# Freeway Killer > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Freeway_Killer > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Freeway_Killer.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_Killer > Source revision: 1339422383 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Epithet used for serial killers}} {{for|the 2010 film|Freeway Killer (film)}} {{distinguish|Freeway Phantom}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} The '''Freeway Killer''' was an [epithet](/source/epithet) that the American media and several investigative agencies coined in March 1980 to what was believed to be a single [serial killer](/source/serial_killer) murdering young male victims in [Southern California](/source/Southern_California) and dumping their bodies alongside or upon freeways. ==Murders== The Freeway Killer murders were thought to have begun around 1972,[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-desert-sun-freeway-killer-links-po/186023130/ 'Freeway Killer' links possible]. ''[The Desert Sun](/source/The_Desert_Sun)''. [Associated Press](/source/Associated_Press). March 25, 1980. Retrieved December 1, 2025. and escalated in 1979 and early 1980. The killer(s) selected young male hitchhikers, schoolboys or, occasionally, [male prostitutes](/source/male_prostitutes) as victims. A majority of the victims were teenagers or young adults and were of slender or stocky builds. Several were also [torture](/source/torture)d before death and some were even [dismembered](/source/dismembered) or [disemboweled](/source/disemboweled). By early June 1980, authorities had linked forty murders to the series.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-maria-times-freeway-killer-strik/186099016/ 'Freeway killer' strikes again: Young man is 40th to be slain]. ''[Santa Maria Times](/source/Santa_Maria_Times)''. [United Press International](/source/United_Press_International). June 4, 1980. Retrieved December 2, 2025. An extensive investigation led to the arrest of [William Bonin](/source/William_Bonin) on June 11, 1980. Bonin, along with several accomplices, were convicted of over a dozen murders linked to the Freeway Killer spree. Even after Bonin's imprisonment, the murders continued for nearly three years until the arrest of [Randy Kraft](/source/Randy_Kraft) on May 14, 1983. At his trial for sixteen counts of murder, Kraft's defense attempted to push the blame onto a third serial killer, [Patrick Kearney](/source/Patrick_Kearney), who had been caught in 1977. Due to this, Kearney is often labeled as the third Freeway Killer even though his murders differed in ''[modus operandi](/source/modus_operandi)'' and were never thought to be linked with the original series.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/evansville-courier-and-press-california/186099587/ California 'Freeway Killer' faces execution]. ''[Evansville Courier and Press](/source/Evansville_Courier_and_Press)''. [The Los Angeles Times](/source/The_Los_Angeles_Times). February 12, 1996. Retrieved December 2, 2025. == Perpetrators == * [Patrick Kearney](/source/Patrick_Kearney) (born 1939), age 37 when captured in 1977 * [William Bonin](/source/William_Bonin) (1947–1996) and several accomplices, age 33 when captured in 1980{{Cite news |date=February 21, 1996 |title=California 'Freeway Killer' Denied Clemency |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/307933643 |access-date=2024-12-19 |newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post) |id={{ProQuest|307933643}} }}{{Additional citation needed|date=December 2024}} * [Randy Kraft](/source/Randy_Kraft) (born 1945), age 38 when captured in 1983 == See also == * [Southside Slayer](/source/Southside_Slayer) * [Southside Strangler (Chicago)](/source/Southside_Strangler_(Chicago)) == References == {{reflist}} Category:American gay men Category:American murderers of children Category:American rapists Category:Child sexual abuse in the United States Category:Murder in California Category:People convicted of murder by California Category:Serial killer epithets Category:Serial killers from California Category:Serial murders in the United States Category:Violence against men in the United States --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Freeway Killer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_Killer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_Killer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.