Twenty
years ago on this day (January 5, 1993), Pedophile Serial Killer, Westley Allan
Dodd was executed by hanging in the State of Washington. In my opinion, he
should be the poster boy for capital punishment in the case of pedophile
murders. I will post information about him from Wikipedia and at the end of it,
I will give my comments and other links about him.
Westley Allan Dodd (July 3, 1961 – January 5, 1993) was a convicted
American serial killer and child molester. He has been called "one of the
most evil killers in history". His execution on January 5, 1993, was the
first legal hanging (at his own request) in the United States since 1965.
Early
life
Westley
Allan Dodd was born in Toppenish, Washington, on July 3, 1961. Unlike most serial
killers, Dodd claimed he
was never abused or neglected. He also reported that he grew up in a wealthy,
happy family. However, The Seattle Times reported that Dodd described in a
diary written during his imprisonment that his childhood did include
pathnogenic experiences including enduring a father that was physically and
verbally abusive, witnessing fights between his mother and father, and
comporting an attempted suicide by his father.
Criminal
history
Dodd
began sexually abusing children when he was a teenager; his first victims were
his own cousins. All his victims (over 50 in all) were boys below the age of
12, some of them as young as two. Dodd's sexual fantasies became increasingly violent over the
years; as a young man, he wrote about wanting to eat the genitals of his victims.
He
killed brothers Cole and William Neer (aged 11 and 10, respectively) in Vancouver,
Washington in the fall of
1989, and tortured,
raped
and murdered four-year-old Lee Iseli. In November 1989 he attempted to abduct a
six-year-old boy from the Liberty movie theater in Camas,
Washington. He was caught
when the child's mother's boyfriend chased him down and tackled him.
He
was arrested by the Camas police and interviewed by task force detectives.
Portland Police Bureau Detective C. W. Jensen and Clark County Detective Dave Trimble obtained
Dodd's confession and served the search warrant on his home. The police found a
homemade torture rack
in his home, as yet unused.
Several
books have been written about the case, including: When The Monster Comes
Out Of The Closet by Lori Steinhorst, who communicated with Dodd in writing
and by phone almost daily for 18 months prior to his execution; Driven to
Kill by true crime
author Gary C. King; and Dr. Ron Turco's book about his experience during the
initial investigation to assist in developing a profile of the killer.
Arrest
and trials
Dodd
was sentenced to death
in 1990 for molesting and then stabbing to death Cole Neer and his brother
William near a Vancouver, Washington
park in 1989, as well as for the separate rape and murder of Lee Iseli, aged 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." While in court he said that, if he escaped from jail,
he would immediately go back to "killing and raping kids."
Dodd
was executed by hanging at 12:05 a.m. on January 5, 1993 at Washington
State Penitentiary in Walla
Walla. By Washington
State law, Dodd had to choose the method of his execution, and state law gave
Dodd two options: lethal injection or hanging. Dodd chose hanging, later
stating in interviews that he chose that method "because that's the way
Lee Iseli [his final victim] died." He also requested that his hanging be
televised, but that request was denied. His hanging was the first use of
hanging for an execution in the United States since George
York and James Latham
were hanged by Kansas in 1965.
His
execution was witnessed by 12 members of local and regional media, prison
officials, and representatives of the families of the three victims. He ate
salmon and potatoes for his last meal. His last words, spoken from the
second floor of the indoor gallows, were recorded by the media witnesses as:
I was once asked by somebody, I don't remember who, if there was any way sex offenders could be stopped. I said, 'No.' I was wrong. I was wrong when I said there was no hope, no peace. There is hope. There is peace. I found both in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Look to the Lord, and you will find peace.
Dodd
was pronounced dead by the prison doctor and his body transported to Seattle for autopsy. The King County Medical Examiner,
Dr. Donald Reay, found that Dodd had died quickly and probably with little
pain. He was cremated
following the autopsy, and his ashes turned over to his family.
Here are some other links about him:
COMMENTS:
In
my opinion, he should be the poster boy for capital punishment in the case of pedophile murders. For murdered children and their families, Dodd should be
used as an example of hanging child killers. As I prefer hanging to lethal
injection as it is more painful and frightening, I was glad that Dodd did not
die a painless death.
I
do not know whether he is truly repentant of his crimes because of what he
wrote on his bible (See the photo below). Most of all, he deserved to die
whether it was the easy way out or not.
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Dodd's
bible, with the words 'Satan Lives', (POLICE) Source: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/dodd/confess_5.html
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