Douglas Scott Zykowski, 26, was murdered after leaving Seattle with his newlywed wife Patricia Walsh in November 1989 to hitchhike to Georgia for a religious workshop. The couple were reported missing when family contact stopped. Zykowski’s body was found January 21, 1990, near Interstate 10 in Sutton County, Texas, about 30 miles east of Ozona; his remains were not identified until May 1992. Walsh’s body was recovered in central Utah by deer hunters in October 1990 and identified in 2003 via dental records and DNA.

Both were later confirmed as victims of Robert Ben Rhoades, a long-haul truck driver who was arrested in April 1990 in Arizona after a state trooper discovered him torturing a woman in his truck’s sleeper compartment. Rhoades was charged in the abductions and murders of Zykowski and Walsh and pled guilty to their murders, receiving two life sentences without parole. He has been linked to other murders and survivor rapes; his truck reportedly had a hidden compartment used to torture victims.

Anyone who knew Douglas, Patricia, or their travel plans between November 1989 and January 1990 is asked to come forward with information.