Harry Todd Turner was 15 when he was killed on March 24, 1980. He had run away from the Optimist Home for Boys in Highland Park and was lured into a van by William Bonin and William Ray Pugh with an offer of $20 for sexual favors. Turner was sexually assaulted and beaten; Bonin bit Turner's genitalia and then strangled him. His nude body was found the next day near a rear delivery door of a business on South Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles, with facial and other beatings, ligature marks on the neck, and signs of sexual activity prior to death.

The murder became part of the investigation into the Freeway Killer. Bonin was arrested, later convicted for Turner’s murder and nine other young males, and sentenced to death. Pugh, 17 at the time, was charged with sodomy and murder, confessed to participating and describing how he and Bonin lured Turner into the van, and was convicted and sentenced for his role.