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The Truck Stop Killer · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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Discretion is advised. This is tinned, red, it murdered, closure rise
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and imagine It's the nineteen eighties, a time of big hair, lots of
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hairspray, neon lights, and the lure of the open road. The American
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highways stretch out before you like a ribbon of freedom, beckoning you to embark
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on an adventure. But not all journeys lead to happily ever afters Some take
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you straight into the clutches of evil. And that's where our story begins.
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With a seemingly ordinary trucker named Robert Ben Rhodes. On April first, nineteen
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ninety, an Arizona State trooper stumbled upon a scene straight out of a horror
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movie. A tractor trailer parked on the highways shoulder revealed a chained and terrified
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young woman inside. The driver of that tractor trailer was Robert Ben Rhodes.
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He tried to downplay the situation, but the trooper's instincts prevailed. Rhodes was
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swiftly arrested, and his subsequent search uncovered a disturbing possession, a twenty five
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caliber pistol. The routine traffic stop would soon expose Rhodes as one of America's
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most notorious serial killers and sex offenders. Inside his rig, Rhodes transformed the
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very essence of freedom into a rolling chamber of horrors, hooks, chains,
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restraints, and a sound proof box hidden away in the sleeper cap This monster
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had turned his truck into a mobile torture chamber, a hellish place where his
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victims would suffer unimaginable torment. Rhodes possessed this sickening ability to blend in his
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appearance, changing his name and even altering his accent. This diabolical charade allowed
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him to remain hidden, preying on innocent souls without arousing suspicion. His crimes
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went unnoticed, and a web of terror spun across the vast expanse of the
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American highways. Robert Ben Rhodes, born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in
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nineteen forty five, had a relatively normal childhood, despite his parents strained relationship.
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Raised by his mother, he received loving care and a stable upbringing.
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This sets him apart from other serial killers who often experienced troubled childhoods. During
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his high school years, Robert Rhodes participated in a range of extracurricular activities like
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football, wrestling, choir, and the French Club, making him a well
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rounded teenager. However, his life took a devastating turn after graduating from Thomas
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Jefferson High School in count Bluffs in nineteen sixty four and joining the US Marine
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Corps. On what should have been a proud day for Robert, his moment
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was shattered when he was arrested for assaulting a twelve year old girl on that
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very same day. The weight of the situation proved unbearable for his father,
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leading him to take his own life before Robert's trial. This event deeply affected
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Robert's mental well being, leaving a lasting impact on his life. After being
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involved in an alleged theft, Robert Rhodes was dishonorably discharged from the military around
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nineteen sixty seven or sixty eight. Determined to find a new way to make
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a living, he struggled through various jobs until eventually becoming a trucker. During
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the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties, Rhodes went through three marriages and had a
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child with his first wife. It was during this time that he developed an
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obsession with BDSM, influenced by a TV series that promoted the use of torture
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for a heightened sexual pleasure. He attempted to engage in BDSM with his wife,
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but she refused. He resorted to forceful measures. He subjected her to
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severe torture and sexual abuse, which led to her decision to leave him.
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Rhodes was a sexual sadist. He kidnapped women, tortured and raped them for
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weeks before killing him. What is known about him in the nineteen eighties is
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murky. That's a quote from Vanessa va Selka, who miraculously escaped his death.
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Grip explained in a blog post years later. In the summer of nineteen
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eighty five, somewhere near Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, the body of a young woman
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was pulled from a truck stop dumpster. Vanessa just hitched a ride and was
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sitting in a nearby truck waiting for the driver to pay for gas so that
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they could leave, when a man from the restaurant ran out started yelling to
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everyone to stay away. A small crowd gathered around the dumpster. In the
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rain, word filtered back that the dead girl was a teenage hitchhiker. Out
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of fear, Vanessa started to have doubts about her driver, thinking what if
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it's him, but it was all in her head. The ride turned out
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to be fine. Several days later, though, heading south on I ninety
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five through the Carolina's, Vanessa got picked up by another trucker. He must
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have seemed okay, or she wouldn't have gotten in the truck with him,
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she said. Out on the road. Though he changed, he stopped responding
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to her questions. His bearing shifts, He grew taller in his seat,
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and his facial muscles relaxed into something both arrogant and blank at the same time.
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Then he started talking about the dead girl in the dumpster and asked her
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if she'd ever heard of the Laughing Death Society. We laugh at death,
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he told her. Moments later, Rhodes pulled the truck over near some woods,
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brandishing a hunting knife. In a desperate plea, Vanessa repeated that he
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had a choice and he didn't have to do this. Miraculously, as though
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spellbound, Rhodes uttered one single word run without looking back. Vanessa fled into
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the woods and hid. When she saw the truck leave, she emerged,
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hitch hiked south, and kept the incident a secret for years. A couple
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of others after her, however, were not so lucky. After he was
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arrested in Arizona in April of that year, nineteen ninety, he confessed to
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the murders of newlywed's Patricia Walsh and Douglas Zikowski. The couple had left Seattle
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in November of nineteen eighty nine and were hitch hiking to Georgia preaching the Christian
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Gospel. The truck Stopped Killer picked them up in Texas and killed Zawalski immediately.
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However, he held Walsh prisoner for more than a week, during which
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time he tortured and raped her repeatedly before shooting her to death. After torturing
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her with fishhooks and other assorted instruments, Rhodes took one final set of photos
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of Walsh just before killing her with a baling wire garat. Afterward, he
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threw her body in a barn off of Interstate seventy in Illinois, where it
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was found in September. By then, the truck Stop Killer had been in
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custody for about five months, but the book on his reign of terror was
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hardly closed. Again. In twenty fifteen, law enforcement agencies shared a photo
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taken by Robert Rhodes inside his truck in nineteen eighty five, seeking to identify
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the young woman in the picture. Pamela Millikan from Saskatchewan recognized herself in the
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photo and came forward. Millikan revealed that she had been hitchhiking to find her
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brother in Winnipeg when she ended up in rhodes truck. Rhodes explained that he
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took the photos of his passengers as a precaution against potential robbers. Millican recalled
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a sign in the truck that read cash, grass or ass No one rides
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for free, and realizing that she had no money, she knew what was
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expected. They had a consensual sexual encounter, and Rhodes dropped her off at
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a bus depot in Winnipeg. Of course, many were not as lucky as
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Millikan or Vanessa, and while the truck stop killer will never see the light
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of day, we may never know how many lives he took. Now,
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I know what you're probably wondering, How did someone this sadistic manage to evade
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capture For so long? This same question haunted law enforcement. Rhodes left behind
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a trail of shattered lives and broken dreams, but the puzzle pieces seemed scattered,
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lost in the abyss, until one brave survivor, who had miraculously escaped
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his clutches, found the strength to speak up. Her courage unlocked the door
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to the truth, bringing rhodess reign of terror crashing down. Robert Ben Rhodes,
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the truck stop killer, was convicted for the Walters murder in nineteen ninety
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four and sentenced to life behind bars in Illinois, where he remains today.
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That is ten minute murder for today Brief and Bingeible True Crime. I'm Joe
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the host, and I really appreciate you listening to this episode today. I'm
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going to answer one quick question that was emailed to me because I want to
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save some time to mention something new. The first to the email, Joe,
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I'm curious, what is one thing you think is funny? But it's
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probably only funny to you. Julie in Baltimore. First of all, thanks
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Julie for the email, and I appreciate you listening. But I recently learned
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that some of y'all abbreviate your city be More, and I think that's adorable,
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and that sounds like I'm making a joke, but I seriously love that.
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Okay, the question, it was so specific that it really made me
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think, and it took me a little time. And the thing I think
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is funny that probably no one else does photos of pregnant women for reasons unknown
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to me. They like to hold their baby bumps almost cradle it. And
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when I see that, I kind of chuckle to myself, like, here
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they go again, why are they doing that? Now? For the record,
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if it pleases the court, I don't have a problem with it.
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I just think it's kind of funny. All right. If this is your
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first time listening to Ten Minute Murder, please subscribe now so that you can
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catch up on all the back episodes and never miss any of the new ones.
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Connect with me on social media. See the visuals of what we talk
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about here in the podcast. It's nothing gross and it's nothing graphic, but
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you will see the places and the faces of everything that's involved in the actual
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podcast. Now, this is where I wanted to talk about something new there
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apparently is this new app, this new social media platform. It's called Threads,
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and I heard about it literally today, the day that I'm recording this
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episode. I think it came out today. Actually, maybe it didn't.
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Maybe I've just been oblivious to it before, but Threads is new. In
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a little bit that I've dabbled around on it, I've found that it seems
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to be a lot like Twitter, but better. So I've got an account
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there and I would encourage you to go sign up for Threads. They don't
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sponsor this, by the way, obviously they don't sponsor this, but it
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seems like it's going to be a pretty cool thing, and I think that
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there are going to be a lot of people that flock to it from Twitter.
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Away from Twitter too, Threads, So get in while they getting's good.
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My dad used to say that I don't know exactly what it means,
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but I think it applies. Here in the show notes of this episode,
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you'll find a link to where you can follow me on Threads. I've also
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put one on Facebook and Instagram. Maybe I can't remember if I put one
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on Instagram. I just did it a few minutes ago, so I you'd
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think I remember, but I didn't. But I'm sure if you type ten
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minute murder into Threads, it'll pop up. You'll see it there anyway.
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Thank you so much for listening to the episode today, and I hope you
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have a great night, a great morning, wonderful afternoon, whatever it is
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that you're doing, or if you're beinging onto the next episode. I'll talk
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to you soon