Westley Allan Dodd
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| Westley Allan Dodf | |
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 mugshot of Westley Allan Dodd |
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| Background information | |
| Born: | July 3, 1961 Washington |
| Died: | January 5, 1993 (aged 31) |
| Cause of death: | Hanging |
| Penalty: | Death |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims: | 3 |
| Span of killings: | September 3, 1989 through November, 1989 |
| Country: | USA |
| State(s): | Washington |
| Date apprehended: | November, 1989 |
Westley Allan Dodd (July 3, 1961 – January 5, 1993) was a convicted serial killer and child molester from Richland, Washington. His execution on January 5, 1993, was the first legal hanging (at his own request) in the United States since 1965.
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[edit] His Childhood Years
Dodd grew up in what has been described as a loveless home and was often neglected by his parents in favor of his two younger brothers (he has stated that he was also ostracized in his school environment and deprived of or denied any emotional growth). [1]
[edit] Criminal history
Dodd began sexually abusing children when he was 13 years old; his first victims were his own cousins. All his victims (over 50 in all) were children below the age of 12, some of them as young as two. Dodd's fantasies became more deviant over the years (he wrote about wanting to eat the genitals of his victims). He eventually progressed from simply molesting his victims to murdering them, when he killed brothers Cole and William Neer, and eventually into torturing them before raping and murdering them, as he did to Lee Iseli. After he was arrested for trying to abduct a boy from a movie theater, the police found a homemade torture rack in his home, as yet unused. He was arrested by local police in Camas, Washington and interviewed by task force detectives. Portland Police Bureau Detective C.W. Jensen and Clark County, WA Detective Sergeant Dave Trimble obtained Dodd's confession and served the search warrant on his home.
Several books have been written about the case, including Driven to Kill by noted true crime author Gary C. King[1] and Dr. Ron Turco book about his experience during the initial investigation to assist in developing a profile of the killer. [2]
[edit] Arrest and trials
Dodd was sentenced to death for molesting and then stabbing to death Cole Neer (11) and his brother William (10) near a Vancouver, Washington, park in 1989, as well as for the separate rape and murder of Lee Iseli (4).
Less than four years elapsed between the murders and Dodd's execution. He refused to appeal his case or the capital sentence, stating "I must be executed before I have an opportunity to escape or kill someone within the prison. If I do escape, I promise you I will kill prison guards if I have to and rape and enjoy every minute of it." He chose hanging as the method of his execution "because that's the way Lee Iseli died". While in court he said that, if he escaped from jail, he would immediately go back to "killing kids". He also requested that his hanging be televised, but this request was denied.
[edit] The execution
At 12:05 a.m. on January 5, 1993, Dodd was executed by hanging.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Shirley Lynn Scott. Westley Allan Dodd: Diary of a Child Predator. Crime Library. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
- Carol M. Ostrom, Jack Broom. Westley Dodd: A Long, Steady Slide Into Dark Desperation. The Seattle Times (1993-01-03). Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
