World's Most Evil Killers - Season 4, Episode 14 - Robert Ben Rhoades - Full Episode | Forensic Files

- MALE NARRATOR: On the 1st of April, 1990, Arizona State Trooper Michael Miller pulled
to the side of Interstate 10 in Casa Grande to inspect a parked truck. When he peered through the windows of the cab,
he couldn't believe what he saw, the face of a petrified woman chained up like an animal.
He immediately handcuffed the truck driver and put him into his patrol car. - I think he was probably thinking,
"How am I gonna get out of this one? What do I do now?" - NARRATOR: Michael didn't know it yet,
but he'd apprehended a cold-blooded serial killer, Robert Ben Rhoades. - He is without doubt one of the most dangerous men
ever to have stalked the American highway. - NARRATOR: For over a decade Rhoades had been raping,
torturing, and killing vulnerable women across the country, but he'd remained completely undetected.
- I think that Robert Ben Rhoades is probably the most evil person I've ever met in my life,
and I've met a lot of evil people. - NARRATOR: The police were only just discovering
the gruesome crimes of Robert Ben Rhoades, one of the world's most evil killers.
- ♪ - NARRATOR: When 66-year-old Robert Ben Rhoades pleaded guilty to the murders
of Douglas Zyskowski and Patricia Walsh in March, 2012, it took his official tally of victims to three.
But investigators suspect he's killed dozens more. It's believed that the long-distance truck driver
was active from the mid-1970's, preying on vulnerable hitchhikers and sex workers
across America. - Rhoades' victims were people who would readily get into his truck, he wouldn't have to coerce them to do so.
He's looking out for people who are vulnerable, he's looking out for people who need help
from truck drivers and motorists, so these are individuals where he already has the access and he already has the opportunity.
- NARRATOR: It was a routine check of his parked trailer by an Arizona State Trooper in April, 1990
that led to Rhoades' dark secrets being revealed. The truck driver's horrific crimes may have been
discovered accidentally but it would take the ingenuity of three detectives across two states to help
bring this serial killer to justice. Detective Michael Sheeley first heard the name
Robert Ben Rhoades while investigating a murder in Illinois. - DET. SHEELEY: He had been a truck driver for a long time,
and it gave him a great deal of opportunity to find victims at local truck stops along the interstate,
hitchhikers, which we know were victims, so he had a great deal of opportunity for such a predator as he was.
And that's exactly the words that he is, he was a predator. - NARRATOR: FBI Special Agent Bob Lee worked
with Michael to find out more about Rhoades. - He not only kidnapped women but he kept 'em
and tortured 'em for as much as two or three weeks at a time. And that made him a special kind of evil,
as I saw him. - NARRATOR: A decade after Rhoades had been imprisoned for murder in Illinois, Texas Ranger Brooks Long
uncovered two more victims of Rhoades. - I would say that he had the ability to be mister,
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was able to coerce people to trust him and gain confidence in his good-old-boy,
laid-back attitude, but once he had their trust and their guard was down then you saw the real
Robert Ben Rhoades come into play. - NARRATOR: The story of this transient killer begins
in November, 1945. Robert Rhoades was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, he was mostly raised by his mother,
as his military father, Ben, spent a lot of time overseas. - So there are periods of time when Rhoades' father
is away from the family home and I think there's a sense in which he perhaps misses him.
There's a sense in which that the family feels incomplete and there's a longing for an attachment
to his father. But when his father returns, he's quite brutal, he's quite violent towards him.
So I think he did feel this conflict about his relationship with his father all the time.
- NARRATOR: It was a relationship that soured further when Rhoades was a teenager.
- DR. YARDLEY: When Rhoades was 16, his father was convicted for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
So his father was essentially an abuser and this behavior was a reflection of a misogynistic value system
that he had, that women and girls were there to be used and abused, that they served a function for men.
And I think that was something that would have cemented itself in Rhoades' mind.
- Ben was an Army veteran and a firefighter, could hardly be a more upright member of the community.
So imagine the shame that would have fallen upon him for his arrest for sexually lascivious behavior.
- I think another important thing when we look at his father's conviction is his father's response to it.
So, he takes his own life shortly after he's convicted of this crime. And in this case, suicide is the ultimate act of control,
it's the ultimate way of saying, "I'm not gonna take "responsibility for my own actions, I'm gonna decide
to opt out of this whole thing altogether." - GEOFFREY: Was it that that made the change
to Rhoades' character? Was it that that flicked the switch? - NARRATOR: Rhoades was a college dropout who'd also
failed in becoming a police officer. He went through numerous jobs and two failed marriages,
never seeming to settle. By the late 1970s, though, he'd found the job that would define his murderous career.
- DR. YARDLEY: Eventually Rhoades finds a job that suits him down to the ground and that's the job
of a long-haul truck driver. So here he has long periods of time when he's unsupervised, he's off the grid,
he doesn't have to answer to anybody. And here he gets the chance to spend long periods of time
on his own, ruminating, fantasizing, and I think this is a very dangerous period in his life.
- NARRATOR: At the age of 41, Rhoades married his third wife, Deborah. But his sexual perversions would eventually lead
to their separation. - BOB: Their relationship, she was disillusioned when the marriage went on because Rhoades wanted
to go to a swinger club here in Houston. That was something that she didn't want to do,
but he kept pushing the envelope and pushing the envelope. - DR. YARDLEY: Rather than just accepting that and saying,
"Okay, that's fine." He pointed to her and said, "Well, clearly, there's a problem with you, you need to loosen up."
So this is showing me that-- that his relationships, if you'd call them that, with women, they weren't based
on mutuality or respect, or love or affection, they were simply a way of him getting what he wanted.
- GEOFFREY: Deborah admitted, subsequently, how badly she'd been abused by Rhoades, the man who
thought nothing of handcuffing her to the bed or raping her so badly that she feared for her life.
But it's undoubtedly true that...that form of sexual abuse was the signature that was to develop throughout
Rhoades' crimes. - NARRATOR: Rhoades had an uncontrollable sexual appetite. Working as a long-distance truck driver presented him
with the perfect opportunity to act out his aggressive sexual perversions on strangers he would meet
along the road, with or without their consent. - I think it's important to emphasize here the term consent,
'cause there are people who will consensually engage in this kind of behavior, but when it came to Rhoades he didn't care whether people
consented to it or not, he wanted to do this, and whether or not people were happy with that
was just completely disregarded. - NARRATOR: In February, 1990, a distressed young woman
flagged down passing motorists, she claimed she'd been abducted by a truck driver
and kept hostage for two weeks. - DR. YARDLEY: She was subject to torture, sexual assault,
and rape, and she actually had a leash around her neck when she was found by passing motorists.
So this was a victim of Rhoades, this was somebody who had luckily managed to escape with her life.
- NARRATOR: The police drove the young woman across Houston looking for Rhoades' truck.
- BOB: And they immediately started searching for it and they found it. But when they brought Rhoades out to the car
for her to look at him, she just looked down, would not identify him, said, "That's not him."
- NARRATOR: It was an opportunity to stop Rhoades that sadly wasn't taken. - BOB: Later that day after they let him go, she told 'em
that that was him but she was too afraid to identify him even though there were two police officers
by her side. She had been completely terrorized and traumatized during the two week ordeal.
- GEOFFREY: Rhoades is such a terrifying man that he puts literally the fear of God into this young woman.
Now, that must have even further confirmed Rhoades' absolute sense of invulnerability.
It must have even further inflated his already over-inflated ego. - NARRATOR: A chance to put Rhoades safely
behind bars had been missed. For now, he remained free to stalk the highways. By the Spring of 1990 the 44 year old had been
living as a sexual predator and a murderer for over a decade, but nobody had any idea.
His veneer of lies was about to come crashing down. On the 1st of April, 1990, a State Trooper named
Michael Miller spied a truck on Interstate 10 in Casa Grande, Arizona. - MICHAEL: I observed a truck parked on the side of the road
with its emergency lights on but he had no triangles out. So I went up alongside of the truck, well I pulled behind
the truck, had my lights activated to go up and check on the driver of the truck
and see what his situation was. - NARRATOR: Armed with a flashlight Michael took
a look through the windows of the truck. - MICHAEL: I saw some lights in the back of--in a sleeper berth,
and peered in the window of the driver's side of the truck. And I shone my flashlight in and I heard--a woman
started screaming. And what I saw was a woman, well, it looked like she had a horse bit in her mouth.
- NARRATOR: Shocked to see a woman with a metal restraint strapped to her mouth, Michael was even
more surprised when a man appeared out of the darkness of the cab. - The driver came sliding out of the sleeper berth
and then came on down to the pavement and put his hands up against the side of the truck.
And he said, "That's okay, officer, everything's fine. "We are consenting adults."
And I still heard screaming coming from inside the truck. And he said, "I've got a gun in my rear pocket."
And I patted him down and felt it, took it out and put it in my pocket, and then handcuffed him,
took him back to my patrol car. I think he was probably thinking, "How am I gonna get out of this one?
What do I do now?" - NARRATOR: With the man seemingly restrained Michael headed back to the truck.
- MICHAEL: And when I got back up there and looked inside, I saw a completely naked female.
And I took a blanket that was there and covered her up, told her that she was okay, that the police were
taking care of it, and that the driver would not bother her anymore. - NARRATOR: But had Michael waited a minute more,
the man in his car, Robert Ben Rhoades, would have been free. - When I went back to my patrol car and Mr. Rhoades
had got his handcuffs in front of him and he was in the process of trying to get a key in his pocket
to get his handcuffs off. And if he'd have done that he'd have been gone, he'd have fled the scene.
- NARRATOR: Robert Ben Rhoades was arrested and taken to Casa Grande Police Department.
- NARRATOR: Detectives wanted to know more about the man who's home address was over a thousand miles away
in Houston, Texas, under the jurisdiction of FBI Agent Bob Lee. - BOB: He had been arrested the night before
and they asked me to get some background information on Rhoades since he lived in Houston at the time.
- NARRATOR: The young girl had been through a traumatic ordeal at the hands of Rhoades.
- When the victim was interviewed by the detective, she tells him that Rhoades agreed
to give her a ride. And she said that she fell asleep and when she woke up he had her chained in the sleeper compartment
and was starting to take her clothes off. He had his truck modified, he had put some anchors
on both sides of the sleeper where he could put handcuffs attached to a chain on her feet,
and the same thing with her hands. But she also said that, you know, "I was going to see the President."
It makes you wonder what her grip on reality is, and then you take that back to the allegation she's made,
and is that a credible statement? - NARRATOR: The mental state of the distressed woman
meant there was a chance that Rhoades could walk free. - I think Rhoades believed he was going to get away with this
because he very deliberately chose victims who were vulnerable. This particular victim has some mental health issues,
she experienced delusions, but the police were very good at their jobs there and they observed that
this woman's story never changed, it was consistent, and that was what mattered.
- BOB: Some of the things that helped corroborate her statement, she said that when Rhoades approached her,
she was fighting, trying to get away from him, and she said, "I bit him on his shoulder."
- BOB: And he had a bite mark on his shoulder. The case didn't go to trial, Rhoades agreed to enter
a guilty plea on a plea bargain and got a reduced sentence on it. - NARRATOR: In December 1990, Rhoades was sentenced
to six years for the kidnap and sexual assault of the young woman. While Rhoades was in custody Bob had begun
to unearth the past of the 45-year-old truck driver. - Well, the first thing I did was check our national database
for his criminal history and I found he was a suspect in a previous kidnapping. I called the Houston Police Department and spoke to
a detective in the Sex Crimes Unit and obtained his report. - NARRATOR: The report told the story of the woman
who was raped and kidnapped but refused to identify Rhoades in February 1990. Bob was now aware of two cases where women
had slipped through the grasp of Robert Ben Rhoades. But he was certain that searching the trucker's
apartment would uncover any darker secrets. - I talked to the apartment manager, after she saw
in the paper that he had been arrested, she went up to his apartment to take a look and told me that
she saw women's garments all over the apartment. He also had chains and handcuffs and there was
a white towel that had a lot of blood on it. There were some racks where he could, uh,
chain somebody to. - NARRATOR: The apartment bore all the hallmarks of a sexual predator.
- I found a stack of photographs, I think they were in his dresser drawer, and it showed a young girl
who was in various stages of dress, he had a lot of nude pictures of her, he had pictures of her
chained up. And I could tell that he had held her for a while because on some of the photographs she had
some bruises but over time the bruises were changing color, so that told me that she had been captive
for at least a week or so. - DR. YARDLEY: So, they knew that, at the very least,
he has definitely harmed other women and at worst, killed them. But they didn't have any actual cases to connect
this evidence to. So this was the beginning of a very long investigation. - NARRATOR: The pictures of the young girl preyed on
Bob's mind. - BOB: I tried to identify the girl. I carried a picture with me and everytime I went to a different police department
I'd show it to the officers to see if any of them recognized her, did they have a missing person case
or anything like that. - NARRATOR: In September 1990, over 800 miles away, in Bond County, Illinois, reports of the discovery
of a body landed on the desk of Detective Michael Sheeley. - So I went out to this rural community and met
with the Sheriff out there and he had told me that a local farmer was gonna donate this particular barn
to the fire department to burn down. And he was making a last-minute inspection and had found what he believed to be the remains
of a human body. - NARRATOR: The badly decomposed body was found up in the hayloft and it was clear the victim
had been murdered. - DET. SHEELEY: It was very apparent that there had been a wire garrote made, a ligature if you will,
to place around the victim's neck. And it's our belief that she was bound and handcuffed
over a large beam that raised her hands up, and it's our belief that he placed the wire around
her neck then he continued to squeeze that with this broken piece of board throughout and then
strangled her to death. - And he twisted this ligature at least 16 times, according to the medical examiner, so he would not only
have enjoyed torturing her, but he would have enjoyed watching her die. - NARRATOR: A forensic anthropologist believed
that the body had been in the barn for about six months. - The other thing he did is that he gave us
gender identification, said it was the body of a young girl. He gave us an age range between 14 and 16 years old.
He gave us hair color, which we thought would assist in the identification early on.
What was alarming was we had approximately 950 missing female girls that fit her profile
and fit the time of death. So it became overwhelming initially. - NARRATOR: Michael sent out details of the victim
to missing persons departments across the country. A detective in Pasadena, Texas, soon got back to him.
- DET. SHEELEY: She contacted me and she said that her victim, a runaway identified as Regina Kay Walters,
her family had received an anonymous telephone call after her disappearance saying that she had been
left in a barn. - DR. YARDLEY: Regina's father receives a call on his unlisted number,
so this is a number that isn't publically available, Regina's one of the few people who actually know it,
and he doesn't recognize the caller, but the caller tells him that he knows where Regina is,
that she's in a barn, that he's cut her hair. And when her father asks, "Is she still alive?"
the caller hangs up. - DET. SHEELEY: So immediately a lot of red flags, this really sounds like this could be our victim.
And so I asked if she had dental records. - NARRATOR: The dental records confirm that the body
belonged to Regina Walters, who was just 14 years old. Detectives could finally put a name to the face
on the shocking photographs that had been found in Rhoades' apartment. - Well, the photographs, to identify the young person
would have been impossible for me from being out there, but the barn that she entered,
I knew every square foot of that barn. I had seen that barn for days and days and so the minute I saw the photographs
of her entering the barn and going into the barn loft, and the beams, it just gave you
that eerie feeling that--that, that's exactly what had happened here in the end.
And so, we were onto this case. - NARRATOR: Two photos of Regina in particular were difficult to look at.
- DET. SHEELEY: He had chronologically photographed her. The most telling for us was how he had taken
photographs and staged her death, and had staged them during the course right before he killed her.
- And looking in her eyes and looking at her face, you can tell that she's terrified and at that point
she's just minutes from being killed. When you see a photograph like that you have to...
control your emotions, it's a piece of evidence that you're looking at. You have to realize what your goal is, your goal is to
take this piece of evidence, tie it to someone, and be able to put that person in jail.
- NARRATOR: The story of how Regina Walters ended up in the truck of Robert Ben Rhoades is a tragic one.
- Regina had a boyfriend, Ricky Jones, and she and Ricky decided to run away one day.
They were out on the highway hitchhiking and Rhoades stopped his truck and picked them up,
and took off with her, um, and that's the last that she was seen. - She's just really a beautiful, young, almost just
totally normal 14-year-old girl with just a little rebellion streak. And unfortunately she made the wrong decision.
- NARRATOR: Rhoades kept Regina prisoner in the makeshift torture chamber of his truck for two weeks.
It's widely believed that he disposed of her 18-year-old boyfriend, Ricky, almost immediately,
he was never seen again. - She was the prize and the boyfriend was just surplus to requirements.
- NARRATOR: While the investigation into Regina's murder continued, Rhoades remained in prison
for kidnap and sexual assault. But by early 1992 he was due out on parole. - So the clock was ticking for us to make a case
against Rhoades. - NARRATOR: Detectives in Texas and Illinois had been working together to build the case
against Rhoades. If they didn't charge him soon, the dangerous killer would be released.
Finally, they had enough evidence. - The District Attorney in Bond County, Illinois,
issued an arrest warrant for Rhoades for the murder of Regina Walters just prior to him being released
from prison in Arizona. And Detective Sheeley flew out to the prison to serve him with the arrest warrant and to bring him
back to Illinois to face the charges. - NARRATOR: Detective Michael Sheeley remembers
meeting Rhoades in the Arizona prison and confronting him with the evidence linking him
to Regina. - DET. SHEELEY: He was cold, he was calculated, he didn't have any trouble looking you square in the eye
and saying he's not involved. We provided him with the arrest warrant for murder,
still no reaction, nothing at all. And so I had a 8x10 photograph of Regina and I put it on the table in front of him,
turned it around, and I said, "This is your victim." And it was the first time any emotion out of him,
but it wasn't an emotion of sorrow or an emotion of something that he had done, it was--he was angry.
And he got up and said that the interview was over, he wouldn't speak to us any longer.
- NARRATOR: At a court hearing on the 11th of September, 1992, Rhoades agreed to a plea bargain,
he admitted to murdering Regina Walters so he wouldn't have to face the death penalty.
- DET. SHEELEY: The courtroom was packed, a great deal of spectators, there had been a lot of interest in this case
because there was now speculation that he was a serial killer. - DR. YARDLEY: He didn't just plead guilty,
he plead guilty with a smile, he was reveling in the trauma that he created. And for me that shows that he was still very much
the sexual sadist that he'd always been, this is somebody who hadn't changed whatsoever.
And I think he enjoyed the opportunity to relive the details of these killings. - NARRATOR: Regina Walters' family couldn't travel
all the way from Texas to Illinois to be in the courtroom, but Michael Sheeley made sure
he conveyed their feelings to the killer. - DET. SHEELEY: As he was beginning to exit the courtroom
I just became overly aware, if you will, that there was no one there on behalf of Regina and so I mentioned
to him in a very small, faint voice as he began to pass me, that it was certainly my pleasure that I was gonna
get to send him to prison for the rest of his life. And he was really upset at that comment
and told me to "Get [bleep]." And so, maybe not as professional as I should have been, I returned and told him where he was going
I was hoping that was gonna happen to him. So that was my last real conversation with
Robert Ben Rhoades and looking back at it, I'm kind of glad that that's what I told him.
- NARRATOR: With Rhoades behind bars, investigations continued into possible victims of the killer.
There were many missing persons who fitted his MO. - BOB: Rhoades would target his victims, generally people
that either had mental deficiencies or heavy drug users that he picked up hitchhiking.
He referred to 'em as lot lizards, these are, as he described, women that hang around truck stops
to take care of the truckers or to swap sex for rides somewhere. - GEOFFREY: He is so itinerant, he literally crosses state line
after state line after state line all over the United States. They aren't to know it, but when they climb into
the cab of Rhoades' truck, their lives have changed forever. - NARRATOR: In 2003, 11 years after Rhoades
had been imprisoned for the murder of Regina Walters, Texas Ranger Brooks Long began investigating
the disappearance of two hitchhiking newlyweds, Douglas Zyskowski and Patricia Walsh,
who had been missing since January, 1990. - They were both from Seattle, Washington.
They had basically given up their personal belongings and were traveling to the East coast of the United States
primarily for religious reasons. The family searched extensively for them, but then the remains of Douglas were located
around 1990, but there was not a formal identification of it being Douglas Zyskowski
until 1992 through dental records. So, there wasn't much to go on, there was no witnesses, there were several suspects but nobody
was actually linked to the crime. - NARRATOR: 28-year-old Douglas' remains had been
discovered in Crockett County, Texas. Brooks wanted to look at the ballistic evidence
that had been found at the scene. - Mr. Zyskowski was shot multiple times in the head.
He was shot with a Jennings J-22 semi-automatic handgun, this information was obtained by not only
the projectiles removed from his head but also the casings that were left behind on the crime scene that were
collected by law enforcement. So what was unique about the ballistic information
was that the ammunition used in the murder of Mr. Zyskowski was very rare. - NARRATOR: This tarson branded ammunition
had a noticeable T on the casings, this fact had initially ruled Rhoades out as the potential killer.
- BROOKS: The reason he was eliminated at that time was simply because the ammunition that was
seized from Robert Ben Rhoades was marketed under the name of Armscor. - NARRATOR: Brooks contacted the Casa Grande police
to take a closer look at the ammunition that was found in Rhoades truck when he was arrested
for kidnap back in April, 1990. - And when he called me I asked him to open the Armscor box and to describe the head stamp
on the casing. And he said it's a T. So that was the first clue that this is the guy,
most probably is the guy, and we need to put efforts and resources into this, because that all matched.
- NARRATOR: With a possible link between Rhoades and Douglas secured, Brooks gathered
all the information he had on the killer and concentrated his efforts towards connecting Rhoades to Douglas'
24-year-old wife, Patricia Walsh. - She's probably out there somewhere and they may not even know who she is because Douglas had no
identification, he had no clothing, Regina Kay Walters didn't have any identification, she didn't have any clothing.
So when you looked at those two situations, what I started doing was looking for a red-headed female
in her mid-20's that was probably naked and would have been shot with a Jennings J-22 handgun
with tarson ammunition. - NARRATOR: Brooks received word of a possible unidentified body in Millard County, Utah.
- So after I obtained that information, I reached out to the Millard County Sheriff's Office and inquired
as to the status of that case. And what I was told by their Chief Deputy was, "We haven't solved it and the skeletal remains
are actually inside our evidence vault." So I was able to tell him, "I know who that victim is,
and I also know who killed her." - NARRATOR: Brooks was right, dental records revealed
that the remains belonged to Patricia Walsh. - Millard County had projectiles and had casings
that matched, the same gun that killed Douglas Zyskowski killed Patricia Candace Walsh.
So that was linked. Then the timeline on the records, we were able to determine that Rhoades was traveling westbound.
So what made sense was is he eliminated Douglas Zyskowski first. - DR. YARDLEY: Douglas was essentially just a barrier
because Patricia was what Rhoades wanted. So he killed Douglas, he dumped his body very quickly
but he kept Patricia alive for seven days and he tortured her and he raped her before he eventually killed her
and disposed of her body. - NARRATOR: In 2003, 13 years after her remains had been found in Utah,
Patricia Walsh had been identified, another innocent victim of Robert Ben Rhoades.
- Patricia must have been absolutely terrified during the days that she spent with Rhoades.
And I think during this time she probably tried to placate him, she probably tried to plead with him
and interact with him, but there would be absolutely no reaction to that from Rhoades because this guy
was, essentially, a killing machine, he wasn't affected by other people's trauma or emotion.
He got off on people's fear. And I think the more afraid that Patricia was the more he enjoyed it.
- NARRATOR: Investigators still needed to find some hard evidence that linked Rhoades
to the newlywed hitchhikers before they could prosecute him with their murders. - BROOKS: So, now became an analysis and comparison not only
for DNA under Douglas Zyskowski, now there was analysis to be done and comparisons relating
to Patricia Candace Walsh. And what had happened on that is eventually there was a match that was located on a white towel that was
seized from Robert Ben Rhoades' truck that was matched to the DNA of Patricia Candace Walsh.
So there was an affirmative link. The MO, the timeline, these things fit. Rhoades was in custody, he was in jail
in the state of Illinois. - NARRATOR: By March, 2012 Rhoades had served 20 years for the murder of Regina Walters.
But he was due to be released. Now investigators needed to convince a grand jury
that he was guilty of two more slayings before Rhoades was freed. Once again, the clock was ticking.
Texas Ranger Brooks Long needed a jury to indict Rhoades based on the new facts he'd uncovered.
- BROOKS: The Crockett County Grand Jury returned two indictments for capital murder on Robert Ben Rhoades
for the murder of Douglas Scott Zyskowski and Patricia Candace Walsh based on the evidence
and the information that was presented. So essentially he was extradited and detained
in the state of Texas. And as we were preparing for trial, he plead guilty to both cases and received multiple life sentences.
- NARRATOR: The killings of Douglas and Patricia took the number of Rhoades' known victims
to at least three. After working as a truck driver for over a decade, he'd honed his method of murder.
- DET. SHEELEY: I think that Robert Ben Rhoades preyed on people that-- I think we coined the term later
as disposable. He looked at people that had some checkered history, people that he believed wouldn't immediately
be missed, and so I think he systematically profiled his victim, if you will. And I think he was very good at it.
And unfortunately there's a lot of those folks out there and Rhoades knew that. He had an endless supply of people that he could
prey on and he did. - GEOFFREY: As far as Rhoades is concerned, any woman hitchhiking or working in a truck stop is fair game,
And after all, who's gonna miss them? It is a perfect combination. If you would devise a fictional serial killer
Rhoades would be a very, very good example. - NARRATOR: Brooks Long continued his search
for victims of Rhoades. There was one obvious person to start with, Ricky Jones, the 18-year-old boyfriend of Regina Walters.
- After the work had been done to identify who the killer was relating to Douglas Zyskowski
and Patricia Walsh, then there was resources put into myself and trying to locate Ricky Lee Jones.
Because as I reviewed the file and reached out to officers and witnesses in that case, it was obvious
that he had never been located, his remains had never been found. - NARRATOR: Ricky had been missing since early 1990.
Evidence found in Rhoades' truck when he was arrested in Arizona just weeks after that
suggested that he could be the killer. - During the course of the search that was done by the FBI
there was a notebook that was found, a very, very alarming notebook where Rhoades
had kept information. In that information, in that notebook, was phone numbers and family names, there was even a notation
with a drawing of a knife with appeared to be, like, blood drops and it said, "Ricky's dead, Ricky Jones is dead."
- NARRATOR: Brooks sent out information to police departments, he was desperate to locate Ricky.
- We didn't get anything back from these agencies, but as I, on my own, started searching
unsolved homicides and looking at various databases online I essentially came across a young white male's
remains that were found in Mississippi. I then reached out to law enforcement and it was unfortunate because we were able to obtain
some teeth from the remains in Mississippi and we were able to obtain samples, biological samples
from Ricky Lee Jones' biological mother, and those were compared and they were matched.
So we knew that we had located Ricky Lee Jones, the bad part about that was that the remains
could not all be located, so Robert Ben Rhoades has never stood trial for the abduction
and murder of Ricky Lee Jones simply because there was a lack of evidence. - NARRATOR: Despite not being able to link Rhoades
to the crime, it is widely believed that he did kill the 18-year-old before murdering Ricky's girlfriend,
Regina Walters. Investigators believe Rhoades is responsible for the deaths of many more innocent people.
- DR. YARDLEY: This is a case that is--is unresolved. It's a case that's incomplete.
There are going to be many, many families across America missing relatives who've been murdered by this individual
and they deserve justice. - DET. SHEELEY: I think during the course of the investigation,
initially, we believed that it was probably in the neighborhood of probably 10 to 15.
But as the investigation grew and the FBI spent a lot of time with it, the behavioral science unit
spent a great deal of time and effort, and they had actually linked him up to approximately 45 homicides
throughout the United States that not only fit his profile, but fit his timeline as well, as a truck driver.
- BROOKS: I don't think there's any doubt that there's other victims and there's other crimes that can be linked
to Robert Ben Rhoades. I think that science and the ability to link potential suspects
through DNA are somewhat limited in this case because of his MO and what he would do
with those victims. But as other agencies become aware of Robert Ben Rhoades, hopefully some of this information
will get back to the right investigator, or officer, or even family member that might be able to listen
and say, "Hey, why don't you look at this guy?" - NARRATOR: Whatever the true number of victims,
there could have been many more had it not been for a chance encounter on the side of the I-10
in Casa Grande, Arizona in April, 1990. - The most striking moment in the case is that wonderful
Arizona highway patrol officer coming upon this rig with its hazard lights flashing, climbing up,
looking through the window, and seeing a young woman trapped in the cab who starts screaming.
That was the moment in which finally Rhoades' extraordinary run of killing came to an end.
- And had that officer not gone to check on that truck, he could well be killing people right now.
- I had a phone call from her many, many, many years ago, she--she thanked me for--
for saving her life. I said, "Well, hey, I was just doing my job. "You enjoy your life and have a good one.
I'm glad you have a life to have." - NARRATOR: Robert Ben Rhoades remains safely
behind bars at the Millard Correctional Center in Illinois. He will never be released from prison.
- DET. SHEELEY: I think that Robert Ben Rhoades is probably the most evil person I've ever met in my life
and I've met a lot of evil people. - GEOFFREY: I hesitate and always have hesitated
to use the word 'monster' but Rhoades certainly deserves to be called a monster.
- BROOKS: I dealt with many murderers, but of all of those, the one that stands out, as far as the lack of emotion,
the lack of remorse, he wins the prize by far. There is no feeling to this man, there is no inkling
of remorse, there's no inkling of anything. The only regret he has is that he got caught.
- NARRATOR: Robert Ben Rhoades is a cold-blooded sexual predator who preyed upon vulnerable women
for his own self gratification. He would chain his victims in his truck and torture them
before disposing of their lifeless bodies in the most callous manner. Only Rhoades knows exactly how many people he has killed
and his reluctance to give closure to the loved ones of his victims undoubtedly makes him
one of the world's most evil killers. - ♪ ♪♪ - [swishing sound]

Robert Ben Rhoades, aka the Truck Stop Killer, raped and tortured women in the back of his truck for over a decade from the mid-70s.

An in-depth look at the lives and crimes of some of the world's most evil killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, Cary Stayner, Leonard Lake, Dorothea Puente and more.

Brief Summary

Robert Ben Rhoades, a serial killer, was captured after a routine traffic stop revealed his horrific crimes against vulnerable women.

Key points

The Discovery of a Victim. Arizona State Trooper Michael Miller discovers a woman chained in a truck, leading to Rhoades' arrest.
A Cold-Blooded Killer. Robert Ben Rhoades, a long-haul truck driver, is revealed to be a serial killer.
Missed Opportunities. A young woman who escaped Rhoades' clutches fails to identify him, allowing him to remain free.
The Dark Secrets Uncovered. Investigators uncover evidence of Rhoades' horrific crimes in his apartment, including photographs of victims.
Rhoades' Cold Confrontation. Detective Sheeley recalls confronting Rhoades with evidence linking him to Regina's murder.
Plea Bargain for Life. Rhoades pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty, revealing his chilling demeanor.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I think Robert Ben Rhoades is probably the most evil person I've ever met.

A statement about Rhoades' character.

1:20WatchAug 17, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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