A Monster Among Us

In this empty space there used to sit a house; a house where some very unusal things had occurred. More than likely passerby's who see this empty lot have no idea the devastating history behind it. In 1987 a house sitting here belonged to a 30 year old man named Bill Benefiel. Benefiel captured dozens of women, taking them back to this residence and torturing them. He would glue their eyes shut, shave them bald, sometimes cut off their fingernails and torture them until death. He got away with this for a long time before being disovered by the now retired Police Chief Gerald Loudermilk and detectives Greg McCoy and Joe Newport. Bill Benefiel was accused of murder in 1988 by Judge Michael Eldred. The defendant claimed that he wanted "to die as soon as I can." A family friend of mine, Chris Gambill was a part of his defense attorney attempting to give him life in prison rather than the death penalty. Benefiel stated that he did not agree with or intend to help them. Bill Benefiel was sentenced to death on November 3rd, 1988. Knowing the history of this lot on South 13 1/2 Street makes me slightly eery of traveling past it like I have so many times on my way to campus.

The Neighbor I Never Knew

As I was reading a particular entry in "American Hometown" for my English class, I suddenly realized something. I was reading about my own home. Not only the home I am living in now, but all the houses in my neighborhood. Darrell D. Donham was the man Roznowski was discussing in this part of his book. He built a home on 465 Barton Ave, just one block north of the home I've lived in all my life. Suddenly he began speaking of the homes one block south of that house, describing the walkways, porches, and layouts of the houses. He was describing my house to a tee! This intrigued me to see what house it was that Darrell Donham had built.



This wood frame house is still standing along with the detached garage Mr. Donham built to keep his pickup truck in that he wished so badly to have. Finding out that Darrell's son occupied this house until his death in 2006 makes me regret not meeting this man who lived so close to me, although I still feel priviliged that I now know the history behind this house that I've been driving past for 21 years.