Robert Lee Yates Jr. (born May 27, 1952) is an American serial killer from Spokane, Washington. From 1975 to 1998, Yates is known to have murdered at least 11 women in Spokane. Yates also confessed to two murders committed in Walla Walla in 1975 and a 1988 murder committed in Skagit County.

In 2002, Yates was convicted of killing two women in Pierce County and sentenced to death but it was commuted to life without parole after Washington outlawed the death penalty in 2018. He is currently serving life in prison at the Washington State Penitentiary.

Early life[edit]

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Yates was born on May 27, 1952 and grew up in Oak Harbor, Washington^[1] in a middle-class family that attended a local Seventh-day Adventist church. Before his birth, his grandmother murdered his grandfather with an axe in 1945.^[2]

Yates graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1970. In 1975, he was hired by the Washington State Department of Corrections to work as a correction officer at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.^[3]

In October 1977, Yates enlisted in the United States Army, in which he became certified to fly civilian transport airplanes and helicopters. Yates was stationed in various countries outside the continental United States, including Germany and later Somalia and Haiti during the United Nations peacekeeping missions of the 1990s. Yates also served three years in the Army National Guard as a Helicopter Pilot from April 1997 through April 2000. He earned several commendation and service medals during his military career, including the US Army Master Aviator Badge.^[3]

Yates left the active duty Army in April 1996, apparently a year and a half short of being eligible for his full retirement benefits and pension. At this time, the military was reducing its numbers, so he got his full retirement despite being short of the customary 20 years served. He then joined the Army National Guard in April 1997 and served three years until his arrest in April 2000. He served a total of 21.5 years in the military.^[3]

He has five children (four daughters and one son) with second wife Linda, whom he married in 1976. The children's birth years range from 1974 to 1989.^[1]

Murders[edit]

The murders Yates committed between 1975 and 1998 in Spokane all involved sex workers who worked along Spokane's East Sprague Avenue. The victims were initially solicited for sex work by Yates, who would have sex with them (often in his 1979 Ford van), sometimes do drugs with them, then kill them and dump their bodies in rural locations. All of his victims died of gunshot wounds to the head. Eight of the murders were committed with a Raven .25-caliberhandgun, and one attempted murder was linked to the same model of handgun.^[4]

Autopsies of two of the victims indicated that the killer was a marksman aiming for the heart.^[5] One particularly bizarre detail of Yates' murders involved the case of Melody Murfin, whose body was buried just outside the bedroom window of Yates' family home, while his wife was sleeping in the room^[6]

On August 1, 1998, Yates picked up sex worker Christine Smith, who managed to escape after being shot, assaulted and robbed. She is Yates' only known attempted murder survivor.^[7] On September 19, 1998, Yates was asked to give a DNA sample to Spokane police after being stopped. He refused, stating that it was too extreme of a request for a 'family man.'^[7]

Convictions and appeals[edit]

Yates was arrested on April 18, 2000, for the murder of Jennifer Joseph.^{[citation needed]} After his arrest, a search warrant was executed on a 1977 white Corvette that he had previously owned. A white Corvette had been identified as the vehicle in which one of the victims had last been seen. Coincidentally, Yates had been pulled over in this vehicle while the Task Force was searching for it, but the field interview report was misread as saying 'Camaro' not 'Corvette,' thus the incident was not realized until after Yates had been arrested.^[8]

After searching the Corvette, police discovered blood that they linked to Jennifer Joseph and DNA from Yates that they then tied to 12 other victims.^[8] In 2000, he was charged with 13 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in Spokane County Superior Court.^[1] As part of a plea bargain in which Yates confessed to the murders to avoid the death penalty, he was sentenced to 408 years in prison.^[9] Charges were dropped in the murder of Shawn McClenahan, however in a statement made by Yates, he apologized to her family and the other victims.^[10]

In 2001 Yates was charged in Pierce County with the murders of two additional women. The prosecution sought the death penalty for the deaths of Melinda L. Mercer in 1997 and Connie Ellis in 1998, which were thought to be linked to the killings in Spokane County.^[9] On September 19, 2002, Yates was convicted of those murders and subsequently sentenced to death by lethal injection on October 3, 2002.^[11]

The 2002 death sentence was appealed on grounds that Yates believed his 2000 plea bargain to be 'all-encompassing' and that a life sentence for 13 murders and a death sentence for two constituted 'disproportionate, freakish, wanton and random' application of the death penalty. The arguments were rejected in 2007 by the Washington Supreme Court.^[12] A September 19, 2008 execution date was stayed by Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander pending additional appeals.^[13]

In 2013, Yates's attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in federal district court, stating that Yates is mentally ill and, 'through no fault of his own ... suffers from a severe paraphilic disorder' that predisposed him to commit murder. The still-pending motion is regarded as a 'long shot' by most observers. 'I don't think Mr. Yates helps his cause by relying on the fact that he's a necrophiliac,' said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.^[14]

Yates remains incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary.^[1] His case was further complicated by Washington Governor Jay Inslee's 2013 declaration that he would not sign death warrants for anyone on death row while he is in office. Inslee cited the high cost of the appeals process, the randomness with which death sentences are sought, and a lack of evidence that the penalty serves as a deterrent to other criminals.^[15][16]

In July 2015, the Washington Supreme Court once again rejected an effort by Yates to overturn his conviction and death sentence.^[17] After the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that the death penalty violated the state constitution, Yates's death sentence, as well as that of Washington's other death row inmates, was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.^[18]

Victims[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdSable Burns, Kari. 'Serial Killer Robert Yates'. www.karisable.com. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
2. ^https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.true.crime/Gm3bFiVLTvc
3. ^ ^abc'Robert Lee Yates was the Spokane serial killer'. Crime Library. p. 8. Archived from the original on March 7, 2005. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
4. ^'Serial Killer Robert Lee Yates Jr'. www.francesfarmersrevenge.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
5. ^Barer, Burl (October 24, 2011). Body Count. New York: Kensington Books. ISBN0786030259.
6. ^'Robert Lee Yates was the Spokane serial killer'. Crime Library. p. 11. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
7. ^ ^ab'Robert Lee Yates'. Retrieved May 15, 2009.^{[unreliable source?]}
8. ^ ^abFuhrman, Mark (April 30, 2002). Murder in Spokane. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN9780061098734.
9. ^ ^ab'Wash. Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for Serial Killer'. ABC News. Archived from the original on April 21, 2001. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
10. ^Barker, Kim. 'Families lash out, killer apologizes'. The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
11. ^'Serial killer Yates sentenced to death'. The Seattle Times. October 3, 2002. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
12. ^'State high court upholds death penalty for Yates'. The Seattle Times. September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
13. ^'State Supreme Court grants Yates stay of execution'. KHQ-TV. September 11, 2008. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
14. ^Carter, Mike (May 16, 2013). 'Serial killer Robert Yates Jr. seeks federal appeal of death sentence'. The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
15. ^'Inslee halts executions in state while he is governor'. The Seattle Times. February 11, 2014. Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
16. ^Millares Young, Kristen (February 11, 2014). 'Washington state to suspend death penalty by governor's moratorium'. The Guardian. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
17. ^'Supreme Court rejects serial killer Yates' petition to overturn death sentence'. KCPQ. July 9, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
18. ^Cornwell, Paige (October 11, 2018). 'List of inmates whose sentences are changed from death row to life in prison'. The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 12, 2018.

External links[edit]

• Robert Lee Yates, Jr. at Crime Library

The FBI was responsible for both the term ‘serial killer’ and for the development of the theory of organized/disorganized typography relating to serial killers. This came under the field of criminal profiling made so famous today by TV shows such as Criminal Minds. The theory of Organized/Disorganized Typography in serial killers has had a mixed reaction over the years, mainly due to the fact that not all killers fit into a neat pigeonhole and ‘crossovers’ or ‘mixed’ killers do happen.

Define ‘serial killer’

The term was coined in the 1960’s but serial killers have been around a lot longer than that. Jack the Ripper terrorized London in the late 1800’s and has been called the world’s first serial killer on more than one occasion, although that is hardly the case as infamous serial killers such as Elizabeth Bathory (1560 – 1614) have been well documented. The serial killer is still very much with us but what takes someone from being a killer to a serial killer?

A serial killer is defined as someone who kills more than three people over a long period of time. The United States Bureau of Justice defines a serial killer as: – ‘ … the killing of several victims over three or more separate events’ The serial killer is separated from the ‘spree killer’ by the fact that the former have periods of inactivity between killings, sometimes running into years.

A ‘spree killer’ is defined by the Bureau of Justice as: – ‘…killings at two or more locations with no time break between murders.’ An example of a spree killer would be Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, notorious for the terrible events at Columbine in 1999.

Organized killers

An organized serial killer is likely to plan his actions well and to be careful not to leave evidence at the crime scene. Criteria for organized killers are:

Intelligent

Socially skilled

Sexually competent

Live with a partner

Likely to target strangers

Show antisocial and psychopathic personality traits

An example of the organized serial killer is John Wayne Gacy. Born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1942, Gacy killed thirty-three boys and young men between 1972 and his eventual arrest in 1978. Gacy became known as ‘The Clown Killer’ because of parties he held in his neighborhoods, where he would dress up as ‘Pogo the Clown’ to entertain the children. Gacy was married, held down a job, ran his own business and was well liked by his community, the organized killer traits already in evidence.

By 1975 Gacy was beginning to show signs of unpredictable anger and insomnia which alternated with happy moods. Gacy tried to get into politics but, despite making a good impression initially, rumors of his homosexual preferences and liking for young boys were beginning to circulate. From this point on Gacy’s end was in sight. The eventual discovery of 27 bodies buried beneath Gacy’s crawlspace at his home and later discoveries of more bodies in the nearby river shocked America to the core.

Despite his insanity plea at trial – how could a man who was not rational or in control of his actions during thirty-three murders have dug the graves before the actions? – Gacy was sentenced to death and died by lethal injection in March of 1994. A full account of his life and murders can be found here.

Disorganized killers

As may be expected, a disorganized serial killer is completely opposite to Gacy and others like him. Their attacks tend to be unplanned and they often leave evidence at the crime scene and show signs of being out of control during attacks. Criteria for disorganized killers are: –

Low intelligence Socially inept Sexually inept Usually live alone Show signs of severe mental illness Likely to have been physically/sexually abused as a child Likely to be in a confused/frightened state of mind

An example for a disorganized serial killer is Ottis Toole (947 – 1996). Toole is perhaps more famous for his involvement with another serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas. Toole was reportedly molested as a child, had a low IQ (75) which was possibly a product of his illiteracy and dyslexia, suffered epilepsy and was a known arsonist who was sexually aroused by fire. A homosexual (claiming to have known his preference from the age of ten), Toole was a drifter who claimed his first murder occurred when he was only fourteen. In 1974 he was a suspect in two murders of women in Nebraska and Colorado.

By 1976 Toole had met and begun a sexual relationship with Henry Lee Lucas and, although he recanted and confessed numerous times, Toole claimed to have accompanied Lucas on 108 murders. Their victims were apparently random, usually young women but happy to take whoever crossed their path. There were suggestions of cannibalism and necrophilia associated with the murders. Ottis Toole was eventually convicted, in 1982, of killing George Sonneburg by locking him in his house and setting fire to it. By 199i he had been convicted of 6 murders but the true extent of his crimes is not known. He was sentenced to multiple life terms and eventually died of liver failure in 1996

Mixed Killers

This is where the attempts to pigeonhole killers are shaken. There are serial killers who do not fit neatly into one category or the other and these are the ‘mixed’ killers. They display traits common to both organized and disorganized killers and can be far more difficult to track down because they do not follow a given pattern.

An example of a mixed killer is Richard Ramirez, known as The Nightstalker, who was active in Los Angeles between June 1984 and August 1985. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to death in 1989. Ramirez had a difficult childhood which included physical abuse and the onset of epilepsy. He was also present when his cousin shot and killed his wife in the kitchen of their home.

The cousin showed the impressionable 12 year old trophy photographs that he had taken in Vietnam during the war. These depicted torture and murder of women. It was shortly after this that Ramirez changed and began taking drugs and dropping out of school. He took to stealing to support his habit and eventually left his home in El Paso to go to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Although Ramirez went out prepared to commit burglaries, carrying a knife or a gun, placing him on the organized side of the line, he left multiple forensic clues at the scene and didn’t seem to care if his Satanic symbols might prove to be a link to him as his interest in Satanism was well known amongst his friends.

His modus operandi of incapacitating and then killing the male occupant of a house before assaulting the female shows him capable of considering his safety but leaving victims alive after an attack seems disorganized and uncaring of witness identification. He also had no particular victim type which sets him on the disorganized list but he was careful to scout an area and a house before breaking in which indicates planning.

3 First Names Serial Killers

The bottom line is that serial killers do share certain characteristics and some follow a particular pattern that can appear identical to another but there are always wildcards, Ted Bundy, BTK, Jack the Ripper and the countless others across the years are all individuals and with individuality comes deviance from the norm. The Organized/Disorganized theory is useful but ultimately takes an investigated only so far.

Serial Killers With Middle Name Lee