A woman who hitchhiked narrowly avoided a dangerous truck driver responsible for the torture and murder of 50 women. Vanessa Veselka, aged 56, almost became a victim of the infamous serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades, known as the ‘Truck Stop Killer’. Rhoades operated his truck as a torture chamber during his reign of terror in the United States from 1975 to 1990, often targeting vulnerable hitchhikers, sex workers, and young women at truck stops.
In 1985, Vanessa hitched a ride with a trucker near Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, shortly after the discovery of a teenage hitchhiker’s body at a truck stop. Their journey to Ohio was uneventful as they sipped Diet Coke and listened to Bruce Springsteen. However, Vanessa’s nightmare began when she later accepted a ride from another trucker, who turned out to be the menacing Rhoades.
Vanessa described Rhoades as different from other truckers, noting his exceptionally clean cab. Initially appearing normal, Rhoades took a sinister turn during the ride. He mentioned the deceased girl in the dumpster and a group called the Laughing Death Society, instilling fear in Vanessa. Moments later, Rhoades brandished a hunting knife after pulling over near some woods.
Vanessa tried to reason with him, repeating that the decision was his to make, but the situation escalated until Rhoades finally uttered a single word: “run.” Without hesitation, Vanessa fled into the woods, hiding until she saw Rhoades drive away.
Years later, Vanessa, now a successful author, learned about Rhoades’ killing spree in 2012. She recognized him from pictures as the trucker who had threatened her. Rhoades’ first confirmed victim was Regina Kay Walters, a 14-year-old girl he abducted in 1990, raped, tortured, and murdered in an abandoned barn.
Rhoades’ truck was equipped with handcuffs on the ceiling to restrain his female victims for torture before killing them. Among his victims were newlyweds Patricia Candace Walsh and Douglas Scott Zyskowski, whom he attacked while they hitchhiked in 1989. Rhoades killed Zyskowski and tortured Walsh before her body was found in Utah in 1990.
Rhoades was arrested in 1990 in Arizona after a trooper found a woman chained in his truck. He was later convicted of Regina’s murder in 1994, receiving a life sentence without parole for his heinous crimes.
