Robert Lee Yates
Encyclopedia
Robert Lee Yates, Jr. is an American serial killer
from Spokane, Washington
. From 1996 to 1998, Yates is known to have murdered at least 16 women, all of whom were prostitutes
working on Spokane's "Skid Row" on E. Sprague Avenue. 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
. He currently is on death row
at the Washington State Penitentiary
.
in a middle-class family that attended a local Seventh-day Adventist
church. He graduated from Oak Harbor High School
in 1970, and in 1975, he was hired by the Washington State Department of Corrections to work as a prison guard at the Washington State Penitentiary
in Walla Walla. After working there for six months, 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
during the United Nations peacekeeping mission of the early 1990s. He earned several military awards and medals during his 19-year military career, including three Army achievement medals, three Army commendation medals, two Armed Forces expeditionary medals, and three meritorious service medals.
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-caliber handgun
, and one attempted murder
was linked to the same model of handgun. One particularly bizarre detail of Yates' murders involved the case of Melody Murfin, whose body was buried just outside of the bedroom window of Yates' family home.
On August 1, 1998, Yates picked up prostitute Christine Smith, who managed to escape after being shot, assaulted and robbed. 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".
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. In October 2002, Yates was convicted of those murders and sentenced to death
by lethal injection
.
On September 5, 2008, a judge signed Yates' death warrant
, with September 19, 2008 given as the execution date. On September 11, 2008, Washington Supreme Court
Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander
issued a stay of execution
to allow the defense time to file additional appeals.
Yates is currently on death row
at the Washington State Penitentiary
.
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...
from Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
. From 1996 to 1998, Yates is known to have murdered at least 16 women, all of whom were prostitutes
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
working on Spokane's "Skid Row" on E. Sprague Avenue. Yates also confessed to two murders committed in Walla Walla
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
in 1975 and a 1988 murder committed in Skagit County
Skagit County, Washington
Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. It is named after the Skagit Indian tribe. As of 2010, the population was 116,901. It is included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Washington, Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. In 2002, Yates was convicted of killing two women in Pierce County
Pierce County, Washington
right|thumb|[[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]] - Seat of Pierce CountyPierce County is the second most populous county in the U.S. state of Washington. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory...
. He currently is on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
at the Washington State Penitentiary
Washington State Penitentiary
Washington State Penitentiary is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Walla Walla, Washington...
.
Early life & childhood
Yates grew up in Oak Harbor, WashingtonOak Harbor, Washington
Oak Harbor is a city located on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington. The population was 22,075 at the 2010 census.Oak Harbor was incorporated on May 14, 1915.-History:Oak Harbor is Whidbey Island's largest incorporated city...
in a middle-class family that attended a local Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
church. He graduated from Oak Harbor High School
Oak Harbor High School
For the high school in Ohio, see Oak Harbor High School .Oak Harbor High School is a public grade 9–12 high school that is located in Oak Harbor, Washington on Whidbey Island. The school is in the Oak Harbor School District #201...
in 1970, and in 1975, he was hired by the Washington State Department of Corrections to work as a prison guard at the Washington State Penitentiary
Washington State Penitentiary
Washington State Penitentiary is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Walla Walla, Washington...
in Walla Walla. After working there for six months, Yates enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, 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
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and later Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
during the United Nations peacekeeping mission of the early 1990s. He earned several military awards and medals during his 19-year military career, including three Army achievement medals, three Army commendation medals, two Armed Forces expeditionary medals, and three meritorious service medals.
Murders
The murders Yates committed between 1996 and 1998 in Spokane all involved prostitutes in Spokane's "Skid Row" area on E. Sprague Avenue. The victims were initially solicited for prostitution by Yates, who would have sex with them (often in his 1979 FordFord Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
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-caliber handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
, and one attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
was linked to the same model of handgun. One particularly bizarre detail of Yates' murders involved the case of Melody Murfin, whose body was buried just outside of the bedroom window of Yates' family home.
On August 1, 1998, Yates picked up prostitute Christine Smith, who managed to escape after being shot, assaulted and robbed. On September 19, 1998, Yates was asked to give a DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
sample to Spokane police after being stopped; he refused, stating that it was too extreme of a request for a "family man".
Convictions
Yates was arrested on April 18, 1999, for the murder of Jennifer Joseph. After Yates' arrest a search warrant was served on a 1977 white Corvette that he had previously owned. A white Corvette had been identified as the vehicle that one of the victims had last been seen in. 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. 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. In 2000, he was convicted of 13 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in Spokane County Superior Court. The judge sentenced Yates to 408 years in prison, essentially a life sentence. Yates avoided the death penalty by confessing to the Spokane County murders in exchange for the life sentence.In 2001, Yates was charged in Pierce County
Pierce County, Washington
right|thumb|[[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]] - Seat of Pierce CountyPierce County is the second most populous county in the U.S. state of Washington. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory...
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. In October 2002, Yates was convicted of those murders and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
.
On September 5, 2008, a judge signed Yates' death warrant
Execution warrant
An execution warrant is a writ which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death on an individual...
, with September 19, 2008 given as the execution date. On September 11, 2008, Washington Supreme Court
Washington Supreme Court
The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Justices. of the Court are elected to six-year terms...
Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander
Gerry L. Alexander
Gerry L. Alexander was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Washington. He was elected to the court in 1994 and re-elected in 2000. Following this election, his colleagues elected him to a four-year term as chief justice. He was re-elected as chief justice in 2004 and...
issued a stay of execution
Stay of execution
A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
to allow the defense time to file additional appeals.
Yates is currently on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
at the Washington State Penitentiary
Washington State Penitentiary
Washington State Penitentiary is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Walla Walla, Washington...
.
Victims
| Name | Date of discovery |
|---|---|
| Patrick Oliver | July 13, 1975 |
| Susan Savage | July 13, 1975 |
| Stacy E. Hawn | December 28, 1988 |
| Patricia Barnes | August 25, 1996 |
| Shannon Zielinski | June 14, 1996 |
| Heather Hernandez | August 26, 1997 |
| Jennifer Joseph | August 26, 1997 |
| Darla Scott | November 5, 1997 |
| Melinda Mercer | December 7, 1997 |
| Shawn Johnson | December 18, 1997 |
| Laurie Wason | December 26, 1997 |
| Sunny Oster | February 8, 1998 |
| Linda Maybin | April 1, 1998 |
| Melody Murfin | May 12, 1998 |
| Michelyn Derning | July 7, 1998 |
| Connie LaFontaine Ellis | October 13, 1998 |
External links
- Robert Lee Yates, Jr. at Crime LibraryCrime LibraryThe Crime Library is a website documenting major crimes, criminals, and trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books, police reports, crime television shows, and writers...
- Radford University Department of Psychology – Robert Lee Yates, Jr. timeline and summary
- Kari & Associates – Robert Lee Yates, Jr.