Born
31 Jan 1961, Seattle, King County, Washington

Death
29 Apr 1980, Los Angeles County, California

Tragically, Darin Kendrick was one of the victims of California serial murderer, William Bonin who was convicted of the rape, torture and murder of 14 boys and young men between 1968 and 1980. Known as “The Freeway Killer”, he was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in 1996. Prosecutors portrayed him as “the most arch-evil person who ever existed.” Although he was found guilty of 14 murders, he confessed to 21 and is suspected of even more.

On April 29, 1980, 19-year-old Darin Kendrick was encountered by Bonin and Butts at his workplace in Stanton. Bonin lured Kendrick into the van on the pretext of selling him drugs. Bonin then drove to Butts’ apartment in Lakewood. There, he asked Kendrick whether he was gay. Kendrick attempted to flee but Bonin and Butts bounded him, and Butts sodomized him. Bonin raised the volume of Butts’ sound system to cover Kendrick’s screams. Butts then held Kendrick’s mouth open while Bonin poured chloral hydrate down his throat, causing him to sustain caustic chemical burns. Kendrick fought his attackers, but stopped, before complaining of dizziness. Bonin then strangled him, and Butts drove an ice pick into his ear, fatally wounding his cervical spinal cord. His body was discarded behind a warehouse close to the Artesia Freeway.