American serial killer and rapist
Robert Benjamin 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 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.[1][2]
Early life
Robert Ben Rhoades was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on November 22, 1945. He was raised by his mother in the early years of his life, 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 discharged from the military, he found work as a firefighter.
Rhoades' early life was relatively normal, aside from social problems in his formative years. He was an active participant in the extracurricular activities of his attended schools, and involved himself with various sports and other programs, including football, wrestling, choir and French club. Rhoades' criminal involvement during his high school years were notable for 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 in Council Bluffs in 1964, he joined the Marine Corps. During the same year, his father was arrested for molesting a 12-year-old girl, and subsequently committed suicide while awaiting trial. Rhoades was 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 he allegedly verbally, physically and sexually abused his third wife, Deborah Rhoades.[1]
Conviction
In 1994, Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Kay Walters[11] and sentenced to life 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 later was extradited to Texas for the murder of Walters and Jones, where Rhoades, in exchange for having the death penalty dropped, pleaded guilty to their deaths and received a second life sentence.[10] Rhoades continues serving his life-without- parole sentence at the maximum-security Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois.
