The Franklin Files

Shadowman · Senior Member

RE: Paul Bonacci

Shadowman · Senior Member

MR. DECAMP: Denise.

THE CLERK: Maam, would you state your full name and spell your last name, please?

THE WITNESS: Denise Ann Bonacci, B-o-n-a-c-c-i.

THE CLERK: Denise Ann Bonacci, B-o-n-a-c-c-i.

DENISE A. BONACCI

CalIed as a witness, being duly sworn, testified as follows:

THE COURT: Sorry, didn't understand your first name.

THE WITNESS: Denise.

THE COURT: D-e-n-i-s-e?

THE WITNESS: Uh-huh.

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. DECAMP:

Q. Denise, do you know Paul Bonacci?

A. Very well.

Q. How long have you known him?

A. Since July 1st, 1995.

Q. So you've known him about three and a half years?

A. Yeah.

Q. Not very good at math. Anyway. How did you get to know Paul Bonacci?

A. We have a mutual friend, Wes Offenbaugh, and Wes was trying to help me out counseling wise. And he didn't know what to do with me. So he said that Paul and I shared a lot of our same backgrounds, not with the Franklin case or nothing, but I mean I was abused as a kid too. He thought maybe Paul would be able to help me out, you know, somebody that would be able to understand what I was going through. And anyway, he sent him in to my work place. And the way he was, Wes described this he would be like in 40s and old and ugly. He comes in, he was 27 and gorgeous. So --so we hit it off immediately. And the next time I saw him was August 19th, we started dating two weeks later.

Q. You ended up getting married?

A. Yeah.

Q. How has, how has this whole Franklin thing impacted you or your family?

A. It has quite a bit. Growing up, you know, I was really shy and everything. And, but I had a lot of friends. And, you know, I wasn't ever scared, you know, for my safety or anything. Andthen after meeting Paul, I thought that Wes was joking on a lot of the stuff, then Paul gave me a copy of The Franklin Cover-Up book and then the one by the grand jury, A Carefully Crafted Hoax, and I went through those. And anyways, I read them. I was asking Paul a bunch of questions, then he took me down to go see Reverend Morrow and talk to him for a while. And Reverend Morrow explained a lot of this stuff that Paul did talk to me about. But it's, Paul's abuse has really caused a lot of -- cause I had boyfriends before. You know, but nothing like Paul before. Because I didn't know MPD even existed, I never heard of it before.

Q. Join the club.

A. Yeah. But, you know, we've spent a lot of time together. And first time I noticed that something was different with Paul I didn't even know that he had MPD. Because nobody had mentioned it to me. And we were at Hy-Vee at the deli and we were waiting in line to pay for it. And it just, I was talking to Paul and everything that I was saying -- well, I thought it was Paul, and he just, he looked different. And we had been dating for, I mean, we were dating for a couple of months. You know. And it was, he looked totally different. Everything I talked to him about, you know, he acted like he had no idea what I was talking about. And he gave me gifts that later on, you know, I thought they were really odd gifts, you know. And later on I, you know, I asked him, you know, where in the world he got it. Because, you know, like jewelry box, things like that, you know. And he had no idea where he got them from. And I'm like, you know, he's like, you know -- sometimes he'd be over at my house and we were engaged and, you know, he'd be talking with my family and stuff, you know. And he'd look at stuff, says where did you get that? I says, well, you gave it to me. No, I didn't. He was serious, he didn't know that he gave me these gifts. But anyway, we talked about it and I found out about the MPD. But he was always telling me that he was totally integrated and I thought he was. And the 20-20 interview last spring or last summer, whenever it was. And anyways, I thought he was totally healed. And they started doing the interview, Karen Bums and then her assistant Hillary, I don't remember her last name. But Paul had just switched over to Wesley. And that was my first --

Q. Then it shocked you?

A. Yeah. Quite a bit. I told the 20 --
Q. Was it clear it was a totally different person?

Shadowman · Senior Member

A. Yeah. They had me on the other side of the room. I told them I wanted to be sitting next to him. They lied about the whole thing.

Q. They know how to do certain triggers?

A. Yeah, they knew.

Q. Bring it on certain personalities, didn't they?

A. Yeah. They knew all about his MPD. I didn't know anything about it, you know, except to what they told me. They said he was totally integrated. And --

Q. He told you he was totally integrated?

A. He told me he was because he thought he was at the time. And 20-20 knew and -- cause Paul and I for our, for our honeymoon we went to St. Louis. And I had just been asking Paul, you know, has he ever been to St. Louis before and he said no. Well, during the 20-20 interview that he was talking about drug stops in St. Louis. I'm like, he's lying, that's what I was, that's what I told Hillary. Cause Hillary was sitting next to me. I had been on the other side of the room. And anyways Hillary says, no, that's one of his personalities. And I'm like, what? You know, cause I didn't know what it was. And I told them to stop filming and they wouldn't stop-filming. They kept on saying, you know, well, let's have him talk about it. And everything that they said that they weren't going to talk about they did. So -- cause they said they were only going to ask like two or three in connection with the Johnny Gosch case. As soon as he's found it was, it was different personality, that's all they talked about. But that caused a lot of stress right there. Then also Paul doesn't like to talk about his past that much at all. But last January, I think it was, Paul's mom and his brother Tim, not Tim, BJ and Debbie and Paul and I were all out to Village Inn and Paul's mom was showing us this pin that she got representing all of her grandkids. And Debbie had said that there was one missing that was for one of Paul's other kid. And we're like, I didn't know anything about it. So there was a lot of different stresses from his past. You know. Stories that keep on coming up from his past the other personalities have done that's come up. Also we have a lot of fights because different personalities will come up and they'll tell me stuff and III ask him about it later and hell totally deny ever saying it. Also since I've known him, which is almost four years now, the longest he's ever held a job is like four months. And it's just very frustrating, you know. That he doesn't give two weeks notice or anything, he just walks out and never comes back. You know. He's always afraid that he's going to lose me, like I'm going to leave him or something. He's even told me that he's afraid to get close to me or anybody because he's afraid that, you know, we're going to leave him. Also my sister, I've got two sisters, and we like to go to movies, you know. And he doesn't like to go to see any horror movies at all because he doesn't like the sight of blood. And that, he has said, is directly related to the, to the Larry King and all the other stuff. Like we're going to go see the movie Scream Two when that was out and he said no because a lot of the stuff that he seen on the previews and stuff reminded him of different stuff Larry King and people's done. Also like two weeks ago we were watching the movie Dead Poets Society at our house. He had never seen it before. And one of the main character's kid's shoots himself. Towards the end. And Paul saw what was going on, he said there's no way he could sit there and watch that because he had seen some of his friends were shot. And, you know, it's just stuff like that. Also in our relations he's, I don't want to embarrass him. But

Q. Go ahead.

A. He, he just, he acts sometimes like he's disgusted by the whole thing throughout. He's very secretive about a bunch of stuff. He, you know, he's got a bunch of paperwork on the, on the Franklin case and he's got a filing cabinet at home. And he doesn't want anybody to look at it because he's afraid that, he's always told me that he doesn't want to tell me too much information because he's afraid for my protection. Because he says if you know too much something could happen to you. So

Q. Do you have any additional information or whatever you want to provide the Court?

A. Yeah. It's just, I can see that he's very scared to be close to anybody. Just, you know, he doesn't do a lot of the normal stuff that most people his age does. Such as going to movies. Or seeing movies. Some people just doesn't like that type of, that type of movie. But he says that the main reason is because it brings back too much memories for him. He has a lot of nightmares. And I know that because we have a waterbed, he like flops over all the time, you know. Also he's just, whenever he sees anybody's name in the paper that, you know, had abused him or anything he gets really mad and hell be moody for a couple of days. And it's really affected him quite a bit. Caused a lot of stress in our marriage.

MR. DECAMP: I have no further questions.

THE COURT: You may stand down.

MR. DECAMP: Your Honor, I have no additional witnesses.

THE COURT: Okay.

MR. DECAMP: Brief closing. I would just request that the Court look at the entire situation. And I realize it's some fantastic tales, I wish maybe we could take a week and try to establish every one of them, but I'm sure that's not the purpose here today. Purpose is --

THE COURT: Quite limited.

MR. DECAMP: I understand. I--

THE COURT: The limited purpose for me is to decide what kind of compensation Mr. Bonacci should get from Mr. King.

MR. DECAMP: We full well understand, Your Honor, probability of getting even a single penny is incredibly remote. At the same time maybe as a, maybe as a signal or lesson or something to some people out there a very substantial maximum damage award might prove a point or prevent some other child somewhere some time from being abused.

THE COURT: All right. III do the best I can in assessing the testimony.

MR. DECAMP: Thank you, Your Honor.

THE COURT: And the documents. All right. We're in recess. Thank you.

(1:49 p.m., recessed.)

I, Gary G. Latimer, Court Reporter, certify that the foregoing is a correct transcript from the record of proceedings in the above-entitled matter.

February/3, 1999

Franklin · Senior Member

John Decamp - The Franklin Cover-up

[Testimony of Paul Bonacci]:

I went in January of '84 on every trip. I was paid by men King knew for sex. In the summer of '84 sometime I went to Dallas, Texas and had sex with several men King knew in a hotel.

I flew on YNR Airlines and Kam Airlines normally for King. I never had much personally to do with King, only went where he told me to go.

In or on July 26th I went to Sacramento, Ca. King flew me out on a private plane from Eppley Airfield [in Omaha] to Denver where we picked up Nicholas, a boy who was about 12 or 13. Then we flew to Las Vegas to a desert strip and drove in to Las Vegas and to some ranch and got something. Then flew on to Sacramento.

We were picked up by a white limo and taken to a hotel. I don't remember the name of it. We meaning Nicholas and I were driven to a area that had big trees, it took about an hour to get there. There was a cage with a boy in it who was not wearing anything. Nicholas and I were given these tarzan things to put around us and stuff.

They told me to f---the boy and stuff. At first I said no and they held a gun to my balls and said do it or else lose them or something like that. I began doing it to the boy and stuff. And Nicholas had anal sex and stuff with him. We were told to f-- him and stuff and beat on him. I didn't try to hurt him. We were told to put our d---s in his mouth and stuff and sit on the boys penis and stuff and they filmed it. We did this stuff to the boy for about 30 minutes or an hour when a man came in and kicked us and stuff in the balls and picked us up and threw us. He grabbed the boy and started f---ing him and stuff. The man was about 10 inches long and the boy screamed and stuff and the man was forcing his d-- into the boy all the way. The boy was bleeding from his rectum and the men tossed him and me and stuff and put the boy right next to me and grabbed a gun and blew the boys head off.

The boys blood was all over me and I started yelling and crying. The men grabbed Nicholas and I and forced us to lie down. They put the boy on top of Nicholas who was crying and they were putting Nicholas hands on the boys ass. They put the boy on top of me and did the same thing. They then forced me to f-- the dead boy up his ass and also Nicholas they put a gun to our heads to make us do it. His blood was all over us. They made us kiss the boys lips and to eat him out. Then they made me do something I don't want to even write so I won't.

After that the men grabbed Nicholas and drug him off screaming they put me up against a tree and put a gun to my head but fired into the air. I heard another shot from somewhere. I then saw the man who killed the boy drag him like a toy. Everything including when the men put the boy in a trunk was filmed. They took me with them and we went up in a plane. I saw the bag the boy was in. We went over a very thick brush area with a clearing in it. Over the clearing they dropped the boy. One said the men with the hoods would take care of the body for them.

I didn't see Nicholas until that night at the hotel. He and I hugged and held each other for a long while. About two hours later the men or Larry King came in and told us to go take a shower since we had only been hosed off at some guys house. We took a shower together and then were told to put on the tarzan things. After we were cleaned up and dressed in these things we were told to put on shorts, socks and a shirt and shoes and driven to a house where the men were at with some others. They had the film and they played it. As the men watched they passed Nicholas and I around as if we were toys and sexually abused us.

They made Nicholas and I screw each other and one of the men put the dead boy's penis in mine and Nicholas' mouth. I didn't want to write this because the man forced me to bite the boys' penis and balls off. It was gross and I saw the film where it happened and started freaking out remembering what they made us do afterwards to the boy. They showed us doing everything to the boy. I was there for about 5 days attending parties but only recall cutting my wrist which is why I stayed two days in a hospital under a name I can't recall. Some guy paid for me.

-- Edited by Franklin on Monday 26th of October 2009 04:54:34 PM

Franklin · Senior Member

In July 1991, just as the Franklin case got officially wrapped up at the sentencing of Alisha Owen, the news broke in Iowa that Paul Bonacci had given evidence in one of the most notorious kidnapping cases in the country. It was the disappearance of Johnny Gosch.

Early Sunday morning, September 5, 1982, 12-year-old Johnny Gosch went out on his Des Moines Register paper delivery route, as usual. Only that Sunday, he never came home. For nine years, his parents have searched the country for him. Most evenings, and weekends when they were not on the road to check out leads, they sold candy bars in local shopping centers, to finance the search. In late 1990, the Gosches got the first major break in years, because of what Paul Bonacci had to tell.

I had noted that one of the events Paul described reminded me of the case of Johnny Gosch, which I had read about years earlier. I went to the library, and confirmed the similarity of the details of the case, with what Paul said. I then contacted the Gosch family. They advised me that they had had their fill of false leads from people who claimed to know something about their missing boy, and people who claimed to have information for sale but did not seem genuinely interested. But a couple of weeks later, Mr. Gosch did come to Omaha.

The Des Moines Register of July 24, 1991 reported on what developed:

A Nebraska inmate has provided details about the abduction of Johnny Gosch that only someone with firsthand knowledge could have had, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Inmate Paul Bonacci's account "did not match up 90 percent, not 95 percent, not 98 percent, but 100 percent," John DeCamp said.

"I am convinced this kid is telling absolutely the truth- ... He never varied on the time. He gave a description of Johnny's pants, names on his shirt, scars on the body."

DeCamp said he became suspicious of a Gosch connection when he read a transcript of a psychiatrist's interview with Bonacci in which an "incident" involving a newspaper carrier was mentioned. DeCamp said Bonacci didn't identify Gosch by his full name.

"I went to the library and checked on Johnny Gosch. I wrote to the Gosches and told them I don't know if there is any validity, but the dates coincide and he talks about someone from Iowa."

DeCamp said John Gosch, the boy's father, met with Bonacci, "and started getting chills. I believe he believed him," DeCamp said.

John Gosch, Sr. walked into the prison in Lincoln, Nebraska to meet Paul Bonacci for the first time, unannounced. Sitting down across from him, Gosch asked Bonacci, "Do you know who I am?" Bonacci replied, "You look like -- it can't be -- the eyes, you look like Johnny Gosch."

Noreen Gosch told the World-Herald, that paper reported on July 22, 1991, that Bonacci knew "some incredible things" about the case. For instance, "There were photographs taken of Johnny prior to the kidnapping. We know this because a woman reported it to police. We're convinced Bonacci saw those pictures. He accurately described the location, which is not far from our home. He described many things about the pictures which we have never publicly talked about." Bonacci also described a mark on Johnny Gosch's body, which the Gosches had never publicized.

As a result of the Gosch meeting, Roy Stephens came to visit with me. Shortly after we discussed Paul Bonacci and the Gosch case, I hired him to check out Bonacci's story on Gosch and on other things.

Roy Stephens is an Omaha-based investigator and a founder of the Missing Children's Foundation. A former safecracker who went straight, Stephens was named "Outstanding Man of the Year" for 1991, by the Nebraska Jaycees, for his work in recovering children. Roy is remembered in Nebraska, as the man who did what the police and other investigators were unable to do -- locate and cause the conviction of the kidnaper of Jill Cutshall, the Norfolk, Nebraska girl who disappeared in 1987 and almost certainly was murdered, though her body was never found.