He killed because it excited him and gave him a feeling of dominance.
Homosexual men were being murdered in bunches from 1975 to 1977, dumped unceremoniously along highways between Los Angeles and the Mexican border. The investigation centered on Patrick Wayne Kearney, an electronics engineer from Los Angeles who looked nothing like the stereotypical Serial Killer with his glasses and harmless demeanor.
Wanted by police along with acquaintance David Hill, who was never charged with any crime related to the murders, Kearney's reign of death ended when he simply strolled into the Redondo Beach police station and gave himself up.
Kearney pleaded guilty to killing three men and was sentenced to life in prison. Authorities knew there were many more and offered Kearney a deal. He would receive no death sentence in exchange for the complete list of victims.
The slayer eventually confessed and plead guilty to eighteen more killings, directing the law to victims that were previously undiscovered. Kearney also admitted to another eleven murders that he was never prosecuted for, bringing his grand total to 32 killings.
Patrick Wayne Kearney. ALS. Pmk: n.d. SEALED. Contents unknown. Pristine.
Murders
a/k/a: "The Trash-Bag Killer" - “The Freeway Killer"
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape - Mutilation
Number of victims: 21–28 +
Date of murders: 1975–1977
Date of arrest: July 5, 1977
Date of birth: 1940
Victims profile: Homosexual men
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: California, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in prison December 21, 1977i
Patrick Wayne
Kearney (born September 24, 1939), also known as The Trash Bag
Killer, is an American serial killer and necrophile who murdered a
minimum of 21 boys and young men from 1962 to 1977 in southern
California. He is one of three men referred to as The Freeway Killer,
William Bonin and Randy Kraft being the other two; all three killed
similar victims in the same general timespan. Kearney may be among
the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, claiming possibly
as many as 43 victims according to law enforcement.ii
Kearney later confessed to authorities that he had experimented with the bodies of his victims because he was curious. With one victim, he cut open the stomach. This amateur autopsy was done after the murder had been committed and therefore the victim did not suffer any torture or resist at all. He sustained no other injuries than the typical gunshot wound to the head before his death. On another one of his victims, he relocated the body to his bathroom where he mutilated the body and skinned him with an X-Acto knife. To try his best to ensure that he would not get caught, he made the decision to remove the bullet from the corpse’s head so that it could not be traced back to Kearney’s gun.iii
Patrick Kearney was arrested July 1, 1977. As of March 4, 2023, he is still imprisoned at California State Prison, Mule Creek. He is 84 years old.
Archiving
Protocol:
Handled with White Gloves ab initio
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i Blanco, J. (1977) Patrick Kearney | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers, Murderpedia.org. Available at: https://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kearney-patrick.htm (Accessed: 4 March 2023.)