Fred Willis
Murderer
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- Gender
- male
- Country
- USA
- Location
- Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
- Date of birth
- March 27, 1951
- Age at first offence
- 33
- Characteristics
- rape
- Victim profile
- Bonnie Ann Woods, 25 / Zabrina Seaborn, 24 (strippers and call girls)
- Method of murder
- Strangulation
- Date(s) of murder
- 1984 / 1997
- Years active
- 1984–1997
- Date of arrest
- —
- Status
-
Life imprisonment
Sentenced to life in prison in 1985; paroled in 1995; sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1998
Background
Fred Willis murdered a stripper and call girl named Bonnie Ann Woods on December 21, 1984, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Two years later, Zabrina Seaborn, 24, a stripper and call girl from Long Beach, California, was found semi-nude and strangled with her own dress strap; her body was dumped in a Las Vegas alley.
Both the Woods and Seaborn murders seemed to have been sexually motivated.
The offence
Bonnie Ann Woods was found nude and strangled to death in a motel room.
Zabrina Seaborn was found semi-nude and strangled with her own dress strap; her body was dumped in a Las Vegas alley.
Investigation
Police turned up little evidence until a videotape was reviewed showing Seaborn at a gambling table the night before she died with a "burly man".
Police disseminated photos taken from the poor quality tape to the public, and several people contacted them and identified the man in the photo as Fred Willis.
Police developed enough physical evidence to tie Willis to the Seaborn crime and he was arrested in October 1987.
Arrest
Fred Willis was arrested in October 1987.
Trial
The following year after the Woods murder, Willis pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
In return for the prosecution's dropping rape charges in the Seaborn case, Willis was allowed to plead guilty to murder.
Sentencing
Willis was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1985.
He was paroled in 1995, having served a little over ten years of his life sentence.
In 1998, Willis was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Outcome
Fred Willis was imprisoned following the life sentence in 1985 and paroled in 1995.
He later received a life term without the possibility of parole in 1998.
Aftermath
Willis was described as "a very good, cooperative inmate".
Other details
Headless Man in Topless Bar - By T.A. Kevlin
SEX: M
RACE: B
TYPE: T
MOTIVE: Sex. MO: Rape-slayer of female prostitutas age 24 and 25 . DISPOSITION: Imprisoned, 1985 (paroled 1995); life term, 1998.
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