Savage

In February, 1989, Los Angeles college coed Dondi Johnson was viciously knifed to death and set afire by James Angel. In March, 1991, in a New York City strip club, dancer Yvonne Hausley, 22, was hacked to death by Tony Perillo. In April, 1992, near California's famous Livermore labs, fortyish Barbara Muszalski died screaming under the blade of handyman "Robert" Gonzales. In all three cases, the alleged killer was the same person: fiendish, frenzied Benjamin Pedro Gonzales. A gang banger and loan shark enforcer too violent for his gambler bosses, Gonzales had become a rootless drifter criss-crossing the U.S. on a rage-fuelled killing spree. His signature technique was multiple stab wounds to his victims' faces, especially in the eyes. Profilers determined that his ultra-violent killings gave him a kind of sexual release. Sparked by TV coverage, including a segment on America's Most Wanted, an intensive nationwide manhunt raced to find Gonzales before he killed again. Once caught, he threatened to turn the justice system upside-down by feigning madness to delay his trial. Yet, none of his crazy-like-a-fox tricks could save him from drawing a life sentence in California's maximum security prison at Corcoran, where he occupies a cell opposite Charles Manson, and where his jailers call him "the most dangerous inmate."