William Bonin didn't work alone. 

In this episode, host Tony Ciaglia pulls back the curtain on the men who rode beside The Freeway Killer, and introduces a new name: seventeen-year-old William Pugh, who survived his first encounter with Bonin by pure luck, then made the incomprehensible decision to come back. 

That choice would cost fifteen-year-old Harry Todd Turner, Victim 16 everything. 

Tony also digs into the contradictions between accomplices James Munro and Gregory Miley, examining who is telling the truth, who is running damage control, and what the official record is still refusing to say. 

Somewhere between the stories these men tell is the truth,  buried beneath self-preservation and the silence of boys who never made it home.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

William Bonin. The Freeway Killer. The winter of 1979 is about to get a lot darker.

In this episode, Tony Ciaglia ,The Serial Killer Whisperer,  and his father Al walk you through the brutal final weeks of 1979 and into the blood-soaked opening days of 1980, as Bonin accelerates his killing with terrifying speed. Victims 8 through 13 — Frank Dennis Fox, John Kilpatrick, Mike McDonald, Charles Miranda, James McCabe, and Ronald Gatlin,  each story more devastating than the last.

But this episode goes somewhere most true crime podcasts never can. Tony plays never-before-heard recorded phone calls from accomplice Gregory Miley — in his own words, in his own voice describing what happened inside that van. Flat. Casual. Remorseless.

Twelve-year-old James McCabe just wanted a ride to Disneyland. Charles Miranda, 14, was standing on a street corner. Within 24 hours, both were gone.

And then  impossibly the system had Bonin in custody and let him walk. Twenty-eight days later, he killed again.

This one is not easy to listen to. It's not supposed to be.

Please Remember their names.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

The freeway never sleeps in Southern California and neither did William Bonin. 

This week, Tony and Al pull back the curtain on the Freeway Killer and the Murder Van that became a rolling chamber of horrors on the highways of Los Angeles. They break down the chilling details of how Bonin hunted, who he hunted, and  most disturbingly, who helped him do it. 

Tony shares never-before-heard audio from his personal phone calls with accomplices Greg Miley and James Munro, and the two men tell very different stories. One honest. One not. 

At the center of it all is seventeen-year-old David Louis Murillo a kid on a bike on an ordinary Tuesday who never made it home. His story, and the stories of Robert Wirostek and an unidentified victim whose name has never been recovered, demand to be told. This one hits hard. 

Remember the victims

We will

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

William Bonin wasn’t the only monster inside the Murder Van.

In Episode 5 of Murder Phone, we dive into the twisted world of the accomplices who didn’t just witness the horror — they became part of it. Men like Vernon Butts, a predator who needed no corruption, and Gregory Miley, a seemingly normal young man who climbed into Bonin’s orbit and slowly transformed into something terrifying.

This episode follows the brutal escalation of violence as 17-year-old Markus Grabs, far from his home in West Germany, crossed paths with the Freeway Killer. Seventy-seven stab wounds later, another life was discarded along the California highways.

But this isn’t just the story of William Bonin.

t’s the story of weak men, broken men, willing men — shadows standing beside pure evil.

We examine how Gregory Miley allegedly evolved from troubled follower to active participant in murders involving children like Charles Miranda and James McCabe, embracing Bonin’s infamy like a badge of honor.

And then came the moment that should have ended everything.

August 9th, 1979. Bonin was arrested again — caught molesting a 17-year-old boy in Dana Point. A blatant parole violation. A guaranteed return to prison.

Except it wasn’t.

The Monster slipped through the cracks AGAIN!

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

Tony and Al turn their attention to Vernon Butts, one of the most disturbing accomplices in the William Bonin murder spree. 

Known as the Freeway Killer, Bonin didn't always act alone — and Butts stands out as one of the most unsettling figures in his orbit.

This episode features a chilling audio conversation with James Munro, another accomplice who knew Butts personally. 

Munro offers a haunting firsthand account of Bonin's transformation during his crimes, describing how Bonin's entire demeanor would shift — his appearance and eyes changing into something unrecognizable, almost crazed.

 Munro also paints a vivid and deeply unsettling portrait of Butts himself: a towering 6'4" figure who didn't just assist in the killings — he relished them.

Tony then walks listeners through the first two murders committed by Bonin and Butts together — the deaths of Thomas Lundgren and Mark Shelton. 

Two victims. Two lives cut short.

 And as Tony makes clear, it was only the beginning.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

Bonin came back from war in 1968… but whatever returned wasn’t the same man.

William Bonin walked into California colder, emptier—like something had hollowed him out and left the shell behind. His family saw it in his eyes. Not pain. Not trauma. Something darker. Something waiting.

Then the frenzy began.

Five boys. Abducted. Assaulted. Discarded.
 Not a spree. Not even chaos.
 This was a predator off the leash, sloppy, reckless, escalating. And for one brief, fragile moment, the system actually caught him. 

This should’ve been the end. A cell. A lock. Silence.

Instead?
 They studied him. Labeled him. Diagnosed him like a specimen on a slide.
 Manic depression. Sexual sadism. Antisocial.

A stack of clinical terms trying, and failing to explain a human void. At Atascadero State Hospital, they didn’t stop him. They paused him. Because monsters don’t heal… they wait.

By 1974, the same system that saw everything, every warning sign, every victim, stamped him safe and opened the door.

And Bonin stepped back into the world, ready to hunt.

Arrested again, he didn’t deny it. He smirked.

“Next time, there won’t be any living witnesses.”

Still no life sentence.
 Still no real consequences.

By 1977, he was out. Again.
 Eighteen months probation. That’s it.

He buys a van.
 He starts recruiting.
 And what comes next, Isn’t a spree.
 It’s not even madness. It’s method.

And that’s when the killing starts!

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

Join host Tony Ciaglia and his father Al as they descend into William Bonin’s time in Vietnam.

December 1966.
 Bonin doesn’t enlist for honor—he enlists because someone thinks the military can fix him. It can’t. Because Bonin is already broken. Before the uniform—before Vietnam—he’s already fantasizing about rape. About murder.

Then comes the theft arrest.
 Charges disappear.
 Not because he’s innocent—but because the system has a better idea.

Ship him to war. Vietnam doesn’t create the monster.
 It gives him permission.

Strapped to the open belly of a helicopter…
 machine gun in hand…
 700 hours of combat…Bonin doesn’t just survive the chaos—He thrives in it. Power, Control.
 Life and death at his fingertips.

Because war doesn’t ask questions.
 It buries them. And Bonin learns the most dangerous lesson of all: You can do anything…
 and walk away clean. 

He wasn’t alone. Shawcross. Berkowitz. Gacy. Kraft.

Different names. Same pattern. Warning signs ignored.
 Darkness documented, then dismissed. Stamped, Filed, Forgotten. Until the war comes home.

Next time on Murder Phone—
 Bonin returns to civilian life.

No rules.
 No supervision.
 No one watching.

And the hunting… begins.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

Before the headlines. Before the handcuffs. Before the bodies…

There was a childhood shaped by violence, neglect, and unchecked warning signs that were impossible to ignore—yet ignored anyway. This season exposes not only the making of a killer, but the system that failed to stop him.

And again exclusively,  Murder Phone brings you something few ever hear:
 real conversations with Bonin’s accomplices.

Greg Miley and James Munro weren’t just witnesses.
 They rode in the van.
 They heard the screams.
 They were there.

Through firsthand accounts and chilling insight, we explore what they called “cruising sessions”—a deceptively casual term for something far more sinister: hunting, trapping, and destroying innocent lives.

In the shadowy annals of true crime, few names evoke the same level of horror as William Bonin. In this first episode join hosts Tony Ciaglia—The Serial Killer Whisperer—along with his brother Joey, and their father Al as they take you on a haunting, unfiltered deep dive into the life, crimes, and failures surrounding one of the most evil predators ever to walk among us.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

In this unforgettable episode of Murder Phone, Tony,The Serial Killer Whisperer, joins his brother Joey and their father Al on a journey into the heart of darkness: a face-to-face visit with Arthur John Shawcross in Fallsburg, New York.

What they didn’t know at the time was that this visit took place exactly two months before Shawcross would drop dead, making this one of his final, unfiltered conversations on Earth.

Inside that cold, echoing room, the trio dove straight into the grotesque depths of Shawcross’s mind. They talked about his crimes, life inside Sullivan Correctional, and even the notorious rumor that he once ate a vagina raw. Shawcross didn’t just confirm it, he demonstrated how he did it.

But the real shift—the moment when the room’s temperature seemed to drop, came when Tony asked about the two children Shawcross murdered 

Shawcross froze… then cracked.
 His voice changed. His eyes went dead. And suddenly, everyone in that room understood the difference between seeing evil and feeling it breathe in front of you.

As the visit wound down, Tony made a bold request: he asked Shawcross to write out detailed descriptions of every murder, in the killer’s own words. Arthur said, a lot of people asked before, and I turned them all down, but I’ll try and do it for you.”

Before his death, Shawcross typed every account and mailed them to Tony. The final letter, his last communication with anyone, arrived on October 29th, 2008, containing the last murder description.

That’s when Tony realized something chilling:
 Arthur John Shawcross, one of America’s most sadistic serial killers… actually considered him a friend.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

October 1989: Rochester, New York. A body is found — Patricia Ives — and just like that, the mask of safety slips off the city’s face.

Police quickly realize they aren’t dealing with a one-off killing. This is a pattern… the calling card of a predator.

Victims, mostly sex workers.
 Strangled. Dumped near the river. Posed like trophies.
 And the man behind it? Arthur John Shawcross — a bloated, wandering nightmare who didn’t just kill… he escalated with every victim.

Tony’s correspondence with Shawcross goes into gruesome detail about the hunting, torture and murder of these poor innocent women. 

In just three months, from September to December 1989, Shawcross slaughtered eight more women, bringing his tally to eleven in less than two years. And when he wasn’t murdering, he was grabbing a bite at his favorite restaurants, like a guy who thought brutality earned him a lunch break.

This Murder Phone episode brings you onto the very streets where it all happened. You’ll hear about Tony’s 2010 trip to Rochester — the restaurants Shawcross haunted, the exact corner where he picked up June Cicero, and the bridge where he dumped her body after 24 hours of torture, and the sick moment he returned on January 3rd, 1990, when the police helicopter finally spotted him by the body. 

The hunt was over.  Shawcross’s little field trips to hell had come to an end.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”

What happens when hell doesn’t wait for you to die… but moves in next door?

They called him The Genesee River Killer.
 We call him Arthur Shawcross.
By late 1987, Rochester had no idea the devil was walking among them. Arthur Shawcross, an aging drifter with a fishing pole and a hollow smile was hiding a darkness that never died.

In this episode, Tony and Al Ciaglia uncover some lost videos from 2010 from the Murder Phone archives, recorded at Shawcross’s old apartment and favorite Dunkin’ Donuts haunt. They revisit the crime scenes, you’ll see Tony standing  on Seth Green Island.This is where Arthur Shawcross dumped what was left of Dorothy Keeler. He even claimed to have stuck her skull in a tree. And as far as anyone knows… it was never found.

Tony and Al read chilling letters written by Shawcross himself, and expose the system that let this monster walk free.

You’ll hear the twisted stories of Dorothy Blackburn, Anna Steffens, Dorothy Keeler, and Patty Ives, four women who paid the price for the justice system’s failure.

Dark, raw, and unforgettable—this is the story of when hell came to Rochester… and nobody noticed.

Standard Legal Disclaimer for Murder Phone:

“The content of this podcast, including all phone calls, interviews, and original commentary, is the exclusive property of Murder Phone Podcasts, You Tube Video,Ciaglia Productions and Murder Phone LLC and any and all Murder Phone Productions. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or redistribution of any part of this show—including but not limited to recorded calls with incarcerated individuals—is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

All audio recordings featured in this podcast are used with permission and are protected under copyright law. Any individual or entity using our original material without express written consent will be subject to copyright infringement claims and DMCA takedown notices.

Murder Phone is more than a podcast—it’s a protected body of work. Respect it, or face the consequences.”