OK, even IF he thought he was just getting a ride, who gets rides from strangers they have just met in bars? There is more "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" in this story than Leopold and Loeb. One of the victims of a man who was executed in TX two years ago was a fellow who had car trouble and was hitching a ride to a service station at the next highway exit.
Moral of the story--DON'T GET INTO CARS WITH STRANGERS (or new best friends you just met in a drunken haze at a bar!).
Hmmmmmmm?? Me thinks thou doest protest too much.