All language subtitles for Butchers of L.A. - S01E02 - On the Freeway

Today, the nude body
of a teenage boy

was found propped up
against a back alley door.

He had been choked to death.

This is the 33rd
killing of the same

type in the last few months.

The bodies just kept
piling up at a very

disturbing frequency.

This killer was relentless.

Young hitchhiking kids
are being picked up, raped,

strangled, and dumped naked.

There's no evidence
left behind.

They showed us a board, and
there were 45 names, at least,

on this chart.

And it was titled Southern
California Homosexual Murders.

Crime rate was
just unbelievable.

A witness said
she saw a hitchhiker

gassed and pulled into a van.

He nicknamed it.

It was the Death Van.

He would say, if you got in the
Death Van, you didn't get out.

The pressure
of solving a case--

you felt very
personally involved.

It was you against them.

Two men, Patrick
Kearney and David Hill,

wanted for questioning
in two murders,

surrendered here last Friday.

Officers also wanted
to talk to them about five

other similar killings.

Kearney is arrested,
put away in prison.

He's not going to do
any more killing.

But from the spring
of 1979 until early 1980,

the bodies just kept increasing
and piling up at a very

disturbing frequency.

This killer was relentless.

Young hitchhiking
kids from 15 to 19

are being picked up, raped,
strangled and dumped naked.

They're beat up sometimes.

They're not
necessarily tortured.

They're not kept prisoner.

And there's no evidence
left behind at all.

The bodies are stripped down.

All their identifications
are done away with.

This is also pre-DNA, so the
forensic scene is a little less

than we would think of today.

A task force had been set up.

They were patting
themselves on the back

at what they had accomplished.

But they hadn't solved
the Freeway Murders.

Markus Alexander Grabs,
a 17-year-old German tourist,

disappeared in August 1979.

He was over here hitchhiking.

And he was seeing Los Angeles.

And he was down in Newport.

He got his backpack, and he
decided he was going to see--

go up Northern California.

And a van comes along
and picks him up.

Markus Grabs is
found in Malibu Canyon,

stabbed 70 times.

And it's a horrific scene.

The Sheriff's
Department, they got it.

The homicide team,
they went out.

They looked for evidence.

His body was nude.

He had a backpack.

The backpack had
been thrown on him.

There's no evidence there.

So the homicide
detective didn't

know what to make out of it.

This is miles and miles
from Newport Beach,

in a very remote area.

Donald Ray Hyden, 15,
disappeared August 27,

'79 in Los Angeles County.

His body is found
just a short distance

away from Markus Grabs' body.

And his body is
found in a dumpster.

It'd just been thrown in, nude.

He had been sexually molested.

The sheriffs-- you know,
they're working that.

And they're looking at the two.

And they think, there's
got to be something

connecting these two
because of the closeness

where the bodies are found.

The gruesome discoveries
were covering six counties,

from Kern County to the north
of Los Angeles County,

Orange County to the south,
on into Riverside County,

San Bernardino
County, a very large

area of Southern California.

It became obvious that law
enforcement authorities,

the detectives, needed
to get together and connect

the dots geographically.

Who is the serial killer,
or serial killers,

leaving bodies
along the freeways?

I was just out
of the Army in 1966.

I decided to go
on to the Police Department.

I had a brother
on the Department.

He'd been there seven years.

I was pretty impressed
with where he had worked.

He never worked homicide, but
he used to talk about friends

of his who were in homicide.

And it was kind
of intriguing to me.

And I thought, I'd like
to be an investigator.

I was one of the youngest guys.

I actually started in homicide
with five years on the job.

I went to Hollywood
Homicide, and

that was quite an experience.

John St. John was
a personal friend of mine.

He came to RHD in the mid '70s.

Very likeable.

He was an older man.

John came on the job three
years before I was born.

John was well known.

He was the number-one
detective on the job.

He had badge number 1.

John was interested in this
West Side Rapist case

that I'd handled.

And John, being an older man--

and he was probably in his
late 50s at that time.

John was very
interested in what

we did, what we
did to solve it,

and how we put people
in jail because he had never

worked a serial killer case.

And that was the only thing
that put us on a level playing

ground because I always
said, I want to know

what St. John has forgotten.

I was pleased
to work with John.

I never had a problem.

We were partners,
never had an argument.

We worked together for about
three or four years.

But in '79, these bodies were
really starting to pile up.

Even though we didn't have
our own case at that time,

we were assigned to monitor
these cases because we

had found out that
a lot of these victims

were being abducted
out of Los Angeles

and then dumped elsewhere.

It was important
for us to stay on top

of this with the Sheriff's
Department and

Orange County Sheriffs.

And we pretty much went
to all their meetings.

At one time, they
showed us a board.

And there were probably 45
names, at least, on this chart.

And it was titled, Southern
California Homosexual Murders.

And we always felt
like, if there's

bodies dropping around
the county, eventually,

we're going
to probably get one.

And of course,
jurisdiction lies

with where they find the body.

John and I got
our first call out.

Central Detectives
called us in our office,

which was only about a mile
away from the dump site.

And they said they had a nude
young-- young boy in a dumpster

on Harlem Place off
of Second Street.

When we got here, there
was a black-and-white unit

here and Central Detectives.

And they pointed it out
to us where the body was.

So we approached the dumpster
carefully, told the patrol

officers, hey, stay back.

We don't want any more
people around the dumpster

than we absolutely had
to have, because it's

a crime scene, basically.

So then we just examined
as much as we could,

look-- looking
into the dumpster.

I'm 6' 4", and I had
to stand on my tip-toes

to look in because he
was down a little ways.

And I could see that it
was a nude young boy.

It was fresh.

In fact, it looked more like
he was asleep than decomposing.

By that time, we called
the coroner's office,

took a real hard look
inside the dumpster.

It was apparent that there was
some kind of sexual assault,

since he was nude.

And we figured he'd probably
abducted from somewhere else

and then just dumped here.

So we didn't have
a lot of confidence

that we were going to find
a lot of evidence here.

But we did have the coroner's
office come out.

And we did a good search
of the whole dumpster

and put the body in a body bag.

The first thought we had
when we saw the body,

it was so similar to all
the others that had been

occurring all through 1979.

And of course, this
was early into 1980.

And we thought, oh, boy,
we're in for a rough year.

We had about nine different
bodies at that time,

but all similar situation,
along freeways and

in back alleys like this,
behind gas stations.

This just really--
we were pretty

convinced it was connected.

We identified the body
as Charles Miranda,

15-year-old boy.

And we found out
that he had been

hitchhiking around the Starwood
area in West Hollywood.

And he wound up
here, where they

dumped the body, of course.

For a killer that
knew his way around,

you'd almost have to know
these alleyways in downtown

Los Angeles because you
don't just stumble

into one of these alleys.

And we figured there
were two of them.

To lift a body that's 165,
170 pounds, that high,

it would probably take
two guys to do it right.

So that's when we really were
pretty convinced the killer

had an accomplice.

Looking at the body,
it was disturbing to me

for a lot of reasons--

one, because he
was about the age

of my oldest son at the time.

The body was badly bruised.

It was hard to tell too
much until the autopsy.

And the autopsy
kind of revealed

that he had ligature marks,
and he'd been strangled

and sexually assaulted.

That particular
method of operation

was pretty consistent
with this new--

new wave of killings.

And so now John and I
were-- it was game on for us

because now we're
not only monitoring.

We have a case.

After Charles Miranda,
there was a real uptick

between March and May of 1980.

Beginning with Thomas
Lundgren, 13 years old,

May 1979, in Los
Angeles County.

David Louis Murillo,
17, disappeared

September 9, '79, found the
next day in Los Angeles County.

More and more young men
were found nude, molested.

Who's doing it?

No one knows.

Robert Wirostek.

He was 18 when he disappeared,
September 17, 1979, found

a week later in Orange County.

James McCabe, 12 years
old, disappeared and

found February 3, 1980,
in Los Angeles County.

Ronald Craig Gatlin, 18,
disappeared March 14, 1980.

The police try
to cover it up.

They don't want
the public to panic.

They don't want
to have the politicians

breathing down their neck.

So it's hushed up, and it's
kept under the radar.

JJ Maloney is a reporter who
ends up in Orange County.

Someone dumps an envelope
on his desk in early 1980.

And it says, gay
boys getting killed.

And it's all these
clippings of all

these young boys
who are being found

all over Southern California.

And he sees a pattern here.

And he goes to his editor.

He says, this is going on.

The police are stonewalling us.

It's our obligation
to do this story.

And his editor agrees.

And on March 24, 1980,
they break the story.

And Maloney coins
the term, Freeway Killer.

Today, the nude
body of a teenage boy

was found propped up
against a back alley door.

He had been choked to death.

This is the 33rd
killing of the same

type in the last few months.

The latest possible
victim of the Freeway Killer

was found Monday behind
this Mobile station

in Huntington Beach.

This is the sixth victim
found in Orange County.

And he superficially resembles
the boy described last week

by a witness, who said
she saw a hitchhiker

gassed and pulled into a van.

Behind the service station
here at Beech and Adams,

the nude body
of 18-year-old Steven Wells

was found last Tuesday.

The Huntington Beach
Police are asking for help

in finding Steven's killer.

The television
reporters, the newspapers,

were starting to really
focus on this.

And there's starting to be a
panic about what was happening

in Southern California.

Why were all of these young
men, teenagers and younger,

being kidnapped,
and murdered, and

then dumped all throughout
Southern California?

I was a sergeant
at the Training Academy.

And they promoted
me to lieutenant

and then transferred me
into the Investigation Bureau.

And at this time,
the assistant sheriff

had decided that
they needed, we

needed, someone
to handle the press

because we were getting larger
and more and more activity

and having more and more
contact with the media.

Actually, I started the first
PIO, Press Information Office,

in Orange County.

My job as a PIO was to answer
their questions so that they

wouldn't interfere
with the investigation

or be bothering
the investigators

while they're trying to work.

One of the, really, things
about a serial killer

is that people have a rush,
and especially the public.

Oh, you've got a serial killer.

You've got another Kearney
out on the streets.

No, we can't say that yet.

And we used to take
a lot of heat for that.

They'd say, oh, you got it.

You know, it's coming.

No, we're not ready to say
that there is a serial killer.

We're still putting
things together.

So it took us quite a while
before we admitted that there

was a serial killer out there.

The terror
increased, especially

in the gay community,
because it became obvious

that many of these victims
were either gay or bisexual or

suspected of being gay.

The gay community has been
targeted with violence ever

since the gay
community has existed,

so it's not new to have people
targeting the community and--

and trying to pick people off.

In the past, the police usually
wouldn't do very much

about it either.

Once you get into the 1970s,
and the political climate is

a little bit different,
the police are a little more

obligated to at least go
through the motions that

they are investigating this.

The perception in the gay
community at that time

would have certainly been
that the police isn't going

to lift a finger to help
us with this, unless it

makes them look bad somehow.

They don't care about us.

They've been targeting
us for a century.

We had a murder that
involved homosexuals,

but we didn't handle
them any different

than any other murder.

Human beings are human beings.

So we were-- there might have
been a prejudice in some areas

toward gay people.

But we couldn't--
we couldn't afford that.

We had to be
pretty much neutral

and put our feet
in the shoes of the victim

and find out who did it.

That was kind of our attitude.

The feeling
of law enforcement

was, we have a problem, and we
got to do something about it.

We had a lot
of information coming in.

We had people
making phone calls.

We had people writing letters.

We had people
who would show up.

I have information,
I think, maybe, on a suspect.

It was my job to take
the information that

came in relative to Los
Angeles murders that

were occurring with that MO.

They all had to be categorized
and thoroughly investigated.

And that's where I came in,
just on that particular MO

with the young boys.

Then the police get a break
because of Maloney's headlines.

A young offender sees
one of the headlines.

And he had been part of it,
to a certain degree.

And he realizes,
if the headline

is correct, then
the person in question,

he thinks he knows who it is.

Now, he doesn't know for sure,
but he's got an idea.

We had handled
a case in Van Nuys.

And John and I, we
were up all night,

36 hours at a crime scene.

And we were both
pretty-- pretty beat.

We got a call from the office.

And we had pagers then,
so my pager beeped.

I called the office.

And our lieutenant
said, we have a kid

over at Los Padrinos
juvenile facility

who thinks he knows something
about the Freeway Killer.

So John and I thought, well, we
got a lot of clues like this.

Tom and I-- Tom had given
us clues similar to this.

But we thought,
well, we better--

we better go do it now.

So we went over there.

And we get this
kid, William Pugh,

and he's in custody
for grand theft auto.

And he's a pretty
streetwise kid.

And he's kind of hustling--

he's hustling us,
trying to get a deal,

because he doesn't want
to do any hard time

in juvenile authorities.

I said, I'll have
to hear what you--

what you have to tell us first.

And then we could talk
to the juvenile authorities.

We'll see what we can do.

So he said, well, I've been
hanging out with this guy.

He's an older guy.
And he has a van.

And he keeps
a bunch of newspaper

clippings in his glove box
about the Freeway Killer.

He lives in Downey, and he
has a lot of young boys

coming to his house.

He's got kind of a mean streak.

I've seen him really get mad.

And I said, what's his name?

He said, William Bonin.

That was like the light
bulb just went off.

William Bonin
was born in 1947.

His parents had
moved to Los Angeles

at the beginning
of World War II

to work in the defense
industry.

His father got a job
with an aircraft company.

His parents left a great
deal to be desired.

Both his parents
were alcoholic.

His father physically abused
his wife and the kids.

The father lost the family
home gambling at one point,

and the kids were sent
to convent schools.

And Bonin had some trouble
there, said he was bullied.

He had a little bit
of a tough time being gay,

trying to hide that he was gay.

At one time, he did
have a girlfriend.

That was something
to please his mother.

His mother placed
him with a grandfather.

And unfortunately,
he was a pedophile

and molested the children,
especially William Bonin.

Then she thought, oh,
maybe the best thing would

be to put him in an orphanage.

And he was molested
by the older

kids there, the other boys.

He was also, at one point,
held as a juvenile delinquent.

And supposedly, the adult
counselor there molested him.

So this is a young man who had
homosexual feelings at a very

young age, and those
were-- were

punished at a very young age.

Then, about
a year or two later,

his father got a job
out here in Downey,

in Southern California.

Downey, California is
famous for three things.

It has the oldest McDonald's
that is in existence

still operating there.

And it's famous for the
Carpenters, the musical group.

There was Karen Carpenter,
Richard Carpenter.

And of course, they're not too
happy about the other thing

they're famous for,
and that is William Bonin.

When he moved in there,
he had been abused.

And he wanted to control
the neighborhood kids.

They would come
by, and he would

give them alcohol or drugs
or whatever for sexual favors.

And you can imagine
how the neighbors were

not really happy
on having William Bonin

in their neighborhood.

He's, say, 14, 15.

He's in a new environment.

He doesn't socialize well.

He doesn't want anyone to find
out his secret about the fact

that he might be
attracted to boys.

His mom goes
to the track a lot.

His dad's out
drinking and gambling.

So he's kind of on his own.

And he ends up getting
in trouble with the law.

He stole a car.

He gets arrested.

In high school, he starts
just skipping school.

And he basically becomes a high
school dropout by the time

he's a junior in high school.

So this is, say, '67.

The Vietnam War is
heating up, so his mother

talks him into joining
the Army when he turns 18.

She thought it might
be good for him.

It might give him
some structure.

He agreed, and he convinced
a friend to join with him.

And this is also part
of Bonin's persona.

He hated doing things alone.

He ends up in Vietnam right
before the Tet Offensive,

which is the most massive
battle in the Vietnam War.

He was stationed there
during his Air Force term

as a gunner in an aircraft
and actually was awarded,

at one point, for his bravery.

He ran out of his
helicopter, pulled

a wounded soldier
out under fire,

dragged him back,
and saved his life.

He also raped
somebody at gunpoint,

a fellow soldier
in Vietnam, which he doesn't

get in trouble for that.

He must have seen a lot
of heavy-duty action

up and down because he
was there when

it was really intense battles.

He also sees something
which later plays in.

He sees South Vietnamese
troops shackling

prisoners and then extracting
information from them.

At the end of his
military service,

there were a lot of disturbing
signs about William Bonin.

In 1969, Bonin was
convicted of sexual assault

against children.

He's only back
two or three months,

and he's already raped four
boys who were hitchhiking.

He's sent to the Atascadero,
to a mental institution,

to see if they could
rehabilitate him.

And they tried,
and they gave up.

And they said, just send
him to the state prison.

And he was sent
to state prison.

And eventually, the state
prison didn't know what to do

with him, and he's released.

So this is the type
of individual

we have, a person
who could not control

their emotions as to sexual
molesting young children,

especially young boys.

He moved back home
with his parents,

tried working
as a bartender, and then

got a job as a truck driver.

And he made
a statement to himself--

I will never allow
anybody to survive.

Most serial killers
work by themselves.

Bonin, interestingly,
had five accomplices

at one time or another.

Vernon Butts was
the big one because it was

with Vernon Butts,
on an August evening

at the drive-in theater--

they're sitting there,
watching the movie,

and they start talking
about killing somebody.

And all of a sudden,
they decide to do it.

So they left the drive-in.

And they drove down
to a freeway entrance,

where Bonin knew that
kids were hitchhiking.

And they pick up this
kid, Mark Shelton.

And they take him up
into the Cajon Pass,

which is up in the hills.

And they beat him up,
and they rape him.

And now, they're at the point
where they can step back,

but they kill him.

It's like they walked
through the dark panel

into the new country.

Bonin has now got the taste.

And it's the taste that
then keeps him going.

It's the power.

Bonin knew so much
as to snatch some victims.

When you snatched
them, obviously,

they're not going along.

They're not cooperating.

So he had a van
with a sliding door

that didn't have to open out.

It was a Ford van.

It had been specially made
so that it had no windows.

You couldn't unlock the doors
in the back from the inside.

It had carpeting in the back.

And he had curtains up front so
you couldn't see into the back.

And he nicknamed it.

It was the Death Van.

He would say, if you got in the
Death Van, you didn't get out.

He was just always
looking for someone

he could pull up on at a stop
sign or a bus stop,

coax him into his van somehow.

He would get them
comfortable, you know,

especially if they
were hustlers.

He detested hustlers, and he
would get them into the van.

And then he had a rope
and a knife hidden away.

And so, as soon as they were
in a compromised position,

he would put the knife
to their throat,

tie them up, maybe work
them over a little bit,

then rape them
and then strangle them.

Generally, he would
take the t-shirt

and strangle the individual
with their own t-shirt.

Sometimes, he would take
them to various locations.

Sometimes, he would
take them to his friend

Vernon Butts's house.

Sometimes, he would take
them to his house in Downey,

where he would molest them.

And then he would
kill them, then would

have to take the body out,
put it back in the van,

haul it someplace, and then
dump the body along the

highway somewhere.

He would steal money
from their pockets.

There was accounts where
they would go and buy

food, fast food,
and come back and

eat it right next to the bodies
that they had just killed.

And Bonin would look over
and say, thanks for this.

We're in the southern
part of Downey,

and we come across
the freeway here.

And we come to where William
Bonin lived with his mother.

You can see what
the house looks like.

It looks like
a normal track house.

He would come in at nighttime,
go through the door there.

And a lot of times, he
would take the bodies.

And sometimes,
they were tied up.

And sometimes, they walked in.

One of the cases
was Darrin Kendrick.

They brought him down here.

And he walked into the house.

As soon as he got in the house,
they closed the door,

and they tied him up.

And then he was molested.

And he was mutilated.

And they made him drink
hydrochloric acid,

which, you know, his
face and his throat--

the pain that he must
have gone through.

Bonin had used an ice pick
and pounded it into his ear.

He was not dead.

They stuck the ice pick in.

And you can imagine it
goes into your brain.

And, you know, it
causes a seizure,

but it doesn't kill you.

What type of human being--

what is going
through your mind?

And then what is
the satisfaction that you're

receiving from that?

Pugh is a young kid.

He's kind
of a juvenile ruffian.

And the reason
that Bonin met Pugh

is because Bonin used to party
at this place owned by a guy

named Scott Fraser.

Fraser was a drug dealer.

And he had a lot
of homosexual-type parties

with a lot of drugs.

He called up Bonin
and said, hey,

there's a guy going
to be over here.

I know you're
going to like him.

He knew the type
of young guys that Bonin

liked-- young, slim, blond.

He said, you should
meet Billy Pugh.

So Bonin comes over.

And they hit it off
immediately because, also,

they have something in common.

They were both incarcerated.

And their two favorite
subjects to talk about

are sex and violence.

And that night, through
Bonin's clever manipulations,

he convinces Pugh to go out
and pick up somebody and

murder him that very night.

And they kill this kid
named Harry Turner,

and he's dumped in downtown LA.

And it's dumped
right in an alley,

so he's found immediately.

And LAPD, obviously,
knows it's the same guy.

It's got all the earmarks
of the same person.

And Bonin and Pugh basically
talk one more time,

and then they never
see each other again

because Pugh gets arrested.

And he ends up
in a juvenile facility.

And he was a juvenile
when they did this murder.

William Bonin's
name had come up

at a couple of our different
meetings with other agencies.

Bonin was a MDSO, Mentally
Disordered Sex Offender.

And Bonin had been
under surveillance

by Orange County
Sheriffs at one time.

But they didn't-- there was
nothing untoward about his

activities at that
time, so Orange County

dropped him as a suspect.

We couldn't get back
to the office fast enough.

We got back, called a meeting
right away with our captain,

our lieutenant.

We decided that we got to put
surveillance on this guy

right away.

So we knew where he was.

John and I started
a background immediately,

getting as much
information as we could,

the photos, everything
we could possibly gather

to give to surveillance.

The sad thing about
that surveillance

was, just within
about 12 hours or

so, they watched Bonin
and one of his accomplices

put a big box in the van.

They couldn't
make the approach.

They'd blow the-- they
didn't know what they had.

They couldn't make
that approach.

We found out later
it was probably

the last body that Bonin
had actually killed.

But they stayed with
the surveillance.

Bonin's under surveillance.

He had taken this
path all the way

along the Hollywood Freeway.

He got off here on Santa
Monica Boulevard.

And he made a left
here on Santa Monica.

There's usually
seven or eight teams.

So they're scattered,
trying to cover

any direction he might go.

It's quite an art.

When you work-- when
you go with these guys,

you'll see how good
they are at it.

Bonin, in his van, now
he's cruising through here.

This area in here, there would
be young boys on the corners.

And Bonin would pull
over and talk to them.

And as surveillance
was watching him,

he'd have a conversation.

Maybe they didn't want
to get in the car with him

for whatever reason.

So he would just move
on and kept pulling over

and talking to different ones.

And then finally,
up here around--

not this light,
but the next light--

he stopped to talk to a kid.

The kid got in the van,
and they watched that.

And then Bonin came
back out and went back

on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Now, they have
to really stay on him.

You can't risk losing him.

So now, they're watching him.

And he wasn't
slowing down, like he

was looking for a place.

He seemed to know exactly
where he was going.

Surveillance followed Bonin
on Santa Monica Boulevard,

over the Hollywood
Freeway, and wound

up here in this parking lot.

We are just east
of the Hollywood Freeway.

He pulled into this
parking lot.

And Bonin backed up his van.

Of course, surveillance
couldn't tell

what was going on in the van.

So they just sat,
and they watched.

And they thought, we
better look closer.

So one of the surveillance
officers

came out, snuck around
the parking lot.

It was pretty dark out here.

There were no
lights or anything.

He snuck up on the van, crawled
underneath it to listen,

and he heard a lot of moaning.

And then he could
smell some really bad--

bad smells.

And that's when he signaled
to the other surveillance guys

that we've got
to take him down.

So they break
their way into the van,

and he's in the act
of sodomizing

this young boy he
had just picked

up on Santa Monica Boulevard.

And there's no doubt
in my mind that he

was going to kill
the kid eventually

because Bonin liked
to have sex and strangle

them at the same time.

The kid was completely nude.

There was a crowbar.

And the kid's clothes
were right there.

They were probably within
minutes of this kid dying.

They got the kid out.

The kid was terrified.

He was a runaway from
Orange County somewhere.

Got him safe.

Got him dressed.

They took Bonin
into custody, of course.

They had a unit sit on the van
until we could get a tow truck.

Tremendous amount
of evidence in the van--

not only tools that he used
to murder these young boys, but

also carpet fibers that
matched fibers they

found on several of the bodies,
which was pretty conclusive.

We didn't have
DNA at that time.

And there was a lot of blood
and body fluids on the carpet,

in the carpet.

If we would have had DNA,
then we probably could have

identified certain victims.

But that wasn't the case.

That was one of the biggest
cases I ever handled.

So it was a relief to have
him in custody, believe me.

And I probably slept
better that night

than I have in a long time.

It was pretty incredible.

The police arrest him.

Sergeant St. John is
there to greet him.

Bonin writes about it
in his jailhouse diary.

He describes the scene
with St. John,

realizing that it's all over.

And he says in his
diary, he starts crying.

I put him
in the interview room.

And I was a little
rough on him.

John was probably a little
more professional than I was.

I kind of lost it a little bit.

And I was a little emotional.

John advised him
of his rights, and he

started to talk a little bit.

And then he just clammed up.

And John kind of looked
at me and said-- so we went

outside the interview room.

And he says, you
know, I think he's--

I think he's a little nervous.

He keeps looking at you.

And he says-- like you're
staring at him, you know?

He says, let me
have a shot at him.

He says, I'm going to do a
little fatherly thing with him.

Good cop, bad cop,
everybody hears about that.

It's true.

It works.

It worked with Bob and John.

John was the elderly man.

I think John was almost 70
years old when he was working--

working that.

He was a calming influence.

Bob would just stand up there.

He's 6' 4", 6' 5".

He'd just glare at you.

And that's very
effective, especially

to somebody like a Bonin,
who is deathly afraid of him.

So John started
talking to him.

And pretty soon,
John pulled out

some pictures of the victims.

We got you dead bang, buddy.

We know you did it.

We got witnesses.

And Bonin started talking
and laying out all these cases

he'd done and what have you.

That arrest was just the
beginning of the investigation

because now, we're getting more
and more information every time

he sits down.

He was very cooperative.

He was kind of proud
of what he did.

He was talking in detail
of how he killed these kids

and what they did.

Some of them, they
took to his house,

where they'd torture
them and murder them.

They had already got
a confession from Bonin,

but it was on the grounds that
they wouldn't use it because he

took them to other bodies.

He was a very manipulative guy.

That's where I became
important to them.

The night Bonin was arrested,
everybody went to the mother's

house in Downey.

I saw this lonely
figure of a woman

sitting at the kitchen table.

It was his mother.

So the next day, I
said to the newsroom--

I said, look, I think I
can get her to talk to me.

Just give me a crew.

Let me see what happens.

So I go back the next day.

And sure enough, I got
an interview with her.

And she-- she said how, you
know, he was a wonderful boy

and, you know, he had
a little trouble in the Army.

And she didn't know he was gay.

And she just can't believe
he would do-- you know,

it's a typical mom
protecting her son.

Bonin's in court
a couple days later.

His attorney named Earl
Hanson, who came up to me

and gave me his card,
and he said, listen,

Bonin really appreciates
the way you talk to his mother.

And he'd like to talk to you.

Show this card when
you go to the jail,

and you'll be able to go in.

That would never happen today.

Never.

It just wouldn't--
it's impossible.

So I show the card.

I get in.

I go into where
the attorney's room is.

In comes Bonin.

He's behind a Plexiglas.

I was surprised
at how small he was.

He's a big-- he's a big
man, but he's not tall.

You know, I figured
this guy would

be, you know, overpowering
all these kids, you know,

and putting them in a hog
tie and everything,

big, massive muscles.
No.

I was there for about
an hour and a half.

No notes because I wasn't
allowed to take any notes.

And he told me how
he killed 26 kids--

26 kids.

What really sent chills down
my spine was when he said,

I would never stop
unless I was arrested.

He says, I was
never going to stop.

I asked Bonin, what
was the thrill?

And I remember, he
said, he loved the sound

and he loved the terror
in their face.

It was haunting,
just plain haunting.

I mean, he just really
enjoyed killing.

So that investigation
went on and on.

I mean, we had
to prepare for trial.

And he was laying out,
of course, his accomplices.

And meanwhile,
he didn't realize

at first that all
these accomplices

were testifying against him.

Butts is prosecuted.

His attorney,
at some point, said,

hey, we could make a deal.

He will testify
against William Bonin.

Now, the DA's office
needs something.

They can't-- there are
no witnesses who saw

Bonin pick these people
up, kill these people,

or dump the body.

He comes in, and he testifies
at the preliminary hearing.

And he does it all,
just down the line.

We had our case.

Everything was made.

It was perfect.

The DA couldn't
have been happier.

Then they checked
out Butts's cell.

He's hanged himself.

Now, we don't have a case.

All of those cases that
Butts said, I was with him,

I drove the van,
we can't do those.

We couldn't
prosecute on the ones

that Butts had told us that
William Bonin had done.

My conscience
started bothering me.

And all the investigators and
different police agencies said,

look, you know, we need you.

And finally, six
months into the fact,

I said, okay, that's it.

I can't-- I can't
handle this anymore.

And I broke the story that
Bonin had confessed to me.

He said that once he got them
in, the talk of sex came up.

He always had a knife
handy, and he'd put a knife

at their throat occasionally.

And he says he-- he
bragged about the idea

that he had a great ability
to tie people up very quickly.

That is really a no-no
in the reporter world,

giving up your source
or conveying

information that he gave you.

And I admired him very much
for what he did with Bonin.

I've never had another
reporter do that.

I just felt it was
the right thing to do.

I'm glad I did.

I mean, I got crucified
by some members of the media.

I got hammered by the "TV
Guide," which was

a big publication back then.

I had to do what
I had to do, and

I don't regret it to this day.

I firmly believe that when
the question comes up,

are we journalists or citizens
first, we are citizens first.

The public has a right to know.

The jury has a right to know.

Every mother and father
who have ever loved a child

have a right to know.

The jury came back
about two days later

and found him guilty
on all 10 murders.

They always go
with the best cases.

He was responsible
for more than 25.

And then he was subsequently
held on four additional charges

in Orange County.

He got two separate
life sentences and,

actually, capital punishment.

When Bonin is
arrested, immediately,

the first thing they
do is they winnow

out the cases they know that
they believe Bonin committed.

And quickly, within
a couple of weeks,

St. John tells the press--
because there are articles

saying, he killed 45 people.

Based on our investigation
and incarceration

of Bonin at these
times, we believe he was

responsible for 22 murders.

They know someone
else is out there.

All of a sudden,
there are more

bodies that are turning up.

And the bodies are
really mutilated.

And some of them are-- are
chopped up, genitals cut off,

found along various highways.

What's going on?

A Los Angeles judge
set an execution

date today
for convicted freeway

killer William George Bonin.

Bonin was sentenced
to death for the 1982

sex murders of 10 boys.

The judge ordered
the former truck

driver to die on June 23
in the San Quentin gas chamber.

William Bonin had
been on death row

more than a dozen
years and had gone

through all sorts
of appeals, as is required

for death penalty convictions,
when, in February of 1996,

he was finally executed.

He is put up as the poster
boy for capital punishment.

There are protests outside
San Quentin saying,

the death penalty is cruel
and unusual punishment.

And then there's others,
like the victims' families

who are in attendance,
who, you know,

their lives have been wrecked
by this unrepentant guy.

I was called as a witness for
the execution in San Quentin.

It wasn't a celebration
because there were the mothers

of victims, fathers,
and then, of course,

a lot of the cops who were
involved in the investigation.

And there were
probably 75 people,

I think, total in the room.

John St. John died 18 months
before the actual execution.

And John had told me when
we first convicted Bonin---

he said, I want you
to do me a favor.

I might not be here if Bonin
ever does get executed.

But I want you to do
something for me.

And I said, what's that?

He says, I want you
to get up close.

And I want you to say
something to him.

And I said, okay, I'll do that.

John told me what
he wanted me to say.

So at the execution,
I'm in the room.

Bonin is on a gurney.

He's already gotten
the first stage of the--

the lethal injection.

And I didn't think
he'd hear me,

but I had to fulfill
my promise to John.

So I got up real close
to the window, and I said,

adios, mother-[bleep].

Orange County
investigators are

dealing with a possible mass
murderer and a list of victims

that continues to get longer.

The bodies continue to pile
up in Southern California.

The madness has not ended.

I didn't actually feel I was
getting the job done because we

were having so many of them.

And just when they thought
they'd have something,

another body would show up.

And we're going back
and looking at the chart.

We're saying, wait
a minute, there

might be a third guy
here, because that MO was

even a little bit different.

He was the most sadistic
out of all of them.

The details about
how they died--

nothing can match
the sickening descriptions.

It's like a trilogy of terror
with these three guys.