Inside Robert Ben Rhoades' Traveling Torture Chamber
Arizona state trooper Mike Miller was cruising along I-10 one April morning in 1990 when he noticed a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder of the highway. Believing that the driver needed a hand, he climbed over the side of the rig and peered inside (via The Forensic Examiner). His eyes were greeted with a shocking scene. Between the seats in the rear of the cab was a woman bound by chains. In her mouth was a bit — similar to ones used for horses. Laying asleep next to her was the driver of the truck, Robert Ben Rhoades. When she saw Miller, she began screaming for help (via GQ).
Rhoades immediately exited the cab of his truck and attempted to give a hasty explanation of what the patrolman was seeing. But his insistence that everything on board was consensual wasn't going to go without investigation by Miller, especially when a search of Rhoades revealed a loaded handgun. Rhoades was handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car while Miller questioned the woman in the truck.
The victim, Lisa Pennal, told Miller that Rhoades had picked her up at a coffee shop in Buckeye, Arizona. While she slept, he handcuffed her hands and feet. Keeping her captive, he repeatedly sexually assaulted and tortured the woman for days. Jailed for kidnapping and assault, Rhoades had his house and truck combed over by investigators, who made some gruesome discoveries.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Rhoades was an active serial killer
Robert Ben Rhoades' love for the BDSM scene wasn't something that he kept a secret. His trucker handle on the CB radio waves was "Whips and Chains," a reference to his kink. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Rhoades had been married multiple times, and his third wife came forward to police with additional information about his bedroom hobbies. After his eventual arrest for murder, this ex-spouse told the FBI that Rhoades would often organize orgies. She attested that she was pressured to perform acts to satisfy his masochistic fantasies. She also claimed that Rhoades was bringing men into their home to act as her sex slaves.
But Rhoades held desires went well beyond the limits of consensual sexual activity. The FBI believes that Rhoades was more than just a criminal who was caught keeping a woman in bondage — they maintain that he was a ruthless serial killer who had been preying on victims since 1975. Though his first confirmed murders didn't occur until 1990, one woman may have barely escaped with her life the year before. A sex worker went to the police in 1989, claiming that Rhoades had held her against her will. She maintained that the trucker repeatedly sexually assaulted her while inflicting her with various forms of torture. When questioned by police, The Daily Nonpareil reports that Rhoades calmly told officers that the woman was "clearly crazy," and the officers believed him. Thinking that it would be her word against his, his victim recanted her statement, and Rhoades was free to go.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
The remains matched a girl in photos recovered by police
The Daily Nonpareil reports that Robert Ben Rhoades was set to be free on work release when Illinois police identified the body of 14-year-old Regina Walters. She had been missing from the Houston area since early 1990 after running off with her boyfriend. When authorities in Texas were notified, they recognized her as being the same girl in some eerie photographs they seized from Rhoades' home after his April 1990 arrest. As the details unfolded, it was discovered that Walters and Ricky Lee Jones had been picked up while hitchhiking by a truck driver outside of Houston. All That's Interesting tells us that this trucker was Rhoades. It's supposed that Rhoades quickly killed Jones and disposed of his body (via The Telegraph). Walters, however, did not have such a quick and painless death.
It was later determined that Rhoades kept Walters alive for weeks while he subjected the young woman to an immeasurable amount of cruelty. Among the photographs recovered from Rhoades' home while he was jailed was several of Walters. In one photo, the teen is standing in a barn, clad in a black dress and wearing high-heeled shoes. Her hair, long at the time of her abduction, had been clumsily cut short. Her arms are in front of her chest, with both hands positioned as if they were recoiling in fear of the person behind the camera. Her facial expression could be described as a combination of desperation and abject fear.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Rhoades had killed before
Police looked at the photos, noting that the growth of Regina Walters' hair and the changing color of her bruises meant that she had been in Robert Ben Rhoades' clutches for several weeks (per All That's Interesting). When he grew tired of her, he choked her to death with a garrote made of baling wire (via The Daily Nonpareil). Her body was left in the very barn she was last photographed in in rural Illinois. This meant that several of the photos she was the subject of were taken during her last moments alive.
Several months before Walters and Jones climbed aboard Rhoades' big rig, Patricia Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski had the misfortune of crossing paths with the killer. The couple had just recently wed and were hitchhiking to Georgia from Texas. The pair were on their way to attend a religious conference but sadly never made it. Rhoades is thought to have killed Zyskowski while the young man slept. He kept Walsh alive for an undisclosed amount of time, subjecting her to the same cruel treatment that he would later dole out to Walters. Walsh was murdered, and her body was dumped in Utah. Though her remains were discovered within months of her death, it wasn't until 2003 that she was able to be positively identified (via The Daily Nonpareil).
Walters and Walsh had been held captive by Rhoades while he traveled the interstate highways in his truck. The vehicle had been converted into a refuge for the killer, a place where his most sinister desires could be inflicted on victims without detection.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
He drove a rolling torture chamber
The interior of the truck's cab contained a hidden compartment that could only be seen if you were between the seats. It was in this compartment that Robert Ben Rhoades constructed a tiny room of horrors to hold his undetermined number of victims. Investigation Discovery referred to Rhoades' truck as a "rolling torture chamber," based on what was kept inside this enclosure. The outlet reports that Rhoades had filled the rest of the sleeper of the cab with various pieces of "BDSM equipment and pain-implementation devices." All That's Interesting tells us that chains hung from the ceiling, used to fasten his victims in place in agonizing positions. The source notes that Rhoades kept a "murder kit" in the cab, containing tools that he would use on anyone unlucky enough to be caught in his lair. This kit included numerous sex toys, chains, whips, fishhooks, pins, and other items used to inflict on his captives.
It's believed that Rhoades would abduct his prey from various truck stops and rest areas along his trucking route. He would then keep them alive, torturing and sexually assaulting them for weeks at a time before murdering them and disposing of their bodies.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Rhoades is believed to have killed as many as 50 women
This modus operandi makes it difficult for authorities to determine how many victims Robert Ben Rhoades had. As many he would have picked up were transients themselves, they would most likely not be reported missing for some time after he abducted them. Further compounding this problem is that Rhoades did not presumably kill his victims where he met them. Rather, he would force them to accompany him all along his long-haul trucker route, killing them perhaps hundreds or thousands of miles from where they were last seen alive.
Investigators from various law enforcement agencies along his route poured over his driving logs. The Daily Nonpareil reports that these logs put Rhoades in the immediate vicinity of as many as 50 unsolved murders. Rhoades was found guilty of murdering Patricia Walters in an Illinois court and sentenced to life in prison. He struck a deal with prosecutors in Texas, pleading guilty to avoid the state's death penalty for the murder of both Patricia Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski. He was given two life sentences in Texas without the possibility of parole.
Rhoades is currently being held in an Illinois prison where he will spend the rest of his days behind bars. Whether or not he'll make any confessions to police about other murders remains to be seen.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).