Robert Joseph Silveria Jr.: The Boxcar Killer
Background and Early Life
Robert Joseph Silveria Jr. was born on March 3, 1959, in Redwood City, California. He became known by the nicknames "The Boxcar Killer" and "Sidetrack" after investigators connected him to a series of murders committed along American freight-rail routes. His known and suspected crimes extended from the 1980s through his arrest in 1996, with cases examined in California, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Washington, Florida, Montana, and other states.
Silveria reportedly experienced behavioral and criminal problems from an early age. As an adult, he accumulated a history of burglary, theft, drug abuse, and other offenses. He eventually abandoned a conventional lifestyle and began traveling illegally aboard freight trains. This placed him within a loosely connected population of transient railroad riders who moved between rail yards, homeless camps, temporary shelters, and isolated areas throughout the country.
Silveria was associated with the Freight Train Riders of America, commonly abbreviated as the FTRA. The organization was described by investigators and journalists as a loose railroad gang whose members traveled on freight trains and were suspected of robberies, assaults, and killings. Silveria's precise role within the group has sometimes been disputed, but his familiarity with railroad routes and transient encampments allowed him to move rapidly between jurisdictions while attracting little official attention.
Life Along the Railroad
Freight trains provided Silveria with transportation across enormous distances without the records created by airline tickets, automobile registrations, hotel stays, or credit-card purchases. He could leave one community and appear hundreds of miles away within days. Investigators later found it difficult to reconstruct his movements because he frequently used nicknames and aliases rather than his legal identity.
Many of the people Silveria encountered were homeless men, drifters, day laborers, and other freight-train riders. Some had limited contact with relatives and carried few official documents. When one of these individuals disappeared, it could take days or weeks before anyone noticed. Bodies found near railroad tracks were sometimes unidentified, and deaths investigated in one state were not automatically compared with similar cases elsewhere.
Silveria exploited these conditions. He lived among the same vulnerable population he targeted, learned where individuals slept, and waited until victims were isolated or unable to defend themselves. He reportedly attacked during arguments in some cases, while in others he approached men who were asleep, intoxicated, or resting inside tents, makeshift shelters, sleeping bags, or freight cars.
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