Adam Leroy Lane

Last updated
Adam Leroy Lane
Adam Leroy Lane (murderer).png
Booking photo c.2008
Born (1964-08-07) August 7, 1964 (age 59)
Other namesThe Highway Killer
Spouses
Miriam M. Benge
(div. 1993)
  • Regina Lane
Children3
Conviction(s)
  • 1 count of Assault
  • 2 counts of murder
  • 3 counts of attempted murder
Criminal penalty
  • 25 – 30 years for Assault in Massachusetts
  • 50 years for murder in New Jersey
  • 10 – 20 years for attempted murder
  • Life imprisonment for murder in Pennsylvania
Details
Victims2 killed, 3 survived
Span of crimes
July 13   July 30, 2007
CountryUnited States
State(s) Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts
Date apprehended
30 July 2007
Imprisoned at State Correctional Institution, Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Adam Leroy Lane (born August 6, 1964) is a convicted murderer who was dubbed the Highway Killer because his crimes took place near the highway, which he frequently traveled due to his job as a trucker.

Contents

Murders

Lane was born on August 6, 1964, in Jonesville, North Carolina. He dropped out of high school and later acquired a job as a truck driver and occasional chicken-plant worker. [1] [2] [3] He lived in a trailer with his wife and three daughters. [4]

Lane committed the murders while he made his way through the Northeastern United States during the summer of 2007. He had a DVD in his truck of the 2002 horror film Hunting Humans , about a serial killer who stalks his victims before killing them with a knife. [1] He also carried two large hunting knives, choke wire, and a leather mask with the eyes and mouth cut out. [5] [1]

His first known victim was 42-year-old Darlene Ewalt, who lived in a suburban home in West Hanover Township, Dauphin County, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. [4] [6] She was stabbed and killed at around 2 AM on 13 July 2007. [7] [8] At the time, she was talking on the telephone on her patio. [1] Lane slit her throat and stabbed her to death with a long knife [1] while her family was inside the house. [4]

Lane's second victim was a woman named Patricia Brooks, whom he stabbed on 17 July 2007 in Conewago Township, in rural York County, Pennsylvania, as she was sleeping on her couch. [1] [8] She survived. [7] [4]

His third victim was a 38-year-old woman in her duplex in Bloomsbury, New Jersey, by the name of Monica Massaro. [1] He cut her throat and stabbed her in the head, neck, and chest, and killed her in her bedroom a day before he committed his final crime. [7] [8]

His final crime transpired when he made a stop on I-495 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, broke into a house on 30 July 2007, and while clad in all-black with a mask and gloves attacked 15-year-old Shea McDonough with a 15-inch hunting knife. [1] [9] [3] Her parents, Jeannie and Kevin McDonough, awoke at 4 am to the sounds of her struggling. [9] Her 135-pound mother and 160-pound father were able to subdue the 245-pound Lane and wrestle the knife he was carrying away from him, though the mother suffered knife cuts. Chelmsford Police were contacted, arrived at the scene where the father was holding him in a headlock, and arrested him. [5] [7] [3]

While it has been speculated by law enforcement authorities that he has been involved with other murders in other parts of the country due to his extensive trucking routes, this has not been proven. He has refused to comment to police or the general public about this speculation.

Investigation

Lane was linked to Ewalt by DNA on his knife. He was linked to Brooks similarly. [7] [10] Police also discovered gloves with his DNA and one of his victim's blood. [11]

Trials and imprisonment

Lane received a 25–30 year sentence in Massachusetts for the attack on Shea McDonough. [7]

New Jersey sentenced him to 50 years for the murder of Monica Massaro. [12]

In Pennsylvania, Lane pleaded guilty in order to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to 10–20 years for the attempted murder of the woman in York County, and to life for the murder of Darlene Ewalt. [12] He is serving his sentences in State Correctional Institution – Fayette.

In the media

The story has been presented in the Dateline NBC series (original air date 3 August 2009) [13] and 48 Hours Mystery episode, "Live to Tell: Hunting Humans" (original air date 26 February 2011),. [14] The case also featured in episode 2, season 2, of Nightmare Next Door and the episode 5, season 7, of Castle .

In 2013 Shea McDonough told her story in a documentary titled I Survived A Serial Killer. [15]

Also, it was featured in Reader's Digest July 2011 in an article entitled "Caught in the Act." Also in Season 1 of The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead , episode 2 titled "Call the Coroner" (original air date 25 July 2016).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrei Chikatilo</span> Soviet serial killer (1936–1994)

Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo was a Soviet serial killer nicknamed the Butcher of Rostov, the Rostov Ripper, and the Red Ripper who sexually assaulted, murdered, and mutilated at least fifty-two women and children between 1978 and 1990 in the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Uzbek SSR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Sutcliffe</span> English serial killer (1946–2020)

Peter William Sutcliffe, also known as Peter Coonan, was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. He was dubbed in press reports as the Yorkshire Ripper, an allusion to the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper. He was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment, which were converted to a whole life order in 2010. Two of Sutcliffe's murders took place in Manchester; all the others were in West Yorkshire. Criminal psychologist Dr. David Holmes characterised Sutcliffe as being an "extremely callous, sexually sadistic serial killer."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Lee Lucas</span> American murderer (1936–2001)

Henry Lee Lucas, also known as The Confession Killer, was an American convicted murderer. Lucas was convicted of murdering his mother in 1960 and two others in 1983. He rose to infamy as a claimed serial killer while incarcerated for these crimes when he falsely confessed to approximately six hundred other murders to Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officials. Many unsolved cases were closed based on the confessions and the murders officially attributed to Lucas. Lucas was convicted of murdering eleven people and condemned to death for a single case with a then-unidentified victim, later identified as Debra Jackson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hansen</span> American serial killer (1939–2014)

Robert Christian Boes Hansen, popularly known as the Butcher Baker, was an American serial killer active in Anchorage, Alaska, between 1972 and 1983. Hansen abducted, raped and murdered at least seventeen women, many of whom he hunted in the wilderness with a Ruger Mini-14 and a Hunting Knife. Hansen was captured in 1983 and sentenced to 461 years' imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He died in 2014 of natural causes at age 75.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Henry Gaskins</span> American serial killer

Donald Henry "Pee Wee" Gaskins Jr. was an American serial killer and rapist from South Carolina who stabbed, shot, drowned, and poisoned more than a dozen people. Before his convictions for murder, Gaskins had a long history of criminal activities resulting in prison sentences for assault, burglary, and statutory rape. His last arrest was for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, 13-year-old Kim Ghelkins, who had gone missing in September 1975. During their search for the missing girl, police discovered eight bodies buried in shallow graves near Gaskins's home in Prospect, South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Lynn Sells</span> American serial killer

Tommy Lynn Sells was an American serial killer. Though convicted of only one murder, for which he received the death penalty and was eventually executed, authorities believe he committed a total of 22 murders. Sells himself claimed on various occasions to have murdered over 70 people.

William MacDonald was an English serial killer responsible for the deaths of five people in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales between 1961 and 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dayton Leroy Rogers</span> American killer

Dayton Leroy Rogers is an American serial killer who has been tied to the murders of at least eight women. He preferred "street" women, usually addicts, sex workers, and runaways. The bodies of six of the women were found at a dump site located on privately owned forest lands outside Molalla, Oregon, and thus he was dubbed the "Molalla Forest Murderer".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Leroy Evans</span> American serial killer

Donald Leroy Evans was an American serial killer who murdered at least three people from 1985 to 1991. He was known for confessing to killing victims at parks and rest areas across more than twenty U.S. states.

Montie Ralph Rissell, also known as Monte, is an American serial killer and rapist who raped and murdered five women between 1976 and 1977 in Alexandria, Virginia, where he lived.

Marco Metzler is a German serial killer, who attacked women on the highways between Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia from 2003 to 2006, raping four and killing three of them.

Nikolai Arkadievich Dudin, known as The Grim Maniac, is a Soviet-Russian serial killer who killed 13 people in the town of Furmanov between 1987 and 2002.

Dr. No is the nickname given to a suspected American serial killer thought to be responsible for the murders of at least nine women and girls in Ohio, between 1981 and 1990. As victims, Dr. No primarily chose prostitutes working in parking lots and truck stops located alongside Interstate 71. There are suspicions that he committed three similar killings in New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania, between 1986 and 1988.

James Jerold Koedatich is an American serial killer who was sentenced to death for the killings of two women in Morris County, New Jersey, which he committed during the final months of 1982, after having been previously paroled for the 1971 murder of his roommate in Florida. Koedatich had killed a fellow inmate in 1973, but that was ruled to be self-defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leroy Snyder</span> American serial killer

Leroy Snyder was an American serial killer who committed the murders of seven people in Camden, New Jersey over seven months in 1969. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole, but he died in 2001 while imprisoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Masini</span> Italian-American serial killer

Frank Masini is an Italian-American convicted serial killer and necrophile who murdered four elderly people in Ocean and Essex County, New Jersey, between November 1991 and November 1992. He pleaded guilty in April 1993 and is serving life in prison at New Jersey State Prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Eichinger</span> American serial killer

John Charles Eichinger is an American serial killer who was convicted of killing three women and one child from 1999 to 2005 in Pennsylvania, which he committed after two of the victims had rejected his romantic advances. He was handed three death sentences for the latter murders and one life sentence for the former and is currently awaiting execution.

Shim Young-gu was a South Korean serial killer who stabbed eleven people during robberies in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul from May to December 1989, killing eight and wounding three. Convicted and sentenced to death for his crimes, he was subsequently executed in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kauai serial killer</span>

The Kauai serial killer is an unidentified serial killer and rapist who murdered two women and injured another on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, between April and August of 2000. Despite a composite sketch of the perpetrator and the availability of his DNA, he was never caught, and the murders remain unsolved.

Dmitry Nikolayevich Kopylov', known as The Youth Maniac, is a Russian serial killer and rapist who killed four women and one man around the Chelyabinsk Oblast from 2004 to 2005. He is noted for the fact that he committed all of his crimes before reaching the age of majority, and that he is one of youngest serial killers in modern Russian history.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Hunting Humans: Serial Killer Stalks Homes Along Highways". ABC News.
  2. "Trucker sentenced in Chelmsford home invasion". December 11, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 BREED, ALLEN G. "N.C. trucker charged in attacks in Mass., N.J. facing scrutiny in other states along route". southcoasttoday.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 CALL, Matt Birkbeck OF THE MORNING (23 August 2009). "FBI database links highway killings **Pennsylvania, New Jersey state police used information to charge trucker with two murders. He has admitted slaying one woman". mcall.com.
  5. 1 2 Tresniowski, Alex (3 March 2008). "How They Caught a Killer". People. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  6. "Trucker who killed N.J. woman gets life sentence for Pennsylvania attacks". nj. Associated Press. June 29, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hepp, Rick (6 August 2008). "Trucker charged in Hunterdon killing hated women, those who knew him say". nj.com. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 Hepp, Rick (August 6, 2008). "Trucker charged in Hunterdon killing hated women, those who knew him say". nj.
  9. 1 2 "Family's capture of serial killer Adam Leroy Lane chronicled in book". pennlive. March 1, 2011.
  10. Ortega, Ralph R.; Hepp, Rick; Sapone, Patti (4 October 2008). "Trucker tells how he killed woman in Bloomsbury". nj.com. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  11. "Adam Leroy Lane Case Update". Investigation Discovery. 10 September 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Life sentence for trucker in women's deaths in Pa". philly.com. Associated Press. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  13. "A Stranger in the House". Dateline NBC. NBC. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  14. "Family under attack stops serial killer". 48 Hours Mystery. CBS News. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  15. "Breaking News - New E! Specials "I Survived a Serial Killer" & "Co-Ed Nightmares" Premiere Back-To-Back Thursday, August 22nd at 9:00pm ET/PT and 10:00pm ET/PT On E! | TheFutonCritic.com". www.thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved 2022-05-28.

Further reading