By Steve Neavling
A former FBI official wrote a book documenting one of America’s dark secrets: The bodies of hundreds of murdered women were dumped along highways over the past four decades.
The book, “Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers,” was written by Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director of counterintelligence for the FBI.
In 2009, the bureau launched the Highway Serial Killings initiative in an attempt to solve the mysteries behind the murders of women whose bodies were found along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
About 850 murders have been linked to long-haul truck drivers. Among the culprits are the “Truck Stop Killer,” who set up a torture chamber in the back of his truck and is suspected of killing about 50 women, and “The Interstate Strangler,” who killed dozens of victims.
Many of the women were picked up at truck stops, sexually assaulted, and dumped along a highway. Because the women were often taken in one jurisdiction and dumped in another, law enforcement had a difficult time solving the cases.
To get a better sense of the long-haul trucker lifestyle, Figliuzzi rode in a big-rig with a trucker for thousands of miles.
He also interviewed trafficked victims of the crimes.
Figliuzzi, who became an MSNBC commentator, has come under fire in the past for his previous book, “The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau’s Code of Excellence.” In 2021, current and former FBI agents told ticklethewire.com that a passage in his book was fabricated.
