Patrick Wayne Kearney (born September 24, 1939), also called the Trash Bag Killer and the Freeway Killer, is an American serial killer who sexually assaulted and murdered a minimum of twenty-eight young men and boys in southern California between 1962 and 1977. Kearney often engaged in necrophilia with his victims' bodies before disemboweling and dismembering them. He frequently wrapped his victims' severed limbs in trash bags and scattered them in various locations, mainly along state highways.
In 1978, Kearney pleaded guilty to twenty-one counts of murder and was sentenced to twenty-one consecutive life sentences. Kearney was the first of three known serial killers who preyed on young men in southern California in the 1970s and 1980s to be identified; the others were William Bonin and Randy Kraft.
In 1950, Kearney's family moved to Reseda and settled on Runnymede Street. Kearney started school at Reseda Elementary. Kearney, being a thin and sickly child, was often a target of bullies, who beat him up frequently and berated him as a "queer" despite his supposed interest in girls. In his teens, he became withdrawn and harboured fantasies about killing personal enemies, often ending in Kearney skinning them alive. In addition, he developed sexual fantasies revolving around domination and began engaging in bestiality when he was 13. Kearney claimed in his police confession that one of his first sexual experiences was with the family dog.
When Kearney was 13, his father purchased him a .22 caliber rifle. His father taught him to kill pigs and chickens in hopes that it would toughen up his son. Later, his family moved to Willcox, Arizona, where his father found employment as a salesman for a travel agency. Kearney started school at Willcox Middle School, though he still experienced bullying.
Soon after, his family moved back to California and found residence in Redondo Beach. Kearney claimed in a letter to Australian author Amanda Howard that he befriended Lee Harvey Oswald while attending Military Language School and worked with him in top-secret military language operations. He went on to claim that he drove Oswald to the Mexican border and almost went to Mexico City with him.
In 1961, Kearney received an honorable discharge from the military and convinced Hill to move in with him in Long Beach, California. During this period, Kearney started to engage in hookups with other men.
It was from his experiences in his early years in California that Kearney cultivated his skill as a gay pickup artist. Kearney mostly sought out partners in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, where he used his fluency in Spanish and keen interest in Latin American culture as a basis to connect with potential partners. Kearney claimed to have killed his first victim, a hitchhiker he picked up and murdered in Orange, California, around 1962. He claimed several more victims, mostly transients, before moving to Redondo Beach, near Los Angeles, in 1967 with Hill.
Murders
Kearney confessed to having committed his first murder in the spring of 1962. The victim's name is unknown, but he was confirmed to be age nineteen, white, and claimed that the man was from either Louisiana or Oklahoma. Kearney had convinced the male to take a ride on his motorcycle with him to a secluded area outside of Indio, California. When they arrived, Kearney shot the man in the head and sexually assaulted the body. It is unknown if the body was ever found, but Kearney confessed to this murder and two additional ones from 1962. The second victim was the younger cousin of Kearney's first victim, who had witnessed Kearney drive away with the victim. Kearney claimed that this victim was 16 and had been inquiring of Kearney about the whereabouts of his cousin.
The first murder that Kearney confessed to and was convicted of occurred "sometime around Christmas" of 1968, while he was living in Culver City, approximately one year after he and David Hill had taken residence together. The murder took place inside his Van Buren Avenue residence. According to Kearney, this victim (whose name is known as "George") was lured into his vehicle in San Diego and taken to his home, then shot in the head moments after entering the house. The victim was then dragged to his bathroom, where he was sodomized, then skinned and dismembered in the bathtub with an X-Acto knife. Kearney also extracted the bullet from the victim's head to ensure the murder would not be traced to him. He then buried the dismembered body behind his garage. Kearney did not kill for over a year following this murder, primarily out of fear that law enforcement would inquire about the disappearance of George. Years later, the identity of this victim has yet to be discovered besides his first name and body. When George's body was exhumed, forensics estimated that he had been murdered between 1968 and 1970. Forensics also found that the skeleton had a one-by-one to one-by-five cut made in the skull by a sharp object. he perceived beating his dead victims as a cathartic exercise and a means by which he could effectively vent suppressed anger and acquire a sense of power. Often, the victims resembled people who had bullied him in his childhood.
In June 1971, John Demchik was picked up by Kearney after being offered a ride. Kearney had shot him in the head before disposing of his body 15 miles southeast of Calexico. Demchik's body would not be found until February 1973 by the Imperial County Police Department. When Demchik's body was found, it was initially believed that Demchik was a Mexican national who had illegally crossed the border. Barwick's body was found that same day. When Barwick was exhumed, there was strong evidence based on semen found in the rectum that Barwick was sexually assaulted at the time of death. Subsequently, Smith's body was discovered alongside Ortega Highway in Riverside County on October 12, 1974. Smith's body was discovered with his underwear around his ankles and semen present in his anal cavity. A forensic investigation found that Smith's face had abrasions on the nose and chin, as well as contusions on his lips from the pressure of Kearney's fingernails and palm. The pathology report also noted that Smith was suffocated.
Merle "Hondo" Chance, 8, of Venice, vanished on April 6, 1977, while supposedly riding his bicycle in the vicinity of Kearney's place of work. Kearney claims to have smothered the boy, taken his body home overnight, and later disposed of the remains in the Angeles National Forest off Angeles Crest Highway, approximately 11 miles north of Altadena. Chance's decomposed remains were discovered on May 26, 1977.
Victims
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! # !! Name !! Age !! Date of murder !! Date of discovery !! Particulars
|-
|1
|"Unknown" 1
|19
|Spring 1962
|N/A
|Driven to a deserted area, shot in the head, and sodomized postmortem.
|-
|2
|"Unknown" 2
|16
|1962
|N/A
|Driven to the same location as the first victim, shot in the head, and sodomized postmortem. According to Kearney, this victim was the younger cousin of his first victim.
|-
|3
|"Mike"
|18
|???
|???
|Shot in the back of the head and sodomized postmortem.
|-
|4
|"George"
|???
|December 1968
|July 8, 1977
|Shot in the head while sleeping, then put into a bathtub and sodomized postmortem. Police found his skeleton with Kearney's direction after his arrest.
|-
|5
|John Demchik
|13
|June 26, 1971
|February 9, 1973
|Shot to death.
|-
|6
|James Fletcher Barwick
|17
|September 22, 1973
|September 22, 1973
|Shot in the back of the head.
|-
|7
|Ronald Dean Smith Jr.
|5
|August 24, 1974
|October 12, 1974
|Suffocated.
|-
|8
|Albert Rivera
|21
|April 13, 1975
|April 13, 1975
|Shot in the head, taken to Kearney's house, sodomized postmortem, dismembered, and stuffed into trash bags to be disposed of in various locations.
|-
|9
|Larry Gene Walters
|20
|October 31, 1975
|November 10, 1975
|Shot, sodomized postmortem, dismembered, put into trash bags, and disposed of in various locations.
|-
|10
|Kenneth Eugene Buchanan
|17
|March 1, 1976
|April 7, 1976
|Shot in the back of the head, sodomized, then shot three more times.
|-
|11
|Oliver Peter Molitor
|13
|March 21, 1976
|Never found
|Picked up while hitchhiking, sexually assaulted, shot, dismembered, and buried in various areas at the Palos Verdes landfill.
|-
|12
|Larry Armendariz
|15
|April 18, 1976
|April 19, 1976
|Shot in the back of the head, sodomized postmortem, and dismembered.
|-
|13
|Michael Craig McGhee
|13
|June 11, 1976
|N/A
|Shot in the back of the head, sodomized postmortem, and dismembered.
|-
|14
|John Woods
|23
|June 20, 1976
|June 21, 1977
|Shot to death.
|-
|15
|Larry Espy
|17
|1976
|August 23, 1976
|Shot in the back of the head, sodomized postmortem, and dismembered.
|-
|16
|Wilfrid Lawrence Faherty
|20
|August 1976
|August 28, 1976
|Shot in the back of the head.
|-
|17
|Randall Lawrence Moore
|16
|August 1976
|October 10, 1976
|Shot in the head.
|-
|18
|Timothy Brian Ingham
|19
|September 15, 1976
|September 24, 1976
|Shot in the back of the head while asleep. Remains were thrown down a ravine.
|-
|19
|Robert William Benniefiel
|17
|Fall 1976
|Fall 1976
|Picked up while hitchhiking, shot in the back of the head, sodomized postmortem, dismembered, and dumped in various locations.
|-
|20
|David Allen
|27
|Fall 1976
|October 9, 1976
|Shot in the head and left on the side of the road.
|-
|21
|Mark Andrew Orach
|20
|October 5, 1976
|October 6, 1976
|Shot in the head.
|-
|22
|Nicolas Hernandez-Jimenez
|28
|January 1977
|January 23, 1977
|Shot, dismembered, and wrapped in trash bags for disposal.
|-
|23
|Arturo Ramos Marquez
|24
| February 26, 1977
|March 3, 1977
|Shot, sodomized postmortem, and dismembered.
|-
|24
|John Otis LaMay
|17
|March 13, 1977
|March 18, 1977
|Shot, sodomized postmortem, and dismembered. The murder of LaMay was the crime for which Kearney was arrested.
|-
|25
|Merle "Hondo" Chance
|8
|April 6, 1977
|May 26, 1977
|Smothered, sodomized postmortem, then dumped off of Angeles Crest Highway.
|}
Capture and imprisonment
thumb|220px|Undated photo of Kearney used on a wanted flyer issued during his [[fugitive state]]
LaMay's remains were found on March 18, 1977. Police had actually been to Kearney's home for the LaMay investigation prior to Chance's kidnapping and murder. During this visit they were invited into the home but were told to wait until Kearney and Hill could make themselves presentable. When Kearney and Hill had left, the deputies clipped fibers from the carpet to compare with evidence.
Once Kearney and Hill returned, they listened to the news of LaMay's death. Kearney decided to tell the deputies that he and Hill were in fact homosexuals and that they were also fearful of being murdered. Kearney continued on about how there had been an increase in murders in recent years targeting homosexuals and that they both had had homosexual relationships with LaMay over a period of two years.
Following the visit, the fibers the deputies had collected were compared to that of the green threads found by investigators stuck to the nylon tape that had been used on the trash sacks to close them and matched. Investigators also discovered a hacksaw that was covered in dried blood. On May 26, Kearney had sent a letter of resignation to his job as well as his security badge, and the two fled to El Paso, Texas. Kearney surrendered at the Riverside County Sheriff's Office on July 1, 1977. Following his surrender, he pointed at a wanted poster and claimed to be the suspect.
David Hill, 36 years old at the time, was eventually cleared of any involvement in Kearney's crimes and was released.
Kearney made a full confession, initially admitting to a total of 28 murders and subsequently to seven more. In order to avoid a death sentence, he agreed to plead guilty.
As of September 2025, Kearney is incarcerated at California's Mule Creek State Prison.
See also
- List of serial killers in the United States
- List of serial killers by number of victims
- William Bonin, another serial killer in 1970s California known as the "Freeway Killer"
- Randy Kraft, another serial killer in 1970s California known as the "Freeway Killer"
- List of people sentenced to more than one life imprisonment
References
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Further reading
- The Trash Bag Murderer (2010) by Tony Stewart
External links
- Patrick Kearney at the Crime Library
- Patrick Kearney "The Trash Bag Killer" Radford University