Robert Hohenberger

Robert Carl Hohenberger (1943 – May 31, 1978) was an American criminal, kidnapper and serial rapist, as well as the prime suspect in a series of murders committed against teenagers in Morgan City, Louisiana between March and May 1978. The FBI was brought in to investigate the killings, putting Hohenberger on a national wanted list, but he committed suicide before he could he apprehended.

Hohenberger was discovered by police on May 31, 1978, in Tacoma, Washington, after he tried to sell a stolen car. During an attempted arrest by four plainclothes law enforcement officers, he fiercely resisted, pulling out a .22 caliber pistol and shooting himself in the head. He was taken to the St. Joseph Medical Center, where he underwent brain surgery, but on the same day, he passed away a few hours after the surgery due to complications. The incident was subsequently recognized as a suicide.

While investigating Hohenberger's activities, it was established that he had been in Tacoma since May 23, using the alias of Frank Harris to look for work. During a search of his rented apartment, a 12-gauge shotgun and several knives were found. Based on this, Hohenberger was among the suspects in the abduction-murders of three other youths, whose killers demonstrated a similar modus operandi: two teenagers were found shot dead with a .22 pistol in Boca Raton, Florida in early 1978, as well as another youth who had been abducted from Cartersville, Georgia. A forensic ballistics test of his pistol and shell casings found at the scene of the Boca Raton murders was carried out, which concluded that Hohenberger wasn't involved in that particular case.

Little is known about Hohenberger's early life. It is known that he was born in 1943 in Indiana, but a few years after his birth, the family left the state and moved to Riverside County, California. In the mid-1960s, after meeting the local sheriff, Robert enlisted as an auxiliary police officer on a voluntary and unpaid basis. His duties included patrolling the streets in his free time from his main job, as well as monitoring the protection of citizens' rights and public order. Using his official position, he began to carry out attacks on young girls and women. In 1966, he was arrested on charges of assaulting a woman, whom he had raped at gunpoint. Hohenberger was convicted, but some of the charges were later dropped after a plea deal was made, stating that both parties had reconciled. The victim stated that Robert had made amends with her, and he promptly received a minor sentence. He was released two years later, leaving Riverside County and moving to Orange County. In 1971, he was arrested in Laguna Beach for kidnapping two girls at gunpoint, for which he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, but with a right of parole after six months. Hohenberger was sent to serve his sentence at the San Quentin State Prison, and by 1974, having established himself as a model prisoner, he was transferred to a cell with less security. On April 12, 1974, he escaped from the penitentiary; after escaping, he kidnapped 20-year-old Richard Debois and his wife Victoria, forcing them to take him to Modesto, where a friend of his lived. As he was unable to locate the house, Robert demanded the hostages take him to Los Banos. While refueling the car at a gas station next to the I-5, Debois and his wife managed to flee and report the incident to the authorities. Hohenberger was captured a few hours later and extradited to Marin County, where he was found guilty of escaping from detention. In August 1977, he was paroled yet again and returned to Riverside County, where, as the result of financial difficulties, he began to commit crimes anew. In October of the same year, he abducted a girl from Palm Desert, whom he beat and raped. The victim survived, and reported the attack to the police. In the following months, the victim identified Hohenberger as the perpetrator after a series of mugshots of sex offenders were shown to her, and so, he was put on a national wanted list. Upon learning this, Robert fled California in January 1978, succeeding in evading capture by the state authorities.