a construction site near the Ventura Freeway to be discovered hours later. Prior to his death by ligature strangulation, Hyden had been bound, beaten about the face, sodomized, then stabbed in the neck and genitalia and bludgeoned about the skull. Evident attempts had also been made to remove his testicles and slash his throat, and his rectum was found bleeding and extensively distended, leading a coroner to opine he had been impaled by a large object. On September 9, 1979, Bonin encountered 17-year-old La Mirada youth David Louis Murillo cycling to a movie theater. After entering the van, Bonin offered him money for sex which was refused. He then attempted to fondle Murillo before binding him and driving to Butts' residence. As Butts drove, Bonin forced the boy to orally copulate him before squeezing his genitals and sodomizing him. He then traded places with Butts, who orally copulated and beat Murillo before squeezing his genitals in frustration at the youth's lack of sexual excitement. They then parked the vehicle at a secluded spot where he was bound, repeatedly raped by Bonin and Butts, extensively bludgeoned about the chest, neck, and skull with a tire iron, then strangled with a ligature before his nude body was thrown out of the van and over an embankment into a bed of ivy alongside Highway 101. His nude body was discovered on September 12, 1979. Following this incident, Butts reportedly began exhibiting extremely bizarre behavior, at one point putting an ax blade to a close friend's throat and stating, "I'd like to see your blood gush out and hear your screams." Bonin is not known to have killed again until on or about November 1, 1979, when he and Butts abducted and murdered an unidentified young man with brown hair, whom Bonin claimed to be tall, and eighteen years of age. This victim was savagely beaten repeatedly by both captors, then strangled to death by Bonin before his fully clothed body was discarded in an irrigation ditch alongside State Route 99, south of Bakersfield. During the ordeal, Bonin allegedly asked the victim whether he knew why he "had to die." He then further explained why, stating, "Your folks paid us to find you and kill you." Bonin strangled the youth before inserting an ice pick into his nostrils and right ear. Approximately four weeks later, on November 30, Bonin – operating alone – abducted