It’s one of the most disturbing images ever entered into evidence: a terrified 14-year-old girl, her hair crudely hacked off, forced into a black dress and high heels, standing alone in a dusty abandoned barn. Her eyes wide with dread. Her hands clenched. Her life measured in minutes.

The man who took the photo? Robert Ben Rhoades — a long-haul trucker who transformed his 18-wheeler into a rolling torture chamber. And the girl? Regina Kay Walters, a runaway from Pasadena, Texas, who vanished with her boyfriend Ricky Lee Jones in February 1990.

Rhoades didn’t just kill. He hunted. He staged. He documented. And for nearly 15 years, he evaded capture while preying on hitchhikers, prostitutes, and teenage runaways along America’s interstate arteries.

The photo of Regina — discovered years later in a search of Rhoades’ truck and home — became the grim centerpiece of a case that exposed one of the most sadistic serial killers in FBI history.

Regina and Ricky, both 14, had run away from troubled homes, dreaming of a new life in California. They were last seen accepting a ride from a friendly trucker near a Houston truck stop. That trucker was Rhoades — a clean-cut, articulate 45-year-old with a CB handle “Whips and Chains.”

What followed was a nightmare that ended in an Illinois barn.

Rhoades had converted the sleeper cab of his rig into a mobile dungeon. Chains dangled from the ceiling. Handcuffs were bolted to the walls. A briefcase held whips, dildos, and pliers. He called it his “travel kit.”

Investigators believe Rhoades kept Regina alive for weeks — maybe months — driving her across state lines while subjecting her to repeated rape, beatings, and psychological torment. He shaved her head, forced her into outfits from his collection, and photographed her in poses of submission.

The barn photo was his final act of dominance. He made her stand on a wooden crate, told her to look at the camera, and snapped the shutter. Then he strangled her with baling wire and dumped her body in the structure. Ricky Jones was likely killed earlier — his remains never found.

Rhoades was finally stopped on April 1, 1990, thanks to an Arizona state trooper with a hunch.

Trooper Mike Miller pulled over Rhoades’ rig on I-40 for a expired registration. As he approached, he heard muffled screaming from inside the cab. A naked woman — 25-year-old Lisa Pennal — was chained to the door, begging for help. Rhoades tried to explain it away as “consensual play.” Miller wasn’t buying it.

A search of the truck revealed the torture kit, Polaroids of bruised and bound women, and a notebook with names, dates, and locations. One photo showed a woman later identified as Zyshia Renee Knight, another victim. But it was the image of the terrified girl in the black dress that stopped detectives cold.

Using missing persons reports, the FBI identified Regina Kay Walters. Dental records confirmed her body had been found in September 1990 — six months after her disappearance — in that same Illinois barn. She’d been posed postmortem, her hands arranged in a prayer position.

Rhoades was charged with abduction, rape, and attempted murder in Arizona. But Illinois and Texas wanted him for murder.

In 1994, Rhoades pleaded guilty to Regina’s murder to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to life without parole at Menard Correctional Center. But investigators knew there were more.

Over the next decade, Rhoades was linked to at least three confirmed killings and suspected in up to 50. His pattern was chillingly consistent:

Target young runaways or sex workers at truck stops.
Offer a ride, food, or money.
Subdue with handcuffs or a gun.
Torture over days or weeks in the truck.
Kill and dump the body hundreds of miles away.

Among the known victims:

Ricky Lee Jones, 14 — presumed murdered with Regina.
Patricia Candace Walsh, 24, and her husband Douglas Zysling, 30 — killed in 1990 after accepting a ride in Utah.
Zyshia Renee Knight, 21 — body found in Texas in 1990.

Rhoades kept meticulous records. A map in his truck had pins marking dump sites. A logbook listed “pickups” with mile markers. One entry read simply: “Girl, 16, red hair — Kansas, 3 days.”

FBI profiler Robert Ressler interviewed Rhoades in prison. “He saw himself as a collector,” Ressler later wrote. “The girls weren’t people — they were props in his fantasy.”

Rhoades refused to cooperate fully, but in 2005, he led Texas authorities to a field where he claimed to have buried another victim. No body was found. Cold case detectives still work the files.

The Regina photo — released to the public in blurred form to protect dignity — became a symbol of predatory evil. It’s been featured in true crime documentaries, forensic textbooks, and victim advocacy campaigns. Her father, Roy Walters, spoke to Fox News in 2015: “That picture haunts me every day. But it also keeps her memory alive. She was a kid with dreams. He stole everything.”

Truck stop culture came under scrutiny. The “lot lizard” trade — prostitution at rest areas — made women easy targets. Rhoades exploited it masterfully. After his arrest, the Trucking Industry Association pushed for better lighting, security cameras, and driver background checks.

Rhoades, now 79, remains in an Illinois prison. He’s eligible for elderly parole in 2035 — a prospect that enrages victims’ families. “He should rot,” said Regina’s sister, Rhonda Walters. “That man is pure evil.”

The barn where Regina died was demolished in 2018. A cornfield now grows in its place. But the photo endures — a frozen scream from a girl who never came home.

As one FBI agent put it: “Rhoades didn’t just kill bodies. He killed hope.”