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  • Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice (Serial Killer Books by Vonda Pelto, Ph.D. & Michael B. Butler)
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Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice (Serial Killer Books by Vonda Pelto, Ph.D. & Michael B. Butler) Kindle Edition

4.0 out of 5 stars 40 ratings
4.2 on Goodreads
22 ratings

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2025 Update to Without Redemption involves how the information in the book allowed victim's families to learn the fate of their sons after 40 years. Darin Kendrick's brother, reading from Bill Bonin's written confession, learned how his brother was actually killed after decades knowing only sketchy details. The family of James Moore, who son vanished in 1980, found out that is Bill Bonin who kidnapped, murder and dumped in a landfill.

Without Redemption was written on a number of parallel tracks that constantly intersect: First, it is the most detailed historical biography ever written about Bill Bonin, the notorious Freeway Killer responsible for murdering 22 teenage boys over ten-months in 1979-80.

Second, it is a psychological roadmap which charts the evolution of Bonin’s personality from abused child to sexual predator to serial killer. This is accomplished using documents from his childhood, war service, multiple California government mental health and penal institutions, witness testimony and the expertise of Clinical Psychologist Vonda Pelto, Ph.D., who had many sessions with Bonin and two of his accomplices while working in Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail.

Third, it is a narrative which, using long hidden documents, reveals the inner workings of Bonin’s mind, showing how he thought, felt, planned and viewed the world. The narrative displays Bonin, an abused high school dropout, cleverly manipulating lawyers, judges, doctors, social workers, friends, family, probation officers, government bureaucrats, detectives, journalists and, most tragically, the innocent victims of his rage.

Fourth,
Without Redemption reveals the complex story of what happened after Bonin’s final arrest, when so much was in flux and so many moving parts were swirling about. Archived investigative documents, collected from a variety of sources, brings to light a number of surprising, shocking, sad and even funny events from those ten tumultuous months from June 1980 to March 1981.

Finally, it is a book which solves two murder mysteries and unlocks how one day of crossroads and coincidences, in the midst of the murder spree, profoundly impacted many lives and future events.

  • Most detailed bio of serial killer Bill Bonin ever written using previously hidden documents.
  • How childhood abuse & Vietnam War helped create what followed.
  • How Bonin manipulated California mental health & prison systems in the ten years before the killings.
  • Interviews of Bonin, Miley & Munro with Vonda Pelto, Ph.D. before, during & after his Los Angeles trial.
  • Bonin’s jailhouse writings offer new perspective on his brutality, methods, thoughts and personality.
  • How & Why Bonin covered for accomplice Eric Wijnaendts, who helped him with two murders.
  • How & Why March 24, 1980, is a key date in the Bill Bonin story.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BFM2BYFZ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flotsam Publishing
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ Sept. 16 2022
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Part of series ‏ : ‎ Serial Killer Books by Vonda Pelto, Ph.D. & Michael B. Butler
  • 鶹 Rank: #960,369 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 40 ratings

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4 out of 5 stars
40 global ratings

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Reviewed in Canada on February 5, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    very well written, Vonda has a way of writing that allows you to feel the true horror of what happened to Bonin's victims. she also gives the best account, in my opinion, of what a monster Bonin was and how horrific his crimes were. Thanks to Vonda for all her work with these human monsters!

Top reviews from other countries

  • Angela Butler
    5.0 out of 5 stars Few Serial Killer Bios Have This Much Detail, Bill Bonin's Whole World & Life Exposed
    Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Three things make this book stand out amongst serial biographies: 1) The amount of usually confidential material accessed by the authors, by this I mean the reams of medical and psychiatric documents from his nine years in mental hospitals, state prisons, court records, probation reports, investigative documents, etc. 2) Access to Freeway Killer Bill Bonin's personal jailhouse diaries and 22 murder stories, written while in jail awaiting trial at Los Angeles Men's Central Jail. It was these stories and diaries which allowed the authors to solve two 40-year-old homicide mysteries and give the reader a view into Bonin's inner thoughts, personality and methods, 3) Vonda Pelto, Ph.D., one of the co-authors, dealt with Bonin personally as a Clinical Psychologist at the jail before, during and after his trial. She looked into the eyes of the man responsible for killing 22 boys in ten months from August 1979 to June 1980, her personal thoughts and interview stories are chilling, sad and scary.

    Then add in that the authors also accessed hundreds of newspaper articles and you have an amazing book, 'Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice.'

    Finally, you learn how one day, during the murder spree, changed everything that followed, something not known until this book was published. March 24, 1980 is the day when four people crossed paths, just like in a movie or mystery novel, and that impacted all to follow as events unfolded months later, just great how they identified exactly what happened.
  • Rory O'Malley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Certainly a Detailed, Unique & Complete Serial Killer Biography, One of the Best I've Read...
    Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    When one comes across a biography about someone like Freeway Killer Bill Bonin—who spent a majority of his adult live in California state mental hospitals, prisons or jail—the ability of historians to obtain government documents can be difficult, especially 40 years after the fact. I know this from my own experiences dealing with them, but the authors of 'Without Redemption' had two unique advantages—a Clinical Psychologist who dealt with three of the six killers, including the main one Bonin, and 40 boxes of law enforcement investigative documents gifted to them by a retired detective.

    Bonin’s crimes took place in 1979-80 and during the decade of the 1970s he was incarcerated for various offenses.

    Included in all those boxes were the private handwritten jailhouse diaries of Bonin and his murder confession stories, the latter created before his first trial with the hope of using them to get a deal. That never happened and they remained hidden for 40 years, until used in this book, and the authors used those stories to dispel many Bonin myths, solve two murder mysteries and create an amazingly personal look at the life of the notorious Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, responsible for the deaths of 22 boys in ten months and ruining families and communities.

    This book has it all and more—Bonin's full life story, a detailed view of Bonin’s tactics and how he fooled police for so long, how a lucky break gave police the tip they needed, an inside view of Bonin's mind and personality, and a look at the horse trading that went on after his arrest between prosecutors, TV reporters, journalists, detectives, defense lawyers, judges, friends, witnesses, snitches and more.

    What a terrific read, rough at times, this is one of the best serial killer bios I have read.
  • Janet Barsorian
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not the greatest writing
    Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This telling was very repetitive at times. It was muddy and convoluted.
    With that said, I had no knowledge of this killer before reading this. I was 10 the year he was arrested. However I was 26 when he was executed and still never heard of him. So, many of these gross murders think they're going to be MANSON. No one remembers or cares about them. True crime for me is about justice. This book is good....just good.
  • M. Read
    4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Wait
    Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Vonda Pelto indicated in 2019 that this book would be released soon, and as the years went by, I was wondering… but it exceeded expectations and was well written, in depth and well researched. Bonin is a largely forgotten/ignored serial killer, but has a unique story because of all the accomplices. Very hard to comprehend the brutal and senseless destruction, that too many individuals flippantly got themselves involved in. Thank you Vonda for getting this one completed! Only demoted one-star for occasional spelling issues.
  • Veronica Allen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Look at Whole Life of Serial Killer—Figured Out Unsolved Murders & Coincidences
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    ‘Without Redemption’ is a truly informative serial killer bio because the authors had access to so many documents, plus co-author Vonda Pelto, Clinical Psychologist, met with Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, and others, at LA Men’s Jail on multiple occasions while he was on trial. Almost didn’t buy the book because of comments about editing, but it looks like all that was fixed—reads really well with quick pace and packed with relevant facts.

    The book takes the reader through the family history before Bill Bonin was born and goes into great detail about his difficult childhood and into his twenties, which was mostly spent in mental hospitals and prisons. Based on the crimes for which he was convicted, in his early and mid-twenties, he should never have been walking the streets to commit those heinous murders.

    Bonin, responsible for murdering 22 boys and young men from August 1979 to June 1980, slowly evolved into a cunning manipulator and was able to fool many smart people on his road to infamy. Using his personal jailhouse diary/murder confession stories, the authors were able to reveal the inner workings of Bonin’s mind, especially when he covered for an accomplice who murdered with him, twice.
    In addition, they were given access to thousands of pages of official investigative documents that include interviews, psyche reports, military records, parole reports, court transcripts, arrest reports and so much more. Combining all that with news articles, and Bonin’s diaries, makes ‘Without Redemption’ one of the most detailed serial killer historical biographies ever written!

    In ‘Without Redemption’ keep an eye out for that one day, during the murder spree, which changed everything to follow, AMAZING investigative work by the authors.

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