A traveler who escaped a notorious criminal has shared the chilling last words he uttered before she fled. Robert Ben Rhoades, known as the Truck Stop Killer, was convicted of brutalizing and murdering multiple couples in Illinois and Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Additionally, he is suspected of harming and killing over fifty women between 1975 and 1990, as indicated by his travel routes and the disappearances of women who fit his victim profile during those years.
Among those who encountered Rhoades, a hitchhiker evaded him after a close encounter with him in the summer of 1985. Vanessa Veselka, now 56, recounted witnessing the discovery of a young hitchhiker’s body from a dumpster she was near.
Days later, Vanessa was picked up by Rhoades while traveling south on I-95 through the Carolinas. She described him as taller and leaner than most truckers, dressed neatly in a button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves, and having an impeccably clean cab. Unaware of the danger she was in, Vanessa noticed Rhoades becoming evasive during their journey along the major highway.
As the situation grew tense, Rhoades brought up a deceased girl, then paused the vehicle and revealed a hunting knife. Despite being a teenager at the time, Vanessa managed to escape when the killer allowed her a head start. His final command to her was “run” as she hurried into the woods and waited for his departure.
Rhoades managed to evade capture even after skeletal remains were found in Millard County, Utah, in 1990. Thirteen years later, the victim was identified as Patricia Candace Walsh through forensic analysis. Walsh and her husband, Douglas Scott Zyskowski, from Seattle, Washington, went missing in 1989 and were later found dead.
Rhoades eventually confessed to the murders, admitting to killing Zyskowski immediately and holding Walsh captive for a week, subjecting her to torture and rape before murdering her. He has been linked to numerous other victims, including the murder of Regina Kay Walters, a 14-year-old girl, for which he received a life sentence without parole.
Rhoades is currently serving his life sentence in a maximum-security prison.