{{Short description|American serial killer and rapist (born 1945)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Robert Ben Rhoades | image = Robert_Ben_Rhoades.jpg | caption = Rhoades' mugshot | other_names = The Truck Stop Killer | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|11|22}} | birth_place = [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]], U.S. | cause = | victims = 4–50+ | country = [[United States]] | states = {{hlist|[[Texas]]|[[Illinois]]}} | beginyear = 1975 | endyear = 1990 | apprehended = April 1, 1990 | conviction = '''Illinois'''<br>[[Murder in United States law|First degree murder]]{{efn|One count of [[Murder in Illinois law|first-degree murder]] in Illinois and one count of [[Murder in Texas law|capital murder]] of multiple persons in Texas.}}<br>'''Texas'''<br>[[Capital murder]] (2 counts) | sentence = [[Life imprisonment without parole]] | imprisoned = [[Menard Correctional Center]] }}
'''Robert Ben Rhoades''' (born November 22, 1945), also known as the '''Truck Stop Killer''', is an American [[serial killer]] and [[rapist]]. He is confirmed to have tortured and killed at least two couples in [[Illinois]] and [[Texas]] in 1989 and 1990, and is additionally suspected of torturing, raping, and killing more than fifty women between 1975 and 1990, based on data about his truck routes and women who went [[missing person|missing]] during those years and who met the profile of his preferred victims. At the time he was caught, Rhoades claimed to have engaged in these activities for fifteen years.<ref name="GQ2012">{{cite news|url=https://www.gq.com/story/truck-stop-killer-gq-november-2012|title=The Truck Stop Killer|date=November 2012|website=GQ|access-date=2017-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108195431/http://www.gq.com/story/truck-stop-killer-gq-november-2012|archive-date=2016-11-08|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cooper">{{cite journal | last=Cooper | first=Greg | title=Murder-One Jurisdiction at a Time: The Case of Robert Ben Rhoades | journal=Forensic Examiner | volume=16 | issue=4 | pages=66–68 | date=2007 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/207654057 }}</ref>
== Early life == Rhoades was raised by his mother in his formative years, as his father was a soldier in the [[United States Army]] and was stationed in [[West Germany]]. Rhoades was attending elementary school when his father returned from duty overseas. After his father was [[military discharge|discharged]] from the military, he found work as a firefighter. Rhoades was active in his schools' extracurricular activities and involved himself with various sports and other programs, including [[American football|football]], wrestling, choir, and French club. Rhoades's criminal involvement during his [[high school]] years consisted of an arrest in 1961 at age 16 for tampering with a vehicle, and an arrest for public fighting in 1962 at age 17.
After graduating from [[Thomas Jefferson High School (Council Bluffs, Iowa)|Thomas Jefferson High School]] in Council Bluffs in 1964, he joined the [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]]. During the same year, his father was arrested for [[child molestation|molesting]] a 12-year-old girl, and subsequently committed suicide while awaiting trial. Rhoades was [[dishonorable discharge|dishonorably discharged]] from the military for his involvement in a robbery. After his dishonorable discharge from the Marines, he attended college but dropped out. He later attempted to join a law enforcement agency, but was rejected for his dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps. Rhoades married three times, having a son with his first wife. Subsequently, he found work in stores, supermarkets, warehouses, and restaurants. Eventually, he became a long-haul trucker. During the 1980s, Rhoades developed interests, including involving himself in the [[BDSM]] scene. It was during this time that he allegedly verbally, physically, and sexually abused his third wife, Deborah Rhoades.<ref name="GQ2012" />
== Crimes == * On October 26, 1990, deer hunters discovered skeletal remains in [[Millard County, Utah]]. At the time, the victim could not be identified, and she was known under the name "Jane Doe 1" for the next thirteen years. It was not until May 2003 that forensic scientists from the [[University of Arizona]], after comparing X-rays of the victim's jaw, were able to identify her as 24-year-old '''Patricia Candace Walsh'''. Walsh and her 26-year-old husband '''Douglas Scott Zyskowski''', both from [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], went missing shortly after leaving the city in 1989. Zyskowski's remains were discovered in January 1990 in [[Ozona, Texas]], near Interstate 10, and he was identified in 1992.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Mark Havnes |date=June 28, 2003 |title=Police solve old mystery |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42932275/patricia-walsh-millard-county-victim/ |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> After Walsh was identified, representatives from the Utah State Police Department contacted their colleagues from the Texas Ranger Division, but the investigation did not identify their killer.<ref name=":1" /> After his arrest, Rhoades confessed to their murders. He claimed that the couple were [[hitchhiking]] when Rhoades picked them up in his truck while on a long-haul journey. He immediately killed Zyskowski and dumped his body in [[Sutton County, Texas]], where it was later found.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-trucker-traveling-torture-chamber-admits-murders/story?id=16037743|title=Trucker Admits to More Murders|date=30 March 2012|website=ABC News|access-date=8 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009181433/https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-trucker-traveling-torture-chamber-admits-murders/story?id=16037743|archive-date=9 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> He kept Walsh for over a week. During this time, he tortured and raped her numerous times before killing her and dumping her body in [[Millard County, Utah]].
* Less than a month after Walsh's death, he abducted an 18-year-old victim, '''Shana Holts''', who escaped and informed police. When Rhoades was detained, the victim declined to press charges, feeling that she would not be believed despite extensive evidence. In her statement to police, she said, "I don't see any good in filing charges. It's just going to be my word against his. If there was any evidence, I would file. I would file charges and sue him."<ref name="GQ2012"/> It was later asserted that she was fearful of Rhoades after enduring two weeks in his truck. Rhoades had converted the [[Truck sleeper|sleeper cab]] of his truck into his own personal [[torture chamber]] where he kept women, sometimes for weeks, torturing and raping them.<ref name="Cooper" /><ref name="deseret">{{cite news | last=Reavy | first=Pat | title=Texas town to try case involving Utah body | newspaper=Deseret News | date=June 25, 2008 | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700237712/Texas-town-to-try-case-involving-Utah-body.html?pg=all | access-date=July 9, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709101727/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700237712/Texas-town-to-try-case-involving-Utah-body.html?pg=all | archive-date=July 9, 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
* '''Regina Kay Walters''', 14, was found nude and badly decomposed on September 29, 1990, in the loft of an abandoned barn near [[Greenville, Illinois]]. A farmer made the discovery.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brassard |first=John |title=The Truck Stop Killer: Robert Ben Rhodes |url=https://johnbrassardjr.com/2023/05/31/arizona-patrolman-checks-on-semi-finds-nude-woman-handcuffed-wearing-horse-bridle/ |website=The Kitchen Table Historian}}</ref> She had been missing since February 3, 1990 when she ran away from her home in [[Pasadena, Texas]] with her boyfriend, 18-year-old '''Ricky Lee Jones'''. An autopsy revealed she had been strangled to death sometime in early March. A photograph of Walters being tortured was found in the home of Rhoades.<ref>{{cite news |title=Link Suspected In The Killings Of 10 Women (2/2) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114749925/link-suspected-in-the-killings-of-10/ |newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |date=February 10, 1991 |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=December 17, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Illinois Asks For Help In Murder Case |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114749885/illinois-asks-for-help-in-murder-case/ |newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |date=January 29, 1991 |page=22 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=December 17, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sex-Torture Photo Linked To Killing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114750145/sex-torture-photo-linked-to-killing/ |newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |date=February 14, 1992 |page=12 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=December 17, 2022}}</ref> On May 26, 1990, the partial skeleton of Jones was found near [[Harleton, Texas]]. He had been shot in the head.<ref>{{cite news |title=Skeleton found in 1990 may be victim of killer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114750285/skeleton-found-in-1990-may-be-victim-of/ |newspaper=[[The Marshall News Messenger]] |date=August 12, 1992 |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=December 17, 2022}}</ref>
* In the early morning of April 1, 1990, Trooper Mike Miller of the [[Arizona Highway Patrol]] found a truck with its hazard lights on at the side of [[Interstate 10]] near [[Casa Grande, Arizona]]. When he investigated inside the cab, he discovered a nude woman, handcuffed and screaming.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news | title='Torture chamber' trucker sentence to life in prison | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=March 30, 2012 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9175140/Torture-chamber-trucker-sentence-to-life-in-prison.html | access-date=April 4, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224013606/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9175140/Torture-chamber-trucker-sentence-to-life-in-prison.html | archive-date=December 24, 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref> There was also a male present who identified himself as the driver of the truck. After failing to talk his way out of the situation, Rhoades turned over a gun that had been on his person. He was arrested and charged with [[aggravated assault]], [[sexual assault]], and [[unlawful imprisonment]]. He was left handcuffed in Miller's patrol car, but he nearly escaped. After further investigation, the arresting detective, Rick Barnhart, was able to make a connection to the Houston case and noticed a pattern stretching over the course of at least five months. In executing a search warrant for Rhoades's home, police found photos of a nude teenager who was later identified as Walters, whose body had been found in September 1990. Also present were photos of Walsh, whose body was discovered that October.
== Conviction == In 1994, Rhoades was convicted of the [[first degree murder]] of Regina Kay Walters<ref name="court">{{cite court |litigants =The People of the State of Illinois v. Robert Ben Rhoades|vol=259 |reporter=Ill |opinion = |date=1994}}</ref> and sentenced to life imprisonment without [[parole]] at [[Menard Correctional Center]] in [[Chester, Illinois]]. He was extradited to [[Utah]] in 2005 to be tried for the deaths of Candace Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski; however, in accordance with the victims' families' requests, the charges were dropped in 2006 so that they would not be required to testify more than once (for both states), and he was returned to prison. Rhoades was later extradited to Texas for the murder of Walters and Jones, where Rhoades, [[plea bargain|in exchange]] for avoiding a death sentence, pleaded guilty to their deaths and received a second life sentence.<ref name="telegraph" /> Rhoades continues serving his sentence of life without [[parole]] at the maximum-security Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois.
==Books and films== ===Books=== *{{cite book |last1= Busch |first1= Alva |title= Roadside Prey |year= 1995 |publisher= Pinnacle |isbn= 978-0786002214}} *{{cite book |last1=Hazelwood |last2=Michaud |first1=Robert Roy |first2=Stephen |title=The Evil That Men Do |year=1998 |publisher=St. Martins Paperbacks |isbn=0-312-97060-9 |lccn=98-45537 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312970604 }}
===Films=== *''[[Midnight in the Switchgrass]]''
===Television=== *[[The FBI Files]] “Driven to Kill” *[[Most Evil Killers]] *[[Evil Lives Here]]
== See also == *[[List of serial killers by number of victims]] *[[List of serial killers in the United States]] * [[List of homicides in Illinois]]
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhoades, Robert}}
[[Category:1945 births]] [[Category:20th-century American criminals]] [[Category:American male criminals]] [[Category:American murderers of children]] [[Category:American people convicted of murder]] [[Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]] [[Category:American rapists]] [[Category:American truck drivers]] [[Category:American torturers]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People convicted of murder by Illinois]] [[Category:People convicted of murder by Texas]] [[Category:People from Council Bluffs, Iowa]] [[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Texas]] [[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Illinois]] [[Category:Serial killers from Illinois]] [[Category:Serial killers from Texas]] [[Category:Serial killers who worked as truck drivers]] [[Category:Violence against women in Texas]] [[Category:Violence against women in Illinois]]