Great Basin Murders

It derives its name from the Great Basin geographical area, as most of the victims had their bodies dumped near interstate highways that transverse it.

Most victims were teenage or adult females who were sexually assaulted then murdered - either by strangulation, stabbing, or shooting - and then abandoned on hilltops, deserted expanses, snowdrifts, or rivers.

[2] This assertion has since been abandoned, as over the years it has been established that multiple unrelated serial killers operated in the area and that a majority of the killings were committed by different perpetrators.

[29] In 1997, Eaton assaulted a married couple and their five-month-old baby near Rock Springs, but the victims fiercely resisted during the attack and beat him up.

[30] At his subsequent trial, the prosecutors failed to prove his guilt with certainty, resulting in Eaton receiving a minor prison sentence.

During this time, a blood sample was taken from Eaton, and in July 2002, DNA testing determined that his genotypic profile matched the traces of seminal fluid found on the body of Lisa Kimmell.

[31] On July 29, during an inspection of his property in Moneta, Kimmell's car was found buried in the ground at a depth of about 2 meters, which heavily strengthened suspicions against Eaton.

This version was rebuked by investigators, who claimed that Eaton had accidentally come across Kimmell's car on a deserted highway in Wyoming, then climbed into it during a traffic stop and forced her to drive to his property at gunpoint.

In addition, Eaton remains a suspect in other cases, including the disappearance of 24-year-old Amy Wroe Bechtel, who went missing from Lander, Wyoming, on July 24, 1997.

The woman, nicknamed "Starr Valley Jane Doe", had been murdered months prior to discovery, having been shot twice in the head with a .22 caliber handgun.

Like other victims of the Great Basin Killer, the Jane Doe was a white female, between the ages of 17 and 25 at the time of death, about 5'5" tall, weighed about 55 kilograms and had light red hair.

Although the murders occurred 21 years apart, police assume that both cases were committed by the same individual, as he beat and shot his victims in an identical manner.

[citation needed] In March 2005, another serial killer, 59-year-old Robert Ben Rhoades, a former truck driver from Houston, Texas, became a suspect.

The body of a young girl was discovered on April 13, 1992, in Sheridan County, Wyoming, about 400 miles from where "Bitter Creek Betty" was found.

In 2020, the results of another DNA examination matched the genotypic profile of 59-year-old truck driver Clark Perry Baldwin, who was arrested on May 6 at his home in Waterloo, Iowa.

At gunpoint, Baldwin struck her over the head and then bound her mouth, legs, raped her and attempted to strangle her, but the victim was able to free herself from her restraints and escape.

[48] During the preliminary investigation, Baldwin pleaded guilty to the assault, but was later cleared of criminal responsibility after an agreement was reached with the victim, who stated that he had made amends for the harm he had caused her.

[49] After his arrest in 2020, his ex-wife told police that he had repeatedly mentioned strangling a girl in the 1990s in a western state and throwing her body out of his truck near an interstate highway.

[48] In addition to this, Iowa State Police have announced that Baldwin is a suspect in the murder of Rhonda Knutson, whose body was found at a Phillips 66 truck stop near Williamstown.

Based on the witness' testimony, police compiled two sketches of the two suspects, which were posted at approximately 1,500 truck stops in many states across the country in an effort to identify her killer(s).