LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — As information signifies that lots of of truck-driving serial killers may very well be at giant, a best-selling guide is highlighting essentially the most grotesque circumstances as regulation enforcement officers attempt to warn potential victims.
It is a acquainted plot for TV exhibits and films: murderous truck drivers prowling US highways for victims. Federal Bureau of Investigation information point out that there are probably lots of of homicidal truck drivers who’ve by no means been captured. Though the proportion general of long-haul truckers who change into killers is small, lots of those that did have pushed throughout Nevada.
Patrick Carnes, 86, of Reno, could have change into a sufferer in 2011. He disappeared whereas driving in tandem with a long-haul trucker alongside the so-called ‘The Big Lonely,’ Interstate 80. Judith Casida, 62, disappeared 5 years earlier. Each victims’ autos had been present in the identical subject a half-decade aside.
Detectives got here to imagine that one or two serial killer truckers had been selecting off victims alongside I-80. Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director, headed a number of the disturbing investigations.
“I’ve seen some gruesome things in 25 years as an FBI agent,” Figliuzzi mentioned. “Really gory crime scenes.”
The everyday goal of serial killer truckers is youthful girls, both intercourse employees or hitchhikers, in response to information from the FBI’s Freeway Serial Killings Initiative and data gathered by 1000’s of miles within the passenger seat with truckers as Figliuzzi researched his best-selling guide “Long Haul.” That information signifies that there may very well be 450 long-haul truckers who’re serial killers. Lots of them are sexual predators, however some similar to to kill.
“One indeed likes to control the outcome and loves the power and will prolong [the] torture, rape, and other horrors,” Figliuzzi mentioned. “The other kind of serial killer simply wants to kill. He enjoys [the] power of life and death, and he kills quickly.”
One such suspected serial killer was Chester Todd, accused of a collection of murders and rapes earlier than happening the run in 1995. He surfaced in Las Vegas dwelling beneath an assumed title in 2011.
One other is Wayne Allen Ford, who had a severed breast in his pocket when he turned himself in to police in 1998. He admitted to 4 murders, and three of his victims had been dismembered. The physique of Tina Gibbs, a 26-year-old sufferer of Ford’s, was present in Northern California not removed from his residence.
Robert Ben Rhodes, a very vile instance, constructed a torture chamber into his truck. He murdered two {couples} he picked up hitchhiking, one in Utah and one in Texas. Rhodes is suspected in dozens of different murder-torture circumstances.
“Rhodes… picked up a 14-year-old girl hitchhiking [and] hooked her up to from fish hooks inside his torture chamber in his rig,” Figliuzzi mentioned. “Over the course of several weeks across many states, he raped and tortured her, leaving her for dead in an abandoned farmhouse.”
Essentially the most susceptible pool of targets of such criminals are so-called “lot lizards,” or intercourse employees discovered at most of the nation’s truck stops. Figliuzzi met and interviewed lots of them for his guide, together with a number of who survived their assaults. He mentioned educating these girls concerning the risks is hard. Lots of them have drug addictions and poor judgment, transfer round lots, and don’t let the household know the place they’re so nobody is more likely to report them lacking, Figliuzzi mentioned.
The analysis that comprised Figliuzzi’s guide wasn’t simply to coach the general public but additionally to assist educate regulation enforcement officers, lots of whom had been unaware of the FBI’s database devoted to long-haul trucker killings.
“If I have one message to any law enforcement officer listening, it’s [to] get your unsolved cases, especially involving roadside killings, into the FBI database,” Figliuzzi mentioned.
