Homosexual men were being murdered in bunches from 1975 to 1977, dumped unceremoniously along highways between Los Angeles and the Mexican border. The investigation centered on Patrick Wayne Kearney, an electronics engineer from Los Angeles who looked nothing like the stereotypical Serial Killer with his glasses and harmless demeanor. Wanted by police along with aquaintance David Hill, who was never charged with any crime related to the murders, Kearney's reign of death ended when he simply strolled into the Redondo Beach police station and gave himself up.

Kearney plead guilty to killing three men and was sentenced to life in prison. Authorites knew there were many more and offered Kearney a deal. He would recieve no death sentence in exchange for the complete list of victims. The slayer eventually confessed and plead guilty to eighteen more killings, directing the law to victims that were previously undiscovered. Kearney also admitted to another eleven murders that he was never prosecuted for, bringing his grand total to 32 killings.