Hi there. Russell was my Ex-Wife’s Uncle. When I first met and got to know her and her family, I was deeply saddened upon hearing what happened to him and it to this day is extremely upsetting that no one has ever been brought to justice for his murder. Her family had initially been told that William Bonin was likely responsible for the murder and they accepted it and tried their best to move on with their lives and remember the good times with Russell.
For whatever reason, they weren’t informed at the time that Bonin was incarcerated in San Luis Obispo from 12/31/75 until 10/11/78, making it impossible for him to have committed the crime. Bonin did have accomplices at times (Vernon Butts and Gregory Miley) but he did not meet them until after he was released from prison.
Another possible suspect was thought to be Randy Kraft, though his M.O. didn’t necessarily fit what happened to Russell. Kraft did target young boys and men of course, but he also isn’t known to have committed any murders between December of 1976 and April of 1978. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that he couldn’t have killed Russell during that time, but I will give the nod to LE on this one, as they know tons more about Kraft than I possibly do.
I also looked into Patrick Kearney but he had surrendered to Riverside County Police on July 1st, 1977… just weeks before Russell was abducted, so he’s obviously out.
Which leads us to Rodney J. Alcala.
Alcala committed six known murders in 1977 alone, all of which were females. In fact, Alcala is/was known to prey on women but it’s also been mentioned in multiple articles that the cache of photos found in his storage unit contained many sexually explicit photos of teenage boys. If what is being said on here is true (that Russell had mentioned that a man approached him and another boy about taking their photos for a surfing magazine), then Alcala would certainly come to mind as a possible suspect. However, one would have to think that LE investigated Alcala in Russell’s case but it’s anyone’s guess at this point.
It should be said, and has been mentioned on other online forums that the family is still very sad over what happened to Russell, particularly his parents (who are both still with us). The pain and horror they and Russell’s sisters incurred is a pain that will never heal even if the killer is identified someday and I can’t even imagine the loss they feel on a daily basis. My Ex and remain friendly and still would like to see Russell's killer brought to justice.
We are going to do our best to find out who carried out this horrible crime and I will post any pertinent updates here. If you have any information about Russell that you think may be helpful, please email me at
fletchzky@icloud.com.
As it happens, my Brother is a Homicide Detective with Newport Beach Police and he and his partner recently solved the 44-year old murder of Linda O’ Keefe and personally arrested her killer (James Neal) in Colorado. This gave me hope that if a case that old can be solved, anything is possible. Our next step is to get in touch with the LASD cold case unit to see where Russell’s case stands and what information is available/what evidence was preserved. Fingers crossed!