135 Facts About William Bonin

William Bonin spent fourteen years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in 1996.

William Bonin was the first inmate in California to die by this method.

William Bonin became known as the "Freeway Killer", as well as the Freeway Strangler, due to the fact that the majority of his victims' bodies were discovered alongside numerous freeways in southern California.

William Bonin's parents were both alcoholics; his father was a machinist, an ill-tempered World War II war veteran and gambling addict who was frequently physically abusive toward his wife in the presence of his children, and who is known to have occasionally beaten his sons during his wife's absence.

On September 6,1953, William Bonin's mother placed William Bonin and his older brother in the Franco-American School located at 357 Pawtucket Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, in an apparent effort to protect her children from the ongoing domestic violence within the family home.

William Bonin recollected being physically assaulted and bullied by other children at this orphanage before being defended by a thirteen-year-old orphan in 1955.

Later claiming in life that no abuse had taken place by staff, William Bonin confessed to being forced to punch a fence by nuns when he misbehaved.

William Bonin was to remain at the convent until May 31,1955, when he returned to live with his parents in a home owned by William Bonin's maternal grandfather located at 465 Stafford Road in Mansfield, Connecticut.

Largely devoid of consequences and parental supervision, William Bonin began stealing hubcaps, license plates, and metal tags off of vehicles in town.

In 1957, William Bonin was arrested for stealing metal tags from vehicle license plates; he was placed in a juvenile detention center for these offenses and various other minor crimes.

William Bonin later confessed to fondling and orally copulating younger boys and stripping in the presence of a ten-year-old girl.

William Bonin attended middle school adjacent to Coventry High School in 1959 and 1960.

In late 1960, William Bonin's mother kicked his father out of their home, earning custody of her children with the court declaring his father unfit on grounds of spousal abuse and frequent drunken absences.

William Bonin attended North High School in Torrance, where he was regarded as a social outcast who scarcely interacted with his peers, although his younger brother later recollected William Bonin as an outwardly well-behaved teenager with an apparently caring personality, whom he nicknamed "Goody-Two Shoes" for his temperament.

Consequently, William Bonin is not known to have formed any long-standing or close friendships throughout his adolescence.

William Bonin was self-conscious of his facial features, and refused to smile in public due to his misaligned teeth.

In early 1966, William Bonin dropped out of high school and obtained employment with the help of his father.

William Bonin joined the United States Air Force with his mother's persuasion, who hoped it would cure his inclination toward chaos.

William Bonin was then arrested for theft on October 25,1967.

William Bonin was to later claim that his experiences in Vietnam instilled a belief within him that human life is overvalued and that humans generally overestimate their value in society, emphasizing feelings of power and independence while in the service.

William Bonin served nearly two years in the Air Force before receiving an honorable discharge on October 25,1968, at age 21.

Several family members noted a marked difference in his behavior following his military service, although William Bonin refused to elaborate as to the changes in his demeanor.

Jones was then deposited at a park bench by William Bonin, who threatened to kill him if he reported the assault.

William Bonin began asking him about "fags" and homosexuality before accelerating the vehicle and producing a handgun.

Five weeks later, on January 1,1969, William Bonin offered a ride to 12-year-old Lawrence Brettman in Hermosa Beach, California.

When Monge attempted to exit the vehicle, William Bonin punched his stomach and chest before squeezing his genitals, handcuffing him, and forcing Monge to orally copulate him.

In each instance, William Bonin had handcuffed or otherwise restrained his victim before forcibly engaging in sodomy, oral copulation, and methods of torture which included bludgeoning about the head with a tire iron, choking one victim until he had neared unconsciousness, and the squeezing of two of his victims' testicles.

In May 1969, William Bonin recounted to a probation officer his recent stressful separation and admitted his guilt in molesting male youths, although he expressed desire to start a family and become a pilot upon his release.

William Bonin expressed a belief that his Vietnam service contributed to his criminal behavior, emphasizing his difficulties in seducing female partners since his return.

William Bonin regularly attended group therapy sessions while incarcerated at Atascadero.

William Bonin sought to raise money for the family of another prisoner, and reportedly applied willingly for at least one treatment program.

William 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".

In July 1974, William Bonin rented an apartment in Hollywood with intentions of circulating within the adult 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, California, while briefly working as a bartender in Fountain Valley.

McVicker accepted William Bonin's offer to drive him to his parents' home in Huntington Beach.

McVicker replied that he had not, asking to leave the vehicle, prompting William Bonin to accelerate the vehicle.

When McVicker attempted to leave the car, William Bonin produced a gun and drove McVicker to a deserted field, ordering McVicker to undress, and then beating him.

William Bonin then forced oral copulation on McVicker before raping him as he simultaneously strangled him with his T-shirt and a tire iron in the front seat of his car.

William Bonin then phoned his mother, who promptly informed Garden Grove police of the incident.

William Bonin was arrested months later for the two assaults on October 11,1975.

William 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.

In prison, William Bonin completed mathematics courses and over 2,400 hours of vocational training as a machinist in order to secure employment, showing significant progress in individual therapy sessions.

On November 1,1978, William Bonin moved to an apartment complex at the Kingswood Village complex in Downey, located approximately one mile from his parents' house.

William Bonin became acquainted with 43-year-old neighbor and ex-bank officer Everett Scott Fraser.

William Bonin often spent time with her children and included them in these events.

On July 19,1979, William Bonin purchased a 1972 Ford E-100 Shorty Van while still living in Silverado with his younger brother, whom he briefly worked for under his new plumbing business.

In contrast, William Bonin held Butts in high regard for his social popularity and for empowering him, describing the young man as very intelligent.

William Bonin usually selected young male hitchhikers, schoolboys or, occasionally, male prostitutes as his victims.

William Bonin stowed ligatures, knives, pliers, wire coat hangers, and other such instruments in his vehicle to facilitate the restraining and torture of his victims.

The first murder for which William Bonin was charged was that of 13-year-old Thomas Glen Lundgren.

An expert later postulated that William Bonin's brutality was likely an attempt to "kill" his homosexual attraction to Lundgren, further "silencing" his desire with each subsequent stabbing.

William Bonin was violated with foreign objects including a stick, causing his body to enter a state of shock which proved fatal before being discarded beside a gravel road in the Cajon Pass of San Bernardino County.

William Bonin then retrieved a Buck Knife, proceeding to intimidate Grabs as Butts drove toward William Bonin's home where the youth was again sodomized and beaten.

On September 9,1979, William Bonin encountered 17-year-old La Mirada youth David Louis Murillo cycling to a movie theater.

William Bonin then attempted to fondle Murillo before binding him and driving to Butts' residence.

William Bonin is not known to have killed again until on or about November 1,1979, when he and Butts abducted and murdered an unidentified young man with brown hair, whom William Bonin claimed to be tall, and eighteen years of age.

William Bonin's body was found two days later alongside the Ortega Highway, five miles east of San Juan Capistrano.

William Bonin's body was found on December 13; Kilpatrick remained known as a John Doe until August 5,1980.

On January 1,1980, William Bonin encountered 16-year-old Ontario youth Michael Francis McDonald near the Chino Airport.

Under the guise of providing drugs for him to sell, William Bonin parked behind an apartment building before binding the boy by knife-point.

When William Bonin briefly departed to urinate, he allegedly caught the youth stealing $100 from his billfold.

Later that evening, William Bonin drove from Downey to Hollywood with Gregory Miley with the specific intention of committing a murder with him.

Miranda said he had about six dollars, after which William Bonin told Miley to take Miranda's wallet; then William Bonin beat, bound, and gagged Miranda.

William Bonin then informed Miranda of his being robbed earlier that day, and that though it "wasn't fair," the youth was to be killed.

In frustration, Miley assaulted the youth with various sharp objects before assisting William Bonin in beating him.

William Bonin then strangled Miranda to death with a T-shirt and a tire iron as Miley repeatedly jumped on Miranda's chest.

William Bonin then bound Macabe, telling him he was being kidnapped for ransom.

William Bonin then strangled Macabe to death with his own T-shirt before the pair discarded his corpse alongside a dumpster at a construction site in Walnut City.

William Bonin was bound, beaten and strangled to death after an estimated eight hours of captivity before his body was discarded alongside that of Barker in Cleveland National Forest, close to the Ortega Highway.

Pugh later stated he panicked and stuttered upon hearing this question and, after sitting in silence for several minutes, attempted to leave the vehicle once William Bonin had slowed the van at a stoplight.

William Bonin's genitals were mutilated and he had eight skull fractures inflicted by a blunt instrument.

William Bonin encountered 16-year-old Bellflower youth Steven John Wood walking to school.

William Bonin's nude, hogtied and extensively beaten body was discarded in a Long Beach alleyway beside a dumpster, with his head resting against a nearby bench close to the Pacific Coast Highway.

William Bonin lured Kendrick into his van on the pretext of selling the youth drugs.

William Bonin then drove to Butts' apartment in Lakewood, where the trio began listening to music as they sat on the couch.

Butts then held Kendrick's mouth open while William Bonin poured chloral hydrate down his throat, causing Kendrick to sustain caustic chemical burns to his mouth, chin, stomach and chest.

William Bonin's body was discarded behind a warehouse close to the Artesia Freeway, with the ice pick still protruding from his ear.

On May 12,1980 William Bonin abducted and murdered an acquaintance whom he later stated he had decided to kill when he had awoken that morning because he was "tired of having him around".

William Bonin then visited Butts' residence and bragged of the killing to his accomplice.

William Bonin avidly followed news media reports pertaining to his crimes, and collected newspaper clippings documenting his own manhunt, often tuning in on radio and television coverage of the murders along with his accomplices.

William Bonin accepted a subsequent offer of employment at the Montebello delivery firm where Bonin worked, and was allowed by Bonin to drive his van on occasion.

Munro later described his initial impression of William Bonin as being "a good guy; really normal".

William Bonin then retreated to the kitchen for water, informing Munro they were to both kill Wells before gagging and beating Wells in the hallway, stating, "You're going to do what I tell you to do" as Wells pled for his life.

William Bonin smiled as he stole $10 from Wells' wallet, stating his intention to leave his body "on a park bench somewhere".

William Bonin subsequently asked for advice as to where to dispose of the corpse.

Munro later testified that Butts had actively dissuaded William Bonin from discarding Wells' body in the nearby canyons due to the late hour, and general police presence caused by recent media coverage.

Excerpts of William Bonin's taped confession in 1980 concerning Markus Grabs and other victims.

William Bonin expressed no remorse for his actions, but he did demonstrate extreme embarrassment and regret over having been caught.

William Bonin stated to authorities that his primary accomplice in the murders had been Butts, with Miley and Munro being active accomplices in other murders.

William Bonin was physically linked to many of the murders by blood and semen stains, and numerous, distinctive green triskelion-shaped carpet fibers found upon seven of the victims' bodies which were forensically proven to be a precise match with the carpeting in the rear of William Bonin's van.

Medical evidence revealed that six of the murders for which William Bonin was charged were committed by a unique windlass strangulation method, which was later referred to by the prosecutor at William Bonin's Los Angeles County trial as "a signature, a trademark".

William Bonin initially pleaded innocent to two charges of first-degree murder on December 18, but pleaded guilty at two separate pretrial hearings in May 1981.

At a preliminary hearing held in Los Angeles County before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Julius Leetham on January 2,1981, William Bonin formally pleaded innocent to fourteen first-degree murder charges and numerous counts of sodomy, robbery and mayhem.

William Bonin Pugh agreed to testify, having pled guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter for which he later received six years in prison.

William Bonin was brought to trial in Los Angeles County, charged with the murder of twelve of his victims whose bodies had been found within this constituency, on October 19,1981.

William Bonin was tried before Superior Court Judge William Keene.

Norris further asserted that William Bonin considered murder a group sport, and would typically groom people of a low mentality to participate in many of his murders.

Miley testified to his participation in the murders of Miranda and Macabe, describing in graphic detail how the two victims were beaten and tortured with various instruments before their murders, and how he had heard a "bunch of bones cracking" as William Bonin had pressed a tire iron against Miranda's neck.

Foster opined that as a result of repeated abandonment as a child, William Bonin had not received the nurturing, protection, and behavioral feedback necessary for sufficient psychological development.

Dietz further testified as to William Bonin's actions being reflective of planning as opposed to impulsive behavior.

On November 24, prison inmate Lloyd Douglas testified that William Bonin had bragged to him of his culpability in the Freeway Killer murders while both were incarcerated in the Los Angeles County Jail in the summer of 1980.

The victims' ages, William Bonin had confided, had ranged between 12 and 19, with his youngest victim, Macabe, being the easiest victim to kill.

Lopez testified William Bonin had informed him he had killed one victim by repeatedly punching him in the throat, and that the primary incentive for his revealing the location of King's body to authorities had actually been his knowledge police would purchase a hamburger for him as they searched San Bernardino County for the remains.

Norris outlined the torture William Bonin's victims had endured before concluding his closing arguments by urging the jury to "give him [William Bonin] what he has earned".

William Bonin reminded the jury of the extensive abuse Bonin had endured as a child, of the testimony of Dr Foster, and of the diagnoses doctors at the Atascadero hospital had reached between 1969 and 1971.

William Bonin was cleared of the sodomy and murder of King because he had led police to the body of the victim in December 1980, with the agreement that his leading police to the body could not be used against him in court, and therefore the prosecutors had discussed King's disappearance at the trial, but not the discovery of his body.

William Bonin was then ordered to be remanded to the warden of San Quentin State Prison, to await execution in the gas chamber.

William Bonin remained unmoved upon receipt of this sentence, having earlier informed his attorney he fully expected to formally receive the death penalty.

William Bonin was brought to trial in Orange County, charged with the robbery and murder of four further victims who had been found murdered within this jurisdiction between November 1979 and May 1980, on March 21,1983.

William Bonin was tried before Superior Court Judge Kenneth Lae.

Brown hearkened toward the similarities in each of these murders and two of those for which William Bonin had earlier been convicted in Los Angeles County: Miranda and Wells.

Specifically, Charvet attacked the credibility of Munro, and further contended William Bonin was simply a scapegoat for four unsolved murders.

Charvet argued before the jury that Brown had "spent more time discussing the two Los Angeles cases" for which William Bonin had previously been convicted than actually proving William Bonin had committed any of the Orange County murders.

On this date, William Bonin received four further death sentences, with Lae describing William Bonin as sadistic and guilty of "monstrous criminal conduct".

William Bonin wrote a series of short stories called Doing Time: Stories from the Mind of a Death Row Prisoner with 50 copies initially printed and published at $13 a copy.

William Bonin held hopes of publishing a science fiction novel.

William Bonin corresponded with numerous individuals, including the mothers of some of his victims, although he never expressed any regret or remorse over having murdered their sons, purposefully withholding information his victims' families sought and seemingly deriving pleasure from their discontent.

On one occasion, William Bonin informed the mother of victim Sean King that her son had been his favorite victim as "he was such a screamer".

William Bonin became acquainted with convicted murderers Randy Kraft, Douglas Clark, and Jimmy Lee Smith.

William Bonin contended to both his defense attorneys and to several people with whom he corresponded while upon death row that Butts had been the actual ringleader behind the murders, and that he had simply been Butts' accomplice.

The method of William Bonin's execution was superseded by lethal injection by the state of California in 1992, following the execution of Robert Alton Harris.

William Bonin filed numerous appeals against his convictions and sentencing, citing issues such as jury prejudice, the potential of jury inflammation via listening to numerous victim impact statements, and inadequate defense as the bases for each appeal.

William Bonin was executed by lethal injection inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on February 23,1996.

William Bonin was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California, and his execution occurred fourteen years after his first death sentence had been imposed.

William Bonin opined that he was not the same person he was during his spree of crimes, and would not be able to live a normal life outside of prison as a result.

Each later stated that William Bonin seemed resigned to his fate; his attorney added that he had not detected any remorse in his client.

None of William Bonin's relatives chose to witness his execution, although the event was witnessed by several relatives of his victims, many of whom wept and embraced when his death was officially confirmed.

William Bonin was suspected of committing at least 21 murders, and the killings for which he was convicted are shown in italics:.

William Bonin was sentenced to twenty-one terms of life imprisonment.

William Bonin's family refused to claim his remains in the weeks following his 1996 execution.

William Bonin's remains were cremated in a private ceremony with none of his family members present.

William Bonin was haunted by nightmares on a nightly basis concerning the incident, dropped out of high school and became dependent on drugs and alcohol.

William Bonin has written to successive governors, requesting he be executed rather than spend the remainder of his life behind bars for what he claims is "a crime I didn't commit".

William Bonin was later sentenced to a concurrent term of 25 years to life by an Orange County court judge for the abduction and murder of James Macabe.

William Bonin had most recently been eligible for parole in October 2014, after previously agreeing to a three-year continuance of his most recent request for parole.

William Bonin served less than four years of his sentence, and was released from prison in late 1985.