Serial Killer Book Shows OC Register Instrumental in Nabbing Bill Bonin in 1980, J.J. Maloney & Tim Alger Led the Way on Investigations
September 29, 2022
Vonda3310
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A new serial killer historical biography, Without Redemption: Creation and Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice, highlights the work of the Orange County Register in helping to break the biggest mass murder case in Southern California history. Starting in August 1979, Bill Bonin and Vernon Butts kicked off a ten-month murder spree which claimed 22 teenage boys in following ten-months. By year’s end it was fairly obvious a serious serial killer, or killers, was on the loose, but the public was in the dark as police kept a tight lid on the story.
OC Register Staff Writer Tim Alger was working the police beat and reporting the stories, which largely ended in back pages, when award winning reporter J.J. Maloney joined the paper. Through a series of developments, Maloney began to push his editor, Marv Olsen, to dig deeper into a string of “homosexually oriented” murders of teenage boys plaguing the area.
Olsen gave Maloney the go ahead to start research while Alger continued pushing for more info from the primary law enforcement agencies—LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division and Los Angeles and Orange County Sheriff’s Departments.
On March 24, 1980 J.J. Maloney published a blockbuster article on the front page of the OC Register, and everyday afterwards, accompanied by massive headlines. By this time Bonin had claimed over 15 victims and the coverage alerted the public and other media outlets of what was transpiring. Police tried to downplay the story, but from that day forward they were under ever increasing pressure to stop the murders.
The OC Register’s coverage was instrumental in helping nab Bonin, a story which is told in complete detail in Without Redemption, the most detailed historical biography ever written about notorious serial killer Bill Bonin. The book was written using a trove of previously hidden investigative documents, Bonin’s jailhouse diaries, news stories and tales from jailhouse interview/sessions of Bonin with co-author and Clinical Psychologist, Vonda Pelto, Ph.D.
Broken down into four parts, it discloses a Bill Bonin previously unknown to the public, 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.
Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Escaped Justice, ISBN: 979-8841931249, Hard Cover ISBN: 979-8844477775. For more info go to www.WithoutRedemption.com or purchase the book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Media Contact: For review copies of Without Redemption or author interviews contact Flotsam PR at 319-504-3788 or [email protected].
On March 24, 1980 J.J. Maloney published a blockbuster article on the front page of the OC Register, and everyday afterwards, accompanied by massive headlines. By this time Bonin had claimed over 15 victims and the coverage alerted the public and other media outlets of what was transpiring. Police tried to downplay the story, but from that day forward they were under ever increasing pressure to stop the murders.