Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Savage” Benjamin Pedro Gonzales

Episode Date: October 28, 2021

Benjamin Pedro Gonzales lived in a fantasy world. He’d imagine entire relationships that didn’t exist. And when his so-called “girlfriend” told him to get lost, he went into a murderous rage, leaving a horrific trail of dead bodies in his wake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of abuse, drug abuse, self-harm, and murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On a spring day in 1991, 31-year-old Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez paced in the dingy doorway of Showworld theater, an adult-only venue tucked into a seedy corner of Times Square. Ben was a coin clerk at Show World. But today, he has something other than work. on his mind. He waited by the door for what felt like forever, until finally, 22-year-old

Yvonne Housley walked in. He tried to grab the young dancer's attention, but she breezed past him, ignoring him completely. He followed her inside, asking if they could talk in private. Yvonne rolled her eyes, but Ben was persistent. She knew he would only keep bugging her until she relented. So Yvonne agreed to speak with Ben, and the pair walked out the club's back door. Once they were alone, Ben launched into the speech he'd been practicing. He was convinced that Yvonne was his destiny and begged her to leave her boyfriend. That way, they could stop hiding their love from the world. Yvonne had heard Ben's declaration of love before, multiple times.

Despite his claims of undying love, he was nothing more than a stalker, and she was sick of it. She told Ben there was nothing romantic between them and demanded he'd leave her alone. Whatever fantasy world he was living in just wasn't funny anymore. As Yvonne talked, Ben's head started spinning. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was speaking utter nonsense. Ben was certain they were meant to be together. In his head, they already were together.

But as Yvonne continued to berate him, Ben realized that she couldn't see what he saw. Rage surged through him, and his hand went to the knife hidden in his pocket. If he couldn't have her, no one could. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers.

Today, we'll explore the story of Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez, a delusional killer with an obsessive streak. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. In the first part of this episode, we'll examine Ben's upbringing,

a reportedly tormented experience that forced him to retreat into a fantasy world. Later, we'll watch as Ben's delusions turn deadly and see police finally pull the threads of his life together. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter.

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Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. If you could take on a new identity just for one night, who would you be? You could change your hair, wear a new style of clothes, even give yourself a different name. To many people, this would be just a game, though it might be fun. to be someone else for a while, it would be a relief to eventually return to your real self. But for some people, this game of make-believe is a crutch.

Cycling through different personalities allows this kind of person to bury a broken reality under layers of fantasy. After all, it's easier to ignore your troubles when you're no longer yourself. But after a while, the facade starts to crack, because you can't outrun your true self forever. Though he would eventually collect dozens of identities, the real Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez was originally named after his father. Born in Colorado in 1959, Ben was the eldest of ten children. In this chaotic household, Ben's mother tried her best to support her kids, but she couldn't always protect them from their father. According to Ben, his father was extremely violent and would frequently abuse his kids, and as the eldest, Ben bore the brunt of his

father's wrath. Sometimes Ben said, Benjamin Sr. would tie him up and hit him with a belt or whatever else was handy. Desperate to escape the pain, Ben conjured up his mother's voice in his head. If he focused on that, he could drift away from the abuse. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg.

From a very young age, it seems Ben used physical dissociation to cope with his father's torment. This is a coping mechanism that separates the mind from the body and its sensations. In the 1994 paper, Dissociation, physical pain and suicide, a hypothesis. Dr. Israel Orbach introduced the idea that some kinds of mental detachment can actually numb physical pain. That's because physical sensation is filtered through layers of cognitive, motivation, motivational and emotional processes. So when the brain experiences or anticipates trauma, it puts up a psychological block to cope. But Ben didn't just become impervious to pain. He created a place of escape

inside his brain, where he could exist in a world different from his true surroundings, one where he wasn't being abused. By retreating into his mind, Ben inhabited a space completely outside of his own thoughts and feelings, even outside his own body. Ben claimed that to escape his father's ongoing abuse, he spent a long period of his childhood in this state of dissociation. At first, his mother's voice was the only comfort to him in these moments. But eventually, he said he started hearing other voices when he entered this detached mental state. He called them spirits. These new voices likely weren't actually spiritual guides. Auditory hallucinations can be a common effect of dissociation. While Ben thought he was hearing voices, he was probably just

sinking deeper into a fantasy world to distract from the abuse. He started relying on this extreme method of escapism, and that quickly became dangerous. In his paper on pain and dissociation, Dr. Orbach explains that prolonged periods of dissociation can begin to affect other elements of a person's life. When this happens, a person can experience loss of time perception, emotional numbness, blurred thoughts, confusion, and a sense of unrealness. It can become difficult to differentiate between what's real and what's not. Ben lived his life in a state of constant defense. Because he felt he was never really safe, he couldn't allow himself to rest.

So dissociating became a regular part of his life. Around middle school, Ben had grown more comfortable with the imagined world he created and actually preferred it to real life. He even stopped going by Benjamin or Ben, choosing nicknames like Bobby or Tony. In a way, doing this may have helped Ben distance himself from his father, with whom he shared his name, but it also helped him further separate from himself. And by the time he reached high school, Ben had found another way to escape his reality. Sometime in the mid-1970s, Ben started experimenting with drugs, first marijuana, then LSD, and PCP.

He delighted in anything that altered his mind and pushed him further away from himself. But these drugs came with their own frightening side effects. For example, PCP drastically changed his behavior. Normally, he was quiet and withdrawn, but under the influence of drugs, he would fly into a fit of rage in a matter of seconds. Sometimes Ben channeled his newfound fury toward others. But more disturbingly, he often turned his violence inward. The PCP made him feel tall.

totally disconnected from his body. It seemed to him that he couldn't feel anything, even pain. To test this theory, he began self-mutulating while he was high. This isn't uncommon behavior for people taking PCP. Not only does the drug act as a pain number, it triggers an altered state similar to dissociation, where the user feels detached from their own mind and body. A 2007 clinical review published in the California Journal of Emergency Medicine wrote that the most disturbing result of this effect is self-harm. People high on PCP have walked into traffic, jumped off buildings, and even mutilated their own bodies. This level of dissociation was more intense than anything

Ben had ever achieved on his own, and he couldn't get enough of it. By 1978, 19-year-old Ben was far more interested in his drug-fueled fantasies than anything he was learning in high school, so he dropped out. In his mind, he had bigger and better plans. mostly he fantasized about moving to Hollywood and living the luxurious life of a celebrity. Leaving school was the first step on his journey to fame and fortune. However, with no degree and no skills, Ben quickly fell through the cracks in Los Angeles. He spent what little money he had on drugs and was soon living on the street, working odd jobs whenever he could find them.

However, Ben embraced the CD back-alley life with enthusiasm. It didn't seem hard for him to switch his dream. job from high-rolling celebrity to glorified criminal. Around this time, he started telling people he was working for various gangs as a bodyguard, but it wasn't clear if Ben was lying or telling the truth. He loved emphasizing his masculinity, and it's possible he embellished this part of his life to seem tougher. Frankly, it's hard to confirm any of Ben's claims.

Once he moved to L.A., he stopped using his real name. He created new personalities and bought multiple fake IDs. He just loved being someone else. He slipped into different identities the way other people slip into clothes, and soon it proved to be very useful for him. Not long after arriving in Los Angeles, Ben became a sex worker, and soon Ben attracted the attention of the police. He was first arrested for disorderly conduct and sex work in May 1979.

A year later, cops picked him up again for unspecified criminal acts. However, Ben provided false identification for both charges. effectively keeping his name out of the system. But after four more years of minor scrapes with the law, he did something that wouldn't be brushed aside so easily. In 1984, the 24-year-old got into a fight with another man and stabbed him, but it didn't stop there. Ben knifed his victim over a dozen times,

slashing the blade with an unrelenting fury. By some miracle, the man survived his extensive wounds. But Ben was charged for assault with a dead weapon. weapon, a much more serious offense than he previously faced. Like usual, Ben gave the police a fake name. But this case was more involved than his previous crimes. It didn't take long for the authorities to discover the lie and finally enter his real name into the system, Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez.

Since this was the first time Ben's real name was recorded, the courts believed this was his first crime. Under that assumption, they allowed him to enter a plea bargain, granting him a shortened sentence. The lawyer who arranged the deal was a man named William McKinney. Throughout the process, Ben and McKinney struck up an unlikely friendship. They planned to stay in touch during Ben's incarceration, and McKinney even promised to host him for dinner once he was free. We aren't sure how long Ben stayed behind bars, but as far as we can tell, his stint in prison

was uneventful, and he disappeared as soon as he was released, making it hard to track his whereabouts. We do know that once he was free, Ben used his fake identities to travel across the country for several years. He went all the way from Los Angeles to New York and likely stayed in many other cities in between. To earn money, Ben continued working as a bodyguard for criminal organizations, including drug traffickers and loan sharks. He enjoyed the thrill of the work. It was a violent macho environment, and that suited him perfectly. Sometime in 1988, about four years after his arrest, 30-year-old Ben returned to Los Angeles under the name James Angel. He got a job working as a money collector for a street gang that had stakes in local gambling.

Ben worked out of a casino called the Bicycle Club. The job was pleasant enough and Ben got along with the staff. Within a couple of weeks, he caught the attention of 22-year-old Dondy Johnson, a chip attendant. Dondy started spending her breaks with the mysterious man she knew as James. Soon they were getting dinner and drinks after work. They developed a close friendship, but Dondy kept him at an arm's distance. She enjoyed having him around, but she already had a boyfriend. Dondy only wanted to be friends. Ben, however, wasn't interested in friendship.

Over time, he became obsessed with Dondy. He followed her around, showered her with gifts, and begged her to leave her boyfriend. Instead of wooing her, the intensity of his affection scared Dondy. She started to distance herself from him. But Ben had already constructed a fantasy in which he and Dondy were madly in love. In his mind, these after-work dinners added up to a passionate romance. He believed they were already having an affair, so when she pulled away, Ben was confused and angry.

To Ben, Dondy was already his, and he would do anything to make her see that. On February 3, 1989, Ben approached Dondy at work. He begged her to run away to New York with him to get married. He pulled out a wad of cash to prove that he was serious, waving it in front of her as he spoke. He warned Dondy she only had 48 hours to decide. But she didn't need two days. She immediately said no, which infuriated Ben.

What he did next is unclear. However, one eyewitness said they saw him rip up the money. Another claimed he took out a lighter and set the cash on fire. Then he told Dondy, this is what's going to happen to you. Apparently, Dondy didn't take the threat too seriously. That same night, she gave Ben a ride after work, maybe hoping to smooth things over. But it was too late for that. It was nearing 5 a.m., and the streets were empty as they drove through the early morning.

But when Dondy parked her car on a residential street, Ben asked her one final time if she would come with him. Once again, Dondy said no. That was all Ben needed to fly into a murderous rage. He pulled out a double-edged dagger and plunged it into Danty's chest. He stabbed her over 20 times and kept slashing long after she was dead. Panting, Ben looked down at himself. He and the car seats were both drenched in Dondy's blood. Now what?

Coming up, Ben starts a new life. and it's forced to face a reality he can't outrun. Hello, I'm Hannah Maguire. And I'm Saruti Bala, and we're the hosts of the new Spotify original from Parcast, Sinister Societies. You may know us from the very creepy and excellent podcast red-handed, but now we've teamed up with Parcast for an unprecedented look at history's most nefarious groups. Some preach extreme religious practices, others warn of impending doom. And then there are those whose endgame,

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Others operate in plain sight. All are absolutely sinister. Follow sinister societies free and only on Spotify. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about Zepbound, terseptite. The first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical. physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection.

Zetbound contains terseptitide and should not be used with other terseptitide containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems.

Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zep bound with a sulfonelioria or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsened kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit setbound.lily.com. Now back to the story. In the early morning of February 4, 1989, 30-year-old Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez

brutally murdered 22-year-old Don D. Johnson by stabbing her over 20 times. covered in blood, Ben desperately tried to come up with a plan. Dondy's car was still parked in a residential neighborhood, and the sun was starting to climb in the sky. Someone would surely walk by soon. Ben knew his best bet was to destroy the evidence then get as far away as possible. But that posed a new problem.

Dondy was his ride home. He couldn't exactly drive her blood-soaked car to his apartment. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Ben's former attorney, William McKinney, lived only a couple minutes away. He was Ben's only option, and there was no time to waste. Ben ran to McKinney's house and rang the doorbell. McKinney answered the door, confused by his early morning visitor. But the sight of his former client soaked in blood, snapped him awake.

He immediately asked Ben what had happened. Ben was prepared with a story and told the lawyer that he'd been mugged, Still shocked by the sight of his client in such a rough condition, McKinney let Ben inside so he could clean up and borrow a change of clothes. As Ben washed the blood off of himself, his mind was racing. He still had to get rid of Dondy's body and make sure that there was no evidence left in her car. Emerging from the bathroom, Ben told his friend that he dropped his wallet and needed to go back and get it. McKinney wanted to give Ben the benefit of the doubt, but felt something was wrong.

However, before he could ask any questions, Ben was out the door. He walked through the empty streets back to Dondy's car. Her body still lay in a bloody mess in the passenger seat, but Ben hardly looked at it. He threw open the back doors, then tossed Dondy's belongings in one big heap in the back seat. Using the pile as kindling, Ben lit a fire and watched it grow, consuming the upholstery and finally Dondy herself. Once he was sure the fire would destroy any evidence, he turned and went back to McKinney's house. There he asked for a ride to his dingy apartment in Hollywood. The attorney agreed and the two jumped into the car.

As McKinney drove, Ben's mind was buzzing. He wanted to tell the lawyer what had happened, but he didn't know how. Finally, he couldn't take the silence. He took a deep breath, then blurted out a confession. I just killed my girlfriend. At first, McKinney thought his client was lying, but Ben's face was clear. This was no joke. McKinney was shocked by the news.

As far as he knew, Ben and Dondy were madly in love. At least, that's what Ben had always told him. But McKinney had to hide whatever terror he was feeling. After all, he was Ben's lawyer. Thanks to attorney-client privilege, he was legally obligated to keep their conversation private. For now, Ben's secret was safe. As soon as McKinney dropped him off, Ben ran into his apartment and threw his belongings in a bag. With a small pack over his shoulder, he headed for the bus station, ready to skip town.

Ben knew that Dondy's burning car would soon attract the police, and he was right. LAPD officers discovered the scene within hours, but without any evidence that could lead them to a suspect, Ben easily slipped away without anyone noticing. Once Ben fled Los Angeles, he flew under the rest of the rest of the rest of the suspect. radar for a while. The next we know of his whereabouts was in 1991, two years after Dondi's murder. At this time, Ben was going by the name Antonio Perillo and living in New York City. He made his way working as a coin clerk at a strip club named Show World. But even though his name was different, his habits were exactly the same. It was at this job where he met 22-year-old Yvonne

Housley, a dancer at Show World. He instantly fell for her. And just like before, Ben's amorous fixation quickly turned into obsession. By this point, Ben showed behavioral patterns that coincided with a love addiction. Though love addictions aren't classified as a specific diagnosis, according to the DSM-5, there's enough data for researchers to study this addiction as an independent mental disorder. According to a 2007 study published in philosophy, psychiatry, and psychology. When someone has a love addiction, they become hooked on the rush of dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin that produces romantic feelings. A 2010 study from Rutgers University found that love addictions can lead to extreme behavior in order to maintain or increase

this sensation. Love addicts can display mood swings, obsession, and a distortion of reality. Ben originally used drugs and dissociation to create fantasy worlds for himself to live in, but romance was a different drug entirely, and just as intoxicating, he could concoct entire relationships that didn't really exist, but the women he was obsessed with didn't share his vision. At first, Yvonne thought Ben's puppy dog act was funny. She allowed him to dote on her, run errands, and buy her meals. She'd bragged that she had Antonio wrapped around her finger, and even joked with her coworkers

about his obsession. Meanwhile, Ben had no idea he was being marked. He truly believed he was in a romantic relationship. If Yvonne found Ben funny in the beginning, the humor quickly faded. She grew tired and annoyed by his constant need for attention and eventually started ignoring him. Sensing her coldness, Ben decided he had to make her see things his way. On March 21st, 1991, Yvonne came into work and immediately ran into Ben. He'd been waiting for her, desperate to speak to her.

Yvonne was annoyed, but she relented, and Ben led her into a vacant bar behind the club. Finally alone, Ben gave Yvonne one last chance to leave her boyfriend and run away with him. In his mind, this was their one opportunity to be together. But Yvonne didn't see it that way. She refused his request. Even through his delusions, part of Ben must have expected her answer, because he came prepared to take his revenge. He pulled a 007 commando knife out of his pocket and grabbed Yvonne.

He covered her mouth with one hand, and with his other hand, he stabbed her 28 times. As quickly as he had killed her, Ben dropped Yvonne's limp body to the ground and walked back through the club toward the front entrance. Knowing he needed a diversion, he grabbed some money out of the cash register. Then he yelled that he was quitting and ran outside. He went straight to a friend's house and asked to borrow bus fare. He knew from experience how easy it was to leave town as long as he moved fast enough. By the time Ivan's body was discovered later that night, Ben was long gone. Just like that, the man everyone knew as Antonio

Perillo, vanished into thin air. After that, Ben fled across the country, eventually landing in the small town of Livermore, California. There, he landed a job at a local ranch, a cushy gig where he could live and work on the property, and as usual, everyone there knew him by an assumed name, Robert Gonzalez. Ben liked life on the ranch where he did carpentry work and tended to goats. He loved being outside and could spend hours in the field enjoying his surroundings. His boss was a kind man named Dave Williams, and the two got along easily. Soon, Ben made a second friend, a neighbor and fellow rancher, 49-year-old Barbara Mischalski. In her many visits to see Dave, she noticed Ben and sensed that he needed some guidance. She took him under her wing,

teaching him more about goats and farming. Their relationship was more motherly than romantic, but that didn't stop Ben's obsessive tendencies from creeping in. However, before he could pursue Barbara, Ben's life took a sudden turn. In late 1991, Ben got sick. At first, it seemed like he'd just been hit by the common cold, but then he caught a fever he couldn't shake. Within days, he was struggling to breathe. So Barbara took him to the hospital. Doctors initially diagnosed him with tuberculosis, but more tests revealed something far more serious. Ben tested positive for HIV. In the 1990s, an HIV diagnosis was extremely serious and came with a lot stigma from communities who shunned and demonized HIV positive people. Ben had always been able to

outrun his problems by changing his name and moving to a new city, but now, faced with an incurable disease, he was scared and confused. But for perhaps the first time in his life, he had a group of people supporting him. Everyone at the ranch offered to help Ben in some way or another, but Barbara was particularly generous, driving him to doctor's appointments whenever he needed. Barbara was the silver lining of Ben's diagnosis. His favorite part of the day was hopping into Barbara's white pickup truck for a ride to the hospital. Of course, to Ben, this act of kindness was something much more serious. It felt like destiny.

In his mind, he and Barbara were soulmates, meant to spend the rest of their lives together. And Ben didn't plan on letting the love of his life slip through his fingers. Coming up, Ben's final shocking murder and the nationwide hunt for a killer. Transport your senses with Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection. At Sephora, spritz on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp sea breeze with Hefresco Paraiso. Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with chiqui bikini. Or caps for sun-kissed bliss with limonada gelada, where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora.

This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book-to-screen favorites you've already read twice. Off-campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen.

Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Now back to the story. By the spring of 1992, 32-year-old Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez was surrounded by a community of ranchers in Livermore, California. These were kind people who looked after Ben following his HIV diagnosis, but they had no idea that their friend, Robert, was not who he claimed to be, and it would be too late before they realized their mistake. Even before his diagnosis, 49-year-old Barbara Moshalski paid specially.

attention to Ben. Then, after he started getting treatment, she went above and beyond. She frequently checked in on him and drove him to appointments, and Ben mistook her friendliness for love. Earlier, we discussed Ben's behavior through the lens of a love addiction, but his need to be loved, not just love other people, points to an even rarer psychiatric syndrome called erotomania. Many experts dispute whether or not erotomania should be considered its own syndrome. But its characteristics feel all too relevant to Ben's story to leave out. A 2020 paper published in BMC psychiatry explains that erotomania can occur when a person believes they are loved by another to the point of delusion. This love giver is typically from a

higher social status or a better place in life than the delusional subject. The paper explains that people with erotomania, especially men, can show aggressive or violent behavior, when trying to preserve the fantasy that they are loved. This tracks with Ben's violent actions earlier in his life. Now that he had a new fixation, Ben didn't just want to love Barbara. He needed her to love him back, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Ben spent all his free time at Barbara's ranch, showing up unannounced and being rude to her husband, Jim. He called her from payphones and even requested his paycheck in quarters so that he could spend the money on his calls.

During these conversations, he'd whisper sexually inappropriate things that made Barbara very uncomfortable. Eventually, she unplugged her landline. After that, Barbara distanced herself from Ben, but not entirely. He still relied on her to take him to get treated for HIV, and she felt like she couldn't abandon someone in need, so she continued to see him when it was necessary. That's why, on April 9, 1992, Barbara drove to Dave Williams Ranch to pick up Ben. He was alone on the property, but in a terrible mood, brooding and sulking. As soon as he got into her truck, he begged her to leave her husband and run away with him.

Like every woman before her, Barbara said no. But Ben knew how to handle this type of rejection and had come prepared. He pulled out a butcher's knife from Dave's kitchen and drove it into Barbara's chest. She screamed with pain, but Ben wasn't done. He stabbed Barbara 22 times, and mutilated her face with the weapon. Once Barbara was dead, Ben threw her body in the back of her own truck and covered her with hay before closing the camper shell.

That way, the corpse was hidden from curious eyes, and Ben was free to go to his doctor's appointment as if nothing had happened. We're not sure how, but Ben went to and from his appointment without raising any suspicion. Then he returned to the ranch in the early afternoon and found Barbara's truck exactly where he'd left it. He climbed into the driver's seat and pulled out of the driveway. His plan was simple. Leave the town of Livermore forever.

He just needed a place to abandon the truck first. But that was easier said than done. Barbara was well liked in the community, so her disappearance was noted immediately. Within a few hours, her husband Jim was searching the property and calling neighbors getting nowhere. However, Jim Oshalski knew who was to blame

for his missing wife. After months of harassment, it couldn't be anyone else. It had to be Robert Gonzalez. But when he called the police and told him his theory, they couldn't find any record of that name in their system. All that Jim could do was offer descriptions of Ben, Barbara, and her truck. The police published this information in local papers, hoping that it would help in the search, but there wasn't much else to go on. Once again, Ben's collection of false identities saved him from detection. After two days of constant driving, Ben arrived at San Francisco International Airport. He parked Barbara's car in a parking garage, sloppily cleaned the blood from the seats, then walked away. From there, he traveled to Sacramento, where he stayed with a friend and

kept a low profile. But Ben hadn't done a good job of hiding the evidence. On April 12, 1992, three days after the murder, a couple coming back from vacation noticed the truck parked alone in the airport's garage. They recognized it from a description in the local paper and called the police. When law enforcement arrived, they confirmed it was Barbara's pickup and opened the camper shell. The gut-wrenching stench of rot washed over them as they came face to face with Barbara's decaying corpse. The police swept the truck for fingerprints, taking samples back to the lab for analysis. Comparing it to public records, forensics found a match. Ben's real name, had been entered into the system only once for the 1984 stabbing,

but once was all they needed. They finally knew the name of the man they were looking for, Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez. But this wasn't the only discovery that the police made. Using Ben's lone fingerprint sample, they started finding matches to other crimes. By the time law enforcement had amassed all of their findings, they had a list of 14 names all belonging to one person.

Ben had used different identities to hide from the police for years, but finally, the authorities could see the extent of his crimes, and now the hunt was on. For weeks, authorities searched in vain, following leads with no ends. Then on June 17, 1992, over a month after the murder, Ben contacted his HIV counselor. He was behind on medication and called to ask where he could find treatment in Arizona. By this point, even this specialist had heard about Ben's crimes.

He knew that his patient was wanted for murder. So after calmly giving Ben the information, he immediately phoned the police. Now that Ben had crossed state lines, state authorities called in the FBI. The team also decided to share Ben's description with the public, just in case he tried to skip town again. He was too dangerous to let slip through their fingers again, and they knew just how to get the word out. Under the suggestion of law enforcement, prime suspect, and America's Most Wanted

aired episodes that focused on Ben and Barbara's story. As these programs aired on national television, authorities in New York realized that Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez fit the exact description of Antonio Perillo, the man who killed Yvonne Housley a year and a half prior. In early 1993, Los Angeles police also tied Ben to the murder of Dondy Johnson. Ben's lawyer, William McKinney, even helped the authorities on this case. He told the police about Ben's admission of guilt, effectively linking him to the crime. But as a lawyer, William couldn't testify against his own client, which meant that the only way to tie Ben to the crime would be a confession.

On April 25, 1993, Ben reached out to a friend in San Diego, and he had some favors to ask. He needed a place to stay, some cash, a fake ID, and a ride to Mexico. Unbeknownst to Ben, his friend had just seen him on an episode of Prime Suspect, so after telling Ben that he would help him out, the friend hung up and immediately contacted local law enforcement. While Ben prepared to flee the country, authorities prepped his friend for a sting operation. The police told him to arrange a meeting place in a large public space. The following day, Ben showed up at San Diego's Aztec Theater, anxious to get the items he needed

to escape, but instead he walked straight into a swarm of police officers. In a swift motion, the cops apprehended Ben, placing him under arrest for the murder of Barbara Michalski. After a long manhunt, authorities hoped Ben's trial would move quickly. He was a public face by now, and the evidence, at least in Barbara's case, was clearly against him. But Ben refused to accept his fate. Behind bars at the Santa Rita jail, Ben started hurting him. himself. He stuck pencils and metal rods into his body so deeply that he needed surgery to get them removed. His repeat hospitalizations kept him out of the courts, delaying his trial again and again. However, Ben didn't just hurt himself. In 1994, he escaped from a cell and attacked a fellow

inmate in the shower, sending the man to the hospital. A year later, Ben assaulted his own lawyer, stabbing the man in the neck with a pencil. His unrelenting violence quickly earned a him a new nickname, The Savage. But Ben's behavior couldn't keep him away from court forever, and in the fall of 1998, his trial finally began. Immediately, the court proceedings became a spectacle. Every day, Ben would arrive in a wheelchair with his hands and feet shackled to prevent him from hurting himself or others.

He also had a gag in his mouth and a large mesh-like hood draped over his face to keep him from biting people. He would often nash the inside of his cheek and spit blood of the people around him, supposedly in an attempt to spread his HIV. While HIV can be spread through blood transfer and in some extreme cases, biting, it would be very difficult to spread HIV by spitting blood. For many communities, the gag and the mesh hood were seen as an overreaction that furthered the stigma against people with HIV.

But the court was unwilling to remove these restraints. They believed that Ben was too deep. dangerous to risk it. Because of Ben's violent behavior and the scandal that surrounded him, the court proceedings moved incredibly slowly. But on December 8, 1998, six years after his arrest, Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez confessed to killing Barbara Mashalski. He even implied his role in the other murders, saying, I'm very, very capable of killing somebody, and I know how to kill somebody. During his trial, Ben's viciousness easily convinced the jury that he was a man. Venice to society. Two days after his confession, he was declared guilty of Barbara's murder.

After the verdict, Ben was transferred to Corcoran, a maximum security prison in Southern California. There, he sat in a cell across from the infamous Charles Manson. Within the prison walls, Ben quickly gained a fame of his own. He continued to lash out at his fellow prisoners, which earned him the unofficial title of Most Dangerous Inmate. As of this recording, 62-year-old Ben is still alive in California, where he is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Even after all these years, it's impossible to forget the sheer brutality of Benjamin Gonzalez's crimes. He may have been able to bury the memory and hide within another identity, but those left behind can't forget what he did. What's that saying? A monster by any other name is still a monster.

Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode. For more information on Benjamin Pedro Gonzalez, amongst the many sources we used, we found Savage by Scott Robert extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all are the Spotify Originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. The executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler, sound designed by Juan Borda, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich.

This episode of Serial Killers was written by Kit Fitzgerald, with writing assistance by Georgia Hampton and Joel Callan, fact-checking by Haley Milliken, and research by Brian Petris. Serial Killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. You aren't supposed to know about them. they want you to. Powerful groups with their own very specific agendas. And if you find yourself on the inside, good luck getting out. Hi, I'm Hannah Maguire. And I'm Sarutibala. Join us every Tuesday for our new Spotify original from Parkast, Sinister Societies. Whether it's doomsday predictions, deadly greed or world domination. Each week, we're exposing the beliefs and actions

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