Robert Carl Hohenberger

Serial Killer

Robert Carl Hohenberger: The Suspected Morgan City Serial Killer

Background and Criminal History

Robert Carl Hohenberger was an American kidnapper, rapist, prison escapee, and suspected serial killer. Born in Indiana in 1943, he later lived in Riverside County, California. During the 1960s, Hohenberger reportedly served as an unpaid auxiliary law-enforcement officer. Rather than protecting the public, he used the appearance of authority to gain access to and control over women. In 1966, Hohenberger was arrested after sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint. He was convicted but received a comparatively short sentence after some charges were dropped. After his release, he moved to Orange County, California. In 1971, he kidnapped two girls at gunpoint near Laguna Beach. He was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to life imprisonment, although he later became eligible for parole. Hohenberger was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison. On April 12, 1974, he escaped from custody and abducted 20-year-old Richard Debois and Debois's 19-year-old wife, Victoria. He forced the couple to drive him toward Modesto and then Los Banos, California. The couple escaped while the vehicle was being refueled at a service station near Interstate 5. Hohenberger was captured several hours later and returned to prison.

Release, Flight and Use of an Alias

Hohenberger was paroled again in August 1977. In October of that year, he abducted a young woman from Palm Desert, California, beat her, and sexually assaulted her. The victim survived and later identified Hohenberger from police photographs. When authorities began searching for him, he fled California in January 1978. He eventually arrived in the Morgan City and Bayou Vista area of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. Using the alias Frank Henry Green, he obtained employment and housing through a welding-equipment business. He appeared to be an ordinary transient worker, but investigators later concluded that he was living near the locations connected to a sudden series of disappearances and murders. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Mary Leah Rodermund Age: (16), Date of Death: 1978-03-02

Robert Hohenberger - Wikipedia