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NARRATOR: On the 22nd of March, 1980, the bodies of two teenage boys were discovered dumped together
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beside a freeway in California. Sadly, they were the first, and they wouldn't be the last.
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You've got this killer, and he is almost ghostlike. He is dumping bodies, and then he's
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disappearing into the night. NARRATOR: Bodies of young boys, most of them hitchhikers,
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had been discarded like trash. The victims had all been tied up and sexually assaulted
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before being strangled. He was incredibly violent. He was evil, and he would hurt you just to hear you scream.
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NARRATOR: The killer was a local truck driver called William Bonin. This sadistic predator, together with a small band
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of accomplices, spread fear amongst the community. It seemed that no young man was safe.
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He enjoyed having the boy at his mercy and hearing the boy cry and plead for his life.
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And Bill felt powerful when he was in the act of murdering a kid. NARRATOR: In just 13 months, the monster
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dubbed the Freeway Killer was responsible for the murders of up to 21 young boys and teenagers.
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William Bonin had been revealed as one of the world's most evil killers. [MUSIC PLAYING]
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During the summer of 1979, the naked bodies of young boys were being discovered beside freeways and other major roads
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across Southern California. DAVE LOPEZ: It started very slowly. There would be a dead body found on the side of a road.
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It started out there was maybe one, maybe two, and then when it got to like the fourth body
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that had been found, then we started saying, wait a minute. Is there a pattern here?
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NARRATOR: Victims were being targeted at an alarming rate. And a wave of fear spread within communities across Los Angeles.
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These murders were very close together. It's almost like a killing spree at times.
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And he does it because he can. These people are there for the taking. They are vulnerable.
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And when he figures out that nobody is coming after him, well, he just carries on.
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This was a man who premeditated everything. It was all carefully thought out, carefully planned,
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and then executed meticulously. NARRATOR: After his arrest in 1980, William Bonin confessed to 21 murders.
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His youngest victim was just 12 years old. Prison psychologist, Vonda Pelto, spent many hours talking to the killer.
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VONDA PELTO: I asked him one time about a killing, how did it feel when you killed him?
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When he was crying and pleading for his life and saying, please, please don't kill me, did you feel anything?
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And Bill said, I didn't feel anything. I couldn't understand that. And I said, well, was it like killing an animal?
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And Bill said, oh, no, I have a lot of feeling for an animal. NARRATOR: This killer's story begins
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on the 8th of January, 1947. William George Bonin was born in Willimantic, Connecticut,
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to parents Robert and Alice. He was the middle of three brothers. Their father was an alcoholic, and it was
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an unhappy abusive upbringing. Neighbors recall the Bonin boys were always hungry, dirty, and ill clothed.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: Bonin was then put in the hands of Alice's father who had abused her as a child.
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And he went on to abuse her sons. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Bonin experienced a lot of sexual abuse during his childhood.
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And, sadly, it was something that he just came to expect. But he also learned that sexual abuse
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was a way of gaining power and control over other people. NARRATOR: When Bonin was six he was sent to an orphanage.
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His mother, Alice, claimed this was to protect her sons from an abusive home life.
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VONDA PELTO: Bill and his younger brother were put in the Catholic-run orphanage.
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And the parents never did come to see him, he told me. And said that, for sure, he thought
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they had died because they didn't come to see him. NARRATOR: From the orphanage, young William Bonin was sent
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to a youth detention center. The reason why is unknown. But what is certain is that during his time
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there, at the age of just eight, he was subjected to yet another sexual assault.
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This time by an older boy. Allegedly he asked for his hands to be tied during this.
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And that signifies to me that this is somebody who has been sexually abused. There is a familiarity with that kind of behavior.
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And that is something that's incredibly disturbing for me, especially at such a young age.
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NARRATOR: By 1969, 22-year-old Bonin had reconnected with his mother and was living
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with her in Downey, California. After a brief career in the army, he turned to a life of crime.
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He was arrested for sexually assaulting five boys. And he's also later emerged that Bonin
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and raped two soldiers at gunpoint during his military service. He hasn't just turned into a sexual predator overnight.
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This is behavior that will have developed over time. But it's probably gone undetected up until this point.
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And, to me, this is somebody who is on a very clear trajectory to becoming a very dangerous and a potentially
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homicidal offender. GEOFFREY WANSELL: It's the oldest question in the book, isn't it?
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What came first? Was it nature or nurture? In this case, I think it was both. Together, they created a formidable combination.
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NARRATOR: Bonin's deviant behavior would inevitably land him in hot water. Instead of serving time in prison,
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the young man wound up in a state hospital where he actually honed his predatory instincts.
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ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Now, during this time, he gets to learn about the institutional environment.
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He gets to know the kind of things he needs to say to staff at that facility, the type of things
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that they need to hear to secure his release. He's becoming more dangerous now because he's developing
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that manipulativeness. NARRATOR: After five years of incarceration, William Bonin was a free man.
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Far from rehabilitated, he was ready to strike again. In early September, 1975, David McVicker
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was a 14-year-old schoolboy enjoying the last long warm days of summer break. Life seemed free and easy and there
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was no problem getting around to catch up with his friends. DAVID MCVICKER: Everybody hitchhiked.
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There was no buses or anything like that. Say, at the beach, at the end of the day,
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it wasn't unusual to see 150 kids down there with their beach towel and their thumb out.
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NARRATOR: Whilst the youth of Los Angeles focused on making the most out of their time off, they
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were blissfully unaware of the potential danger they were putting themselves in.
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At 5:30 PM, on September 8, a sadistic sexual predator was looking for a boy to pick up.
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DAVID MCVICKER: I'd just said goodbye to my friends. I left their house and gone to hitchhike home.
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And, as soon as I crossed this major street, a car pulled up next to me. And this guy says, hey, can you tell me where Euclid street is?
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I said, it's about a mile ahead. He goes, well, where are you going? I said, I'm going to go to Brookhurst
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and go towards the beach. And he said, well, why don't you jump in, and I'll give you a ride.
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And I thought, cool, that's perfect. NARRATOR: But this kind motorist wasn't at all what he seemed.
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DAVID MCVICKER: I got in the car and everything was cool at first. He was really nice.
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You would have never thought anything was wrong. And then, about, maybe, five minutes into the ride,
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he said something to ask if I had ever tried anything like a gay act or something like that.
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And I was kind of in shock. I was like, no. No, I would never do that. And then I immediately tried to get out of the car.
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I said, do me a favor. I said, pull over. Let me out of the car. And he didn't. He started going faster.
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So I got really scared and I opened up the door. And I went like that. And I turn around.
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There's a gun right here. He goes, get back in the car or I'll shoot you. NARRATOR: The driver was 28-year-old,
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convicted rapist and pedophile, William Bonin. He drove around for some time, all the while,
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holding a gun pointed straight at David. As the light faded, Bonin parked up in a field.
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I was scared to death. I was petrified. I knew that something really bad was going to happen.
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I didn't know if I was going to live or die. I was fighting for my life to try to get out of the car.
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He grabbed me and started to beat me up. I knew that if I didn't do what he said, I was going to die.
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NARRATOR: David's ordeal that summer evening was the stuff of nightmares He had my t-shirt around my neck with the tire iron.
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You know, to change the tire. He had that going through the sleeves of my shirt,
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and he was twisting it, strangling me. While he was raping me. And then, with what I thought was my last breath,
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because I couldn't breathe in anymore, I just kind of went, "God, help" like that, and he stopped.
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NARRATOR: Amazingly, Bonin let him go. Later that day, 14-year-old David and his mother
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reported the assault to the police. Several months later, David's school day was interrupted by a visit from the Sheriff's officers.
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He was taken to the Orange County jail, where they'd arranged a lineup. We went into this little dark room,
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and these six guys come streaming out. And before they even stopped, I saw the guy.
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I knew it was him. So I said out loud that's him, number three. NARRATOR: In December, 1975, 28-year-old
00:10:39
William Bonin was found guilty of lewd and lascivious conduct and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
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For unknown reasons, he was released on parole after serving less than three. The 31-year-old settled back into the community.
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ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He appears to be creating some semblance of a normal life, but what he's doing
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is putting in place the structures that will make him into a more successful offender.
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So he has this veneer of normality, this veneer of respectability. And when you look like a normal member of society,
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you're more likely to go unnoticed. NARRATOR: Bonin secured a job as a truck driver
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and rented an apartment. However, the following year, he was arrested yet again for molesting a teenage boy.
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He'd violated his parole, and should have been returned to prison. There's an administrative error.
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Bonin is not sent straight back to jail. He's set free. When he's released, Bonin is picked up by a friend.
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And he tells the friend, this is never going to happen to me again. The friend thought that that meant he was never
00:11:56
going to commit a crime again. Tragically, grotesquely, it meant that he was never going
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to leave a victim alive again. NARRATOR: The string of sexual convictions to his name
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didn't seem to affect Bonin's social life. In fact, he was starting to explore his sexuality.
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ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He's gay. And, at this time-- the late 1970s-- this is still quite a stigmatized social
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identity in the United States. So the fact that he's trying to make connections with people like him is something that could
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appear to be quite positive. NARRATOR: He became a regular at one of his neighbors parties.
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Bonin's meeting up with people who were after exactly the same as his-- sex, drugs, a great deal of alcohol, and adventures.
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And it's at the friend's house that he first encounters a 21-year-old young man called Vernon
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Butts, who is a part time magician and works in a porcelain factory. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He's been described as being fascinated
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by and terrified by Bonin. And that rings an alarm bell for me in terms of coercive control.
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When you have a perpetrator who basically tries to take away the identity and the personhood of the individual
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they're in a relationship with. And this sounds incredibly familiar when we look at this description.
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So that's very concerning for me. NARRATOR: Bonin was never going to resist the urge to assault
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a young boy for long. On the 5th of August, 1979, Bonin and his new friend, Vernon Butts, were out cruising in Bonin's van.
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Bonin spotted Markus Grabs, a 17-year-old German tourist who was hitchhiking beside Newport Beach.
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They pulled over and offered him a ride. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: At this point in time a lot of people
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traveled around, hitching lifts with other people. It was a cultural norm. So, I think, to realize that this everyday mode of transport
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has put you in a situation where you're going to lose your life, that must have been
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absolutely horrendous for him. NARRATOR: 17-year-old Markus was subjected to an horrific assault in which he
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was tied up and raped by Bonin. Years later, Bonin described the attack in detail to prison
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psychologist, Vonda Pelto. VONDA PELTO: Markus Grabs was laying there in the back of his van.
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And Bonin had a knife. And he said, you know, I just got to thinking I could kill him.
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And then Bonin said, I just started stabbing him wildly. He said, I just stabbed and stabbed and stabbed.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: He was stabbed 77 times in an outburst of violence that's almost unimaginable.
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NARRATOR: The lifeless body of Markus Grabs was found the following day in nearby Malibu.
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The 17-year-old was naked and had orange cord still wrapped around his head. Markus had been raped and murdered by William Bonin.
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Watched on by his macabre cheerleader, Vernon Butts. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Butts admitted later that he positively
00:15:19
enjoyed watching Bonin in action, that he was both terrified of him and yet hypnotized by him.
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The perfect accomplice, the Sorcerer's apprentice. NARRATOR: The deadly duo had made their first kill.
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There's almost a sense in which they're waiting to see what's going to happen. Are the police going to catch up with them?
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Is anybody going to come looking for them? And when they realize that that's not going to happen,
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they get that sense of power and that sense of invincibility, and think, well, why not do it again?
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NARRATOR: Over the next five weeks, two more young men would die at the hands of Bonin
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and his sidekick, Butts-- 15-year-old Donald Hyden and 17-year-old David Murillo.
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Were both sodomized, strangled, and discarded along the Ventura freeway. VONDA PELTO: He was very clever.
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So that the police were confused, he would just scatter these kids all over the place.
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They were trash. Once they were dead, they were trash to him. They were nothing.
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NARRATOR: The bodies of young male victims were being discovered in various different counties
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in and around Los Angeles. Noticing a similarity between the murders, investigators at the LAPD began to contact other agencies.
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Larry Malmberg was investigating the murder of 17-year-old, Mark Shelton, who had been found beside a freeway
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in the Devore area of San Bernardino County. LAPD brought it to my attention that the one case in Devore fit the cases from LA
00:17:03
County and Orange County. And, then, that's what made me realize that, you know,
00:17:10
we were dealing with a serial killer. And we all met together, all the agencies, exchanging
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information on murder cases, especially any type of murder cases that involved the body being
00:17:22
dumped anywhere near a freeway. NARRATOR: The multi-agency investigation identified at least five possible victims, all of them
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boys under the age of 17. News of the man the press were calling the Freeway Killer
00:17:37
soon spread. Over the next three months, four more young victims were found that matched the killer's MO.
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Reporter, Dave Lopez, remembers that the community was on a knife edge. DAVE LOPEZ: There are a lot of bodies being found.
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All of Southern California was terrified. I mean, here was a guy running around.
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And they knew it was a van picking up kids, and these kids were found dead. I mean, it was a very, very terrifying time.
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NARRATOR: And, tragically, there would be many more victims. At the turn of the decade, the Freeway Killer
00:18:11
had no intention of stopping. But William Bonin wasn't working alone. Over the course of his murderous career,
00:18:20
the 32-year-old had a number of accomplices. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: When you've got a team-killing situation,
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there's a participation and spectator element to this. And there's a sense of power in watching somebody else kill,
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and there's also a sense of power in performing a murder before an audience. VONDA PELTO: Growing up, Bonin didn't have any friends
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and so these young killers were his friends. And also his sexual partners. NARRATOR: Another individual who was to become one of Bonin's
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chosen few, was an 18-year-old from Texas called Gregory Miley. He was illiterate and made money as a casual laborer.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: In February, 1980, Bonin, this time with Miley, who he'd met at one of those parties,
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was out searching for a victim. NARRATOR: Later, Miley described that night's events to prison
00:19:21
psychologist, Vonda Pelto. VONDA PELTO: Gregory Miley had this pretty long blonde hair.
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I remember. And he had an IQ of about 57 I think. And he was definitely led by Bill.
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NARRATOR: As Miley recounted to Vonda after his arrest, Bonin brought up the subject of murder.
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NARRATOR: Their victim was 15-year-old Charles Miranda. NARRATOR: Bonin goaded Miley asking, can you do it?
00:20:21
Let me show you how to do this. Charles was raped and strangled in the back of the van.
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NARRATOR: But the night was just getting started. VONDA PELTO: Miley told me that, I was ready to go home.
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I was tired after we killed the first one. But Bonin said, no, I need another one.
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And that's when they picked up the 12-year-old, the youngest of all. NARRATOR: They found James Macabe waiting at a bus stop.
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He wanted to get to Disneyland. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: They lured him into their vehicle
00:21:04
under the premise that they were going to take him to Disneyland. But they didn't.
00:21:08
Bonin raped him whilst Miley drove the vehicle. And he was beaten, and he was strangled.
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So you now have two murders in one day. And I think Bonin feels a real sense of accomplishment
00:21:21
as a serial killer now. NARRATOR: The police soon discovered the lifeless bodies
00:21:26
of both boys taking the number of the Freeway Killer's suspected victims to at least 12.
00:21:32
As the media reported the latest slayings, David McVicker found it all very familiar.
00:21:39
DAVID MCVICKER: It was like, every time that I read about these kids in the newspaper,
00:21:42
it was like I just felt this pit in my stomach. And it's like, that happened to me.
00:21:46
That happened to me. You know, I just had this feeling it was him. But I knew in my heart it couldn't be him because he's
00:21:53
still in prison, right? NARRATOR: But he wasn't. William Bonin had been free for over a year in which time
00:22:00
he claimed the lives of many boys. And the sadistic serial killer was only just getting started.
00:22:07
On the 15th of March, the naked body of another young man was found beside a freeway in LA County.
00:22:16
33-year-old Bonin had so far involved several accomplices, and he was about to recruit another.
00:22:23
He'd been introduced to a 17-year-old called Billy Pugh at one of his neighbors parties.
00:22:30
ELIZABETH YARDLEY: So this individual could just as well have been one of Bonin's victims
00:22:35
as well as an accomplice. So he got a ride home with him from a party, and Bonin proposition Pugh.
00:22:43
An Pugh turned him down. He was quite shocked at this. And during this encounter, Bonin tells Pugh that he likes
00:22:50
to abduct and kill young boys. And what Bonin is essentially saying here is, I could kill you if I wanted to.
00:22:59
And Pugh was quite fascinated, but also quite terrified by this. NARRATOR: On the 20th of March, less than a week
00:23:07
after his last killing, Bonin, together with young Billy Pugh, went to Hollywood on the hunt for a victim.
00:23:14
They lured 15-year-old runaway, Harry Todd Turner, into the van. Harry Todd Turner, was prey for the pair of them.
00:23:25
Once again, the boy is forced to strip. He is beaten, sodomized, and strangled with a ligature.
00:23:33
NARRATOR: It wasn't enough to satisfy Bonin's growing desires. The following afternoon, he was yet again cruising the streets.
00:23:41
This time, he was alone. He's been killing with accomplices for quite a long time now.
00:23:48
And I think he wants to mix it up and make things interesting. And he also has that confidence because he hasn't been caught.
00:23:55
So he decides, I'm going to try killing on my own. And I think he feels quite confident he's
00:24:00
going to get away with it. NARRATOR: He came across 14-year-old, Glenn Barker, hitchhiking in Westminster.
00:24:07
ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Glenn Barker's mother had been hearing about other boys who had been turning up dead, and she was rightly
00:24:13
incredibly worried about this. So in order to encourage Glenn not to hitchhike, she gave him money so we could take the bus instead.
00:24:21
But, like any young lad, he's not going to spend his money on the bus. He was going to save it up for other things.
00:24:27
NARRATOR: It was a mistake, which cost Glenn his life. But claiming one young victim wasn't enough
00:24:33
for Bonin that afternoon. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Bonin comes across a young man of 15, Russell Rugh, who was on his way to an after-school job.
00:24:43
But he'd called his employer to tell him that he was running late. Tragically, he was hitchhiking, and was offered a lift by none
00:24:53
other than William Bonin. NARRATOR: Glenn and Russell's bodies were found dumped together in a remote location 70 miles out
00:25:03
of the city in Orange County. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: I think the fact that Glenn Barker
00:25:07
and Russell Rugh's bodies were dumped together is incredibly significant. Because what the killer is doing, in terms
00:25:13
of whoever finds those bodies, is saying, look, I've killed two people. I've done this on my own.
00:25:19
I am displaying these bodies for you to see. So there's a real sense of a performance here.
00:25:24
NARRATOR: Forensic investigators discover distinctive green carpet fibers on both victims' naked bodies.
00:25:31
This firmly linked these murders with four of the Freeway Killer's earlier victims.
00:25:37
By late April, 1980, the body count attributed to the mysterious Freeway Killer had reached a staggering 19.
00:25:45
And there was no sign of him slowing down. It was all proving too much for David McVicker who'd survived
00:25:52
an assault by Bonin in 1975. DAVID MCVICKER: I knew, just something in my stomach
00:25:58
just told me, this is him. And these stories just kept going on and on. And, finally, one day on TV, one of the news reporters
00:26:06
said that if you have any idea, even if it's a guess who could be doing this, call.
00:26:11
And I thought, yeah, I have a guess. I have a good guess. I finally called the Sheriff's department
00:26:16
and said what happened to me. NARRATOR: The net was closing in on William Bonin.
00:26:21
His name had been firmly put on the police's radar, and someone else was about to name him as a suspect too.
00:26:29
One of his accomplices, Billy Pugh, had been arrested for vehicle theft. GEOFFREY WANSELL: While on remand in prison,
00:26:37
he tells the authorities that if he can make some kind of deal with them, he knows who the Freeway Killer is.
00:26:45
And he points them towards William Bonin. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Looking at this from the outside,
00:26:50
it would appear to be completely bizarre. But he is out of Bonin's clutches now.
00:26:55
That coercively controlling dynamic has been broken down. He's getting a sense of himself back,
00:27:01
and he wants to protect himself. NARRATOR: Unaware that he was about to be under the spotlight, Bonin was recruiting
00:27:09
yet another accomplice-- an 18-year-old named James Munro whom he'd taken under his wing.
00:27:16
VONDA PELTO: Bill picked him up, got him a job, took him to live with him at his mother's house.
00:27:22
And Bonin just said to Jim Munro, what do you think about us going out and picking up somebody, having sex with him,
00:27:31
and then killing him? What do you think? And Jim Munro told me, he thought he was kidding.
00:27:37
And Jim said, he didn't want to sound like he was afraid to do that. NARRATOR: On the 2nd of June, whilst the LAPD began
00:27:46
to organize a 24-hour surveillance operation on William Bonin, their new prime suspect
00:27:52
for the Freeway Killer, Bonin and James Munro had picked up another young man. What stands out about this is that it
00:28:01
didn't just happen in the back of a van, down a road somewhere. Steven Wells was taken to the house
00:28:07
where Bonin's mother lived. Now, taking a victim to a house where you live is incredibly risky.
00:28:14
So Bonin really does feel completely invincible at this point in time. VONDA PELTO: They killed Steven Wells in Bonin's house,
00:28:23
and then took him over to Vernon Butts' house. And they said to Vernon, hey, Vern, come on out in the van
00:28:30
and look what we've got. And Vern went out there, and kind of poked the kid, and said, oh, yeah, that's a good one.
00:28:39
And Bill said to Vern, what do you think we ought to do with him? Vern said, well, you could keep him as a souvenir
00:28:49
or just dump him off. And, hey, no big deal, you could always get another one. NARRATOR: The surveillance team set up outside Bonin's house
00:28:59
just in time to witness and Munro return in the van after disposing of Steven's body.
00:29:07
As investigators watched the callous duo jovially enter the house, they had no idea what horrors had happened
00:29:14
there just hours earlier. All the police could do was watch and wait. Nine days later, on the 11th of June,
00:29:23
they got their opportunity. The police had witnessed him talking to a number of young men on street corners
00:29:30
as they were following him. And one 17-year-old actually got into his van. The detectives who had been standing, watching the van,
00:29:39
could see it moving. They could also hear sounds, groans. A physical attack could be about to take place.
00:29:47
And, at that point, they decide to get into the van. They caught him, literally, right in the act--
00:29:54
right smack in the act. They saved the kid, and they caught Bonin red-handed. NARRATOR: Finally, William Bonin was in police custody.
00:30:03
The man who was believed to be responsible for the murder of 21 young men and boys was safely behind bars.
00:30:10
As the news broke, the whole of LA, and one keen viewer in particular, breathed a huge sigh of relief.
00:30:18
We were watching the news and all of a sudden this flash comes on-- Freeway Killer arrested.
00:30:23
And it was him. NARRATOR: William Bonin was charged with the sodomy and oral copulation of the teenage boy
00:30:31
who was rescued from his van. He was due in court for a preliminary hearing. And unless investigators could prove he was also a murderer,
00:30:40
it was likely he would be released on bail. At the very last minute, officers searching
00:30:47
Vernon Butts' home discovered large amounts of blood in his shower. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Butts had probably been told by Bonin,
00:30:55
don't worry. There's no evidence, deny everything. It's fine. But then the luminol shows up this blood,
00:31:02
which is completely unexpected. Now, up until this point everything had been planned.
00:31:07
Everything had been predictable. It was going fine. But this is a real curveball.
00:31:11
And this is when things start to unravel. NARRATOR: Butts immediately started talking.
00:31:17
He confirmed that he and Bonin had been responsible for several of the murders. Bonin was kept in jail.
00:31:25
In the meantime, forensic investigators have been examining every inch of Bonin's van.
00:31:31
They'd had a breakthrough. The rear had been lined with green carpet, which was a match for the distinctive fibers that had been
00:31:39
found on eight of the victims. They lift up the green carpet in the back of the van
00:31:46
and discover blood. Now there are convincing links between the killings. NARRATOR: As the case against William Bonin mounted,
00:31:55
the news that so many boys and teenagers had been savagely abused and killed was difficult for David McVicker
00:32:03
to hear. I can only imagine what those other kids went through. Because I know that, at first, they would have seen
00:32:09
the same person that I saw. They were seen somebody who wants to have fun, and inviting, and be your friend,
00:32:15
and maybe smoke a joint or something. And then, right after, they would have found out that they
00:32:22
had messed up really bad. And he was incredibly violent. He was evil. And he would hurt you just to hear you scream.
00:32:33
NARRATOR: The police finally had their man. Investigators worked tirelessly to put
00:32:38
the case against the Freeway Killer together. Six months later, on the 16th of December, 1980,
00:32:46
William Bonin tried to make a deal. He would give them information about his numerous victims
00:32:53
on the understanding that his confessions could not be used as evidence against him.
00:32:59
He was hoping that if he helped, the prosecutors wouldn't seek the death penalty.
00:33:04
Detective Larry Malmberg received a call from the LAPD. LARRY MALMBERG: They said, hey, Bonin is going to talk to us,
00:33:13
and you're invited to come down. And I went down to the courthouse, and there were officers from a tremendous amount of agencies
00:33:23
that all had victims. NARRATOR: The LAPD had prepared charts with profiles of dozens
00:33:29
of victims they had reason to believe may be connected to the case. Bonin went through them by date and name and photographs
00:33:40
and identified the ones that he had murdered. NARRATOR: He even went on to describe
00:33:46
where he dumped the body of a young boy that had never been found. He told us that he it out here in San Bernardino County,
00:33:54
off the 10 freeway. So arrangements were made to bring Bonin out the next day by LA County sheriffs.
00:34:01
He pointed out an area where the body had been dumped. They set up a grid and started doing a search
00:34:07
and, ultimately, found bones. NARRATOR: Bonin identified the victim from a photograph
00:34:12
as being missing teenager Sean King, who was 14 years old. His mother had been waiting anxiously for news
00:34:19
of her son for seven months. Larry remembers that Bonin was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
00:34:27
If you walked into a bar and sat down and he was sitting in a chair next to you,
00:34:31
you would think he's a nice guy. It hurt, emotionally, talking to him and seeing that he is actually the kind of person you could
00:34:41
carry on a conversation with and not even realize what an evil, no-good, rotten, piece
00:34:47
of garbage he is. NARRATOR: Without being able to use Bonin confessions as evidence in court, the confirmation that he had indeed
00:34:56
been responsible for so many killings was of limited help to the prosecution. However, as the year came to an end, several of his accomplices
00:35:06
agreed to plead guilty and testify against Bonin in return for leniency in their sentencing.
00:35:14
Meanwhile, journalist, Dave Lopez, had been visiting Bonin in jail. On the 9th of January, 1981, he had another opportunity
00:35:23
to meet with the killer. There had been a lot of speculation about what was going to happen with the trial
00:35:28
and what have you. And I said, you know, there's a rumor that you're going to cop out to all this.
00:35:36
And he goes, I don't know if I'm going to do that or not, but you got a little bit of time?
00:35:40
I go, yeah. And he says, yeah, I did it. I said, you did what? He says, I killed them.
00:35:48
And I go, how many? And he said, 21. NARRATOR: It was a confession that Dave had not been expecting.
00:35:57
DAVE LOPEZ: It was just a weird feeling knowing that he was telling me all this.
00:36:01
And, here, I'm just sitting right across from him. And saying to myself, you know, he didn't have
00:36:08
the look of a wild murderer. But, boy, he sure talked like one. NARRATOR: Two days later, on the 11th of January, Vernon Butts--
00:36:18
Bonin's accomplice who'd admitted his part in the killings and been charged with six of the murders--
00:36:24
committed suicide in jail. It was a massive blow for the prosecution. Now, Butts has agreed to testify
00:36:33
against Bonin providing the death penalty is taken off the table. But the moment that Butts hangs himself,
00:36:40
all those confessions become inadmissible in court. Bonin was in jail at the time, but, in order to keep him
00:36:48
there, the prosecution needed to prove his guilt. Now, they couldn't use his confessions against him
00:36:54
because that was the agreement. They couldn't use Butts' testimony either. So both of these murderers have admitted to their crimes,
00:37:02
but the evidence can't be used to prove them guilty. NARRATOR: Six months later, in June, there was a revelation.
00:37:09
Dave Lopez went public with the news that Bonin had confessed to him. DAVE LOPEZ: We put together the story
00:37:17
and broadcast the fact that he confessed to me, 21 killings. Went into a little bit of detail, not a whole bunch.
00:37:25
And, then, the proverbial you know what hit the fan. NARRATOR: It made the reporter a vital witness,
00:37:32
and he was put under pressure to give evidence in court. DAVE LOPEZ: Area and their brother was coming after me,
00:37:38
and they were trying to subpoena me. Now, at the time, California had what they call a shield law,
00:37:44
which, basically, protected reporters from having to testify in a court of law. If you wanted, you can subpoena them,
00:37:51
but they can only testify to what they had reported on the air or what they had written.
00:37:57
And the state of California tried like the devil to try to get me to testify. And I wasn't going to testify.
00:38:03
NARRATOR: As prosecutors tried every trick in the book to get Dave on the witness stand,
00:38:08
Bonin seemed happy to spill the beans on his life of crime to prison psychologist, Vonda Pelto.
00:38:15
Over the coming weeks, he went into detail about the depraved killings. VONDA PELTO: He said that he went
00:38:24
out and picked up these kids because he wanted sex. He wanted to rape them. And then he said that he had this epiphany, I guess,
00:38:35
where he realized and admitted to himself it wasn't the sex at all. He enjoyed the killing.
00:38:43
He enjoyed having the boy at his mercy and hearing the boy cry and plead for his life.
00:38:53
NARRATOR: On the 4th of November, 1981, at the Los Angeles Superior Court, Bonin's trial
00:38:59
began. He was indicted for 12 murders in Los Angeles County. GEOFFREY WANSELL: The trial was a sensation.
00:39:08
People queued for hours to get into the public gallery. It was the most extraordinary spectacle.
00:39:15
NARRATOR: Without any of Bonin's confessions on the record, there was a real chance that he could get away with murder.
00:39:23
After six weeks of trial and testimony, the fate of the Freeway Killer hung in the balance.
00:39:30
DAVE LOPEZ: Once they started closing arguments, that's it, the case is over. There's no more testimony, no more nothing.
00:39:36
And I hadn't testified yet. Then, I got a phone call saying that the closing arguments were delayed.
00:39:43
I go, why? Well, because Bonin was in the holding cell with another inmate. The inmate realized who he was, and he beat the crap out
00:39:52
of him, to the point where Bonin was physically unable to go to court. NARRATOR: This unexpected news had a profound effect on Dave.
00:40:01
I do believe that, sometimes, when you get signs-- may they be subtle or however you want to believe it.
00:40:08
But the way I looked at it, I said, it was so unusual for a guy to be beaten up the day
00:40:14
of the closing arguments. And the closing arguments were delayed. I said to myself, you know, I better not ignore this.
00:40:22
So I called the prosecutor, and I said, hey, look, you still need me? Because I'll testify.
00:40:28
NARRATOR: Dave Lopez was on the stand for two days. He detailed the 21 murders Bonin had confessed to him.
00:40:37
In many ways, it was a controversial decision because-- as a reporter myself, and I've covered many trials--
00:40:44
you're supposed to be there as an observer and to remain impartial. It is extremely rare for someone to leave the press
00:40:53
box for the witness box. NARRATOR: On the 6th of January, 1982, 33-year-old William Bonin was found guilty of 10
00:41:03
murders in Los Angeles County and given the death penalty. The following year, Bonin was tried and found
00:41:10
guilty of a further four murders in neighboring Orange County. He received a second death sentence.
00:41:18
A lot of people said, I was the main reason that he got convicted. I don't think that at all.
00:41:24
I think, if anything, I was just icing on the cake for the jury. All of Bonin's surviving accomplices
00:41:30
were also found guilty and sentenced to time in jail. Despite taking the police directly
00:41:36
to the location of 14-year-old Sean King's body, Bonin was acquitted of that crime.
00:41:42
Without being able to use his confession in court, there was insufficient evidence for conviction.
00:41:48
VONDA PELTO: The sad thing is that he admitted doing 21 murders, but they only busted him or convicted him
00:41:55
for killing 14. So there were seven families that didn't get their cases solved or justice
00:42:00
even though he admitted it. NARRATOR: In 1996, after 14 years on death row, William Bonin became the first prisoner
00:42:11
executed by lethal injection in California. David McVicker was present during those final moments.
00:42:19
DAVID MCVICKER: It was probably like six feet away from him-- something like that.
00:42:23
And he just eventually turned purple. And he went, pthhpth, like that, and that was the end of it.
00:42:31
But it was, for me, total release. It was like these demon nightmares were just coming out.
00:42:39
NARRATOR: William George Bonin was pronounced dead at 12:13 AM on the 23rd of February, 1996.
00:42:48
He never showed any remorse for his crimes. He said, there are some guys that were born on this world
00:42:54
to do certain things. I was born to be a killer. LARRY MALMBERG: There are all kinds out there,
00:42:59
and Bonin was one of the most evil ones in my opinion. Certainly the most evil I ever dealt with.
00:43:07
VONDA PELTO: I asked Bill, one time, do you have any regrets? And he said, well, I did kill two in one day.
00:43:18
But he said, I always wanted to kill three. And he said, I really regret not having that opportunity.
00:43:29
NARRATOR: Bonin was a sexual predator who killed for sheer pleasure. He was convicted of murdering 14 boys,
00:43:37
but he's believed to have been responsible for many more lost lives. He targeted those who were vulnerable.
00:43:44
And, by his own admission, would have continued to kill if he hadn't been caught,
00:43:49
making William Bonin one of the world's most evil killers. [MUSIC PLAYING]