THE TRUE STORY OF A SERIAL KILLER

As a truck driver on the road, Robert Ben Rhoades tortured, raped, and killed at least 50 women.

On April 1, 1990, a highway patrol in Arizona spotted a tractor-trailer on the shoulder of the highway. He approached the vehicle to see if the driver needed any assistance. What he stumbled upon was a site out of a horror movie.

A young girl was tied up inside. She was chained to the truck, her mouth was gagged, and she wore a terrified look on her face. Robert Ben Rhoades, the driver, tried to explain that it was a private, consensual matter.
The patrol officer placed Rhoades under arrest. While waiting for backup, he discovered a .25 caliber automatic pistol in Rhoades’ possession.

After the Arizona state trooper found the chained up woman, Rhoades was charged with kidnapping and assault.

Rhoades, as it turned out, was one of the most dangerous sex offenders and serial killers in the United States.

He was a truck driver and investigations following his arrest found that he had likely tortured, raped, and killed at least 50 women while on the road. However, it’s possible the number could be in the hundreds.

Even more disturbing than that, Rhoades was known for taking pictures of his victims right before he murdered them.

Rhoades’ first confirmed murders happened in January of 1990. But it’s presumed his first actual murder happened long before. The 1990 murders he confessed to were of newlyweds Candace Walsh and her husband, Douglas Zyskowski. The couple had left Seattle in November of 1989 and were hitchhiking to Georgia. Rhoades picked them up in Texas.

The crime that solidified a life sentence for Rhoades was the rape and murder of Regina Walters. She was 14 years old, from Pasadena Texas. Walters was hitchhiking with her boyfriend, Ricky Jones when Rhoades picked them up in February of 1990.

Rhoades promptly killed Jones (his remains were later found in Mississipi), but he kept Walters hostage for two weeks in what’s been called a “traveling torture chamber.”