Patrick Kearney
| Patrick Kearney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Patrick Wayne Kearney September 24, 1939 Los Angeles, California |
| Other names | The Freeway Killer The Trash Bag Killer |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 21-43 |
|
Span of killings
|
1965–March 13, 1977 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | California |
|
Date apprehended
|
July 1, 1977 |
Patrick Wayne Kearney (born September 24, 1939) is an American serial killer who preyed on young men in California during the 1970s. He is sometimes referred to as "The Freeway Killer", a nickname he shares with two other – separate – serial killers, William Bonin and Randy Steven Kraft. Kearney may be among the most prolific serial killers in United States history, claiming possibly as many as 43 victims according to law enforcement.
He was the oldest of three sons and was raised in a reasonably stable family. His early life was not without some trauma, however; as a thin and sickly child, he was often a target for bullies at school. In his teens, he became withdrawn and fantasized about killing people.
Born in East Los Angeles, Kearney also lived in Texas. He moved back to California after a brief marriage ended in divorce and eventually worked as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft.
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 hitch-hiker he picked up and murdered in Orange, California, around 1965. He claimed several more victims, mostly transients, before moving to Redondo Beach, near Los Angeles, in 1967 with a younger man named David Hill, who became his lover.
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