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Over the next few days, detectives kept a close eye on William
Bonin. For the next week his activities were unremarkable. He would
go to work as a truck driver each day and return home to his
apartment late at night, after visiting with friends around town.
The night of Wells’ murder, Bonin had hinted to Munro that the
drifter had better keep his mouth shut or else. Munro, fearful for
his own life, fled back home to Michigan.
Nine days after Wells’ murder, Bonin’s demons apparently
returned and he began looking for a new victim. Police officers
tailing his van observed him trying to pick up five different young
men, finally succeeding with a 15-year-old boy. They watched as
Bonin drove to a deserted beach parking lot and by the time they
approached the van, they were able to arrest Bonin in the process of
sodomizing the teenager. Tape and rope similar to that which bound
his victims was found in the van, as well as William’s scrapbook
for Freeway Killer stories.
Butts was picked up shortly after Bonin, and Munro was arrested
by Michigan State Police a month later. The Freeway Killer team was
behind bars. This time there would be no clerical errors.
Bonin expressed no remorse for what he had done although he did
demonstrate embarrassment and regret at being apprehended. Once
confronted with the evidence he freely confessed to police.
After his arrest Bonin told a reporter "I'd still be
killing. I couldn't stop killing. It got easier each time."
Bonin confessed to killing 21 young men and boys. He shared
aspects of each crime in horrifying detail.
Describing how he and Munro murdered Wells, Bonin sounded like he was
describing a weekend event to coworkers on Monday morning.
"Both me and Jim beat him up prior to killing him,"
Bonin can be heard saying in a soft monotone on police tapes.
"He said he wouldn't tell anyone, just to let him go.
“When we finally got around to killing him, we put a shirt
around his neck. I twisted it, and he was strangled."
Years later, Bonin’s lack of feeling during his confession
would still be remembered by those who were there.
“This guy was impassioned about what he did. He loved it,” said
Sterling E. Norris, the Los Angeles deputy district attorney who
prosecuted Bonin. “Listening to his confession was like sitting in
a room of horrors. Here we are talking about killing kids, killing
one and throwing him out like a piece of trash, and then going back
to get another. It made me sick.”
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