1. William Bonin was convicted of 14 murders, but he confessed to 21 and is suspected of even more.
195 Facts About William Bonin
1. 2.
William Bonin became known as the "Freeway Killer" because most of his victims' bodies were discovered beside freeways.
3.
William Bonin was the first prisoner in California to die by this method.
4.
William George Bonin was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, on January 8,1947, the second of three sons to Robert Leonard Bonin Sr.
5.
William Bonin's mother suffered from severe mood swings and frequented a bingo parlor while her sons remained unattended.
6.
William Bonin was regarded as having a domineering and emasculating presence in Bonin's early life.
7.
William Bonin recalled nuns forcing him to punch a fence when he misbehaved.
8.
William Bonin was to remain at the convent until May 1955, when he returned to live with his parents in a home owned by William Bonin's maternal grandfather in Mansfield.
9.
In Mansfield, William Bonin attended Annie Vinton Elementary School with his younger brother Paul, where he was ridiculed as "Bugsie William Bonin".
10.
William Bonin became a juvenile delinquent who quarreled with students.
11.
Largely devoid of consequences and parental supervision, William Bonin stole hubcaps, license plates and metal tags off vehicles around town.
12.
William Bonin later confessed to molesting young boys and exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl.
13.
In 1959, William Bonin attended middle school adjacent to Coventry High School.
14.
In late 1960, the family faced the prospect of foreclosure, and William Bonin's mother kicked their father out of the home, winning custody of the siblings.
15.
William Bonin attended North High School in Torrance, where he was regarded as a social outcast.
16.
William Bonin was uncomfortable around his peers, and is not known to have formed any friendships throughout his adolescence.
17.
William Bonin spent his time frequenting a local bowling alley.
18.
William Bonin's pederasty became the basis of conflict with his mother, leading to frequent arguments.
19.
William Bonin rarely attempted to interact with girls, but once reluctantly dated a girl named Linda to please his mother.
20.
William Bonin prayed for him and warned him often, much to his frustration.
21.
William Bonin became engaged to Linda, a decision largely determined by Bonin's mother, who felt it would quell his attraction to pubescent boys.
22.
William Bonin was arrested for theft on October 25,1967, but the charges were dropped due to his imminent deployment to Vietnam.
23.
William Bonin later claimed that his wartime experiences instilled misanthropic beliefs.
24.
William Bonin said he engaged in allegedly consensual relations with four young girls, and had a "number of homosexual encounters" in Vietnam, and once in Hong Kong.
25.
William Bonin served nearly three years, before receiving an honorable discharge on October 25,1968, at age 21.
26.
Several family members noted differences in his behavior after his military service, although William Bonin refused to explain these changes.
27.
On November 17,1968, William Bonin picked up 14-year-old Billy Jones in Arcadia, California, while driving his mother's car.
28.
William Bonin offered to take him home, but Jones attempted to flee the vehicle in response to William Bonin's repeated questions regarding homosexuality.
29.
William Bonin began asking him about "fags" and homosexuality before accelerating the vehicle and producing a handgun.
30.
William Bonin threatened that he had friends who would aid in avenging him if Treadwell told "The Man" of what had happened.
31.
On January 1,1969, William Bonin offered a ride to 12-year-old Lawrence Brettman in Hermosa Beach.
32.
William Bonin then threatened to kill Brettman if he ever reported the incident.
33.
William Bonin repeatedly advised her to incarcerate him, before insisting he was not responsible for his actions.
34.
William Bonin said that his Vietnam service contributed to his criminal behavior, emphasizing his difficulties in seducing female partners since his return.
35.
William Bonin was evaluated to be "seriously lacking insight and responsibility" for crimes committed since his childhood.
36.
William Bonin was classified as an extreme sociopath with a high probability of recidivistic behavior under periods of psychotic breakdown.
37.
William Bonin was regarded as "extremely disturbed" and his poor social skills with others were viewed as hindering his own treatment.
38.
William Bonin had recited what he perceived psychiatrists desired to hear from him, believing he could manipulate them into granting him an early release.
39.
This, as well as alienating and irritating fellow patients, resulted in William Bonin being beaten on several occasions.
40.
William Bonin was subject to further psychiatric examination, which dealt with hostility toward his father and older brother.
41.
William Bonin sought to raise money for the family of another prisoner, and reportedly applied willingly for at least one treatment program.
42.
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".
43.
William Bonin briefly worked as a bartender in Fountain Valley, and switched to being a truck driver for a Montebello delivery firm named Dependable Drive-Away in December 1974.
44.
William Bonin was fired from the job in February 1975 for wrecking a trailer.
45.
McVicker accepted William Bonin's offer to drive him to his parents' home in Huntington Beach.
46.
Shortly after McVicker entered the car, William Bonin asked him if he had engaged in homosexuality.
47.
William Bonin asked to leave the vehicle, which prompted Bonin to accelerate it.
48.
When McVicker attempted to leave, William Bonin produced a gun and drove him to a deserted field.
49.
William Bonin strangled him with his T-shirt and a tire iron.
50.
William Bonin immediately stopped and apologized, before reverting to casual conversation.
51.
On October 11,1975, William Bonin was arrested for two assaults months later.
52.
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.
53.
In March 1978, William Bonin's father suffered a major stroke causing him to be hospitalized at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital, where his mother worked as a vocational nurse.
54.
In prison, William Bonin completed mathematics courses and training as a machinist, in order to secure employment.
55.
On November 1,1978, William Bonin moved to an apartment in the Kingswood Village complex, located approximately one mile from his parents' house.
56.
William Bonin became acquainted with his 43-year-old neighbor, Everett Scott Fraser.
57.
William Bonin became a regular attendee at Fraser's parties, where young men, drugs, and alcohol were rife.
58.
William Bonin would take trips to Anaheim with her and her kids.
59.
An incident occurred involving William Bonin reportedly locking a 16-year-old runaway in a room of the building, threatening at knife-point to bury his body in the hills.
60.
Later, William Bonin purchased a Ford van while working at his older brother's plumbing business.
61.
At the time of his initial acquaintance with William Bonin, Butts had developed a local reputation as an eccentric figure who had recently been fired from his employment as a magic store clerk due to his unkempt appearance and increasingly strange and unpredictable behavior.
62.
William Bonin was bisexual and frequently abused drugs and alcohol.
63.
William Bonin was later speculated by prosecutors to have developed a fascination with sadistic homosexual activity while incarcerated.
64.
William Bonin claimed to have been both enamored with and terrified of Bonin, whom he claimed held a "kind of hypnotic" control over him.
65.
In contrast, William Bonin held Butts in high regard for his social popularity, dominance, and intelligence.
66.
William Bonin usually selected young male hitchhikers, schoolboys or, occasionally, male prostitutes as his victims.
67.
William Bonin either enticed or forced them into his Ford Econoline van, where they were overpowered and had their limbs bound with a combination of handcuffs, wire, or cords.
68.
William Bonin stowed ligatures, knives, pliers, wire coat hangers, and other such instruments in his vehicle to restrain and torture of his victims.
69.
William Bonin later described his feeling pleasure at hearing his victims scream, and sodomizing them.
70.
William Bonin said that, while bisexual, the killer has never been comfortable with their homosexuality, and is repulsed by his actions.
71.
William Bonin later confessed that he felt a sense of social belonging with his accomplices that he had never experienced with anyone else.
72.
William Bonin made daily trips to Orange County to buy newspapers.
73.
The first murder for which William Bonin was charged was that of 13-year-old Thomas Glen Lundgren.
74.
An expert postulated that William Bonin's brutality was likely an attempt to "silence" his homosexual attraction to Lundgren.
75.
Butts was amenable to this suggestion, and William Bonin encountered 17-year-old boy Mark Shelton near Beach Boulevard.
76.
William Bonin was violated with foreign objects, including a stick, causing him to enter a state of shock which proved fatal.
77.
William Bonin was discarded beside a gravel road in Cajon Pass.
78.
William Bonin then retrieved a knife, and intimidated Grabs, as Butts drove toward William Bonin's home.
79.
William Bonin's body was discarded in Malibu Creek the following day.
80.
William Bonin 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.
81.
When Butts made an accidental wrong turn, Hyden became frantic, causing William Bonin to beat, bind, torture, and sodomize him.
82.
William Bonin then attempted to fondle Murillo before binding him and driving to Butts' residence.
83.
William Bonin's body was discovered alongside Highway 101 on the 12th.
84.
At some point, William Bonin allegedly said the man was to die because "your folks paid us to find you and kill you".
85.
William Bonin's body was discarded alongside State Route 99, south of Bakersfield.
86.
William Bonin's body was found two days later alongside the Ortega Highway, five miles east of San Juan Capistrano.
87.
On January 1,1980, William Bonin encountered 16-year-old Ontario boy Michael Francis McDonald near the Chino Airport.
88.
Under the guise of providing drugs for him to sell, William Bonin parked behind an apartment building.
89.
William Bonin allegedly caught him stealing $100 from his billfold, and furiously resolved to commit a murder.
90.
William Bonin then told Miley that Miranda was going to die.
91.
In frustration, the two started physically assaulting him and William Bonin strangled him to death.
92.
William Bonin's body was later dumped in a Los Angeles alleyway.
93.
Five minutes after discarding the body, William Bonin suggested to Miley to "do another one".
94.
William Bonin was lured into Bonin's van on the promise he would be driven to his intended destination, and that he would be given marijuana.
95.
William Bonin parked the van, and began hugging and kissing Macebe, before binding him, and telling him he was being kidnapped for ransom.
96.
William Bonin then strangled Macabe to death, and he and Miley discarded the corpse at a construction site in Walnut.
97.
William Bonin angered his boss by picking up hitchikers in his presence on one occasion, and by taking long, unnecessary routes.
98.
William Bonin beat and sodomized him, and hacked at him with an ice pick.
99.
William Bonin was bound, beaten, and strangled to death, after an estimated eight hours of captivity.
100.
William Bonin grabbed him, dragged him back inside, and admitted that he enjoyed abducting, restraining, torturing, and strangling hitchhikers.
101.
William Bonin then informed Pugh how to murder without getting caught.
102.
William Bonin's body was discarded behind a Los Angeles business.
103.
William Bonin encountered 16-year-old Bellflower youth Steven John Wood walking to school.
104.
William Bonin's hogtied body was discarded in a Long Beach alleyway, close to the Pacific Coast Highway.
105.
William Bonin lured Kendrick into the van on the pretext of selling him drugs.
106.
William Bonin raised the volume of Butts' sound system to cover Kendrick's screams.
107.
Butts then held Kendrick's mouth open while William Bonin poured chloral hydrate down his throat, causing him to sustain chemical burns.
108.
William Bonin then strangled him, and Butts drove an ice pick into his ear, fatally wounding his cervical spinal cord.
109.
William Bonin's body was discarded behind a warehouse close to the Artesia Freeway.
110.
William Bonin's body was found on the 18th, and his autopsy revealed that he had been bound, sodomized, beaten, and strangled.
111.
Unassisted, William Bonin abducted 14-year-old South Gate boy Sean King in Downey.
112.
William Bonin then visited Butts' apartment and bragged to him about the murder.
113.
William Bonin accepted an offer of employment at Dependable Drive-Away.
114.
Munro later described his initial impression of William Bonin as being "a good guy" and "really normal".
115.
Later, William Bonin paid Wells $200 to allow himself to be bound with clothesline.
116.
William Bonin retreated to the kitchen, telling Munro they were both going to kill Wells.
117.
Wells pleaded for his life, but William Bonin strangled him to death.
118.
William Bonin ordered Munro to retrieve a cardboard box, which the two placed Wells' body inside of, and carried to William Bonin's van.
119.
Later, while driving to Butts' apartment William Bonin informed Munro that he, Butts, and others had committed many of the "Freeway Killer" murders.
120.
At the apartment, William Bonin invited Butts to view Wells' body in the van.
121.
William Bonin then asked where he should dispose of the corpse.
122.
Munro later testified that Butts dissuaded William Bonin from discarding it in the nearby canyons, and recommended discarding him near a gas station.
123.
Later that night, William Bonin hinted to Munro that he should stay quiet regarding Wells' murder, or else face potential death.
124.
Later, William Bonin's girlfriend notified his boss of his arrest, adding that the arrest was in connection to the Freeway Killer case.
125.
William Bonin made sure to clarify that it was not to ease the mother's pain, 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.
126.
William Bonin expressed no remorse for his actions, but showed extreme embarrassment and regret over being caught.
127.
William Bonin stated that his primary accomplice in the murders had been Butts, while Miley and Munro were accomplices in other murders.
128.
William Bonin was physically linked to many of the murders by blood and semen stains.
129.
William Bonin was not brought to trial for the murders of Mark Shelton, Robert Wirostek, John Kilpatrick, Michael McDonald, or the November 1979 John Doe, because police did not find sufficient evidence linking him alone to the crimes.
130.
William Bonin remained Bonin's attorney until October 1981, when, at Bonin's request, he was replaced by William Charvet and Tracy Stewart.
131.
Butts claimed to have participated in the murders primarily out of fear, claiming, "It was either go, or become the next victim", adding he only found the courage to confess upon learning William Bonin was in custody.
132.
William Bonin 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.
133.
William Bonin 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.
134.
William Bonin did not agree to accept any form of plea bargain, or to testify against Bonin.
135.
William Bonin 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.
136.
William Bonin was extradited to California, and charged with Wells' murder.
137.
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 14 first-degree murder charges and numerous counts of sodomy, robbery and mayhem.
138.
William Bonin had attempted suicide at least four times prior to his arrest; 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.
139.
William Bonin was worried about the effect it would have on his friends and family.
140.
William Bonin Pugh agreed to testify, having pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, for which he later received six years in prison.
141.
William Bonin was tried before Superior Court Judge William Keene.
142.
William Bonin asserted that Bonin murdered as a group sport, with accomplices that he had groomed because of their "low mentality".
143.
Miley and Munro testified against William Bonin, describing their murders in graphic detail.
144.
William Bonin said that Bonin had pressed a tire iron against Miranda's neck, and Miley "jumped down on him", killing him.
145.
William Bonin opined that as a result of repeated abandonment as a child, Bonin had not received the nurturing, protection, and behavioral feedback necessary for sufficient psychological development.
146.
William Bonin said the abuse of Bonin had been so consistent and prevalent that he was confused as to the differences between violence and love.
147.
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 in Los Angeles County Jail in 1980.
148.
Against overruled objections from the defense, Fresno-based reporter David Lopez waived his previously sought immunity under California's shield law, and agreed to testify on behalf of the prosecution as to the details of seven interviews William Bonin had granted him.
149.
Lopez testified that William 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.
150.
When Lopez had agreed to these conditions, William Bonin confessed to him that he was the Freeway Killer, and that he had killed 21 victims.
151.
Allegedly, William 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".
152.
William Bonin denied he had received any form of payment to testify.
153.
Norris outlined the torture William Bonin's victims had endured, before concluding his closing arguments by urging the jury to "give him what he has earned".
154.
William Bonin 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.
155.
William Bonin 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.
156.
The jury further found that the special circumstances required within California state law had been met in the cases for which William Bonin was found guilty, and thus unanimously recommended he receive the death penalty.
157.
William 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.
158.
William Bonin was then ordered to await his execution via the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
159.
William Bonin remained unmoved upon learning of the sentence, having earlier informed his attorney he fully expected to receive the death penalty.
160.
William Bonin was brought to trial in Orange County on March 21,1983.
161.
William Bonin was charged with the robbery and murder of four further victims whose bodies had been found within the jurisdiction.
162.
William Bonin was tried before Superior Court Judge Kenneth Lae.
163.
William Bonin 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.
164.
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 William Bonin had murdered any of the four Orange County victims, or the two Los Angeles County victims.
165.
Charvet attacked the credibility of Munro, and contended William Bonin was simply a scapegoat for four unsolved murders.
166.
William Bonin 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.
167.
One of them was Munro, who conceded William Bonin had communicated with him prior to his testifying in this second trial, requesting that he lie when testifying.
168.
William Bonin wrote a series of short stories called Doing Time: Stories from the Mind of a Death Row Prisoner.
169.
William Bonin became close friends with convicted murderers Lawrence Bittaker, Randy Kraft, Douglas Clark, and Jimmy Lee Smith.
170.
William Bonin corresponded with numerous individuals, including the mothers of some of his victims.
171.
William Bonin once informed the mother of Sean King that her son had been his favorite victim as "he was such a screamer".
172.
William 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.
173.
William Bonin was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 1992, following the execution of Robert Alton Harris.
174.
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.
175.
William Bonin was executed by lethal injection inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on February 23,1996,14 years after his first death sentence had been imposed.
176.
William Bonin was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California.
177.
William Bonin expressed his disagreement with the State's decision to execute him, saying he thought the death penalty is wrong.
178.
William Bonin denied responsibility for his actions, saying that he had no control over his actions.
179.
William Bonin said he would not be able to live a normal life outside prison.
180.
At 6 pm on the 23rd, William 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.
181.
William Bonin's attorney said that he had not detected any remorse in Bonin.
182.
None of William Bonin's relatives chose to witness his execution, although the event was witnessed by several relatives of his victims.
183.
William Bonin's family refused to claim his remains following his execution.
184.
William Bonin's remains were cremated in a private ceremony with none of his family members present, and his ashes were later scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
185.
Three weeks after the execution, authorities discovered that his mother had openly exploited an administrative error pertaining to her son's social security disability which William Bonin had begun receiving for a mental disability in 1972 and which should have terminated upon his 1982 to maintain payments on her Downey home.
186.
One of William Bonin's lawyers was quoted stating it was "virtually impossible for [William 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.
187.
Opponents and advocates of the death penalty alike acknowledged William 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.
188.
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.
189.
William Bonin described the execution as being symbolic of closure.
190.
William Bonin has written to successive governors, requesting he be executed, rather than undergo life imprisonment for what he claims is "a crime I didn't commit".
191.
William Bonin has repeatedly been denied parole and is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison.
192.
William Bonin was later sentenced to a concurrent term of 25 years to life for the abduction and murder of Macabe.
193.
William Bonin initially been charged with the first-degree murder of Turner, in addition to companion charges of robbery and sodomy.
194.
William Bonin served less than four years of his sentence, and was released from prison in 1985.
195.
William Bonin was suspected of committing at least 21 murders, and the killings for which he was convicted are shown in italics:.