The defendant was not prosecuted for those crimes.
About one year later he was convicted in Orange County of the other four murders, for which he received a second death sentence.īonin also was suspected of murdering other males, whose bodies were found around the same period of time in Kern, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino Counties. The defendant was sentenced to death in 1982 for 10 murders throughout Los Angeles County. His co-defendants were also young men between the ages of 17 and 21. And I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously."Ĭalifornia Department of Corrections (Executions)ĭefendant William George Bonin, the "Freeway Killer," kidnapped, robbed, raped and murdered a total of 14 teenaged boys between 19. Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. That I feel it sends the wrong message to the youth of the country. "That I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. Two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three pints of coffee ice cream and three six-packs of regular Coca Cola. 1988) (Direct Appeal-Orange County).īonin v. By June 1980, he had raped and murdered 21 teenaged boys and young men. In 1974 he was released on probation, and in 1975 his probation was revoked for kidnapping and raping two teenaged boys. He had previously served time at Atascadero State Hospital for sex crimes committed against five young boys in 1969. His execution was the first by lethal injection in California. The police found a length of white nylon cord and three knives in the van. Nine days later, the police apprehended Bonin in the act of raping and sodomizing a teenager.
After an accomplice was picked up on other charges and gave a statement implicating Bonin, he was placed under surveillance by police. Their bodies were then dumped along the freeway. In most cases, Bonin would pick up hitchhiking boys, and once inside the van would have sex with them, then strangle them with their clothing. Known as "The Freeway Killer," Bonin, along with four young accomplices, kidnapped, robbed, raped and murdered a total of 14 teenaged boys between 19 in Los Angeles and Orange County. since 1976ġst murderer executed in California in 1996ģrd murderer executed in California since 1976 by Lethal Injection in Californiaģ22nd murderer executed in U.S.