Randall Woodfield
Encyclopedia
Randall Brent "Randy" Woodfield (born December 26, 1950) is an America
n serial killer
who was dubbed The I-5 Killer or The I-5 Bandit by law enforcement due to the crimes he allegedly committed along the Interstate 5 corridor
running through Washington, Oregon
, and California
. Before his capture, the I-5 Killer was credited with multiple sexual assaults
and murders
. A native of Oregon
, Woodfield was convicted of three murders and is suspected of killing up to 44 people; he is currently incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary
. In 2011, Woodfield was the subject of a Lifetime television movie Hunt for the I-5 Killer; the movie was based on the book The I-5 Killer by crime author Ann Rule
.
, Woodfield came from a middle class
family with no signs of dysfunction
. He was popular among his peers, and was a football
star at Newport High School
and at Portland State University
. Beginning in adolescence
, however, Woodfield began to exhibit antisocial
sexual behaviors, primarily a penchant for indecent exposure
. Upon his first arrest for the crime in high school, his football coaches hushed it up so that he wouldn't be kicked off the team.
Three arrests in the early 1970s for petty crimes such as vandalism
and public indecency
did not prevent Woodfield from being selected in the 1974 NFL Draft
by the Green Bay Packers
as a wide receiver, in the 17th round (428th pick). Woodfield tried to establish himself with the Packers during Coach and General Manager Dan Devine
's last season but he could not shake his problems with a trip across the country. He signed a contract in February 1974 but was cut during training camp, failing to make the team's final roster.
After being cut by the Packers, Woodfield played the 1974 season with the semi-pro Manitowoc Chiefs and worked for Oshkosh Truck
.A similar arrest, in Portland, earned him more suspended time in June of 1973. In 1974, after a dozen "flashing" incidents called unwelcome attention to Randy, the Packers gave up and sent him home.
On October 9, 1980, Cherie Ayers, a former classmate of Woodfield's, was raped and murdered in Portland, Oregon. Ayers had been bludgeoned and stabbed repeatedly in the neck. Woodfield was questioned but refused to sit for a polygraph. Homicide detectives found his answers generally "evasive and deceptive," but because his blood type did not match semen found in the victim's body, no charges were filed. One month later Darci Fix and Doug Altic were shot to death execution-style, in Altic's Portland apartment. A .32-caliber revolver was missing from the scene. While Darci had once been involved with one of Woodfield's closest friends, police did not connect Woodfield to the crime.
On December 9, 1980, a robber wearing a fake beard held up a gas station in Vancouver, Washington
. In Eugene, Oregon four nights later, a man matching the same description raided an ice cream parlor; on December 14, a robber matching the previous two descriptions robbed a drive-in restaurant in Albany
. A week later in Seattle, a waitress was trapped by a gunman wearing a fake beard in the restroom of a chicken restaurant; the gunman forcing her to masturbate him. Shortly afterward, the a gunman matching the same description of the man in all the previous crimes robbed a Seattle-area ice cream parlor.
By January 1981, law enforcement had dubbed the robber "The I-5 Bandit," given his apparent preference for committing crimes along the Interstate 5 corridor. On the 8th of January he held up the same Vancouver gas station he had robbed in December, this time forcing a female attendant to expose her breasts after he emptied the cash register. Three days later, he robbed a market in Eugene, and on the 12th shot and wounded a female grocery clerk at a store in Sutherlin, Oregon
.
On January 14, a man matching the description of the I-5 bandit and wearing a fake beard invaded a home occupied by two sisters, aged eight and ten; he forced the girls to disrobe and perform fellatio on him. In Salem, four days later, a man matching the same description entered an office building and sexually abused two women, Shari Hull and Lisa Garcia; after this, he killed Hull and wounded Garcia, leaving her for dead. On January 26 and 29, he travelled to southern Oregon and committed robberies in Eugene, Medford
and Grants Pass
. In the latter location, two females, a clerk and customer, were fondled by the robber.
On February 3, 1981, the bodies of Donna Eckard, 37, and her 14-year-old daughter were found together in a bed in their home at Mountain Gate, California, north of Redding
. Each had been shot several times in the head and forensic tests showed that the girl had been sodomized. The same day in Redding, a female store clerk was kidnapped, raped and sodomized in a holdup. An identical crime was reported in Yreka on February 4, with the same man robbing an Ashland, Oregon
motel that night. Five days later in Corvallis
, a man matching the I-5 Bandit's description held up a fabric store, molesting the clerk and her customer before he left.
On February 12, 1981, robberies committed by a man matching the now infamous I-5 Bandit's description occurred in Vancouver, Olympia
, and Bellevue, Washington
; Olympia and Bellevue incidents included three sexual assaults. On February 15, Julie Reitz -- a former girlfriend of Woodfield's -- was shot and killed at her home in Beaverton, Oregon
.
On March 3, 1981, Woodfield was brought into the Salem Police Department for an interrogation. His apartment was legally searched two days later. Detectives they were looking for someone who was familiar and comfortable with the I-5 freeway as well as someone who used fake beards and moustaches as a disguise. Another portion of the killer's known modus operandi
was using tape to bind his victims; the type of tape found on the victims and the tape found at Woodfield's house matched. On March 7, Woodfield was taken into custody after being positively identified by several of the I-5 Bandit's victims during a police lineup. By March 16, indictments for murder, rape, sodomy, attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, and illegal possession of firearms were coming in from various jurisdictions in Washington and Oregon.
In Salem, Woodfield went to trial for murder, attempted murder, and two counts of sodomy. Convicted on every count on June 26, 1981, he was sentenced to life in prison plus 90 years. By December, conviction of sodomy and weapons charges in Benton County, Oregon
, added 35 more years to Woodfield's sentence.
Retracing Woodfield's trail along Interstate 5, law enforcement eventually found other victims. Sylvia Durante, 21, was strangled in Seattle and dumped beside the highway in December 1979. Three months later, 19-year-old Marsha Weatter and 18-year-old Kathy Allen had vanished while hitch-hiking; their corpses were found in May 1980 following the first eruption of Mount Saint Helens.
Despite the apparent links with countless other crimes and at least 13 more homicides, Woodfield would not be prosecuted for the majority of the crimes he was believed to have perpetrated. Unable to afford an endless string of trials, the State of Oregon was satisfied with Woodfield's existing life sentence.
In October 1981, Woodfield was tried in Salem for the murder of Shari Hull, as well as charges of sodomy
and attempted murder. Chris Van Dyke, son of actor Dick Van Dyke
, was the Marion County, Oregon
District Attorney at the time and prosecuted the case. Woodfield was convicted of Hull's murder and sentenced to life in prison as well sentenced to an additional 165 years for convictions of the other crimes.
Prior to a trial held later in 1981, Woodfield’s counsel attempted to move the trial from Willamette Valley
; his attorney felt that due to the publicity the case received, Woodfield could not get a fair trial there. The judge in the case denied Woodfield’s request, along with a request to hypnotize a prosecution witness in an effort to determine if that witness had been influenced by the media coverage.
Currently, Woodfield is serving his sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary
in Salem. While he was charged with four murders, it is estimated that Woodfield committed as many as 18 murders, as well as upwards of 60 sexual assaults.
, The true crime
author who had written The I-5 Killer. The non-fiction
account of Woodfield's life and crime spree became a best-selling book in 1984. The Federal Court in Oregon dismissed the lawsuit in January 1988 citing that the statute of limitations on such a lawsuit had been exhausted.
By 1990 and after the discovery of more victims, Woodfield was suspected in at least 44 homicides. In 2001 and 2006, DNA testing linked Woodfield to two additional murders in Oregon that occurred from 1980 and 1981.
During his time at the penetentiary, Woodfield has married three times and divorced twice. Some letters he wrote from prison were eventually sold online as a collection titled, The Serial Killer Letters and published by The Charles Press.
Having access to the internet while in prison, Woodfield wrote the following on his MySpace account in 2006: "I'm Randy, I'm 55. I spend the remainder of my days in prison because I have committed a murder along with many other crimes. I once tried out for the Green Bay Packers. The only reason I didn't make it is because the skills I had to offer they didn't need at the time."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who was dubbed The I-5 Killer or The I-5 Bandit by law enforcement due to the crimes he allegedly committed along the Interstate 5 corridor
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...
running through Washington, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Before his capture, the I-5 Killer was credited with multiple sexual assaults
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
and murders
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. A native of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Woodfield was convicted of three murders and is suspected of killing up to 44 people; he is currently incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary
Oregon State Penitentiary
Oregon State Penitentiary , the first state prison in Oregon, United States, was originally located in Portland in 1851. In 1866 it was moved to a site in Salem and enclosed by a reinforced concrete wall averaging in height...
. In 2011, Woodfield was the subject of a Lifetime television movie Hunt for the I-5 Killer; the movie was based on the book The I-5 Killer by crime author Ann Rule
Ann Rule
Ann Rule is an American true crime writer.-Personal life:Ann Rule was born on October 22, 1935 in Lowell, Michigan to Chester R. "Stack" Stackhouse and Sophie Hansen. Her mother was a school teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children and her father was a basketball, football and...
.
Early life
Born in Salem, OregonSalem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
, Woodfield came from a middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
family with no signs of dysfunction
Abnormality (behavior)
Abnormality, in the vivid sense of something deviating from the normal or differing from the typical , is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or dysfunctional conditions...
. He was popular among his peers, and was a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
star at Newport High School
Newport High School (Oregon)
Newport High School is a public high school located in Newport, Oregon, United States. It is one of five high schools in the Lincoln County School District. As of 2008, the school offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.-Academics:...
and at Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
. Beginning in adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
, however, Woodfield began to exhibit antisocial
Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that lacks consideration for others and that may cause damage to society, whether intentionally or through negligence, as opposed to pro-social behaviour, behaviour that helps or benefits society...
sexual behaviors, primarily a penchant for indecent exposure
Indecent exposure
Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure in public or in view of the general public by a person of a portion or portions of his or her body, in circumstances where the exposure is contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. Indecent exposure laws vary in different...
. Upon his first arrest for the crime in high school, his football coaches hushed it up so that he wouldn't be kicked off the team.
Three arrests in the early 1970s for petty crimes such as vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
and public indecency
Public indecency
Public indecency refers to conduct undertaken in a non-private or publicly-viewable location, which are deemed indecent in nature, such as indecent exposure and sexual intercourse or masturbation in public view. Such activity is often illegal...
did not prevent Woodfield from being selected in the 1974 NFL Draft
1974 NFL Draft
The 1974 National Football League Draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams was granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks....
by the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
as a wide receiver, in the 17th round (428th pick). Woodfield tried to establish himself with the Packers during Coach and General Manager Dan Devine
Dan Devine
Daniel John Devine was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the University of Notre Dame from 1975 to 1980, compiling a career college football mark of...
's last season but he could not shake his problems with a trip across the country. He signed a contract in February 1974 but was cut during training camp, failing to make the team's final roster.
After being cut by the Packers, Woodfield played the 1974 season with the semi-pro Manitowoc Chiefs and worked for Oshkosh Truck
Oshkosh Truck
Oshkosh Corporation , formerly Oshkosh Truck, designs and builds specialty trucks and truck bodies and access equipment. Based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the company employs 12,300 people around the world...
.A similar arrest, in Portland, earned him more suspended time in June of 1973. In 1974, after a dozen "flashing" incidents called unwelcome attention to Randy, the Packers gave up and sent him home.
Crime spree
In early 1975, several Portland women were accosted by a knife-wielding man, forced to perform oral sex and then robbed of their handbags. Law enforcement reacted by having female police officers act as decoys. On March 3, 1975, Woodfield was arrested after being caught with marked money from one of the undercover officers. In April 1975, he pled guilty to reduced charges of second-degree robbery. Woodfield was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was freed on parole in July, 1979.On October 9, 1980, Cherie Ayers, a former classmate of Woodfield's, was raped and murdered in Portland, Oregon. Ayers had been bludgeoned and stabbed repeatedly in the neck. Woodfield was questioned but refused to sit for a polygraph. Homicide detectives found his answers generally "evasive and deceptive," but because his blood type did not match semen found in the victim's body, no charges were filed. One month later Darci Fix and Doug Altic were shot to death execution-style, in Altic's Portland apartment. A .32-caliber revolver was missing from the scene. While Darci had once been involved with one of Woodfield's closest friends, police did not connect Woodfield to the crime.
On December 9, 1980, a robber wearing a fake beard held up a gas station in Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
. In Eugene, Oregon four nights later, a man matching the same description raided an ice cream parlor; on December 14, a robber matching the previous two descriptions robbed a drive-in restaurant in Albany
Albany, Oregon
Albany is the eleventh largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and is the county seat of Linn County. It is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just east of Corvallis and south of Salem. It is...
. A week later in Seattle, a waitress was trapped by a gunman wearing a fake beard in the restroom of a chicken restaurant; the gunman forcing her to masturbate him. Shortly afterward, the a gunman matching the same description of the man in all the previous crimes robbed a Seattle-area ice cream parlor.
By January 1981, law enforcement had dubbed the robber "The I-5 Bandit," given his apparent preference for committing crimes along the Interstate 5 corridor. On the 8th of January he held up the same Vancouver gas station he had robbed in December, this time forcing a female attendant to expose her breasts after he emptied the cash register. Three days later, he robbed a market in Eugene, and on the 12th shot and wounded a female grocery clerk at a store in Sutherlin, Oregon
Sutherlin, Oregon
Sutherlin is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 6,669 at the 2000 census. Nearby features include Cooper Creek Reservoir, the Umpqua River, a few golf courses, and numerous vineyards.-Geography:...
.
On January 14, a man matching the description of the I-5 bandit and wearing a fake beard invaded a home occupied by two sisters, aged eight and ten; he forced the girls to disrobe and perform fellatio on him. In Salem, four days later, a man matching the same description entered an office building and sexually abused two women, Shari Hull and Lisa Garcia; after this, he killed Hull and wounded Garcia, leaving her for dead. On January 26 and 29, he travelled to southern Oregon and committed robberies in Eugene, Medford
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...
and Grants Pass
Grants Pass, Oregon
-Rogue River:The Rogue River runs through Grants Pass.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,003 people, 9,376 households, and 5,925 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 9,885 housing units at an average density of 1,303.3 per square mile . By 2008,...
. In the latter location, two females, a clerk and customer, were fondled by the robber.
On February 3, 1981, the bodies of Donna Eckard, 37, and her 14-year-old daughter were found together in a bed in their home at Mountain Gate, California, north of Redding
Redding, California
Redding is a city in far-Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. With a population of 89,861, according to the 2010 Census...
. Each had been shot several times in the head and forensic tests showed that the girl had been sodomized. The same day in Redding, a female store clerk was kidnapped, raped and sodomized in a holdup. An identical crime was reported in Yreka on February 4, with the same man robbing an Ashland, Oregon
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
motel that night. Five days later in Corvallis
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462....
, a man matching the I-5 Bandit's description held up a fabric store, molesting the clerk and her customer before he left.
On February 12, 1981, robberies committed by a man matching the now infamous I-5 Bandit's description occurred in Vancouver, Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, and Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
; Olympia and Bellevue incidents included three sexual assaults. On February 15, Julie Reitz -- a former girlfriend of Woodfield's -- was shot and killed at her home in Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, seven miles west of Portland in the Tualatin River Valley.As of the 2010 census, the population is 90,267. This makes it the second-largest city in the county and Oregon's sixth-largest city...
.
Interrogation, Search, Arrest
By February 28, the investigation was now focused on Woodfield, but by then the I-5 Bandit had struck three more times: in Eugene on February 18 and 21, and with another sexual assault in Corvallis on February 25.On March 3, 1981, Woodfield was brought into the Salem Police Department for an interrogation. His apartment was legally searched two days later. Detectives they were looking for someone who was familiar and comfortable with the I-5 freeway as well as someone who used fake beards and moustaches as a disguise. Another portion of the killer's known modus operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
was using tape to bind his victims; the type of tape found on the victims and the tape found at Woodfield's house matched. On March 7, Woodfield was taken into custody after being positively identified by several of the I-5 Bandit's victims during a police lineup. By March 16, indictments for murder, rape, sodomy, attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, and illegal possession of firearms were coming in from various jurisdictions in Washington and Oregon.
In Salem, Woodfield went to trial for murder, attempted murder, and two counts of sodomy. Convicted on every count on June 26, 1981, he was sentenced to life in prison plus 90 years. By December, conviction of sodomy and weapons charges in Benton County, Oregon
Benton County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Siuslaw National Forest *William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 78,153 people, 30,145 households, and 18,237 families residing in the county. The population density was 116 people per square mile . There were 31,980...
, added 35 more years to Woodfield's sentence.
Retracing Woodfield's trail along Interstate 5, law enforcement eventually found other victims. Sylvia Durante, 21, was strangled in Seattle and dumped beside the highway in December 1979. Three months later, 19-year-old Marsha Weatter and 18-year-old Kathy Allen had vanished while hitch-hiking; their corpses were found in May 1980 following the first eruption of Mount Saint Helens.
Despite the apparent links with countless other crimes and at least 13 more homicides, Woodfield would not be prosecuted for the majority of the crimes he was believed to have perpetrated. Unable to afford an endless string of trials, the State of Oregon was satisfied with Woodfield's existing life sentence.
In October 1981, Woodfield was tried in Salem for the murder of Shari Hull, as well as charges of sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
and attempted murder. Chris Van Dyke, son of actor Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke, and father of Barry Van Dyke...
, was the Marion County, Oregon
Marion County, Oregon
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was originally named the Champooick District, after Champoeg, a meeting place on the Willamette River. On September 3, 1849, the territorial legislature renamed it in honor of Francis Marion, a Continental Army general of the...
District Attorney at the time and prosecuted the case. Woodfield was convicted of Hull's murder and sentenced to life in prison as well sentenced to an additional 165 years for convictions of the other crimes.
Prior to a trial held later in 1981, Woodfield’s counsel attempted to move the trial from Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
; his attorney felt that due to the publicity the case received, Woodfield could not get a fair trial there. The judge in the case denied Woodfield’s request, along with a request to hypnotize a prosecution witness in an effort to determine if that witness had been influenced by the media coverage.
Currently, Woodfield is serving his sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary
Oregon State Penitentiary
Oregon State Penitentiary , the first state prison in Oregon, United States, was originally located in Portland in 1851. In 1866 it was moved to a site in Salem and enclosed by a reinforced concrete wall averaging in height...
in Salem. While he was charged with four murders, it is estimated that Woodfield committed as many as 18 murders, as well as upwards of 60 sexual assaults.
After conviction
In October 1983, Woodfield was injured by an Oregon State Penetentiary inmate during a prison disturbance. In April 1987, Woodfield filed a $12 million libel suit against author Ann RuleAnn Rule
Ann Rule is an American true crime writer.-Personal life:Ann Rule was born on October 22, 1935 in Lowell, Michigan to Chester R. "Stack" Stackhouse and Sophie Hansen. Her mother was a school teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children and her father was a basketball, football and...
, The true crime
True crime (genre)
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
author who had written The I-5 Killer. The non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
account of Woodfield's life and crime spree became a best-selling book in 1984. The Federal Court in Oregon dismissed the lawsuit in January 1988 citing that the statute of limitations on such a lawsuit had been exhausted.
By 1990 and after the discovery of more victims, Woodfield was suspected in at least 44 homicides. In 2001 and 2006, DNA testing linked Woodfield to two additional murders in Oregon that occurred from 1980 and 1981.
During his time at the penetentiary, Woodfield has married three times and divorced twice. Some letters he wrote from prison were eventually sold online as a collection titled, The Serial Killer Letters and published by The Charles Press.
Having access to the internet while in prison, Woodfield wrote the following on his MySpace account in 2006: "I'm Randy, I'm 55. I spend the remainder of my days in prison because I have committed a murder along with many other crimes. I once tried out for the Green Bay Packers. The only reason I didn't make it is because the skills I had to offer they didn't need at the time."