Robert Ben Rhoades was a long haul trucker whose big rig was equipped with a traveling torture chamber. He would pick up prostitutes, hitchhikers and runaways, then chain them up, rape them, torture them, and in some cases, kill them. His known victims are 14-year-old Regina Kay Walters, who ran away from home in Texas and was killed in Illinois, and newlywed couple Douglas Scott Zyskowski, 25, and Patricia Candace Walsh, 24. Others, like Lisa Pennal and Shana Holts, managed to escape, but not without the mental and physical scars left by Rhoades.
At home, Rhoades had a wife, Debra, who fell in love with him after he lied to her about being a Marine. Rhoades controlled her, making her hand over all of her earnings, and forced her to go to swingers’ clubs. There, dressed up in leather and chains, Rhoades would make Debra watch as he had sex with other women. Finally, after Rhoades beat her severely for speaking with her ex-husband, Debra hit him with a baseball bat and left.

Rhoades in his swinger outfit circa 1985.

Rhoades prison photo.
