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{{Short description|American serial killer and rapist (1947–1996)}}
{{Distinguish|text=the other California serial killers named the "Freeway Killer", [[Patrick Kearney]] and [[Randy Kraft]]}}
{{too long|date=October 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name              = William Bonin
| image             = Bill Bonin's Feb. 4, 1980 mugshot.jpg
| caption           = Bonin's 1980 [[mug shot]]
| alias             = The Freeway Killer<br />The Freeway Strangler
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1947|1|8}}
| birth_place       = [[Willimantic, Connecticut]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1996|2|23|1947|1|8}}
| death_place       = [[San Quentin State Prison]], California, U.S.
| victims           = Murder: 14 convicted, 21 confessed to, 22–36+ suspected
| relatives         = 
| children          = 1
| country           = United States
| states            = California
| beginyear         = November 17, 1968
| endyear           = June 2, 1980
| apprehended       = June 11, 1980
| conviction        = [[Murder (United States law)|First degree murder]] with [[Special circumstances (criminal law)|special circumstances]] (14 counts)<br />[[Robbery]] (3 counts)<br />[[Sodomy]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19820107&id=_IZUAAAAIBAJ&pg=6633,426962 |title=Freeway Killer: Bonin Convicted for 10 Killings; Awaits Sentencing |agency=[[United Press International]] |work=[[Daily Record (Washington)|The Daily Record]] |location=Ellensburg, Washington |date=January 7, 1982 |page=8 |access-date=March 15, 2014}}</ref>
| sentence          = '''[[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles County]]'''<br>[[Capital punishment in California|Death]] (March 12, 1982)<br />'''[[Orange County, California|Orange County]]'''<br>Death (August 26, 1983)
| imprisoned        = [[San Quentin State Prison]]
| criminal_status   = [[Execution by lethal injection|Executed by lethal injection]]
}}
'''William George Bonin''' (January 8, 1947 – February 23, 1996), also called the '''Freeway Killer'''<ref name="Gregory">{{cite news|last=Gregory|first=Kim|title=The Beat Goes On: Decades Have Passed, but Housewife and Mom Jane Howatt Remains Determined to Piece|date=January 17, 2010|access-date=August 14, 2021|work=[[Ventura County Star]]|url=https://archive.vcstar.com/lifestyle/the-beat-goes-on-decades-have-passed-but-housewife-and-mom-jane-howatt-remains-determined-to-piece-e-350208571.html}}</ref> and the '''Freeway Strangler''',<ref name="McDougal 1991 145">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=145}}</ref> was an American [[serial killer]] and [[sex offender]] who raped, tortured, and murdered numerous young men and boys between May 1979 and June 1980 in [[southern California]]. He was convicted of 14 murders, but he confessed to 21 and is suspected of even more.<ref name="Justia1980">{{cite web |date=August 29, 1988 |title=People v. Bonin (1988) |url=http://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/46/659.html |access-date=January 23, 2022 |work=law.justia.com}}</ref>

Bonin's first known murder victim was killed in May 1979. He generally operated by luring his victims into his van under the pretense of having consensual sex. He became known as the "[[Freeway Killer]]" because most of his victims' bodies were discovered beside freeways. On many occasions, he was helped by one of his four known accomplices. One of them, Vernon Butts, was listed in court as an accomplice for 12 murders; he died via suicide before his trial in 1982.

Described by the prosecutor at his first trial as "the most arch-evil person who ever existed",<ref>{{cite news|title=Freeway Killer's Story: Ghastly Tale of Horror |date=February 3, 1981 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19810203&id=458fAAAAIBAJ&pg=1267,982028&hl=en |work=[[The Gadsden Times]] |access-date=November 27, 2018}}</ref> he spent 14 years on [[death row]] before his execution by [[lethal injection]] at [[San Quentin State Prison]] in 1996. He was the first prisoner in California to die by this method.

== Early life ==
=== Childhood ===
William George Bonin was born in [[Willimantic, Connecticut]], on January 8, 1947, the second of three sons to Robert Leonard Bonin Sr. and Alice Dorothy Cote. Both parents were [[Alcoholism|alcoholic]]s, and his father an ill-tempered [[World War II]] veteran who [[Physical abuse|physically abused]] his wife and children.<ref name="harvnbMcDougal1991p=161">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=161}}</ref><ref name="justia2">{{cite web|url=http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/59/815/496298/ |title=William George Bonin, Petitioner-appellant, v. Arthur Calderon, As Warden of San Quentin State Prison; James Rowland, Director of the California Department of Corrections. (9th Cir. 1995) |work=law.justia.com|date=June 28, 1995 |access-date=April 9, 2011}}</ref> His mother suffered from severe [[mood swing]]s<ref name="harvnbMcDougal1991p=161"/><ref name="Defense Still Fighting as 'Freeway Killer'">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Dc0yAAAAIBAJ&pg=6873,3947724&dq/|title=Defense Still Fighting as 'Freeway Killer' Awaits Death|work=The Tuscaloosa News|access-date=January 24, 2022|date=February 19, 1996}}</ref> and frequented a bingo parlor while her sons [[child neglect|remained unattended]].<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 27">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=27}}</ref><ref name="Pelto 2007 122">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|pp=122}}</ref><ref name="sfgate.com">{{cite news|title=Boys' Killer Led a Twisted, Tortured Life |date=February 12, 1996 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-Boys-Killer-Led-a-Twisted-Tortured-2992772.php |access-date=November 27, 2018|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|The San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref> She was regarded as being a domineering and emasculating presence in Bonin's early life.<ref name="Munro">{{cite web|last=Munro|first=James|url=http://www.mansonfamilypicnic.com/munro2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813083502/http://www.mansonfamilypicnic.com/munro2.htm|archive-date=August 13, 2006|title=In The Eyes Of A Killer|access-date=February 23, 2022|date=March 20, 1999}}</ref>

In January 1950, Bonin's {{nowrap|father{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}a [[compulsive gambler]]⁠{{nowrap|{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}gambled away their home in [[Andover, Connecticut]], forcing the family to reside with Bonin's maternal grandmother in Willimantic.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 26-28">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=26–28}}</ref> In spite of this [[Dysfunctional family|dysfunctional environment]], Bonin and his brothers were actively raised [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and baptized according to church doctrine.<ref name="Pelto 2007 306">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=306}}</ref> They attended St. Mary's Catholic School, where staff repeatedly made complaints of Bonin's aggression toward other students, [[truancy]], and other misbehavior. After riding his bike into a group of young girls, he was briefly placed in [[juvenile hall]].<ref name="Pelto 2022 29">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=29}}</ref> After returning home, he was reportedly more uncooperative toward his parents than before.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 30"/>

In September 1953, Bonin and his older brother, Robert Jr., were placed at the Franco-American School, a Catholic [[convent]], in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]].<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 31">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=31}}</ref> The convent enforced harsh discipline by staff, with extreme assault being commonplace.<ref name="Reading Eagle">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vRoiAAAAIBAJ&pg=1277,2409332&dq/|title=Execution Set for 'Freeway Fiend'|work=[[Reading Eagle]]|date=February 19, 1996|access-date=March 15, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Radford"/> Bonin recalled nuns forcing him to punch a fence when he misbehaved.<ref name="Pelto 2022 32">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=32}}</ref> Records indicate he was observed to function well in this structured environment.<ref name="justia2"/>

According to witnesses, Bonin was bullied,<ref name="The Freeway Tapes">{{cite web|url=https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/show/the-freeway-killer-lost-murder-tapes-investigation-discovery-atve-us|title=The Freeway Tapes: Lost Murder Tapes - ID GO|work=investigationdiscovery.com|date=October 23, 2022|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> and was once sexually assaulted by an older boy in 1955. According to Bonin, the older boy approached Bonin for sex, and Bonin asked the boy to tie his hands behind his back, which he said would allow him to feel "secure and less frightened."<ref name="Pelto 2022 29"/><ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past"/> Bonin was then bound and [[sexually assaulted]].<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 30">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=30}}</ref>

During this time at the convent, neither parent visited Bonin or his brother, and Bonin became worried his parents had died.<ref name="Pelto 2022 32" /><ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" /> Bonin was to remain at the convent until May 1955, when he returned to live with his parents in a home owned by Bonin's maternal grandfather in [[Mansfield, Connecticut|Mansfield]].<ref name="Reading Eagle" /><ref name="The Hour">{{cite news|title=California Executes 14 Boys' Murderer |date=February 23, 1996 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19960223&id=kvlIAAAAIBAJ&pg=3123,2822433&hl=en |access-date=November 26, 2018|work=The Hour}}</ref><ref name="Pelto 2022 38">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=38}}</ref>

In Mansfield, Bonin attended Annie Vinton Elementary School with his younger brother Paul, where he was ridiculed as "Bugsie Bonin".<ref name="The Freeway Tapes"/> He became a [[Juvenile delinquency|juvenile delinquent]] who quarreled with students. Bonin recalled feeling shame at his sexual attraction to younger children and male teachers.<ref name="Radford">{{cite web |url=http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Bonin,%20William%20-%20fall,%202007.pdf|title=Microsoft Word - Bonin William _fall2007_.doc|last1=Fuller|first1=Shonda|last2=Getchell|first2=Steffany|last3=Friend|first3=Erin|access-date=March 20, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 38-40">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=38–40}}</ref><ref name="justia3">{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/807/589/1967781/|title=Bonin v. Vasquez, 807 F. Supp. 589 (C.D. Cal. 1992)|work=law.justia.com|date=November 9, 1992|access-date=March 4, 2022}}</ref> Neighbors later failed to recollect his parents spending time with their children,<ref name="O'Kane 2017 178">{{harvnb|O'Kane|2017|p=178}}</ref> and one worried neighbor, observing they were unkempt and hungry, provided meals and clean clothes to Bonin and Paul out of sympathy.<ref name="sfgate.com" /><ref name="Reading Eagle" />

Until Bonin's first incarceration, Bonin's mother often left the children with their maternal grandfather, a known child molester who had [[sexual abuse|sexually abused]] her. She later speculated her father [[child molestation|molested]] his grandsons.<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past" /><ref name="sfgate.com" /><ref name="Rosewood 2015 5">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=5}}</ref> Bonin and Paul were also left with Robert Jr., {{nowrap|who{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}having received the brunt of their father's abuse<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 39">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=39}}</ref>⁠{{nowrap|{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}often beat and belittled his siblings.<ref name="Reading Eagle" />

Largely devoid of consequences and parental supervision, Bonin stole hubcaps, license plates and [[car tag|metal tags]] off vehicles around town.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 40">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=40}}</ref> In 1957 he was placed in a juvenile detention center for these and other petty crimes.<ref name="sfgate.com" /><ref name="harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=161-162">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|pp=161–162}}</ref> While incarcerated, Bonin was molested by an adult counselor.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 5"/><ref name="McDougal 1991 162">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=162}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Contemporary records from this juvenile detention center indicate Bonin also functioned well under the disciplinary structure of the detention home.<ref name="justia2"/>}} Following his release, he began [[Groping|sexually fondling]] his younger brother Paul.<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past" /><ref name="The Los Angeles Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-killer-bonin-execution-19960223-snap-htmlstory.html |title='Freeway Killer' William Bonin is Executed: Sadistic Slayer Confessed to 21 Murders |date=February 23, 1996 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=May 24, 2019}}</ref> After six months, however, Paul informed their mother of Bonin's fondling, and Bonin was forced to sleep in a separate bedroom.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 30"/> Bonin later confessed to molesting young boys<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past" /> and exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 40"/>

=== Adolescence ===
[[File:William George "Billy" Bonin's North High School yearbook photo.png|thumb|Bonin, pictured in the [[North High School (Torrance, California)|North High School]] yearbook, {{circa}} 1963]]
In 1959, Bonin attended middle school adjacent to [[Coventry High School (Connecticut)|Coventry High School]]. Despite showing a strong aptitude for math and science, he had otherwise mediocre grades. In late 1960, the family faced the prospect of [[foreclosure]], and Bonin's mother kicked their father out of the home, winning [[child custody|custody]] of the siblings.<ref>{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=41}}</ref><ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past"/> The parents reconciled however, after their father was offered lucrative employment as a [[machinist]] in [[Downey, California]]. In early 1962, they purchased a tract home in nearby [[Torrance, California|Torrance]].<ref name="Reading Eagle"/><ref name="The Hour"/><ref>{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=42}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=43}}</ref>

Bonin attended [[North High School (Torrance, California)|North High School]] in Torrance, where he was regarded as a social outcast. However, Paul later recalled him as an outwardly well-behaved teenager.<ref name="The Vietnam War is to blame for the 14...">{{cite news|title=The Vietnam War is to Blame for the Fourteen Murders Committed by Freeway Killer William Bonin|date=August 17, 1983|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/08/17/The-Vietnam-War-is-to-blame-for-the-14/8058429940800/|access-date=March 4, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref><ref name="Rosewood 2015 81">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=81}}</ref> Bonin was uncomfortable around his peers, and is not known to have formed any friendships throughout his adolescence.<ref name="Pelto 2007 232">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|pp=232}}</ref><ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5">{{cite web|url=https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/worlds-most-evil-killers/6899149153586402112/seasons/5/episodes/william-bonin-freeway-killer-episode-1/2728aeeb-888c-3952-b57a-d97902184857|title=World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5 Episode 2|work=peacocktv.com|date=September 1, 2021|access-date=September 24, 2021}}{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> He spent his time frequenting a local bowling alley.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 44"/>

By his teenage years, Bonin held an intense interest in [[pedophilia]],<ref name="McDougal 1991 162" /> but kept his emerging feelings a secret.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 44">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=44}}</ref> His [[pederasty]] became the basis of conflict with his mother, leading to frequent arguments.<ref name="McDougal 1991 162"/><ref name="justia2"/><ref name="Death by Execution">{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/19/Death-by-execution-is-the-only-just-penalty-for/7213380264400/|last=Barabak|first=Mark|title=Death by Execution is the Only Just Penalty for Freeway Killer William Bonin|date=January 19, 1982|access-date=March 4, 2022}}</ref> He rarely attempted to interact with girls, but once reluctantly dated a girl named Linda to please his mother.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 45">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=45}}</ref>

After dropping out of high school in 1966, Bonin molested several neighborhood children.<ref name="The Los Angeles Times"/> His mother reportedly refused to acknowledge these acts, or his escalating [[antisocial behavior]],<ref name="McDougal 1991 161">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=161}}</ref> but frequently worried he would be arrested. She prayed for him and warned him often, much to his frustration.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 47">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=47}}</ref> Eventually, she [[eviction|evicted]] him from their house, for undisclosed reasons.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 73">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=73}}</ref><ref name="McDougal 1991 162" /><ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past" />

Lacking motivation, and frequently borrowing money from his parents, Bonin joined the [[United States Air Force]] (with his mother's encouragement) in December 1966.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 47"/> He became engaged to Linda, a decision largely determined by Bonin's mother, who felt it would quell his attraction to pubescent boys.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 48">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=48}}</ref><ref name="justia2"/> During the engagement, he repeatedly told Linda that he had recurring nightmares about the sexual assault and murder of a young woman.<ref name="Gregory" />

=== Engagement and U.S. Air Force ===
[[File:Phu Loi Base Camp, June 1970.jpg|left|thumb|[[Phu Loi Base Camp]], where Bonin was stationed in the [[Vietnam War]]]]
During his military service, Bonin completed a [[General Equivalency Diploma]], and served as a cook for four months in [[Alaska]]. He was arrested for theft on October 25, 1967, but the charges were dropped due to his imminent deployment to [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]].<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 48"/> Stationed in [[Phu Loi Base Camp]], he served five months of active duty in the [[205th Assault Support Helicopter Company|205th Assault Support Helicopter Unit]] as an [[air gunner|aerial gunner]], logging over 700 hours of combat and patrol time.<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past"/><ref name="Victim">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/victim_2.html/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709024200/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/victim_2.html/|archive-date=July 9, 2008|title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer|work=trutv.com|access-date=January 21, 2022}}</ref>

Bonin later claimed that his wartime experiences instilled [[misanthropy|misanthropic]] beliefs.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 9">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=9}}</ref> Despite this, he is known to have risked his own life on one occasion while under enemy fire to save a wounded fellow airman.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-killer-bonin-execution-19960223-snap-htmlstory.html|title='Freeway Killer' William Bonin is Executed: Sadistic Slayer Confessed to 21 Murders|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=January 24, 2022|date=February 23, 1996}}</ref> For this act, Bonin received a medal in recognition of his gallantry, among other medals.<ref name="auto4">{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/46/659.html|title=Supreme Court of California: People v. Bonin (1988)|work=law.justia.com|date=August 29, 1988 |access-date=January 24, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1773955.html|title=Supreme Court of California, En Banc. The People, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. William George Bonin, Defendant and Appellant|via=caselaw.findlaw.com|date=August 29, 1988|access-date=January 24, 2022}}</ref> Bonin said he engaged in allegedly consensual relations with four young girls, and had a "number of [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] encounters" in Vietnam, and once in [[Hong Kong]].<ref name="Bonin arrest - Newspapers.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14868735/bonin-arrest/|title='Freeway Killer': Two Charged in Fourteen Murders|work=The Press Democrat|access-date=January 24, 2022|date=July 30, 1980}}</ref><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 50">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=50}}</ref> He also confessed to sexually assaulting two soldiers under his command at gunpoint, around the time of the [[Tet Offensive]].<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19820107&id=-QIiAAAAIBAJ&pg=2511,3431094&hl=en|title=Freeway Killer's Fate is Pondered|work=The Reading Eagle|access-date=January 24, 2022|date=January 7, 1982}}</ref><ref name="Defense Still Fighting as 'Freeway Killer'"/>

Bonin served nearly three years, before receiving an [[military discharge#honorable|honorable discharge]] on October 25, 1968, at age 21.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 52">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=52}}</ref><ref name="harvnbMcDougal1991p=161"/> Upon returning home, he discovered that Linda, who had given birth to their son,<ref name="Gregory"/> had left him to marry another man.<ref name="justia2"/> The end of their relationship reportedly left him extremely frustrated.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 52"/> Working as a gas station attendant, Bonin returned to Downey to live with his parents, whom he resented for frequently requesting his help.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 85">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=85}}</ref> Several family members noted differences in his behavior after his military service, although Bonin refused to explain these changes.<ref name="Death by Execution" /><ref name="justia2" />

== First convictions ==
On November 17, 1968, Bonin picked up 14-year-old Billy Jones in [[Arcadia, California]], while driving his mother's car.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 53">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=53}}</ref> Bonin offered to take him home, but Jones attempted to flee the vehicle in response to Bonin's repeated questions regarding homosexuality. Driving him to a nearby shopping center, Bonin handcuffed and raped him, knocking him unconscious in the process.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 54">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=54}}</ref><ref name="cjlf">{{cite web|title="Prosecutors' Perspective on California's Death Penalty" |url=https://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPPaper.pdf|date=March 2003|access-date=March 26, 2022}}</ref> He then dropped Jones off at a park. Returning home, Jones' mother promptly reported Bonin to police.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 55">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=55}}</ref><ref name="GArtesia">{{cite web|url=https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/inmates-executed-1978-to-present/william-george-bonin/|title=Executed Inmate Summary: William George Bonin|work=cdcr.ca.gov|date=January 2, 2011 |access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref>

On November 26, Bonin picked up 17-year-old [[hitchhiker]] John Treadwell of Torrance. Bonin began asking him about "fags" and homosexuality before accelerating the vehicle and producing a handgun. Bonin parked in a secluded area. He then raped Treadwell and bludgeoned him with a [[tire iron]]. Bonin threatened that he had friends who would aid in avenging him if Treadwell told "[[The Man]]" of what had happened.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 56">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=56}}</ref><ref name="GArtesia"/>

On December 4, it was reported to the Torrance Police Department by 17-year-old Allen Pruitt that a man with medium-length dark hair and olive complexion had offered him a ride before deviating from the highway and handcuffing the boy, who was extensively sexually assaulted in the vehicle.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 56"/>

On January 1, 1969, Bonin offered a ride to 12-year-old Lawrence Brettman in [[Hermosa Beach, California|Hermosa Beach]]. Ignoring the boy's pleas to let him go, Bonin began threatening Brettman. He parked, and forced Brettman to perform [[oral sex]] on him, molesting and robbing him at gun point. He then threatened to kill Brettman if he ever reported the incident.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 57">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=57}}</ref><ref name="cjlf"/>

On January 12, Bonin reportedly picked up 18-year-old hitchhiker Jesus Monge, asking him about homosexuality before offering him twenty dollars to perform oral sex. When Monge attempted to exit the vehicle, Bonin physically and sexually assaulted him. He was then handcuffed and raped. Bonin threatened Monge, stating, "I'll rip your nuts off if you don't cool it."<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 57"/>

By this point, extensive efforts were being made by local police to locate a potential [[serial rapist]] that fit Bonin's description. On the 28th an [[El Segundo, California|El Segundo]] policewoman confronted Bonin,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 57"/><ref name="cjlf"/> who had frightened 16-year-old runaway Timothy Wilson, who was present with Bonin in Bonin's mother's vehicle. Noting Bonin's frantic state and similar profile to the rapist, she searched and handcuffed him.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 58">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=58}}</ref><ref name="McDougal 1991 162" /> Bonin repeatedly advised her to incarcerate him, before insisting he was not responsible for his actions.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 59">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=59}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Questioned by police following this arrest, Bonin claimed to be glad of his apprehension, adding he may have murdered the youth and that he felt he was in need of professional help.<ref name="The mother and two brothers of convicted Freeway Killer">{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/18/The-mother-and-two-brothers-of-convicted-Freeway-Killer/4056380178000/|title=The Mother and Two Brothers of Convicted Freeway Killer|work=United Press International|date=January 18, 1982|access-date=January 24, 2022}}</ref>}} He was [[indictment|indicted]] on five counts of kidnapping, four counts of sodomy, one count of oral copulation, and one count of child molestation against the five individuals he had abducted and assaulted (or attempted to assault) since the previous November.<ref name="McDougal 1991 162" />

In March, Bonin underwent two psychiatric examinations, after which he was determined as being a sexual psychopath, who had little control over his impulses and showed signs of depression and inappropriate emotional responses. Initially denying childhood abuse, Bonin confessed to being molested at age eight, and suspected he was molested on various occasions between 9 and 12 years old.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 60-61">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=60–61}}</ref> In May, Bonin recounted to a probation officer his recent stressful separation, and admitted his guilt in molesting male youths, although he also expressed desire to start a family and become a pilot upon his release.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 62-63">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=62–63}}</ref> He said that his Vietnam service contributed to his criminal behavior, emphasizing his difficulties in seducing female partners since his return.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 64">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=64}}</ref> He was evaluated to be "seriously lacking insight and responsibility" for crimes committed since his childhood. He pleaded guilty to molestation and forced oral copulation, and was sentenced to the [[Atascadero State Hospital]] in June 1969 as a mentally disordered [[sex offender]] considered amenable to treatment.<ref name="justia1">{{cite web |date=June 28, 1995 |title=William George Bonin: Petitioner-appellant, v. Arthur Calderon, As Warden of San Quentin State Prison (9th Cir. 1995) |url=http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/59/815/496298/ |access-date=April 9, 2011 |work=law.justia.com}}</ref><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 65">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=65}}</ref>

== Incarceration at Atascadero and Vacaville prison ==

Bonin arrived at the Atascadero State Hospital on June 17, 1969;<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 67">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=67}}</ref> he was subjected to a battery of [[psychiatric assessment|psychiatric examinations]]<ref name="McDougal 1991 162"/> which revealed that he possessed an [[intelligence quotient|IQ]] of 121 and displayed traits of [[bipolar disorder|manic depression]], [[sexual sadism disorder]], and [[antisocial personality disorder]]. A physical examination revealed extensive scars on Bonin's head and buttocks, which he claimed to have no memory of obtaining, but were likely sustained in the Franco-American Orphanage.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 9"/> This lack of acknowledgement led experts to conclude Bonin [[Repressed memory|repressed memories]] of the more extreme aspects of his childhood abuse.<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past" /><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 74">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=74}}</ref> They also noted the psychological and emotional implications of Bonin's unhealthy relationship with his mother, upon whom he remained emotionally dependent, in spite of her low opinion of him (she considered him "worthless as a human being"<ref name="McDougal 1991 162" />).<ref name="Death by Execution"/>

Bonin regularly attended [[Group psychotherapy|group therapy sessions]] while incarcerated. Psychiatrists noted his defensive, aggressive attitude toward other patients, and his refusal to acknowledge his homosexuality.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 67"/>{{refn|group=n|Contemporary records reveal Bonin fainted "dead away for ten minutes" from stress related to acknowledging his sexual orientation during his first interview at the Atascadero hospital.}} Bonin divulged his intentions to eliminate any future victims of his sexual assaults, if he deemed it necessary.<ref name="Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin Vowed">{{cite news|title=Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin Vowed While He Was Away in Prison|date=November 26, 1981|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/11/26/Accused-Freeway-Killer-William-Bonin-vowed-while-he-was/6225375598800/|access-date=March 9, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref> He was classified as an extreme [[sociopath]] with a high probability of [[recidivism|recidivistic behavior]] under periods of psychotic breakdown.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 76">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=76}}</ref> He was regarded as "extremely disturbed" and his poor social skills with others were also viewed as hindering his own treatment.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 77-78">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=77–78}}</ref> Despite this, Bonin willingly participated in experimental programs and was generally considered a non-violent, helpful, and conscientious patient by staff.<ref name="justia1" /> He had recited what he perceived psychiatrists desired to hear from him, believing he could manipulate them into granting him an early release.<ref name="Pelto 2007 235">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=235}}</ref> One psychiatrist wrote of Bonin that he "wanted to straighten himself out, but doesn't know how to go about it."<ref name="Rosewood 2015 10">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=10}}</ref>
[[File:California Medical Facility.jpg|thumb|The [[California Medical Facility]], where Bonin was sent in 1971]]
In 1971, Bonin was sent to the [[California Medical Facility]], having been declared unsuitable for further treatment due to repeated sexual engagement with inmates (two of whom were [[mentally challenged]]). This, as well as alienating and irritating fellow patients, resulted in Bonin being beaten on several occasions.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 79-84">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=79–84}}</ref> Bonin was subject to further psychiatric examination, which dealt with hostility toward his father and older brother. It was noted that his sexual behaviors were compulsive in response to stress.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 85-86">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=85–86}}</ref> He also sought to raise money for the family of another prisoner, and reportedly applied willingly for at least one treatment program.<ref name="justia1"/> Bonin was released from prison on June 11, 1974, after doctors concluded he was "no longer a danger to the health and safety of others".<ref name="McDougal 1991 162" />

=== Further offenses and imprisonment ===
In July, Bonin rented an apartment in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles]], with intentions of circulating within the local gay community, but was largely unsuccessful due to poor social skills and soon relocated to his parents' new house on 10282 Angell Street in Downey.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 92-93" /> He briefly worked as a bartender in [[Fountain Valley, California|Fountain Valley]],<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 92-93">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=92–93}}</ref> and switched to being a truck driver for a [[Montebello, California|Montebello]] delivery firm named Dependable Drive-Away in December 1974. He was fired from the job in February 1975 for wrecking a trailer. In March, Bonin attended community college classes for two semesters. Around this time, he would pick up hitchhikers for the purposes of having sex, eventually establishing a serious relationship with a single mother.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 93-94">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=93–94}}</ref>

While [[Cruising (driving)|cruising]] for young boys on the night of September 8, 1975,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 93-94"/> he encountered 14-year-old David Allen McVicker hitchhiking in [[Garden Grove, California|Garden Grove]].<ref name="Resource.org">{{cite web|url=http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/59/59.F3d.815.92-56299.93-99000.html/|title=United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit: Department of Corrections, Respondents-appellees Argued and Submitted|access-date=October 7, 2012|work=bulk.resource.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100517015932/http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/59/59.F3d.815.92-56299.93-99000.html|archive-date=May 17, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> McVicker accepted Bonin's offer to drive him to his parents' home in [[Huntington Beach, California|Huntington Beach]]. Shortly after McVicker entered the car, Bonin asked him if he had engaged in homosexuality. McVicker replied that he had not. He asked to leave the vehicle, which prompted Bonin to accelerate it.<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5"/> When McVicker attempted to leave, Bonin produced a gun and drove him to a deserted field. Bonin ordered him to undress, and then beat and raped him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-22-mn-38842-story.html|last=Moehringer|first=J.H.|title=O.C. Victim Sees New Start in Bonin's End|date=February 22, 1996|access-date=January 25, 2022|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" /> Bonin [[Strangulation|strangled]] him with his T-shirt and a tire iron. McVicker pleaded for his life. Bonin immediately stopped and apologized, before reverting to casual conversation.<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" />{{refn|group=n|This event would hold significance as being the last incident in which Bonin is known to have expressed any semblance of [[remorse]] or guilt for his actions.<ref name="Witnesses"/>}} He then drove McVicker to his home,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 93-94" /> stating on the way, "You know what? You're an alright guy. I was going to kill you but I want to come back for you and use you again."<ref name="Rosewood 2015 46">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=46}}</ref>

Soon, McVicker phoned his mother, who promptly informed Garden Grove police of the incident.<ref name="McDougal 1991 162"/> On October 11, 1975, Bonin was arrested for two assaults months later. Upon arrest, he informed law enforcement that "next time there won't be any more witnesses."<ref name="cjlf"/><ref name="LA Times.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-11-mn-34809-story.html|title='Freeway Killer' Bonin Nears Date With Execution|first=Ken|last=Ellingwood|date=February 11, 1996|access-date=January 9, 2022|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> He was charged with the rape and forcible oral copulation of a minor, and the attempted abduction of a 15-year-old boy two days after Bonin's assault on McVicker.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPPaper.pdf|title=California District Attorneys Association: Prosecutors' Perspective on California's Death Penalty|website=cjlf.org|date=March 1, 2003|access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref> This second victim rejected Bonin's offer of $35 for sex, before exiting Bonin's van and telling him to leave. In response, Bonin drove the van onto the sidewalk in an attempt to strike him.<ref name="justia1" />

Bonin pleaded guilty to both charges and on December 31, 1975, he was sentenced to serve between one and fifteen years' imprisonment at the California Men's Facility in [[San Luis Obispo, California|San Luis Obispo]].{{refn|group=n|Although Bonin denied any culpability of this conviction to fellow inmates, as a convicted child molester, he was beaten on several occasions while incarcerated for this offense.<ref name="Pelto 2007 121">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=121}}</ref>}} In 1977, Bonin was subject to further psychiatric examination. It was indicated his sexual involvement with young boys related to his mother's [[micromanagement]] of his life.<ref name="Death by Execution"/> In March 1978, Bonin's father suffered a major [[stroke]] (presumably induced by his [[alcohol addiction]]<ref name="Munro"/>) causing him to be hospitalized at the [[Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital]], where his mother worked as a [[vocation]]al nurse. In prison, Bonin completed mathematics courses and training as a machinist, in order to secure employment. He also showed significant progress in individual therapy sessions.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 93-94"/> As a result, he was released from detention on October 11, with eighteen months' supervised [[probation]].<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1988">{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/people-v-bonin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701210253/https://casetext.com/case/people-v-bonin|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 1, 2016|title=People v. Bonin: August 29, 1988|work=casetext.com|date=August 29, 1988|access-date=January 26, 2022}}</ref>

== Release ==
On November 1, 1978,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 112">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=112}}</ref> Bonin moved to an apartment in the Kingswood Village complex, located approximately one mile from his parents' house.<ref name="McDougal 1991 147"/> He became acquainted with his 43-year-old neighbor, Everett Scott Fraser.<ref name="justia2"/> Bonin became a regular attendee at Fraser's parties, where young men, drugs, and alcohol were rife.<ref name="McDougal 1991 147"/> Fraser considered him a respectful and placid individual and frequently introduced Bonin to his young male acquaintances.<ref name="justia2"/> The two also talked about their homosexuality.<ref name="McDougal 1991 147"/> The following month,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 142">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=142}}</ref> Bonin established a relationship with a married mother who held a criminal record for [[child cruelty]].<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 435">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=435}}</ref> He would take trips to [[Anaheim, California|Anaheim]] with her and her kids.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 435" /><ref name="McDougal-163" /><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 219">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=219}}</ref>

In April 1979, Bonin's parole supervision concluded.<ref name="Mejdrich">{{cite news|last=Mejdrich|first=Kellie|title=Aliso Viejo Man Worries About Possible Parole of 'Freeway Killer' Accomplice|url=https://www.ocregister.com/2014/01/23/aliso-viejo-man-worries-about-possible-parole-of-freeway-killer-accomplice/|access-date=July 31, 2014|work=[[Orange County Register|Santa Ana Orange County Register]]|date=January 23, 2014}}</ref> Later, Bonin and his brother Paul relocated to [[Silverado, California|Silverado]], and ran a bar called the Alpine Inn. It was continually under scrutiny for noise violations. An incident occurred involving Bonin reportedly locking a 16-year-old runaway in a room of the building,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 116-117">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=116–117}}</ref> threatening at knife-point to bury his body in the hills.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 391">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=391}}</ref> Unable to obtain a permanent liquor license due to Bonin's criminal record, the business venture was short-lived.<ref name="3rd 'Freeway' suspect will waive extradition">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/704379778/|title=3rd 'Freeway' suspect will waive extradition|work=The Fresno Bee|access-date=April 20, 2022|date=August 2, 1980}}</ref> Later, Bonin purchased a [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] van while working at his older brother's plumbing business.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 116-117"/>

=== Acquaintance with Vernon Butts and Gregory Miley ===
{{pb}}{{quote box|align=right|width=20%|quote="I met Vernon Butts [and] I admired him. He had it all together. Everybody liked him; it was cool having him like me ... made me feel real important. I never had no friends."|source=—Bonin, describing his acquaintance with Vernon Butts to psychologist Dr Vonda Pelto<ref name="Pelto 2007 232"/>}}
{{np}}{{pb}}
Through his frequent attendance at Fraser's parties,<ref name="McDougal-163" /> Bonin became acquainted with 21-year-old Vernon Robert Butts<ref name="autogenerated4">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=166}}</ref> and 18-year-old Gregory Matthews Miley.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p75dAAAAIBAJ&pg=6683,344191&dq/|title=Details Told on Capture of Gay Killer|newspaper=[[Oxnard Press-Courier]]|date=November 2, 1987|access-date=January 2, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://janehowatt.com/scott-fraser-interview-part-one/|title=Scott Fraser Interview|last1=Howatt|first1=Jane|website=janehowatt.com|date=June 23, 2020|access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref>

Born and raised in [[Norwalk, California|Norwalk]], Butts was nine years old when his father died,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 113">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=113}}</ref> and reportedly hailed from a broken home.<ref name="Rosewood 1996 p. 64">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=64}}</ref> Described by acquaintances as "shy and easily led" by others, Butts attempted suicide on three occasions prior to meeting Bonin.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 314-316">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=314–316}}</ref> At the time of his initial acquaintance with Bonin, Butts had developed a local reputation as an eccentric figure<ref name="McDougal 1991 173" /> who had recently been fired from his employment as a magic store clerk due to his unkempt appearance and increasingly strange and unpredictable behavior. He was bisexual and frequently abused drugs and alcohol.<ref name="Freeway Killer Defendant Links Bonin to Slayings">{{cite news|title=Freeway Killer Defendant Links Bonin to Slayings |date=October 19, 1980 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19801019.1.11 |access-date=February 22, 2022|newspaper=[[The San Bernardino Sun]]}}</ref><ref name="harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=156">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=156}}</ref>

Butts was a [[Vagrancy|drifter]] who had been in and out of penal institutions and held an extensive criminal record for offenses such as burglary and [[arson]].<ref name="N.Y. Daily News March 25, 2008">{{cite news |last=Bovsun |first=Mara |date=March 25, 2008 |title=Murder Down The Freeway |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/murder-freeway-article-1.264743 |access-date=January 25, 2022 |website=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |location=New York}}</ref>  Prosecutors later speculated he had developed a fascination with sadistic homosexual activity while incarcerated.<ref name="Killer">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/killer_4.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605045954/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/killer_4.html|archive-date=June 5, 2008|title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer|work=trutv.com|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> He claimed to have been both enamored with and terrified of Bonin,<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" /> whom he claimed held a "kind of [[hypnotic]]" control over him.<ref name="UPIJan111981" /> In contrast, Bonin held Butts in high regard for his social popularity, dominance, and intelligence.<ref name="Pelto 2007 232" /><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 429">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=429}}</ref> Although both lived externally heterosexual lifestyles,<ref>{{cite news|title=In the Media|url=https://jstor.org/stable/community.28042782|work=Philadelphia Gay News|date=January 8, 1982|access-date=March 4, 2022}}</ref> the two soon became lovers.<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" /> Butts also held "Mystery Parties" in which up to sixteen people searched for various murder artifacts in the city of Downey, such as a hairpin or [[ice pick]].<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 113" /> As a result, Bonin and Butts frequently discussed the subject of death.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 119">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=119}}</ref>

Miley was an illiterate Texas native and [[high school dropout]] with an IQ of 56.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=172}}</ref> Raised in [[Lakewood, California|Lakewood]], Miley's mother reportedly had a series of dysfunctional marriages and severely neglected him. Miley viewed Bonin as something of a father figure,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 193">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=193}}</ref> and he often spent time with Bonin in exchange for a sexual relationship.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 197-200">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=197–200}}</ref>

== Murders ==
[[File:William Bonin's Ford Econoline murder van.jpg|thumb|The [[Ford E-Series|Ford Econoline]] van used by Bonin to abduct his victims]]
Bonin usually selected young male hitchhikers, schoolboys or, occasionally, [[male prostitution|male prostitutes]] as his victims. The victims, aged 12 to 19, were predominantly Caucasian or Latino, slender, pale,<ref name="McDougal 1991 154"/> and long-haired.<ref name="McDougal 1991 173">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=173}}</ref> He either enticed or forced them into his [[Ford E-Series#Second generation (1968–1974)|Ford Econoline]] van,<ref>{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=159}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=20000903&id=YEpPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6389,627700&hl=en|title=As Home to Infamous Vehicles, Junkyard is Field of Nightmares|newspaper=[[The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)|The Toledo Blade]]|date=September 3, 2000|access-date=January 12, 2022}}</ref> where they were overpowered and had their limbs bound with a combination of [[handcuffs]],<ref name=McDougal-153>{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=153}}</ref> wire, or cords.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pchHAAAAIBAJ&pg=1091,486305&dq/|title=Freeway Killer Allegedly Tortured Victims|newspaper=[[Record-Journal]]|date=November 5, 1981|access-date=January 27, 2021}}</ref> They were then sexually assaulted, extensively beaten, and tortured, before typically being killed by strangulation with their own T-shirts and a tire iron.<ref name="Clarksdale">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33967119/the-clarksdale-press-register/|title=Freeway Killer Finished Where Other Stopped|newspaper=[[Clarksdale Press Register|The Clarksdale Press Register]]|date=April 20, 1980|access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref>

In order to minimize the chances of a victim escaping from the van, Bonin removed the door handles on the passenger-side and rear-door.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 2">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=2}}</ref> He stowed ligatures, knives, pliers, wire coat hangers, and other such instruments in his vehicle to restrain and torture his victims. The victims were usually killed inside his van, before their bodies were discarded around and near various freeways.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 15">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=15}}</ref> In an apparent effort to mislead investigators, Bonin often discarded his victims' bodies in counties far from their abduction.<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" />

One attorney present for Bonin's eventual court case said the escalating levels of brutality he had exhibited toward his victims had been similar to that of a drug addict, requiring an ever-greater increase of dosage to maintain their [[euphoria]].<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=39}}</ref> Bonin also likened his urges to addiction, emphasizing to [[neurology|neurologists]] his feelings of extreme restlessness and sexual frustration in the hours prior to his murders,<ref name="Pelto 2007 233">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=233}}</ref> and that he had felt an intense sense of excitement as he drove in search of his victims.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 84" /> Reserving Sundays for his girlfriend, he typically cruised the freeways on Fridays and Saturdays.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=22}}</ref> Bonin also later described his feeling pleasure at hearing his victims scream, and sodomizing them.<ref name="Pelto 2007 118">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=118}}</ref><ref name="justia1" /> Dr. Albert Rosenstein, a forensic psychologist, predicted the killer was an intelligent sex offender in his late twenties or early thirties, had spent time in a psychiatric facility, and was abused as a child. He said that, while bisexual, the killer has never been comfortable with their homosexuality, and is repulsed by his actions.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 31-33">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|pp=31–33}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Another expert, Dr. Jonathan Pincus, later noted that while Bonin felt no remorse, he felt a great sense of embarrassment and shame concerning the details of his crimes, and confusion by his obsessive desire to murder.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 84">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=84}}</ref>}}

In a minimum of twelve of the murders, Bonin was assisted by one or more of his four known accomplices.<ref name="CDCR.gov. Bonin, William">{{cite web|url=https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/inmates-executed-1978-to-present/william-george-bonin/|title=Executed Inmate Summary: William George Bonin|work=cdcr.ca.gov|date=January 2, 2011 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/serial-killer-william-bonin-973136|title=Profile of Serial Killer William Bonin, The Freeway Killer|work=thoughtco.com|date=January 2, 2011 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref> Bonin later confessed that he felt a sense of social belonging with his accomplices that he had never experienced with anyone else.<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" /> Butts is suspected of accompanying or assisting Bonin on at least nine of Bonin's murders.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 15" />

He would scrapbook newspaper clippings of his murders, and boast to Butts and Fraser about them.<ref name="Freeway Killer Defendant Links Bonin to Slayings" /><ref name="Testimony Graphic In 'Freeway Killi">{{cite news |last1=Lindsey |first=Robert |date=November 15, 1981 |title=Testimony Graphic In 'Freeway Killings' Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/15/us/testimony-graphic-in-freeway-killings-case.html |access-date=January 28, 2022 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Bonin would later claim he murdered Markus Grabs in self-defense to Fraser.<ref name="Killer"/>}} Following media coverage of the murders, Bonin enthusiastically mentioned them to co-workers at Dependable Drive-Away.<ref name="McDougal 1991 154">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=154}}</ref> To those unaware of his crimes, Bonin seemed obsessed with the case. He made daily trips to [[Orange County, California|Orange County]] to buy newspapers.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 44">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=44}}</ref> He would also tell people, "this guy is giving good gays like us a bad name."<ref name="Death" />

=== 1979 ===

==== May ====
[[File:Thomas Glen Lundren.jpg|thumb|Thomas Lundgren, the first known ''Freeway Killer'' victim]]
The first murder for which Bonin was charged was that of 13-year-old Thomas Glen Lundgren.<ref>{{cite news|title=Problems Await Young Flower Hawkers|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mnVKAAAAIBAJ&pg=6800,2626699&dq/|access-date=December 23, 2020|work=The Press-Courier|date=May 11, 1980}}</ref> Lundgren was last seen leaving his parents' house in [[Reseda, California|Reseda]] on May 28, 1979. Shortly before his abduction, Lundgren had reportedly told friends a man had offered to meet him at a [[skatepark]] to take photos of him for a skateboarding magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 4, 2016|title=Out of Horrific Tragedy the Iron Eagle was Created|url=https://ironeagleseries.com/fromtragedy/|access-date=November 29, 2021|website=ironeagleseries.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Flower Children: Officials Crack Down on Vendors|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-evening-may-28-1980-p-11/|access-date=January 28, 2022|work=[[Orange County Register|Santa Ana Orange County Register]]|date=May 28, 1980}}</ref>

Lundgren's partially-clothed body was found the same afternoon in [[Agoura, California|Agoura]].<ref name="McDougal-153" /> His clothes and severed genitals were discovered in a nearby field.<ref name="McDougal-153" /><ref name="Rosewood 2015 15" /> An [[autopsy]] revealed that Lundgren had suffered [[emasculation]] and extensive bludgeoning.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 122">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=122}}</ref> In addition, he had been slashed across the throat, stabbed, and strangled to death.<ref name=McDougal-153 /> An expert postulated that Bonin's brutality was likely an attempt to "silence" his homosexual attraction to Lundgren. Bonin was assisted by Butts.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 15" />

==== August ====
[[File:AT&SF in Cajon Pass one evening in August 1981 (31465605552).jpg|thumb|[[Cajon Pass]], where Bonin discarded the body of Mark Shelton]]
On August 4, Bonin drove from Silverado Canyon to [[Westminster, California|Westminster]] to spend time with Butts. He soon suggested that they rape and murder a teenage hitchhiker. Butts was amenable to this suggestion,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 124-125">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=124–125}}</ref> and Bonin encountered 17-year-old boy Mark Shelton near [[California State Route 39|Beach Boulevard]]. Bonin offered $400 for sexual services. According to Bonin, he masturbated Shelton before Butts began sexually assaulting him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/138/610.html|title=Shelton v. City of Westminster (1982)|work=law.justia.com|date=December 24, 1982|access-date=January 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 126-127">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=126–127}}</ref> Bonin drove into [[Cajon Pass]] in [[San Bernardino County, California|San Bernardino County]], as Shelton had oral sex with him. Bonin soon parked the vehicle and raped him. Enraged with his fear and resistance, Bonin sexually assaulted him, and Bonin and Butts physically assaulted him until he lost consciousness.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 128">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=128}}</ref> He was violated with [[Foreign body|foreign object]]s, including a stick, causing him to enter a state of shock which proved fatal.<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 24, 1980|title=A 'New' Killer Travels Southern California Freeways|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/marysville-appeal-democrat-apr-24-1980-p-2/|access-date=November 28, 2021|website=newspaperarchive.com|language=en}}</ref> He was discarded beside a gravel road in Cajon Pass.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33967403/the-odessa-american/|title=California Detectives Stalk Freeway Killer|newspaper=[[The Odessa American]]|date=April 18, 1980|access-date=January 28, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 129">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=129}}</ref>
[[File:Pacific Coast Highway.jpg|thumb|The [[California State Route 1|Pacific Coast Highway]], where victim Markus Grabs was abducted while hitchhiking]]

The night of the following day, Bonin and Butts encountered 17-year-old [[West Germany|West German]] student Markus Grabs,<ref name="Killer" /> attempting to hitchhike along the [[California State Route 1|Pacific Coast Highway]]. According to Bonin, he engaged in consensual relations with the youth, who agreed to be bound with lengths of cord and ignition wire. Bonin then retrieved a knife, and intimidated Grabs, as Butts drove toward Bonin's home.<ref name="McDougal-174">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=174}}</ref> There, Grabs was again raped and beaten, and Grabs reportedly broke loose and punched Bonin. This caused Bonin to strangle him and stab him 77 times.<ref name="McDougal-174" /><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 134-135">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=134–135}}</ref> His body was discarded in [[Malibu Creek]] the following day.<ref name="World's Most Evil Killers: Season 5" /><ref name="Testimony Graphic In 'Freeway Killi" /><ref name="McDougal-174" />

On August 9,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 141">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=141}}</ref> Bonin was again detained for molesting a 17-year-old boy from [[Dana Point, California|Dana Point]].<ref name="McDougal-163" /> This violation of the conditions of his parole should have resulted in Bonin being returned to prison at Orange County Jail; however, an administrative error committed prior to Bonin's scheduled court date resulted in his release.<ref name="McDougal-163" /><ref name=":6" /> On August 13,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 128"/> Fraser drove to collect Bonin from jail. He later recollected that as he drove Bonin home, Bonin said, "No one's going to testify again. This is never going to happen to me again." At the time, Fraser had interpreted this as a statement of remorse.<ref name=":6">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|pp=163–164}}</ref>

Resuming his murder spree, Bonin did not show at his court appointment.<ref name="Witnesses">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/witnesses_3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605043559/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/witnesses_3.html|archive-date=June 5, 2008|title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer|work=trutv.com|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> Bonin had also returned to his parents' house. He gradually developed a reputation as a child molester among local residents, due to his habit of inviting young boys into his house, under the guise of providing alcohol and viewing [[pornography]] with them. Some neighbors recalled observing young boys accompany Bonin inside, and they would later hear screaming and crying.<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-18-mn-37484-story.html|title=Clues From a Condemned Man's Past|first=Dexter|last=Filkins|access-date=January 26, 2022|date=February 18, 1996|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-13-me-46580-story.html|title=The Mother of All Outrages: Bonin on Social Security|first=Dana|last=Parsons|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=March 13, 1996|access-date=February 5, 2022}}</ref> Bonin's family, who were occasionally present, claimed to have never witnessed Bonin abuse them.<ref name="Death by Execution" />

On August 27, Bonin and Butts abducted 15-year-old Hollywood boy Donald Ray Hyden on [[Santa Monica Boulevard]].<ref>{{cite news|title=L.A. Authorities Hunt Clues to Bodies Found in Trash Cans|date=August 30, 1979 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kI5PAAAAIBAJ&pg=5761,8967758&dq/|access-date=January 22, 2022|work=[[Ocala Star-Banner]]}}</ref> Butts was driving the van. Bonin offered him $50 for consensual sex. When Butts made an accidental wrong turn, Hyden became frantic, causing Bonin to beat, bind, torture, and sodomize him.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 155-156">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=155–156}}</ref> Bonin then strangled him to death.<ref name="justia1" /><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 157">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=157}}</ref> Butts performed oral sex on his corpse before the pair dumped his body at a construction site near the [[Ventura Freeway]]. It was discovered hours later.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 158">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=158}}</ref> Hyden's rectal damage lead to a coroner's theory that he had been impaled by a large object.<ref name="justia1" />

==== September through December ====
On September 9, Bonin and Butts encountered a 17-year-old boy from [[La Mirada, California|La Mirada]], David Louis Murillo, cycling.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6v4xAAAAIBAJ&pg=2897,1096345&dq/|title=Prosecutors Give Details of Sadistic Freeway Murders|work=[[San Francisco Evening Bulletin]] |date=November 4, 1981|access-date=January 28, 2022}}</ref> After Murillo entered the van, Bonin offered him money for sex, which was refused. He then attempted to fondle Murillo before binding him and driving to Butts' residence. As Butts drove, Bonin sexually assaulted and raped him. He then traded places with Butts, who performed oral sex on and beat Murillo.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 164">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=164}}</ref> They then parked the vehicle, bound him, and raped him more. He was extensively bludgeoned,<ref name="Pelto 2007 245">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=245}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=20}}</ref> then strangled. His body was discovered alongside [[U.S. Route 101|Highway 101]] on the 12th.<ref name="McDougal-153" /><ref name="Pelto 2007 245" /><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 165">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=165}}</ref>

On September 17, Bonin picked up 18-year-old Robert Wirostek in [[Newport Beach, California|Newport Beach]]. Bonin allegedly coaxed him to perform oral sex by offering him $50.<ref name="Highway71">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25408061/the-los-angeles-times/|title=Two Men Charged in 'Freeway Killer' Case|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 30, 1980|access-date=January 28, 2022}}</ref> At knife-point, Bonin bound and raped him, and then drove to Butts' residence.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 150">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=150}}</ref> On the drive, Butts performed oral sex on Wirostek, before striking him and taking Bonin's place as driver. Bonin then tortured Wirostek by bending his fingers, then sexually assaulting and bludgeoning him, before strangling him.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 151">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=151}}</ref> Wirostek's body was found on September 27,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP27-HCC|title=FamilySearch: Robert Christopher Wirostek|website=familysearch.org|date=April 23, 2016|access-date=January 28, 2022}}</ref> alongside Interstate 10.<ref name="Highway71" />

Bonin is not known to have killed again until on or about November 1. He and Butts abducted and murdered an unidentified young man with brown hair, whom Bonin claimed to be {{nowrap|5 ft 6 in}} tall, and 18-years-old.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/UP57039|title=NamUs – Case Report # 57039|publisher=[[National Missing and Unidentified Persons System]]|date=April 12, 2021|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 176">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=176}}</ref> At some point, Bonin allegedly said the man  was to die because "your folks paid us to find you and kill you". The two beat him,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 179">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=179}}</ref> and Bonin strangled him to death before inserting an ice pick into his head. His body was discarded alongside [[California State Route 99|State Route 99]], south of [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]].<ref name="SantaCruzKernC">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/63408080/|title=Kern County to Exhume Man's Body|work=[[Santa Cruz Sentinel]]|date=September 24, 1980|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Rosewood 2015 107">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=107}}</ref>

On November 30, an unassisted Bonin abducted 17-year-old Frank Dennis Fox, from [[Bellflower, California|Bellflower]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi |title=California Death Records: Frank Dennis Fox |website=vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com |date=May 10, 2011 |access-date=January 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510200225/http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi |archive-date=May 10, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bonin sodomized him and strangled him until he died.<ref name="cjlf"/> His body was found two days later alongside the [[California State Route 74|Ortega Highway]], five miles east of [[San Juan Capistrano, California|San Juan Capistrano]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-feb-22-1996-p-10/|title=At Death's Door|work=[[Santa Ana Orange County Register]] |date=February 22, 1996|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> The body bore signs of binding and [[blunt force trauma]]. Ten days later, a 15-year-old boy from [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]], John Fredrick Kilpatrick, left his home and was offered money for sexual services by Bonin. After engaging in mutual oral sex, Kilpatrick was bound and raped by Bonin before being transported to his parents' house, where he was [[flagellation|flagellated]] with string, and then strangled to death with it.<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 185-186">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=185–186}}</ref> His body was discarded near [[Rialto, California|Rialto]].<ref name="Kilpatrick">{{cite news|title=Mother Identifies 'Freeway Killer' Victim|date=August 6, 1980|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JKdPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6583,2993331&dq/|work=[[The Bryan Times]]|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> It was found on December 13, but Kilpatrick remained known as a John Doe until August 5, 1980.<ref>{{cite news|title=Grieving Parents Want Killers Behind Bars|date=September 21, 1980|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4G0uAAAAIBAJ&pg=1345,4107664&dq/|work=[[The Beaver County Times]]|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> Because of his troubled background, which had previously caused him to disappear for days at a time, his mother hesitated to report the disappearance. His friends also mistakenly reported seeing him at the mall. As a result, he was not reported missing until February 1980.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|pp=22–23}}</ref>

=== 1980 ===

==== January and February ====
On January 1, 1980, Bonin encountered 16-year-old [[Ontario, California|Ontario]] boy Michael Francis McDonald near the [[Chino Airport]]. Under the guise of providing drugs for him to sell, Bonin parked behind an apartment building. In the van, Bonin bound, beat, and raped him. His body was found alongside [[California State Route 71|Highway 71]] in the outskirts of [[Chino, California|Chino]],<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 pp. 188-189">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|pp=188–189}}</ref><ref name="Highway71" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Officials Arrest a Suspect in 'Freeway Killer' Case|date=June 13, 1980|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62893394/|work=[[The San Bernardino County Sun]]|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> and his body was not identified until March 24.<ref>{{harvnb|Newton|2006|p=81}}</ref>
[[File:Charles Miranda Suva Intermediate 78 High School Yearbook.jpg|thumb|Charles Miranda]]
On the morning of February 3, Bonin invited a 16-year-old boy into his parents' house to drink and have sex. Bonin allegedly caught him stealing $100 from his billfold, and furiously resolved to commit a murder.<ref name="Pelto 2007 233"/> Later that evening, he drove to Hollywood with Gregory Miley with the specific intention of committing a murder with him. They encountered 15-year-old Charles Miranda nearby the [[Starwood (nightclub)|Starwood nightclub]] along Santa Monica Boulevard.<ref name="UPIArchives1980" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Orange County DA's Office to Oppose Parole for Double Murderer|url=https://www.dailynews.com/2011/11/30/orange-county-das-office-to-oppose-parole-for-double-murderer/|work=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]| date=November 30, 2011|access-date=January 26, 2022}}</ref> According to Miley, Bonin and Miranda had consensual sex in the van as he drove. Bonin then told Miley that Miranda was going to die.<ref name="Palmerp.203">{{harvnb|Palmer|2020|p=203}}</ref> Miley asked why Bonin would not just let him go. Bonin replied, "because he'll know us and know the van."<ref name="Rosewood 2015 23">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=23}}</ref> Bonin beat, bound, and gagged Miranda,<ref name="Confessed Accomplice of William Bonin Testifies">{{cite news|title=Confessed Accomplice of William Bonin Testifies|date=November 21, 1981|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/11/21/A-confessed-accomplice-of-accused-Freeway-Killer-William-Bonin/6666375166800/+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk|access-date=January 26, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref> and informed him that he had to be killed due to his earlier robbery. Miranda began begging for his life.<ref name="Pelto 2007 234">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=234}}</ref> Bonin began sexually assaulting Miranda, and Miley unsuccessfully attempted to rape him. In frustration, the two started physically assaulting him and Bonin strangled him to death. His body was later dumped in a [[Los Angeles]] alleyway.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

Five minutes after discarding the body, Bonin suggested to Miley to "do another one".<ref name="Confessed Accomplice of William Bonin Testifies" /> Miley initially protested and stated he wanted to go home, but eventually complied.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 24">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=24}}</ref> A few hours later, in Huntington Beach, the pair encountered 12-year-old James Macabe.<ref name="Confessed Accomplice of William Bonin Testifies" /> Macabe had been dropped off at a corner bus stop by his older brother, who had given him money to take the bus to [[Disneyland]].<ref name="Rosewood 2015 24" /> He was lured into Bonin's van on the promise he would be driven to his intended destination, and that he would be given marijuana.<ref name="A Confessed Accomplice of Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin" />

According to Miley, Macabe got in the van, and Bonin drove to a grocery store. Bonin parked the van, and began hugging and kissing Macebe,<ref name="A Confessed Accomplice of Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin" /> before binding him, and telling him he was being kidnapped for [[ransom]].<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1989">{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/47/808.html|title=People v. Bonin (1989)|work=law.justia.com|access-date=February 16, 2022|date=January 9, 1989}}</ref> Bonin began punching him,<ref name="A Confessed Accomplice of Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin" /> and as Miley drove around, Bonin raped him and bludgeoned him with a [[tire iron]].<ref name="UPIArchives1980">{{cite news|title=Gregory Matthew Miley Pleads Innocent Today to Charges|date=December 18, 1980|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/12/18/Gregory-Matthew-Miley-pleaded-innocent-today-to-charges-he/9258345963600/|access-date=January 29, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref><ref name="The Freeway Killer Crime Magazine" /><ref name="Fox 1996 p9">{{harvnb|Fox|1996|p=9}}</ref> Bonin then forced him to sleep in his arms.<ref name="LA Times.com" /> Upon Macabe's waking, Miley and Bonin beat him into unconsciousness, and Bonin crushed his neck with a tire iron.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1989" /><ref name="Confessed Accomplice of William Bonin Testifies" /> Bonin then strangled Macabe to death, and he and Miley discarded the corpse at a construction site in [[Walnut, California|Walnut]].<ref name="A Confessed Accomplice of Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin">{{cite news|title=A Confessed Accomplice of Accused Freeway Killer William Bonin|date=November 20, 1981|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/11/20/A-confessed-accomplice-of-accused-Freeway-Killer-William-Bonin/1749375080400/|work=[[United Press International]]|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> Macabe's body was discovered three days later.<ref name="The Freeway Killer Crime Magazine">{{cite web|last1=Maloney|first1=J.J.|title=The Freeway killer Crime Magazine|url=http://www.crimemagazine.com/freeway-killer|date=October 10, 2009|access-date=February 16, 2022}}</ref> The next day, Bonin was arrested for violating the conditions of his parole; he was remanded in custody at the Orange County Jail until March 4.<ref>{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=283}}</ref>

==== March ====
Following his release,<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 218">{{harvnb|Pelto|Butler|2022|p=218}}</ref> he was hired as a truck driver at Dependable Drive-Away.<ref name="McDougal-163">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=163}}</ref><ref name="McDougal 1991 147">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=147}}</ref> Bonin angered his boss (who was unaware of his status as a sex offender) by picking up hitchikers in his presence on one occasion, and by taking long, unnecessary routes (which detectives later took interest in).<ref name="Pelto-Butler 2022 p. 219"/> On March 14, Bonin abducted 18-year-old [[Van Nuys]] man Ronald Gatlin. Bonin beat and sodomized him, and hacked at him with an ice pick.<ref name="GArtesia"/><ref name="Rosewood 2015 26">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=26}}</ref> The following day, his bound body was found behind an industrial building.<ref name="cjlf"/>

On March 21, Bonin offered a ride to 14-year-old hitchhiker Glenn Norman Barker.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 28-29">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|pp=28–29}}</ref> Barker was beaten and raped with objects,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPPaper.pdf|title=California District Attorneys Association: Prosecutors' Perspective on California's Death Penalty|website=cjlf.org|date=March 1, 2003|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> then strangled with a ligature, burned with a cigarette<ref name="Rosewood 2015 28-29"/> and had his rectum distended.<ref name="cjlf"/> Later that day, 15-year-old Russell Duane Rugh was abducted in Garden Grove.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 28-29" /> He was bound, beaten, and strangled to death, after an estimated eight hours of captivity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-19-mn-37703-story.html|title=The Other Victims of William Bonin|first=Ken|last=Ellingwood|date=February 19, 1996|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref> The two boys' bodies were discarded in [[Cleveland National Forest]], close to the Ortega Highway,<ref name="Clarksdale" /> and found on the 23rd.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tD8gAAAAIBAJ&pg=5025,6057923&dq/|title=Bonin Left Bloody Trail|date=February 19, 1996|work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref>

One Friday evening in March, Bonin offered 17-year-old William Ray Pugh a ride home, as the pair left Fraser's residence.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |date=February 7, 1981 |title='Freeway Killer' May Involve 44 Victims |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19810207&id=pxEwAAAAIBAJ&pg=5731,3433636&hl=en |access-date=January 30, 2022 |work=[[Star–Banner|Ocala Star-Banner]]}}</ref> Pugh accepted, and during the ride, Bonin asked him to have sex. According to Pugh, he attempted to leave the van once Bonin had slowed down at a stoplight. Bonin grabbed him, dragged him back inside,<ref>{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|pp=164–165}}</ref> and admitted that he enjoyed abducting, restraining, torturing, and strangling hitchhikers. Bonin then informed Pugh how to murder without getting caught.<ref name="McDougal 1991 164">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=164}}</ref> Bonin said that he had chosen to refrain from sexually assaulting and murdering Pugh not out of sentiment, but because the pair had been seen leaving Fraser's party together.<ref name="Pugh">{{cite news|title=A Jury Failed to Reach a Verdict|date=May 11, 1982|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/05/11/A-jury-failed-to-reach-a-verdict-Tuesday-in/8952389937600|access-date=February 4, 2022|work=United Press International}}</ref> Pugh was driven to what he claimed was his home, and when the van left, he ran to his house.<ref name="Darkness' p 165" />

Pugh kept associating with Bonin. On March 25,<ref name="Pelto 2007 245"/> Bonin and Pugh abducted 15-year-old runaway Harry Todd Turner from a Los Angeles street. Turner had escaped a [[boys' home]] in [[Lancaster, California|Lancaster]] four days prior.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SQtKAAAAIBAJ&pg=6842,2139741&dq/|title=Innocent Plea Entered in 'Freeway Killer' Case|date=May 9, 1981|work=[[The Press-Courier]]|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref> Pugh later testified that he and Bonin lured Turner into Bonin's van with an offer of $20 for sex.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wBYzAAAAIBAJ&pg=4946,2214973&dq/|title=Teenager Convicted of Manslaughter in Death|date=May 18, 1982|work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]]|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref> After binding and sodomizing Turner,<ref name="ReferenceC" /> Bonin bit into his penis until it tore,<ref name="Rosewood 2015 27">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=27}}</ref> and then ordered Pugh to beat him up. After Pugh bludgeoned and beat him,<ref name="ReferenceB" /> Bonin strangled him to death. His body was discarded behind a Los Angeles business.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

==== April ====
On April 10, Bonin was discharged from parole.<ref name="Pelto 2007 245" /> He encountered 16-year-old Bellflower youth Steven John Wood walking to school. Wood's older brother had introduced him to Bonin, so he willingly entered Bonin's van.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://janehowatt.com/a-double-tragedy/|title=A Double Tragedy: Steven and Carl Wood|last1=Howatt|first1=Jane|website=janehowatt.com|date=June 23, 2020|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> His [[hogtie]]d body was discarded in a Long Beach alleyway,<ref name="Steven Wood Report">{{cite web|url=https://janehowatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Me-report-Steven-Wood-rotated.jpg|title=Me-report-Steven-Wood-rotated.jpg|work=[[LAPD]]|date=April 8, 1980|access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref> close to the Pacific Coast Highway.<ref name="San Francisco Chro">{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-Lasting-Pain-for-Victims-Families-2993368.php|title=Lasting Pain for Victims' Families: Some Parents Say Witnessing Execution May Speed Healing|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|The San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=February 19, 1996|access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref> Bonin allegedly waited until dusk to discard it.<ref name="Steven Wood">{{cite web |last=Howatt |first=Jane |date=February 3, 2021 |title=Bill Bonin's Pickup Line: "Hey Kid, Want a Ride?" |url=https://janehowatt.com/bonin-hey-kid/ |access-date=March 13, 2022 |website=janehowatt.com}}</ref> Wood's autopsy revealed he had been killed by strangulation.<ref name="San Francisco Chro" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4G0uAAAAIBAJ&pg=1345,4107664&dq|title=Grieving Parents Want Killers Behind Bars|work=[[Beaver County Times]]|date=September 21, 1980|access-date=April 9, 2011}}</ref>

On April 29, Bonin encountered 19-year-old Darin Kendrick at his workplace in [[Stanton, California|Stanton]].{{refn|group=n|This supermarket was located close to Butts' former workplace.}} Bonin lured Kendrick into the van on the pretext of selling him drugs.<ref>{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=168}}</ref><ref name="Identifies">{{cite news|title=Mom Identifies Photo of L.A. Killer's Victim|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6_4xAAAAIBAJ&pg=2684,1349311&dq/|date=November 6, 1981|access-date=April 9, 2011|work=The Bulletin}}</ref> Bonin then drove to Butts' apartment in [[Lakewood, California|Lakewood]]. There, he asked Kendrick whether he was gay. Kendrick attempted to flee;<ref>{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=169}}</ref> Bonin and Butts bound him,<ref name=McDougal-174 /> and Butts sodomized him. Bonin raised the volume of Butts' sound system to cover Kendrick's screams. Butts then held Kendrick's mouth open while Bonin poured [[chloral hydrate]] down his throat, causing him to sustain [[chemical burn]]s.<ref name="CDCR.gov. Bonin, William" /><ref name="Pelto 2007 170">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=170}}</ref>
{{pb}}{{quote box|align=right|width=20%|quote="The kid started [fading] out, just kind of [whimpering]. I don't like [raping] some limp piece of meat. It's no fun if they don't let me know how it feels. Guess we gave him too much of the stuff. Next time, I figured I wouldn't use as much. Anyways, I'd gotten my rocks off and the kid was [getting boring], no fun anymore, so I strangled him."|source=—Bonin, describing the murder of Darin Lee Kendrick<ref name="Pelto 2007 232"/>}}
{{np}}{{pb}}
Kendrick fought his attackers, but stopped, before complaining of dizziness. Bonin then strangled him,<ref name="Pelto 2007 170"/> and Butts drove an ice pick into his ear, fatally wounding his [[spinal cord|cervical spinal cord]].<ref name="GArtesia"/> His body was discarded behind a warehouse close to the [[Artesia Freeway]].<ref name="McDougal-174" /><ref name="Identifies" />

==== May ====
On May 12,<ref name="Justia1988">{{cite web |date=August 29, 1988 |title=Supreme Court of California: People v. Bonin (1988) |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/46/659.html |access-date=January 25, 2022 |work=law.justia.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=At Death's Door |date=February 22, 1996 |access-date=August 5, 2019 |work=[[Santa Ana Orange County Register]]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-feb-22-1996-p-10/}}</ref> Bonin abducted and murdered an acquaintance of his; he later stated that he decided to kill them when he had awoken that morning, because he was "tired of having him around".<ref name="caselaw.findlaw.com">{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1198629.html|title=United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. William George Bonin, Petitioner-appellant v. Arthur Calderon, Warden of San Quentin State Prison. Decided: June 28, 1995|website=caselaw.findlaw.com|date=June 28, 1995|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19830827&id=AA5WAAAAIBAJ&pg=4254,6095128&hl=en|title='Freeway Killer' Sentenced Again|work=[[Eugene Register-Guard]]|date=August 27, 1983|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref> The body of 17-year-old Lawrence Sharp<ref name="The mother and two brothers of convicted Freeway Killer"/>{{refn|group=n|Bonin would later allege he had been intimately involved with Sharp, and had taken him out to Knott's Berry Farm for a date when his (Bonin's) girlfriend was absent.<ref name="The mother and two brothers of convicted Freeway Killer" /><ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=41}}</ref>}} was discarded behind a Westminster gas station. His body was found on the 18th, and his autopsy revealed that he had been bound, sodomized, beaten, and strangled.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/crime-history-two-more-fall-victim-to-las-freeway-killer|title=Crime History: Two More Fall Victim to L.A.'s Freeway Killer|work=[[Washington Examiner]]|date=April 9, 2009|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref>
[[File:Sean Paige King Freeway Killer William Bonin 1980.jpg|thumb|Sean King]]

On May 19, Bonin asked Butts to accompany him on a killing. However, Butts reportedly refused. Unassisted, Bonin abducted 14-year-old [[South Gate, California|South Gate]] boy Sean King in Downey. King was strangled to death before his body was discarded in [[Yucaipa, California|Yucaipa]].<ref>{{cite news|title='Freeway Killer' Victim Identified|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19801226&id=7o9OAAAAIBAJ&pg=3700,3262671&hl=en|access-date=January 30, 2022|work=[[The Ledger]]|date=December 26, 1980}}</ref> Bonin then visited Butts' apartment and bragged to him about the murder.<ref name="Highway71"/>

By early 1980, Bonin's murders were receiving considerable media attention, and leading [[gay rights]] activists had offered a reward totaling $50,000 for information leading to the conviction of the suspect or suspects.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19800730&id=BPUhAAAAIBAJ&pg=5628,4920831&hl=en|title=Two Charged with 14 Murders |work=[[The Reading Eagle]]|agency=[[United Press International]]|date=July 30, 1980|access-date=November 26, 2018}}</ref> Having by this stage determined a definitive link between many of the recent murders, investigators from the jurisdictions where victims had been abducted or discovered had begun sharing information in their hunt for the suspect or suspects. Six officers from three of the jurisdictions formed a [[task force]] dedicated to their apprehension.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 46" />

By May, Pugh had been arrested for auto theft.<ref>{{harvnb|Fox|1996|p=7}}</ref> On May 28, he overheard the details of the ongoing murders on a local radio broadcast, and confided to a [[Attorneys in the United States|counselor]] that he knew the perpetrator's ''[[modus operandi]]'', which was described to him by Bonin two months prior.<ref name="Darkness' p 165">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=165}}</ref> This counselor reported Pugh's suspicions to the police, who in turn relayed a confidential tip to [[Los Angeles Police Department]] (LAPD) homicide sergeant [[John P. St. John (police officer)|John St. John]]. St. John conducted an extensive interview with Pugh the next day. Although Pugh withheld the fact that he had accompanied Bonin on one of his murders, the information he provided led St. John to deduce that Bonin might be the Freeway Killer.<ref name="Darkness' p 165" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44073496/181981-freeway-killer-case-details/|title=Youth's Story About Bonin Unsealed |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 8, 1981|access-date=February 7, 2022}}</ref> David McVicker, whom Bonin had spared in 1975, had also contacted authorities by this time to report his suspicions Bonin may be the Freeway Killer.<ref name="Mejdrich"/> His suspicions were not dismissed, but regarded as one of numerous public tips to be investigated.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=47}}</ref>

That same day, Bonin invited 18-year-old homeless [[Vagrant|drifter]] James Michael {{nowrap|Munro{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}whom he had encountered while cruising for young male prostitutes<ref name="Pelto 2007 132"/>⁠{{nowrap|{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}to move into his family's home in exchange for sex. Munro was a runaway from [[St. Clair, Michigan]], who had been evicted from his family's home in early 1980.<ref name="Pelto 2007 262">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=262}}</ref> Munro had gone to California to meet a friend, but became homeless after he was robbed of money that he earned as a [[Male prostitution|male prostitute]] in Hollywood.<ref name="Pelto 2007 132">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=132}}</ref>

==== June ====
While at Bonin's home, Munro (who was [[bisexual]]) began a consensual sexual relationship with him. He accepted an offer of employment at Dependable Drive-Away.<ref name="Pelto 2007 133">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=133}}</ref> Munro later described his initial impression of Bonin as being "a good guy" and "really normal".<ref>{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=171}}</ref> On June 1, Bonin informed Munro that he wanted them both to abduct, sexually assault, and murder a hitchhiker.<ref name="Hicks">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-18-me-61076-story.html|title=Bonin Accomplice Wants Freedom or Death, Not the Truth|first=Jerry|last=Hicks|access-date=January 30, 2022|date=June 18, 1998|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

A police investigation into Bonin's background revealed his extensive history of convictions for sexually assaulting teenage boys. St. John assigned a surveillance team to monitor his movements. They began surveilling Bonin on the evening of June {{nowrap|2{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}one hour prior to Bonin and Munro discarding the body of Bonin's final victim.<ref name="auto3">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=142}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=52}}</ref> Hours earlier, Bonin and Munro<ref name="autogenerated4" /> encountered 18-year-old Steven Jay Wells on [[El Segundo Boulevard]]. Bonin and Munro enticed him into the van. According to the pair, upon learning Wells was bisexual, Bonin had consensual sex with Wells, before persuading him to go to his parents' house. There, the two continued having sex.{{refn|group=n|Bonin's parents and older brother were on vacation, and therefore absent from the household at the time of Wells's murder.<ref name="Pelto 2007 135">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=135}}</ref>}} Later, Bonin paid Wells $200 to allow himself to be bound with clothesline.<ref name="autogenerated4" /><ref name="Pelto 2007 136" /> Wells became suspicious of their intentions, and frantic.<ref name="Pelto 2007 136">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=136}}</ref> Bonin retreated to the kitchen, telling Munro they were both going to kill Wells.<ref name="Death">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/death_6.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705184536/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/death_6.html|archive-date=July 5, 2008|title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer|work=trutv.com|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> They then gagged and beat him in a hallway. Wells pleaded for his life,<ref name="McDougal 1991 150">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=150}}</ref><ref name="Pelto 2007 137">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=137}}</ref> but Bonin strangled him to death.<ref name="Clues From a Condemned Man's Past" /><ref name="Darkness' p 165" /> Bonin ordered Munro to retrieve a cardboard box, which the two placed Wells' body inside of, and carried to Bonin's van.<ref name="Pelto 2007 138-139">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|pp=138–139}}</ref><ref name="Hicks" />

Later, while driving to Butts' apartment<ref name="McDougal 1991 149" /> Bonin informed Munro that he, Butts, and others had committed many of the "Freeway Killer" murders. At the apartment, Bonin invited Butts to view Wells' body in the van.<ref name="Pelto 2007 140">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=140}}</ref> Bonin then asked where he should dispose of the corpse. Munro later testified that Butts dissuaded Bonin from discarding it in the nearby canyons, and recommended discarding him near a gas station.<ref name="Pelto 2007 141">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=141}}</ref> They drove to a disused gas station in Huntington Beach, and discarded him there.<ref name="McDougal 1991 149" /> The body was discovered five hours later, by two brothers who had parked nearby.<ref name="McDougal 1991 149">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=149}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=50}}</ref> Bonin and Munro returned to Bonin's house.<ref name="McDougal 1991 150" /> Later that night, Bonin hinted to Munro (who was fearful for his life<ref name="Pelto 2007 138-139" />) that he should stay quiet regarding Wells' murder, or else face potential death.<ref name="Confess">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/confess_7.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705202114/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/confess_7.html|archive-date=July 5, 2008|title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer|work=trutv.com|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref>

== Arrest ==
After nine days of uneventful surveillance,<ref name="Confess"/> on June 11, plainclothes police observed Bonin driving throughout Hollywood, unsuccessfully attempting to lure five separate boys into his van,<ref name="trutv1">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/confess_7.html/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705202114/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/confess_7.html|archive-date=July 5, 2008|title=Capture and Confession|work=trutv.com|access-date=January 21, 2022}}</ref> before succeeding in luring one. The police followed Bonin until he parked at a service station close to the [[Hollywood Freeway]], then discreetly approached the vehicle. Upon hearing screams and banging sounds coming from inside the van, the officers forced their way inside.<ref>{{harvnb|Jessel|1992|p=4666}}</ref> They discovered Bonin raping 17-year-old Orange County runaway Harold Eugene Tate, whom he had handcuffed and bound.<ref name="trutv1" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19800809&id=4WkzAAAAIBAJ&pg=7026,4297917&hl=en |title='Freeway Killer' Suspect Pleads |work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]] |agency=[[United Press International]] |date=August 9, 1980 |access-date=November 27, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|pp=159–161}}</ref>

Bonin was initially charged with the rape of a minor,<ref>{{harvnb|Lane|Gregg|1992|p=66}}</ref> and held on suspicion of Miranda's murder.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=54}}</ref><ref name="Ottawa Citizen July 30, 1980">{{cite news|title=Freeway Killer Charged|date=July 30, 1980 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19800730&id=EaMyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1867,4036607&hl=en |access-date=January 17, 2022|work=[[Ottawa Citizen]]}}</ref> He was detained in lieu of $250,000 [[bond (finance)|bond]]. Later, Bonin's girlfriend notified his boss of his arrest, adding that the arrest was in connection to the Freeway Killer case. This caused Munro (who was already apprehensive at Bonin's absence from work that day) to become frantic.<ref name="'Freeway Killer' Suspects Were Co-Workers, Pals">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14885531/freeway-killer/|title='Freeway Killer' Suspects Were Co-Workers, Pals|work=[[Santa Cruz Sentinel]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=August 3, 1980|access-date=January 23, 2022}}</ref> The next day, Munro stole Bonin's car and fled back to Michigan,<ref>{{cite news|title=Bonin Accomplice Wants Freedom or Death, Not the Truth|last=Hicks|first=Jerry |date=June 18, 1998|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-18-me-61076-story.html |access-date=January 18, 2022|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> where he temporarily resided before being arrested.<ref name="Pelto 2007 262"/>

Inside Bonin's van, investigators discovered numerous artifacts which proved his [[culpability]] in the Freeway Killer murders. These included various restraining devices, knives, and a tire iron. They also noted the removed door handles. A forensic examination of the van and Bonin's home revealed extensive traces of bloodstains.<ref name="caselaw.findlaw.com" /> Inside the glove box, investigators discovered a scrapbook of newspaper clippings related to the murders.<ref>{{harvnb|Jessel|1992|p=4667}}</ref> Bonin's 61-year-old father died of [[cirrhosis]] of the liver on October 11, 1980, four months after Bonin's arrest. His condition sourced from his excessive alcohol addiction.<ref name="harvnbMcDougal1991p=161" />

=== Confession ===
{{quote box
| quote = I tied him up with {{nowrap|nylon{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}this electrician type of wire. I pulled a knife on him and he got scared. I stabbed him in the left arm[;] it surprised me that I did it. I stabbed him again and then again, and again and again until he was helpless{{spaces}}[...] They would try to stop me from stabbing them and I would stab just to stab. I stuck them with the knife in different places because I didn't know where to stab, you know, I didn't know where the vital organs [were] or anything like that.
| source = —Excerpts of Bonin's taped confession in 1980 concerning Markus Grabs and other victims<ref name="Rosewood 2015 54-56">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|pp=54–56}}</ref>
| width = 30em
}}
Although initially alleging his innocence in the murders, Bonin confessed his guilt to St. John after reading a letter from Sean King's mother, imploring him to reveal the location of her son's body.<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary: John St. John|newspaper=[[The Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19950505&id=1zIeAAAAIBAJ&pg=5923,4488279&hl=en|access-date=June 3, 2014|date=May 5, 1995}}</ref> Bonin made sure to clarify, however, that it was not to ease the mother's pain,<ref name="Rosewood 2015 54-56"/> but on the knowledge that, because King was buried in San Bernardino County, police would likely buy him a hamburger for lunch on the extensive trip.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 43">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=43}}</ref>

Over the course of several evenings, Bonin confessed to abducting, raping, and killing 21 young men and boys in graphic detail. He expressed no remorse for his actions, but showed extreme embarrassment and regret over being caught. An Orange County investigator recalled that there "was not a policeman in that room that did not want to kill Bonin" for his confession.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 54-56">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|pp=54–56}}</ref> Bonin stated that his primary accomplice in the murders had been Butts while Miley and Munro were accomplices in other murders.<ref name="Newton 2006 82">{{harvnb|Newton|2006|p=82}}</ref>

Bonin was physically linked to many of the murders by blood and semen stains.<ref name="caselaw.findlaw.com" /> Numerous carpet fibers found upon seven of the victims' bodies were a precise match with the carpeting in Bonin's van.<ref name="Justia1980"/> Furthermore, on three bodies, investigators found hair samples which were a precise match with Bonin. Medical evidence revealed that six of the murders for which he was charged were committed by a unique [[windlass]] strangulation method, which was later referred to by Bonin's prosecutor as "a signature" or "a trademark".{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Initially formally [[arraignment#United States|arraigned]] for the murder of Grabs on July 25,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/250602736|title=Sex Culprit Figures in Mass Killings|newspaper=[[Papua New Guinea Post-Courier]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=August 1, 1980|access-date=January 2, 2022}}</ref> by July 29, Bonin had been charged with an additional 15 murders to which he had confessed, and upon which the prosecution believed they had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.<ref name="Ottawa Citizen July 30, 1980" /> In addition to the 16 murder [[Indictment#United States|indictments]], he was also charged with 11 counts of robbery, one count of sodomy, and one count of [[mayhem (crime)|mayhem]]. He was held without bond.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19800730&id=RwtWAAAAIBAJ&pg=2243,8396340&hl=en|title=Twice-paroled Sex Offender Charged in Fourteen of Forty 'Freeway Killer' Murders|newspaper=[[The Register-Guard|Eugene Register-Guard]]|date=July 30, 1980|access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref>

Bonin was not brought to trial for the murders of Mark Shelton, Robert Wirostek,<ref name="Orozco" /> John Kilpatrick, Michael McDonald, or the November 1979 John Doe,<ref name="Kilpatrick" /> because police did not find sufficient evidence linking him alone to the crimes.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |date=October 3, 1980 |title=Prosecutors to Seek 'Freeway Killer' Indictments |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/10/03/Prosecutors-to-seek-Freeway-Strangler-indictments/9052339393600/ |access-date=September 19, 2013 |work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref> This is despite Bonin confessing to the murders of Kilpatrick and McDonald.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 66" />

On August 8, all charges were formally submitted against Bonin. Three days later, attorney Earl Hanson was appointed as his legal representative. He remained Bonin's attorney until October 1981, when, at Bonin's request, he was replaced by William Charvet and Tracy Stewart.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1989" />

=== Accomplices' arrest ===
[[File:VernonButts.png|thumb|Butts' mug shot, taken in June 1980]]
Based on Bonin's confession, police obtained a [[search warrant#united states|warrant]] authorizing a search of Butts' Lakewood property on the same date as Bonin's initial arraignment; this July 25 search uncovered evidence linking Butts to several murders which Bonin had already confessed to. Butts was brought before a [[State court (United States)|Municipal Court]] on July 29, and charged with accompanying Bonin on six murders, and with three counts of robbery. The [[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department]] told the press: "Bonin and Butts are believed to be responsible for the kidnapping, torture and murder of at least 21 young males between May 1979 and June 1980", 14 of which had been committed in their jurisdiction.<ref>{{cite news|title=Two Suspects Charged in Freeway Murders |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19800730&id=y2NRAAAAIBAJ&pg=3487,3926817&hl=en |work=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]]|date=July 30, 1980|access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref>

Despite initially proclaiming his innocence, Butts soon confessed to having accompanied Bonin upon each of the murders he was charged with, and to have sexually abused several victims. Butts claimed to have participated in the murders primarily out of fear, claiming, "It was either go, or become the next victim",<ref name="Butts'Confession">{{cite news |date=October 18, 1980 |title=Freeway Killer Feared |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1982&dat=19801018&id=e-9fAAAAIBAJ&pg=1355,2656536&hl=en |access-date=January 20, 2022 |newspaper=The Evening News}}</ref> adding he only found the courage to confess upon learning Bonin was in custody. Butts was adamant he had had only a limited role in the victims' torture, but confessed to actively torturing one of them.<ref name="Butts'Confession" /> He claimed that, upon their successfully luring a victim into the van, he would typically drive a short distance, before stopping the vehicle in order to assist Bonin in restraining and torturing their captive.<ref name="McDougal 1991 173" /><ref name="UPIJan111981">{{cite news|title=Vernon Butts, who Confessed to Taking Part in the Grisly Freeway Killer Murders of Young Men and Boys, was Found Strangled with a Towel in His Jail Cell Sunday |date=January 11, 1981|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/01/11/Vernon-Butts-who-confessed-to-taking-part-in-the/1950348037200/|access-date=January 24, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref><ref name="Fox 1996 10">{{harvnb|Fox|1996|p=10}}</ref> He claimed his participation in the murders was typically limited to restraining the victims, but he admitted to mutilating one victim with a wire coat hanger.<ref name="Detail">{{cite news|title='Freeway Killer' Suspect Described in Grisly Detail|date=January 9, 1981 |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/01/09/Freeway-killer-suspect-described-in-grisly-detail/2558347864400/|access-date=February 4, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref> He said that some victims had been subjected to more extensive blunt force trauma than others because Bonin would escalate the beatings if the victim resisted his sexual advances.<ref name="Detail" />

Butts rejected an offer to plead guilty to all charges filed against him in exchange for a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years before the possibility of parole.<ref name="Freeway Killer Defendant Links Bonin to Slayings" /> He did not agree to accept any form of [[plea bargain]], or to testify against Bonin.<ref name="Tuscaloosa News1981">{{cite news |date=January 12, 1981 |title=Vernon Butts Dies Like Victims |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19810112&id=nyodAAAAIBAJ&pg=4619,2512909&hl=enhttps://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/47/808.html |access-date=May 29, 2017 |work=[[The Tuscaloosa News]]}}</ref> He was brought before Orange County Municipal Court Judge Richard Orozco on November 14, 1980, where he was formally charged with participating in three further murders committed in the county.<ref name="Orozco">{{cite web|title='Freeway Killer' Suspects Gregory Miley and Vernon Butts|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/11/15/Freeway-Killer-suspects-Gregory-Miley-and-Vernon-Butts-have/6250343112400/ |work=[[United Press International]]|date=November 15, 1980|access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref> His trial was scheduled for July 27, 1981.<ref name="UPIJan111981" />[[File:Gregory Mathews Miley Mug Shot 1980.jpg|thumb|Mug shot of Gregory Miley, taken after his [[extradition]] to [[Los Angeles County, California|L.A. County]], August 1980]]

On July 31, 1980, Munro was arrested in his hometown, [[Port Huron, Michigan]]. He was [[Extradition law in the United States|extradited]] to California, and charged with Wells' murder.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19800802&id=HwgvAAAAIBAJ&pg=4227,313633&hl=en|title=Freeway Killer: Third Man Held for Murder|work=[[Montreal Gazette]]|date=August 2, 1980|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref> He pleaded innocent to all charges against him on August 14.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=61}}</ref> Miley, who was in Texas, discussed his role in the Miranda and Macabe murders in a recorded phone conversation with a friend, thus substantiating Bonin's earlier confession. On August 22, Miley was arrested, and he was charged by California authorities with the murders of Miranda and Macabe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailynews.com/20111130/orange-county-das-office-to-oppose-parole-for-double-murderer|title=Orange County DA's Office to Oppose Parole for Double Murderer|website=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]|date=November 30, 2011|access-date=June 3, 2013}}</ref> On December 18, he pleaded not guilty to two charges of [[first-degree murder]],<ref name="UPIArchives1980" /> but at two pretrial hearings in May 1981, he pleaded guilty.<ref>{{cite news|title=L. A. Murder Defendant Enters Plea of Guilty|date=May 1, 1981|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19810501&id=qD1PAAAAIBAJ&pg=4403,5013785&hl=en|work=[[The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)|The Toledo Blade]]|access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref>

First-degree murder charges were brought against the 20-year-old acquaintance of Bonin, Eric Marten Wijnaendts, in December 1980. After police learned Pugh had willingly accompanied Bonin in Harry Todd Turner's murder, Wijnaendts' charges were dropped in January 1981,<ref>{{cite news |date=January 27, 1981 |title=An 18-year-old Who Reportedly Led Police to the Prime Suspect |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/01/27/An-18-year-old-who-reportedly-led-police-to-the-prime/1756349419600 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref> with the county prosecutor citing [[legal burden of proof|insufficient evidence]] as the cause.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 12, 1980 |title=Courtroom Cleared at Accused Killers' Hearing |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19820107&id=_IZUAAAAIBAJ&pg=6633,426962 |access-date=February 4, 2022 |work=[[Observer–Reporter|The Observer-Reporter]]}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Wijnaendts was a [[Dutch people|Dutch]]-born youth who had encountered Bonin while the two were incarcerated at Orange County jail in early March 1980 (where Wijnaendts had been incarcerated upon charges of [[public intoxication]] and [[Battery (crime)|battery]]). Bonin had informed police Pugh had been his accomplice in the murder of Turner, and not Wijnaendts, upon learning of Wijnaendts's arrest.<ref>{{cite news|title=Eric Marten Wijnaendts Pleads Not Guilty |date=December 9, 1980|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/12/09/Eric-Marten-Wijnaendts-a-Dutch-born-youth-who-met-the/8654345186000|access-date=February 16, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref>}}

== Preliminary hearings ==
At a [[hearing (law)|preliminary hearing]] held in Los Angeles County before [[Los Angeles County Superior Court]] Judge Julius Leetham on January 2, 1981, Bonin formally pleaded innocent to 14 first-degree murder charges and numerous counts of sodomy, robbery and mayhem. In eleven of these indictments, a felony-murder-robbery special circumstance was also alleged. Bonin was ordered to return to court on January 7 for [[Motion in United States law|pretrial motions]] and the formal setting of a trial date.<ref name=":0" />

On the 7th, Butts was arraigned on five counts of murder, and three counts of robbery.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|title=William Bonin: The Prime Suspect|date=January 2, 1981|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/01/02/William-Bonin-the-prime-suspect-in-the-gruesome-string/4353347259600/|access-date=February 1, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref> By this point, he had been listed as an accomplice in the murders of Lundgren, Shelton, Grabs, Hyden, Murillo, Wirostek, Kendrick, Wells, and the November 1979 John Doe.<ref name="SantaCruzKernC" /><ref name=":2">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|pp=173–174}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite news |date=February 5, 1981 |title='Freeway Killer' Case Shocks Folks |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19810205&id=aycdAAAAIBAJ&pg=3640,1252149 |access-date=January 28, 2022 |work=[[The Tuscaloosa News]]}}</ref> Four days after his formal plea, he committed suicide by hanging himself with a towel in his cell.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> He had attempted suicide at least four times prior to his arrest;<ref name="Fox 1996 10" /> his attorney, Joe Ingber, theorized that his depressive state had been magnified by the impending release of transcripts of his client's testimony at the preliminary hearing, in which Butts had graphically described his victims' torture.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=67}}</ref> He was worried about the effect it would have on his friends and family.<ref name="Fox 1996 10" /> The suicide rendered Butts' recorded testimony in three cases [[inadmissible evidence|inadmissible]] as evidence. The charges against Bonin in relation to Shelton, Wirostek and the John Doe were therefore dropped in early 1981.

Both Miley and Munro agreed to testify against Bonin in court in exchange for being spared the [[death penalty]],<ref name="McDougal 1991 171–172">{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|pp=171–172}}</ref> and the dismissal of additional charges of sodomy and robbery filed against Munro.<ref>{{cite news|title=Freeway Killer Pleads Guilty|date=April 7, 1981|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19810407&id=AS8oAAAAIBAJ&pg=6898,3026926&hl=en|work=[[The Spokesman-Review]]|access-date=29 September 2016}}</ref> In the case of Miley, Norris agreed to accept two separate pleas of guilty to first-degree murder. This was in exchange for two concurrent sentences of [[life imprisonment]], with a possibility of parole after 25 years if Miley agreed to testify against Bonin at both upcoming trials.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1989" /> William Pugh also agreed to testify, having pleaded guilty to one count of [[voluntary manslaughter]], for which he later received six years in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://withoutremorsebook.com/where-are-the-serial-killers-and-sexual-predators-vonda-pelto-dealt-with-now/|title=Without Remorse: The Story of the Woman who Kept Los Angeles' Serial Killers Alive|work=withoutremorsebook.com|date=January 1, 2022|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=January 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122060937/http://withoutremorsebook.com/where-are-the-serial-killers-and-sexual-predators-vonda-pelto-dealt-with-now/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Murder trials ==

=== Los Angeles County ===
On October 19, Bonin was brought to trial in Los Angeles County, charged with the murder of 12 of his victims whose bodies had been found within the county. He was tried before Superior Court Judge William Keene.<ref>{{cite news|title='Freeway Killer' Gets Death Sentence|date=March 12, 1982|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19820312&id=Y0BPAAAAIBAJ&pg=7108,5378880&hl=en|work=[[The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)|The Toledo Blade]]|access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref> The trial commenced on November 5.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1989" />

Norris, acting as [[prosecution|prosecutor]], sought the death penalty for each count of murder for which Bonin was tried. Norris described Bonin's routine and technique with regards to his victims' torture, and how he would reach the "climax of the orgy" by killing them.<ref name="Fox 1996 p12">{{harvnb|Fox|1996|p=12}}</ref> He asserted that Bonin murdered as a group sport,<ref name="McDougal 1991 164" /> with accomplices that he had groomed because of their "low mentality".<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle">{{cite news|title=Boys' Killer Led a Twisted, Tortured Life |date=February 19, 1996 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-Boys-Killer-Led-a-Twisted-Tortured-2992772.php |access-date=November 27, 2018|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|The San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref> Miley and Munro testified against Bonin, describing their murders in graphic detail.<ref name="autogenerated4" /><ref name="Petitioner-appellant1995">{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/59/815/496298/|title=William George Bonin, Petitioner-appellant, v. Arthur Calderon (1995)|work=law.justia.com|date=June 28, 1995|access-date=February 2, 2022}}</ref> Miley testified to his participation in the murders of Miranda and Macabe,<ref>{{cite news|title=Strangulations Described: Deaths Linked |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=djdLAAAAIBAJ&pg=4130,5856988&dq/|access-date=June 22, 2021|work=[[Oxnard Press-Courier|The Oxnard Press-Courier]]|date=November 23, 1981}}</ref> describing how the two victims were beaten and tortured before being murdered. He said that Bonin had pressed a tire iron against Miranda's neck, and Miley "jumped down on him", killing him.<ref name="Fox 1996 p9" />

The strategy of Charvet and Stewart was to challenge the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses, and to suggest that significant [[mitigating factor]]s as to the causes of Bonin's behavior lay in the extensive physical, sexual, and emotional abuse he had endured throughout his early life. They summoned Dr. David Foster, an expert on the developmental effects of abuse on children, to testify as to the conclusions of his psychological examinations of Bonin. He stated that, as a result of repeated abandonment as a child, Bonin had not received the nurturing, protection, and behavioral feedback necessary for sufficient [[developmental psychology|psychological development]]. He said the abuse of Bonin had been so consistent and prevalent that he was confused as to the differences between violence and love.<ref name="caselaw.findlaw.com" />

In a direct rebuttal, the prosecution summoned [[forensic psychiatrist]] [[Park Dietz]], a noted expert in [[impulse control disorder]] and [[sexual sadism disorder]], who testified that Bonin's behavior was inconsistent with an inability to control his impulses, and that his actions were reflective of planning as opposed to impulsive behavior. He concluded that Bonin was a sexual sadist, and that although he suffered from an [[antisocial personality disorder]], neither of these conditions had impaired his ability to control his actions.<ref name="caselaw.findlaw.com" />

On November 24, prison inmate Lloyd Douglas testified that Bonin had bragged to him of his culpability in the Freeway Killer murders, while both were in Los Angeles County Jail in 1980. Douglas then alleged salacious details regarding Bonin's torture of victims that were otherwise not supported with valid evidence.<ref name="justia3" /> In [[cross-examination]], Douglas conceded he had only related these claims to authorities after pleading guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and second-degree burglary against him. He also testified to being Lawrence Sharp's uncle.<ref name="One of Freeway Killer Victims Was His Nephew, Witness Against Bonin Reveals">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68731355/the-los-angeles-times/|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|last1=Blake|first1=Gene|title=One of Freeway Killer Victims Was His Nephew, Witness Against Bonin Reveals|date=November 25, 1981|access-date=January 23, 2022}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Douglas also conceded in his cross-examination that he had previously agreed to testify against serial killer [[Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris|Lawrence Bittaker]] pertaining to alleged jailhouse confessions Bittaker had given to him.<ref name="One of Freeway Killer Victims Was His Nephew, Witness Against Bonin Reveals"/>}}

Against overruled objections from the defense, [[Fresno, California|Fresno]]-based reporter David Lopez waived his previously sought [[legal immunity|immunity]] under California's [[Shield laws in the United States|shield law]], and agreed to testify on behalf of the prosecution as to the details of seven interviews Bonin had granted him (between December 1980 and April 1981).<ref>{{harvnb|Fox|1996|p=11}}</ref> Lopez testified that Bonin had said he would refuse to talk with any other reporter if Lopez would agree not to broadcast the precise details of the interview. When Lopez had agreed to these conditions, Bonin confessed to him that he was the Freeway Killer, and that he had killed 21 victims. Allegedly, Bonin had confided that although he resented the prospect of being executed, he had opted to commit murder simply because he had enjoyed the "sound of kids dying".<ref name="Rosewood 2015 66">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=66}}</ref> When Lopez asked Bonin what he would be doing if he were still at large, Bonin had replied he would still be killing, because "it got easier with each one we did."<ref>{{harvnb|Fox|1996|pp=11–12}}</ref>

Lopez initially refused to disclose Bonin's confession, but changed his mind after Bonin broke his own promise by talking to other reporters.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1981-12-15 |title=T Munro - Iowa City Press-Citizen 15 Dec 1981 - Reporter tells of confession in trial |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/iowa-city-press-citizen-t-munro-iowa-c/143995824/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |work=Iowa City Press-Citizen |pages=16}}</ref>

Upon cross-examination, Bonin's defense attorney ensured that Lopez conceded that his testimony was based upon what he had recalled from the interviews, as opposed to any handwritten notes. He also denied he had received any form of payment to testify.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 73" />

==== Closing arguments ====
[[Closing argument]]s were in late December. Norris described Bonin as someone who derived extreme pleasure from his victims' suffering, and that he acted with [[malice aforethought]]. Norris outlined the torture Bonin's victims had endured, before concluding his closing arguments by urging the jury to "give him what he has earned".<ref>{{cite news|title=Suspected Freeway Killer Described as Insatiable|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19811219&id=9bJOAAAAIBAJ&pg=7233,1286393&hl=en|access-date=February 2, 2022|work=[[The Ledger|The Lakeland Ledger]]|date=December 19, 1981}}</ref>

Charvet did not specifically ask the jurors to find Bonin not guilty,<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/23/us/freeway-killer-arguments-end-coast-jury-will-get-case-monday.html|title='Freeway Killer' Arguments End; Coast Jury Will Get Case Monday|newspaper=The New York Times |agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=December 23, 1981|access-date=June 8, 2018}}</ref> instead requesting they only return the "reasonable verdict you can bring". This indicated a likelihood of not guilty verdicts on at least some counts Bonin was charged with. Charvet doubted the credibility of some of Miley and Munro's testimony; he emphasized their [[Turn state's evidence|turning state's evidence]] made them tailor their testimony to the desires of the police.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19811229&id=c9svAAAAIBAJ&pg=6644,3886822&hl=en|title=Jurors Out on Freeway Slayings|work=[[The Victoria Advocate]]|access-date=January 19, 2021|date=December 29, 1981}}</ref> He reminded the jury he had exposed inconsistencies in Munro's account of Wells' murder, that Munro lied on numerous occasions, that Bonin had been extensively abused as a child, and of the diagnoses the doctors in Atascadero had reached. He said the prosecution's case was "full of holes", and alleged they had resorted to "revulsion tactics", in the hope Bonin would be convicted upon that basis.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19811222&id=ImEeAAAAIBAJ&pg=5432,5279381&hl=en|title=Final Words Set for Killer Trial|work=[[Times Daily]]|agency=[[United Press International]]|access-date=January 19, 2021|date=December 22, 1981}}</ref>

==== Conviction ====
On December 28, the jury formally began their deliberations.<ref name="nytimes.com" /> On January 6, 1982, they convicted Bonin of ten of the murders for which he was tried.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1697&dat=19820107&id=YTQqAAAAIBAJ&pg=4352,1028497&hl=en|title=Bonin is Convicted in Freeway Killings|work=[[Park City Daily News]]|access-date=February 2, 2022|date=January 7, 1982}}</ref> He was found not guilty of the murders of Lundgren and King, of committing sodomy upon Grabs, of committing mayhem upon Lundgren,<ref name="ReferenceD">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19820119&id=gLhdAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396,4229505&hl=en|title=Death Penalty Given in 'Freeway' Cases|work=[[The Victoria Advocate]]|access-date=February 2, 2022|date=January 19, 1982}}</ref> and of robbing one other victim. Later, the prosecution and defense made alternate pleas for the actual sentence the jury should decide, with Norris requesting the death penalty and Charvet requesting [[life imprisonment]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19820107&id=Q0UuAAAAIBAJ&pg=2245,1052213&hl=en|title=Freeway Killer May Get Death|work=[[Beaver County Times]]|access-date=February 2, 2022|date=January 7, 1982}}</ref> The jury further found that the [[Special circumstances (criminal law)|special circumstances]] required within California state law (multiple murders and robbery) had been met in the cases for which Bonin was found guilty, and thus unanimously recommended he receive the death penalty.<ref name="Fox 1996 p12" />

Bonin was cleared of King's sodomy and murder, because he had led police to King's body in 1980 under the agreement that his doing so could not be used against him in court. Therefore, the prosecutors had discussed King's disappearance at the trial, but not the discovery of his body.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19820106&id=pcVOAAAAIBAJ&pg=3810,1733686&hl=en|title=Freeway Killer Jury Not Telling|work=[[Lakeland Ledger|The Ledger]]|access-date=February 2, 2022|date=January 6, 1982}}</ref> He was cleared of the charges of mayhem and murder against Lundgren because, according to López, he had strenuously denied committing this particular killing in their interviews.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-QIiAAAAIBAJ&pg=2511,3431094&dq/|title=Freeway Killer's Fate is Pondered|work=[[Reading Eagle|The Reading Eagle]]|access-date=February 2, 2022|date=January 7, 1982}}</ref>
{{pb}}{{quote box|align=right|width=20%|quote="He had a total disregard for the sanctity of human life and a civilized society. Sadistic, unbelievably cruel, senseless and deliberately [[premeditated murder|premeditated]]. Guilty beyond any possible or imaginary doubt."|source=—[[Los Angeles County Superior Court|Los Angeles Superior Court]] Judge William Keene pronouncing the death sentence upon Bonin, March 12, 1982<ref name="Pelto 2007 232"/>}}
{{np}}{{pb}}

==== Sentencing ====
In February, Charvet argued against imposition of the death verdict returned by the jury.<ref name="ReferenceD" /> Despite his impassioned appeal, Keene formally sentenced Bonin to death for the ten murders, and ordered that if his death sentence were [[pardon|commuted]] to one of life imprisonment, the sentences should run consecutively.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19820313&id=K3liAAAAIBAJ&pg=1193,1997176&hl=en|title='Freeway Killer' Gets Death for Ten Murders|work=[[Observer-Reporter|The Observer-Reporter]]|access-date=February 2, 2022|date=March 13, 1982}}</ref> Bonin was then ordered to await his execution via the [[gas chamber#United States|gas chamber]] at [[San Quentin State Prison]]. He [[reduced affect display|remained unmoved]] upon learning of the sentence, having earlier informed his attorney he fully expected to receive the death penalty.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bonin Convicted of Ten 'Freeway' Sex-torture Slayings|date=January 7, 1982|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19820107&id=21sxAAAAIBAJ&pg=1099,2143413&hl=en|work=[[Montreal Gazette]]|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Several family members of Bonin's victims later recounted that Bonin had remained remorseless throughout his trial, seemingly deriving pleasure from their anguish.<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/22/us/families-hope-freeway-killer-s-execution-ends-their-years-of-pain.html|title=Families Hope Freeway Killer's Execution Ends Their Years of Pain|work=The New York Times |date=February 22, 1996|access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref>}}

Prior to his scheduled second trial in Orange County, Bonin was temporarily removed from death row and held in [[solitary confinement#United States|solitary confinement]], where he remained until the conclusion of this trial.<ref name="Facing" /> This was largely due to the fact he had previously received a severe beating by an incarcerated gang member with whom he had shared a cell.<ref name="Pelto 2007 120-121">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|pp=120–121}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|This incident had occurred on December 8, 1981; Bonin had subsequently worn sunglasses in court to conceal his black eyes.}} While Bonin was in solitary confinement, Charvet attempted to secure a [[change of venue]], saying the extensive pretrial publicity surrounding the case in Orange County would minimize the chances of securing an untainted jury within the jurisdiction. This motion was refused by Judge Kenneth Lae, who ruled in November that there had only been minimal publicity surrounding Bonin's case in Orange County following his earlier convictions.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=80}}</ref>

=== Orange County ===
Bonin was brought to trial in Orange County on March 21, 1983. He was charged with the robbery and murder of four further victims whose bodies had been found within the jurisdiction.<ref name="Facing">{{cite news|title=Freeway Killer William Bonin, Already Facing the Gas Chamber, is Convicted of Four Further Slayings|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/08/02/Freeway-Killer-William-Bonin-already-facing-the-gas-chamber/8201428644800/|access-date=February 2, 2022|work=[[United Press International]]|date=August 3, 1983}}</ref> He was tried before Superior Court Judge Kenneth Lae.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/08/02/Freeway-Killer-William-Bonin-already-facing-the-gas-chamber/8201428644800/|title=Freeway Killer William Bonin, Already Facing the Gas Chamber|work=[[United Press International]]|access-date=February 7, 2022|date=August 2, 1983}}</ref> Two hundred and four prospective jurors were subjected to ''[[voir dire]]'' [[voir dire|jury selection]], until sixteen were picked in June. Bonin's attorney then renewed an earlier filed motion that the trial should be moved outside of Orange County due to pretrial publicity tainting the jury pool. This motion was again rejected by Judge Lae, who ruled that the trial would begin on June 14.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1988" />

The prosecutor, Bryan Brown, contended that all four victims killed within the constituency had been abducted while hitchhiking, then ordered to strip before being bound, raped, beaten, tortured, and strangled. In each instance, the ligature had left an impression upon the victim's neck. He also noted similarities in each murder, and between these and two of those for which Bonin had earlier been convicted in Los Angeles County: Miranda and Wells.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1988" /> Emphasis was placed upon the fibers found upon each of the Orange County {{nowrap|victims{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}and three Los Angeles County {{nowrap|victims{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}being a precise match to the carpeting in Bonin's van.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-bonin-30935|title=People v. Bonin (1988) 46 Cal.3d 659|work=scocal.stanford.edu|access-date=January 16, 2019|date=August 29, 1988}}</ref> As such, Brown stated, the four Orange County victims had been killed by the same individual who had killed Miranda and Wells, and his accomplices in the Miranda and Wells murders, Miley and Munro, would testify as to their participation.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> The prosecution presented forensic experts who testified on the matching fibers, and blood found in the van.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/15/National-News-Briefs/3440592470660/|title='Freeway Killer' Trial: Opening Statement|work=[[United Press International]]|access-date=February 3, 2022|date=June 15, 1983}}</ref>

Charvet refuted these contentions, saying that any similarities in ''modus operandi'' did not automatically prove his client's guilt, and that the evidence presented did not support the prosecution's contention, beyond a [[reasonable doubt]], that Bonin had murdered any of the four Orange County victims, or the two Los Angeles County victims. Charvet attacked the credibility of Munro, and contended Bonin was simply a [[scapegoat]] for four unsolved murders.<ref name="Facing" /> He also argued that Brown had "spent more time discussing the two Los Angeles cases" Bonin had been convicted for more than actually proving Bonin had committed any of the Orange County murders.<ref name="OrangeDeliberations">{{cite news|title='Freeway Killer' Found Guilty Again|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19830803&id=0qYrAAAAIBAJ&pg=7007,476157&hl=en|access-date=February 1, 2022|work=[[The Telegraph (Macon, Georgia)|The Telegraph]]|date=August 3, 1983}}</ref>

During the six-week trial, Bonin's attorneys called two witnesses in his defense. One of them was Munro, who conceded Bonin had communicated with him prior to his testifying in this second trial, requesting that he lie when testifying.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=82}}</ref>

==== Second conviction ====
On August 1, both counsels delivered their closing arguments, and the jury retired. They deliberated for less than three hours, before announcing on the 2nd that they had found Bonin guilty of each count of murder and robbery.<ref name="OrangeDeliberations" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/173468304/OC-Register-August-3-1983-Bonin-Verdict-part-2|title=Bonin's History: Fourteen Murders, Two Acquittals|first=Timothy|last=Alger|website=[[Orange County Register|The Orange County Register]]|date=August 3, 1983|access-date=March 5, 2022}}</ref> After three days deliberating Bonin's penalty, on August 22, the jury announced their recommendations that he be sentenced to death on each count.<ref name=":7">{{cite news|title=Judge Weighing Death Penalty|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19830824&id=YoVhAAAAIBAJ&pg=5109,3949881&hl=en|access-date=October 16, 2018|work=[[Reading Eagle]]|date=August 24, 1983}}</ref> On August 26, Bonin received four further death sentences.<ref name="Pelto 2007 133"/><ref name=":7" /> Following these convictions, Bonin was transferred from the Orange County jail back to San Quentin State Prison, to await execution via the gas chamber.<ref name="Freeway Killer William Bonin, What He Did & Why?">{{cite web |date=January 1, 2022 |title=Freeway Killer William Bonin, What He Did & Why? |url=http://withoutremorsebook.com/freeway-killer-william-bonin-what-he-did-and-why-by-vonda-pelto-phd/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218034738/http://withoutremorsebook.com/freeway-killer-william-bonin-what-he-did-and-why-by-vonda-pelto-phd/ |archive-date=February 18, 2022 |access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref>

== Death row ==
[[File:San Quentin State Prison.jpg|thumb|[[San Quentin State Prison]], where Bonin was on death row|left]]
In his years on death row, Bonin undertook painting and writing. He wrote a series of short stories called ''Doing Time: Stories from the Mind of a Death Row Prisoner''.<ref>{{cite news|title='Freeway Killer' William Bonin's Death Row Writings Published in Book|last1=Zoroya|first1=Gregg|newspaper=[[The Orange County Register]]|date=December 11, 1991|issn=0886-4934}}</ref> He became close friends with convicted murderers [[Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris|Lawrence Bittaker]], [[Randy Kraft]] (who shared the nickname "Freeway Killer"), [[Doug Clark (serial killer)|Douglas Clark]], and [[Jimmy Lee Smith]].<ref name="One of Freeway Killer Victims Was His Nephew, Witness Against Bonin Reveals" /><ref name="Freeway Killer William Bonin, What He Did & Why?" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Needham |first=John |date=October 16, 1990 |title=San Quentin's Killer Bridge Parties: Kraft, Bonin and Two Other Serial Murderers Play a Mean Game of Cards |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-16-vw-2762-story.html |access-date=August 14, 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> He also corresponded with numerous individuals, including the mothers of some of his victims.<ref name="San Francisco Gate" /> To the mothers, he never expressed regret or remorse over the murders, purposefully withholding information his victims' families sought, and seemingly deriving pleasure from their discontent.<ref name="nytimes1" /> Bonin once informed the mother of Sean King that her son had been his favorite victim as "he was such a screamer".{{refn|group=n|King's mother, Lavada Gifford, had first wrote to Bonin in 1989, having read of his becoming a [[Born again|born-again Christian]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailytitan.com/2012/02/southern-californias-most-infamous-killers/|last=Howman|first=Andrea|title=Southern California's Most Infamous Killers|date=February 27, 2012|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref><ref name="San Francisco Gate">{{cite news|last1=Fagan|first1=Kevin|title=Lasting Pain for Victims' Families: Some Parents Say Witnessing Execution May Speed Healing|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-Lasting-Pain-for-Victims-Families-2993368.php|date=February 19, 1996|access-date=February 16, 2022}}</ref>}}

Bonin told both his defense attorneys and several people with whom he corresponded that Butts had been the actual ringleader behind the murders, and that he had simply been Butts' accomplice.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle" />{{refn|group=n|On one occasion, Bonin claimed Butts had suggested to him the two should embark on a spree of murder in order that Butts would incorporate aspects of these murders into his ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game with another man.<ref name="Pelto 2007 232"/>}} These claims would be disputed Stirling Norris, the prosecutor at Bonin's Los Angeles County murder trial, who said before Bonin's execution: "He was the leader, and he chose weak people he could use."<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle" />

Bonin was scheduled to be executed by [[lethal injection]] in 1992, following the [[execution of Robert Alton Harris]] (the first inmate California had executed since 1967).<ref name="The Execution of William Bonin">{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/THE-EXECUTION-OF-WILLIAM-BONIN-3150787.php|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|The San Francisco Chronicle]]|title=The Execution of William Bonin|date=February 23, 1996|access-date=May 18, 2012}}</ref> Harris had exhibited evident symptoms of discomfort, including [[convulsion]]s, for up to four minutes throughout his 15 minutes in the gas chamber.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=94}}</ref> As such, the state of California opted to use lethal injection as an alternate execution method, branding the gas chamber as "[[cruel and unusual punishment|cruel and unusual]]".<ref name="trutv2">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/man_8.html|archive-date=July 5, 2008|title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer|work=trutv.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705202124/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/man_8.html |access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref>

=== Appeals ===
Bonin filed numerous [[appeal]]s against his convictions and sentencing, citing issues such as [[Prejudice (legal term)|jury prejudice]], the potential of jury inflammation via listening to numerous [[victim impact statement]]s (to which his defense counsel had offered to [[stipulation|stipulate]]), and inadequate defense. For these appeals, Bonin hired new lawyers, who initially submitted contentions that Charvet had provided inadequate defense at his trials, by failing to place sufficient emphasis upon Bonin's [[bipolar disorder]] and childhood sexual abuse. These lawyers contended that, had Charvet placed further emphasis on these issues, Bonin would have been "humanized" in the eyes of his juries. Each successive appeal proved unsuccessful.<ref name="trutv2"/>

Despite upholding the convictions, the Supreme Court poured scorn upon Judge Keene for failing to fully heed a warning given by the prosecution prior to the Los Angeles County trial, that Munro had discussed the possibility of agreeing to legal representation by Charvet prior to his testimony. Despite admonishing Charvet for a potential [[conflict of interest]], Judge Keene had permitted him to act as Bonin's defense attorney at his first trial. However, the Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that Charvet had effectively cross-examined Munro at trial, and that Keene's actions, though "inexplicable", had not effectively harmed Bonin's legal defense.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19890110&id=hJozAAAAIBAJ&pg=7001,770004&hl=en|work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]]|title=Death for 'Freeway Killer'|date=January 10, 1989|access-date=March 15, 2017}}</ref> Merit was given to Bonin's contention that his defense should have been allowed to stipulate to the testimony of the victims' parents, rather than their being allowed to identify photographs of their sons in both life and death at his trials. Despite this ruling, this finding was also deemed not to have affected the overall verdict.<ref name="People vs. Bonin 1989" />

A final submission to the [[United States Court of Appeals]] was submitted in 1994. Bonin contended issues such as his being denied the effective assistance of counsel at his trials, that he had been denied [[due process]] at his Los Angeles trial due to the judge's refusal to [[suppression of evidence|suppress]] Munro and Miley's testimonies,<ref name="caselaw.findlaw.com" /> that Charvet failed to point out Bonin's brain damage and other mitigating circumstances, and that the judge at his Orange County trial had denied his counsel's motion for a change of venue upon the basis that pretrial publicity had effectively minimized any chance of obtaining an unbiased jury.<ref name="Petitioner-appellant1995" /> This appeal was rejected in 1995, with the appellate judges stating they had found no evidence of [[duty to report misconduct|legal misconduct]], and that no evidence existed that the 13 jurors who served upon the Orange County trial had been incapable of judging Bonin with impartiality. As such, the judges declared their satisfaction with Bonin's convictions, concluding that his verdict would not have changed with further mitigating circumstances revealed.<ref name="Petitioner-appellant1995" />

The various experts who had examined Bonin would find conflict with one another's assertions, with Dr. Park Dietz stating that fellow Dr. Foster largely mischaracterized and exaggerated the evidence used to prove Bonin was extensively abused as a child, and mistakenly assumed Bonin's [[Babinski reflex]] and other symptoms were indicative of brain damage that influenced his crimes.<ref name="justia1" /> On February 20, 1996, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals]] rejected Bonin's plea for [[pardon|clemency]] on the grounds of inadequate legal representation at both trials.<ref name="ReferenceE">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-21-mn-38326-story.html|title=Wilson Denies Bonin's Plea to Halt Execution|first1=Eric|last1=Bailey|first2=Ken|last2=Ellingwood|date=February 21, 1996|access-date=December 9, 2019|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

== Execution ==
{{quote box
| quote = I think I've accepted the fact that this may come about, and I've made my peace with it and if it happens, it happens{{spaces}}[...] As far as how I'm going to feel at that very moment, I can't answer that question. I don't know; I don't think any of us would know until we're there{{spaces}}[...] Well, probably I went in the service too soon because I was peaking in my bowling career{{spaces}}[...] So I regret that I didn't get to go out and get the instruction, and pursue that. Because I've always had a love for bowling.
| source = —Bonin, reflecting on his impending execution and life regrets. February 22, 1996.<ref name="Locke">{{cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A68399072/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=f13340d7|last=Locke|first=Michelle|title=Appeals for Bonin Rejected: Relatives of Victims Applaud Planned Execution of California's "Freeway Killer"|work=[[Fresno Bee]]|date=February 23, 1996 |access-date=February 28, 2022}}</ref>
| width = 30em
}}

Bonin was executed by lethal injection inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on February 23, 1996,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/lethal-jab-ends-life-of-freeway-killer-executed-1320720.html|title=Lethal Jab Ends Life of 'Freeway Killer'|work=[[The Independent]]|date=February 24, 1996|access-date=March 17, 2022}}</ref> 14 years after his first death sentence had been imposed.<ref name=":1" /> He was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|title=Here are the 13 Men Executed in California Since 1978|url=https://graphics.latimes.com/towergraphic-see-13-men-executed-california-1978/|access-date=November 9, 2018|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 16, 2014}}</ref>

In his final interview, given to a local radio station less than 24 hours before his death, Bonin said that he had "made peace" with the fact he was about to die, adding that his only major regret in life was that he had not pursued his teenage passion of bowling long enough to turn professional.<ref name="Life After Death Penalty">{{cite web|last=McDougal|first=Dennis|url=http://beach.littoral.net/04.05.2000/features/kraft_1.30.2000/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010430101048/http://beach.littoral.net/04.05.2000/features/kraft_1.30.2000/|archive-date=April 30, 2001|title=Life After Death Penalty|work=littoral.net|date=April 5, 2000|access-date=February 18, 2011}}</ref> He expressed his disagreement with the State's decision to execute him, saying he thought the death penalty is wrong.<ref name="Where Are They Now?">{{cite web |last1=Pelto |first1=Vonda |date=February 19, 2019 |title=Where are the Serial Killers and Sexual Predators Vonda Pelto Dealt With Now |url=http://withoutremorsebook.com/where-are-the-serial-killers-and-sexual-predators-vonda-pelto-dealt-with-now/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122060933/http://withoutremorsebook.com/where-are-the-serial-killers-and-sexual-predators-vonda-pelto-dealt-with-now/ |archive-date=January 22, 2022 |access-date=January 21, 2022}}</ref> He denied responsibility for his actions,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-killer-bonin-execution-19960223-snap-htmlstory.html|title='Freeway Killer' William Bonin is Executed: Sadistic Slayer Confessed to Twenty-one Murders|work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 23, 1996 |access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref> saying that he had no control over his actions.<ref name="Where Are They Now?" /> He also said he would not be able to live a normal life outside prison.<ref name="Final interview">{{cite news|title="Bonin says he's at peace as execution approaches"|date=February 22, 1996|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bonin-says-he-s-at-peace-as-execution-approaches-3158008.php|access-date=March 25, 2022|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref>

At 6 p.m. on the 23rd, Bonin was moved from his cell to a death-watch cell, where he ordered his [[last meal]]: two large pizzas, three pints of ice cream and three six-packs of [[Coca-Cola]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-killer-bonin-execution-19960223-snap-htmlstory.html |title='Freeway Killer' William Bonin is Executed: Sadistic Slayer Confessed to 21 Murders |date=February 23, 1996 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=May 24, 2019}}</ref> His last hours were spent with five people he had chosen, including his attorney, his [[chaplain]], and a prospective biographer. His attorney said that he had not detected any remorse in Bonin.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-24-mn-39586-story.html|title=Condemned: But Not Without Friends to End|first=Dexter|last=Filkins|access-date=February 4, 2022|date=February 24, 1996|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|archive-date=June 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624143823/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-02-24/news/mn-39586_1_death-row|url-status=live}}</ref>

Around one hour prior to his scheduled execution, the Supreme Court refused to hear Bonin's final plea to overturn his death sentence, deciding that Bonin's attorneys had not failed to give him adequate legal representation by not earlier submitting claims of discovered evidence attesting to Bonin's innocence. The Court of Appeals ruled that his attorneys should not have waited until the last minute to submit arguments to overturn or postpone the death sentence. They also rejected Bonin's claim that he had a right to choose between the gas chamber or lethal injection as his method of execution.<ref name="The Execution of William Bonin" />[[File:SQ Lethal Injection Room.jpg|thumb|The lethal injection room at [[San Quentin State Prison]], 2010]]

At 11:45&nbsp;p.m., Bonin was escorted from his holding cell into the execution chamber.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 104">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=104}}</ref> In his [[final statement]], given to the prison warden an hour before his scheduled execution at midnight, Bonin again expressed no remorse for his crimes; he left a note that stated:

{{blockquote|I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. I feel it sends the wrong message to the people of this country. Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. I would advise that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.}}

Bonin was pronounced dead at 12:13&nbsp;a.m.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 104"/> He was 49. None of Bonin's relatives chose to witness his execution, although the event was witnessed by several relatives of his victims.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=932&dat=19960223&id=iZtPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4083,4917537&hl=en|title='Freeway Killer' is Put to Death in California |date=February 23, 1996 |work=[[Kingman Daily Miner]]|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref> According to several witnesses, Bonin's execution passed without complications, and he was heavily [[sedation|sedated]] throughout the latter stages of the procedure.<ref name="N.Y. Daily News March 25, 2008" /> On this subject, [[Governor of California|Governor]] [[Pete Wilson]], who had rejected a submitted plea for clemency from Bonin's attorneys three days before the execution,<ref name="ReferenceE" /> called Bonin the "poster boy for [[capital punishment]]".<ref name="Fox 1996 10" />

== Aftermath ==
Bonin's family refused to claim his remains following his execution. His remains were [[cremation|cremated]] in a private ceremony with none of his family members present, and his ashes were later scattered over the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Kane|2017|p=117}}</ref> Three weeks after the execution, authorities discovered that his mother had openly exploited an administrative error pertaining to her son's social security disability {{nowrap|payments{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}which Bonin had begun receiving for a mental disability in 1972 and which should have terminated upon his 1982 {{nowrap|imprisonment{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}to maintain payments on her Downey home. This administrative error (totaling approximately $79,424) was only discovered after a funeral director notified the [[Social Security Administration]] of Bonin's death.<ref name="trutv2" /> His mother agreed to pay [[restitution]] for receiving these payments in March, claiming neither she nor her son were aware of the illegality of their actions.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Chiang|first1=Harriet|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bonin-s-Mom-to-Repay-Son-s-Disability-Benefits-2990303.php|title=Bonin's Mom to Repay Son's Disability Benefits|date=February 13, 1996|work=San Francisco Gate|access-date=February 20, 2022}}</ref>

Throughout Bonin's trials, and in the years of his subsequent incarceration on death row, experts devoted much speculation and debate as to whether the root cause of his crimes lay in his abusive and [[Dysfunctional family|dysfunctional upbringing]].{{refn|group=n|Several experts noted the methods of physical and psychological torture inflicted by Bonin on his victims had been similar to those directed toward himself as a child.<ref name="auto1">{{harvnb|Pelto|2007|p=263}}</ref><ref name="justia2"/>}} One of Bonin's lawyers was quoted stating it was "virtually impossible for [Bonin] to be a successful human being" given the abuse he had endured, while a prospective biographer said he was essentially unable to handle minute problems in his day-to-day life due to trauma.<ref name="sfgate.com" /> Opponents and advocates of the death penalty alike acknowledged Bonin had endured extensive abuse throughout his childhood, but much scorn was given to the claims from his attorneys and supporters that his murders had been a direct manifestation of the abuse.<ref>{{cite news |last=Morse |first=Robert |date=February 20, 1996 |title=Dead Man Waiting |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dead-man-waiting-3158129.php |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|The San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref>

David McVicker, who witnessed Bonin's execution, was traumatized by his ordeal for several years. He was haunted by nightmares on a nightly basis concerning the incident,<ref name="nytimes1" /> dropped out of high school and became dependent on drugs and alcohol. He described the execution as being symbolic of [[Closure (psychology)|closure]].<ref name="Resource.org" /><ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=103}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-22-mn-38842-story.html|title=O.C. Victim Sees New Start in Bonin's End|first1=J. R.|last1=Moehringer|date=February 22, 1996|access-date=February 3, 2022|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> In the following years, he actively campaigned to ensure that Bonin's accomplices, Miley and Munro, remain incarcerated."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/24/sole-survivor-of-notorious-freeway-killer-speaks-out/|last=Butler|first=Stacey|title=Sole Survivor Of Notorious 'Freeway Killer' Speaks Out|work=cbslocal.com|date=December 24, 2011|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref>

Munro was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life for the [[second degree murder]] of Wells in 1981. He has repeatedly appealed the sentence, claiming that he had not known Bonin was the Freeway Killer until after Wells' murder, and that he had been tricked into accepting a plea bargain whereby he pleaded guilty to this second degree murder charge.<ref name="trutv2" /> He has also written to successive governors, requesting he be executed, rather than undergo life imprisonment for what he claims is "a crime I didn't commit".<ref>{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=110}}</ref> He has repeatedly been denied parole and is incarcerated at [[Mule Creek State Prison]]. He is next available for parole in 2029.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/munro-632430-parole-bonin.html|last=Hartley|first=Eric|title='Freeway Killer' Accomplice Denied Parole|date=August 21, 2014|access-date=August 17, 2014|newspaper=[[Orange County Register]]}}</ref>

Miley was sentenced to a term of 25 years to life for the first-degree murder of Miranda in 1982.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wt4zAAAAIBAJ&pg=5776,4161244&dq/|title=Freeway Killer Accomplice Gets 25 Years|work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]]|date=February 4, 1982|access-date=January 24, 2022}}</ref> He was later sentenced to a concurrent term of 25 years to life for the abduction and murder of Macabe.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ocweekly.com/updated-with-continuance-gregory-matthew-miley-accomplice-of-freeway-killer-william-bonin-seeks-parole-6483677/|title=Gregory Miley, Accomplice of 'Freeway Killer' William Bonin, Seeks Parole|newspaper=[[Orange County Weekly]]|date=November 30, 2011|access-date=February 7, 2022}}</ref> On May 25, 2016, Miley died of injuries he had sustained two days previously, when he was attacked by another inmate in an exercise yard at Mule Creek State Prison.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-0526-freeway-killer-20160526-snap-story.html|last=Winton|first=Richard|title=Accomplice of Notorious 'Freeway Killer' Fatally Beaten in Prison|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 26, 2016}}</ref>

Pugh was sentenced to six years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter of Harry Turner in 1982.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> He had initially been charged with the first-degree murder of Turner, in addition to companion charges of robbery and sodomy. However, after five days of deliberation, the jury found Pugh guilty of the reduced charge of manslaughter, and innocent of robbery and sodomy.<ref>{{cite news|title=Teenager Convicted of Manslaughter in Death|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19820518&id=wBYzAAAAIBAJ&pg=4946,2214973&hl=en|date=May 18, 1982|access-date=December 23, 2021|website=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]]}}</ref> He served less than four years of his sentence, and was released from prison in 1985.<ref name="Rosewood 2015 90">{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|p=90}}</ref>

== Known victims ==
Bonin was suspected of committing at least 21 murders, and the killings for which he was convicted are shown in [[Italic text|italics]]:

=== 1979 ===
* Thomas Glen Lundgren (13): Disappeared and found on May 28, 1979, in Los Angeles County
*  Mark Duane Shelton (17): Disappeared on August 4, 1979, and found on August 11, 1979, in San Bernardino County
* ''Markus Alexander Grabs'' (17): Disappeared on August 5, 1979, and found on August 6, 1979, in Los Angeles County
* ''Donald Ray Hyden'' (15): Disappeared and found on August 27, 1979, in Los Angeles County
* ''David Louis Murillo'' (17): Disappeared on September 9, 1979, and found on September 10, 1979, in Los Angeles County
* Robert Christopher Wirostek (18): Disappeared on September 17, 1979, and found on September 27, 1979, in Orange County
* Kern County John Doe (15–27): Body found on November 1, 1979, in Kern County
* ''Frank Dennis Fox'' (17): Disappeared on November 30, 1979, and found on December 2, 1979, in Orange County
* John Fredrick Kilpatrick (15): Disappeared on December 5, 1979, and found on December 13, 1979, in Los Angeles County

=== 1980 ===
* Michael Francis McDonald (16): Disappeared and found on January 1, 1980, in San Bernardino County
* ''Charles Dempster Miranda'' (15): Disappeared and found on February 3, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* ''James Michael Macabe'' (12): Disappeared and found on February 3, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* ''Ronald Craig Gatlin'' (18): Disappeared on March 14, 1980, and found on March 15, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* ''Glenn Norman Barker'' (14): Disappeared on March 21, 1980, and found on March 23, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* ''Russell Duane Rugh'' (15): Disappeared on March 21, 1980, and found on March 23, 1980, in San Diego County
* ''Harry Todd Turner'' (15): Disappeared on March 25, 1980, and found on March 26, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* ''Steven John Wood'' (16): Disappeared and found on April 4, 1980,  in Los Angeles County
* ''Darin Lee Kendrick'' (19): Disappeared on April 29, 1980, and found on May 1, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* ''Lawrence Eugene Sharp'' (17): Disappeared on May 10, 1980, and found on May 18, 1980, in Los Angeles County
* Sean Paige King (14): Disappeared on May 19, 1980, and found on May 20, 1980, in San Bernardino County
* ''Steven Jay Wells'' (18):  Disappeared on June 2, 1980, and found on June 3, 1980, in Orange County
Sources:<ref name="SantaCruzKernC" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name="Orozco" /><ref name="Kilpatrick" /><ref>{{cite news |date=April 1, 1981 |title=Two Freeway Killer Counts Dropped |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4etKAAAAIBAJ&pg=6648,16774 |access-date=February 3, 2022 |website=[[Oxnard Press-Courier|The Press-Courier]]}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name="Rosewood 2015 66" /><ref name=":5">{{cite news |date=December 15, 1981 |title=Twenty-one Killings Admitted, Newsman Says |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19811215&id=1ZtVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5302,3793455&hl=en |access-date=January 28, 2022 |work=[[Reading Eagle]]}}</ref>

== Media ==
<!---PLEASE DO NOT ADD SONG REFERENCES, REFERENCES TO INCIDENTAL DEPICTIONS UPON ALBUM COVERS OR OTHER DEPICTIONS UPON TV SHOWS LIKE SOUTH PARK OR OTHER IRRELEVANT TRIVIA HERE. IT DOES NOT BELONG HERE AND WILL REMOVED WITH NO FURTHER DISCUSSION. TRIVIA IS INAPPROPRIATE PER THE PROJECT GOVERNING THIS ARTICLE.--->

=== Film ===
* The film ''[[Freeway Killer (film)|Freeway Killer]]'' was released by [[Image Entertainment]] in 2010. This film is directly based upon the murders committed by Bonin and his accomplices. The film cast Scott Anthony Leet as William Bonin and Dusty Sorg as Vernon Butts.

=== Bibliography ===
* {{Cite book|ref=none |first=William |last=Bonin |title=Doing Time: Stories from the Mind of a Death Row Prisoner |location=Red Bluff, Calif. |publisher=Eagle Publishing |date=1991 |isbn=978-1-879027-04-6 |oclc=84045749}}
* {{Cite book|ref=none |first=Dennis |last=McDougal |title=Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree of the Century |location=New York |publisher=Warner Books |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-708-85342-9}}
* {{Cite book|ref=none |last = Rosewood| first = Jack| title = William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer| year = 2015| publisher = CreateSpace| isbn=978-1-5196-3119-0}}
* {{Cite book|ref=none |last1 = Pelto| first1 = Vonda| last2 = Butler | first2 = Michael |title = Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice| year = 2022| publisher = Barnes & Noble Press |isbn= 979-8-8231-2054-8}}

=== Television ===

* A [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] documentary series, ''[[Infamous Murders]]'', analyzed the case in an episode in 2001.<ref>{{Citation |title=Horror on the Highways |date=2001-01-23 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0602032/ |series=History's Mysteries: Infamous Murders |access-date=2022-06-05}}</ref>
* The [[Investigation Discovery]] documentary, ''The Freeway Killer'', was first broadcast in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://crimeandinvestigation.com.au/crime-articles/139/have-you-heard-of-the-freeway-killer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314031822/http://crimeandinvestigation.com.au/crime-articles/139/have-you-heard-of-the-freeway-killer|archive-date=March 14, 2016|title=Crime Articles: Have You Heard of the Freeway Killer?|work=crimeandinvestigation.com|date=February 9, 2015|access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref>
* The documentary series ''World's [[Most Evil Killers]]'' featured an episode focusing upon the Freeway Killer murders in 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13944682/ | title=William Bonin: The Freeway Killer | publisher=[[IMDb]] | date=January 26, 2021 | access-date=January 26, 2022}}</ref>
* The six-part [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] TV series ''City of Angels, City of Death'' examined his case from the perspective of lead detective Robert Souza in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=City of Angels {{!}} City of Death |url=https://www.hulu.com/series/city-of-angels-city-of-death-a92612fa-a6dc-4564-b611-43d56f02e7a2 |access-date=2022-06-05 |website=Hulu |language=en-US}}</ref>
* David McVicker told his story in an episode of [[A&E Networks]] series ''I Survived A Serial Killer'' in 2022.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Freeway Killer |date=2022-02-25 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19408474/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_1 |series=I Survived A Serial Killer |access-date=2022-06-05}}</ref>
<!---PLEASE DO NOT ADD SONG REFERENCES, REFERENCES TO INCIDENTAL DEPICTIONS UPON ALBUM COVERS OR OTHER DEPICTIONS UPON TV SHOWS LIKE THE SIMPSONS OR OTHER IRRELEVANT TRIVIA HERE. IT DOES NOT BELONG HERE AND WILL REMOVED WITH NO FURTHER DISCUSSION. TRIVIA IS INAPPROPRIATE PER THE PROJECT GOVERNING THIS ARTICLE.--->

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}
* [[List of people executed in California]]
* [[List of people executed in the United States in 1996]]
* [[List of serial killers by number of victims]]
* [[List of serial killers in the United States]]
* [[Patrick Kearney]], another serial killer in 1970s California known as the "Freeway Killer"
* [[Randy Kraft]], another serial killer in 1970s California known as the "Freeway Killer" who had similar disposal methods to Bonin{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=n}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Cited works and further reading ==
* {{cite book | last1 = Cawthorne | first1 = Nigel | author-link=Nigel Cawthorne | last2 = Tibballs | first2 = Geoff | year = 1993 | title = Killers | publisher = Boxtree | isbn = 978-0-752-20850-3}}
* {{cite journal |first1 = Lester | last1 = Fox | year = 1996 | title =True Crime: Freeway Killer | issue = June 1996 | issn=1191-9949 |journal=True Crime Monthly}}
* {{cite journal |first1 = David | last1 = Jessel | year = 1992 | journal = Murder Casebook | title = Investigations into the Ultimate Crime | issue = 130 | isbn=0-7485-3874-7 |publisher=[[Marshall Cavendish]]}}
* {{cite book| last1 = Lane| first1 = Brian| last2 = Gregg| first2 = Wilfred| title = The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers| year = 1992| publisher = Headline Books| isbn = 978-0-747-23731-0}}
* {{Cite book |first=Dennis |last=McDougal |author-link=Dennis McDougal |title=Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree of the Century |title-link=Angel of Darkness (book) |location=New York |publisher=Warner Books |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-708-85342-9 |oclc=28747742 }} {{Google books|a85ljPmVNXsC|Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree of the Century}}
* {{cite book| last = Newton| first = Michael| title = The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers| year = 2006| publisher = Checkmark Books| isbn = 978-0-816-03979-1}}
* {{cite book|last=O'Kane|first=James|title=Wicked Deeds: Murder In America|year=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-32194-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Odell|first=Robin |title=The Mammoth Book of Bizarre Crimes|year=2010|publisher=Robinson Publishing|isbn=978-1-849-01436-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Louis J.|title=Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment in the United States|year=2020|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-786-40944-0}}
* {{Cite book |last = Pelto| first = Vonda| title = Without Remorse: The Story of the Woman who Kept Los Angeles' Serial Killers Alive| date = 2007| publisher = Seven Locks Press| isbn=978-0-979-58528-9}}
* {{cite book| last = Rosewood| first = Jack| title = William Bonin: The True Story of the Freeway Killer| year = 2015| publisher = CreateSpace| isbn = 978-1-5196-3119-0}}
* {{cite book| last = Strand| first = Ginger| title = Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate| year = 2012| publisher = University of Texas Press | location = Austin| isbn = 978-0-292-72637-6}}
* {{cite book| last1 = Wynn| first1 = Douglas| title = On Trial For Murder| year = 1996| publisher =Pan Books| isbn = 978-0-330-33947-6}}
* {{Cite book |last1 = Pelto| first1 = Vonda| last2 = Butler | first2 = Michael |title = Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice| year = 2022| publisher = [[Barnes & Noble|Barnes & Noble Press]] |isbn= 979-8-8231-2054-8}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/inmates-executed-1978-to-present/william-george-bonin/ ''case summary''] upon William Bonin
* Contemporary [https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-killer-bonin-execution-19960223-snap-htmlstory.html ''news article''] detailing the execution of William Bonin
* [http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dead-man-waiting-3158129.php ''Dead Man Waiting''], as published in the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', February 20, 1996
* [[Los Angeles Times|''L.A. Times'']] news article detailing Bonin's lawyers' [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-23-mn-39186-story.html ''last-minute appeals''] to obtain a stay of execution
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120928221622/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/bonin/day_1.html William Bonin] at [[CrimeLibrary.com]]
* ''People v. William Bonin'': Details of Bonin's [https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_case?case=7663404302098212800&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM-MCIrMTMAhWqI8AKHaAOCkMQgAMIGygAMAA ''1989 appeal against his convictions''], submitted January 9, 1989
* ''William George Bonin v. Arthur Calderon'': Details of Bonin's [https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/699264/william-george-bonin-v-arthur-calderon-as-warden-of-san-quentin-state/?q=cites%3A1170925 ''1995 submission to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit''], submitted June 28, 1995

{{Sequence
|prev=[[David Mason (murderer)|David Edwin Mason]]
|list=[[Capital punishment in California|Executions carried out in California]]
|next=[[Keith Daniel Williams]]}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonin, William}}
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