James Munro / Accomplice of The Freeway Killer / His 8 Chapter Booked Penned From His Cell

18 year old James Munro was a homeless drifter. He had been evicted from his own family in Michigan in the early 1980’s and was now living on the streets of Hollywood. So, when William George Bonin invited him to move into the apartment he shared with his mother on Downey Street, Munro quickly accepted. James would later describe Bonin as being ‘ a bit odd but a good guy.’

Then on the evening of June 1, 1980, James Munro discovered just how odd William Bonin could be. William abruptly informed James that he intended for the two of them to abduct, rape and kill a teenage hitchhiker. Munro thought he was kidding. But, on June 2, 1980, that’s exactly what they did. It was also the night that James Michael Munro learned, firsthand, that he was in fact living with the California Freeway Killer.

James Michael Munro tells the tale of that day in a short, 8 chapter “book” entitled ‘In the Eyes of a Killer’, that he penned from his cell. His intent? To tell the world that he was there but he’s not a killer.

It was June 2nd 1980, and William Bonin was at work with his roommate James Munro. The day was ending and they were on their way home when Bonin saw a hitchhiker on the other side of the street. Bonin pulled over, Munro opened the side door of the van, Steven Wells got in and closed the door. Bonin asked him where was he headed. Steve indicated that he was on his way home, just down the street a bit. So Bonin, Munro, and Wells were on their way. While they were driving down the road Bonin asked Wells, “Hey, what do you think of gays?” Steven Wells replied, “Oh, they’re okay because I’m a bi-sexual.” Bonin replied, “Oh really,” and immediately pulled the van to the curb.

Bonin then told Munro to drive to the house. He got in the back of the van with Wells, and Munro headed to Angel Street. When they arrived at the Bonin home, all three got out of the van, and went inside. Just then Munro came out, got back in the van, and took off to go to the store. While he was going down the road, a cop stopped him, and asked him what was he doing in the middle of the road. Munro replied, “I dropped some tapes, and I am on the way to the store.” The cop asked me if I had a license, and I told him, “No, I only got a Michigan license.” He told me to take the van home until I had an adult driver. I told him I was 18, and he told me in California I had to be 21.

Well I got back home to Bonin’s and I went inside. Bonin came up to me, and asked me what happened. I told him, and he said that we would go to the store later. Bonin then asked me if I wanted to come in the bedroom, and join in on the fun with Wells. I told him no – that all I wanted to do was watch TV. I went into the living room and watched TV while Bonin was having sex with Wells.

Just then Bonin came into the living room, and told me to follow him. So I did. He went back to Wells, and asked him how would he like to make $200. Wells said, ” Ya, how?” Bonin told him that he knew a guy that liked to have sex with guys tied up, and Wells said, “Okay, it could be fun.” Bonin went into the kitchen and got some rope. He came back into the bedroom and tied Wells up. Then he went back into the kitchen, and this time I followed him into the kitchen. I told Bonin, “Hey, you ain’t going to hurt him are you?” He said, “Hey, it’s too late. I already got him tied up. So I’m going to kill him.” I followed him back into the bedroom, and he jumped on the bed and hit Wells in the chest, and told him he was going to do what he said, or he was going to kill him. Wells pleaded for his life.

Then Bonin told me to go get his clothing. I thought that he was going to give back his clothing and let him go. Little did I know that he was serious about killing him. Bonin took Wells t-shirt, put it around Steven Wells neck, and twisted it until he started to jump around. During all this time I was right there freaking out because I never saw anything like this before in my life. Bonin ordered me to hold his feet. I did not know why, because I did not know what the hell I was doing – until Bonin explained it to me after the murder. Then Wells stopped moving around, and Bonin turned him over, and his face was blue.

I asked Bonin why his face was blue, and he told me it was because he was dead. I said, “Dead, what do you mean dead?” He said, “Hey relax. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll take the blame if we get caught. Okay, relax.” So I started to relax. He took me into the living room – after he took the body, put it in the van, and covered it up with a tarp. When that was done he told me he was going to wait until it was dark to dump the body, and that he wanted to talk to me. I went into the living room with him and we sat down.

Bonin told me that he was the “Freeway Killer,” that he had other partners out there who helped him kill, and that he killed 45 people. I got scared, and started to cry again. He came up to me and told me to stop crying because he was not going to hurt me unless I ran, or called the police.

So we got in the van, and drove over to the home of Vernon Butts – his other crime partner in Downey. He was 6 feet tall, white, and must have weighed about 140 pounds. As we went up to the door we knocked, and Butts came out dressed in a Darth Vader uniform like the Star Wars movie. We went inside and Bonin told Butts, “This is Jim Munro and he is my new partner.” Butts said, “Hi” and showed me all the people he killed. He showed me a closet containing 21 ID cards of all the victims that he killed. Bonin then told Butts to come look at what we did. So we all went out to the van. Bonin uncovered the body, and Butts replied, “Oh how nice. You got another one.” Then Bonin asked Butts, “Hey do you want to come with us or do you want to stay here and watch the news?” Butts told Bonin that he would stay at the house. Bonin told Butts if he saw anything on the news to call him.

So we were on our way to Huntington Beach. When we arrived, we pulled into a closed Mobil gas station, dumped the body behind the gas station, and then took off. Then we went on our way home. As we were driving home – we stopped off at McDonalds, went to the drive thru window, and got some hamburgers.

When we got home we sat down . Bonin was eating a burger, looked up in the sky and said, “Thanks Steve,” then looked down and said, “Thanks Steve,” and then looked at me and said, “Where ever you are at,” and started to laugh. Then he told me he was getting tired and wanted to go to bed. We went into his bedroom and he got into his bed, and I got into mine. Then he turned off the lights. I got up and turned the lights back on, and he asked me what was the matter. I told him I did not trust him, and I did not want him to kill me. He got up, came over to me, and told me, “I know a way you can trust me.” I asked him, “How?” He said, “Let me tie you up. So you will know that I will not kill you.” I let him tie me up the same way that he tied up Wells. Then he told me that he could kill me, and that there was nothing I could do. I started to cry, and I pleaded for my life like Wells did.

He started to laugh, and told me that he was not going to kill me. But if I ever ran from him he would kill me, and that if he could not get me – his partners would. I told him okay, and that I would not run. So he untied me. The next morning I went to work with him at the Dependable Drive Away trucking company, waited until he was on a run, and I took off and ran away to Michigan. I was so scared. I did not want Bonin, or his partners, to get me. I could not believe what I had gotten myself into. It was like a murder movie. Like Friday the 13th, and this time it was for real. I could not get it out of my mind. I wanted it to all end, but I did not know how. I finally got back to Michigan, and I stayed low for awhile until June 13th 1980 – when I heard that Bonin was arrested for murder.