Member-only story
Why Do Truck Stops Get Such a Bad Rap?
If you browse true crime forums long enough, you will find an endless number of posts about truck stops. A lot of people associate truck stops with drug trafficking, human trafficking, theft, sex work, kidnapping, and murder. When somebody goes missing, some posters jump straight to the theory that a truck driver must be responsible.
On some true crime forums, truck drivers are broadly misaligned as the most common perpetrators of crimes, including murder. But if you read the stories, you will find that truck drivers are often the victims of truck stop crimes too. Reports in Northwest Indiana include truck drivers being hijacked at gunpoint and even duct taped inside their trucks.
Of course, there is something to the notion that truck stops carry increased risk of danger. For example, police received 2,400 complaints about the Flying J in Beaverdam near Lima on the I-75 since 1999. Of those calls, about 400 were deemed serious crimes.
