. Between July 26 and 29, Bonin was formally charged with 14 counts of murder, eleven counts of robbery, plus one count each of sodomy and mayhem. Butts, facing six counts of murder and three counts of robbery, quickly began "singing" to police, naming more alleged accomplices in the murder ring. James Michael Munro, 19, was arrested in Michigan on July 31, returned to California for trial on charges of killing Stephen Wells. Three weeks later, on August 22, 19-year-old Gregory M. Miley was arrested in Texas, waiving extradition on charges of murdering Charles Miranda and James McCabe, plus two counts of robbery and one count of sodomy. Orange County raised the ante on October 29, 1980, charging Vernon Butts with the murders of Mark Shelton, Robert Wirostek, and Darin Kendrick, plus 17 other felony counts including conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, sodomy, oral copulation and sex perversion. Greg Miley was also charged with another Orange County murder, plus seven related felony counts. By December 8, suspect Eric Marten Wijnaendts -- a 20-year-old Dutch immigrant -- had been added to the roster, charged with complicity in the murder of Harry Turner.

Under California law, a murder committed under "special circumstances" -- accompanied by robbery, torture, or rape -- may be punished by death. In December, Bonin's playmates began cracking, pleading guilty on various felony charges and drawing life sentences in return for their promise of testimony against Bonin. They spelled out details of the torture suffered by assorted "freeway" victims, and the glee with which Bonin inflicted pain. As one remarked, "Bill said he loved those sounds of screams." On January 11, after telling police of Bonin's "hypnotic" control, Vernon Butts hanged himself in his cell, finally successful in the fifth suicide attempt since his arrest. With the new testimony in hand, Orange County indicted Bonin on eight more counts of murder, with 25 related counts of robbery and sexual assault. William Bonin's trial on twelve counts of murder opened November 4, 1981, in Los Angeles. Greg Miley and James Munro testified for the prosecution, describing how Bonin -- following his arrest -- had urged them to "start going around grabbing anyone off the street and killing them," in a bid to convince authorities that the "Freeway Killer" was still at large. A television reporter divulged contents of a jailhouse interview, in which Bonin admitted participation in 21 murders. "I couldn't stop killing," the trucker had said. "It got easier with each one we did." On January 5, 1982, after eight days of deliberation, jurors convicted Bonin on ten counts of murder and ten of robbery. (He was acquitted in the deaths of Thomas Lundgren and Sean King.) Two weeks later, he was formally sentenced to death.