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World's Most Evil Killers S03E08
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00:00.
00:10Spokane, Washington State, August 1st, 1998.
00:16On a notorious downtown strip known as The Track,
00:20a 46-year-old male picked up a sex worker called Christine.
00:25The woman did not know it yet,
00:27but the man at the wheel was a serial killer.
00:30He pretended to be exactly what he wasn't.
00:33The all-American hero, family man,
00:36was actually a sex addict who killed prostitutes for pleasure.
00:41After having sex with her,
00:43the killer pulled out his .25-caliber handgun
00:46and shot the woman in the head.
00:48She later found bullet fragments in her head.
00:51She had this incredible rush with death
00:54and miraculously had escaped with only a bullet wound.
00:57Christine was the only one that survived an attack
01:01by Robert Lee Yates, Jr.
01:03For more than 20 years,
01:05Yates preyed on vulnerable young women
01:07in and around the Pacific Northwest.
01:10Typically, once someone got into his car,
01:13their fate was sealed.
01:15Yates simply discarded them,
01:17as if they were trash that he'd thrown out of his vehicle,
01:20and then he'd get rid of them after he'd had his fun.
01:24When this all-American family man was finally caught,
01:27he was convicted of killing 14 young women and one man.
01:32However, it's suspected he may have murdered many more.
01:35That makes Robert Lee Yates, Jr.
01:38one of the world's most evil killers.
01:41Spokane, Washington.
02:07For more than 20 years, between 1975 and 1998,
02:12a serial killer was on the loose across America's Pacific Northwest.
02:1750-year-old war hero Robert Lee Yates Jr. shocked the world
02:22when he was found guilty of mercilessly killing 14 women and one man.
02:28He didn't look like a monster. He looked like an average Joe.
02:32And he was a father of five. He lived in a middle-class neighbourhood.
02:37He was seen as respectable.
02:39He was a decorated pilot in the U.S. Army National Guard.
02:43He has several tours in Germany.
02:46He becomes chief warrant officer.
02:49In every respect, an all-American hero.
02:53The sort of chap that you hang bunting out for when he returns home.
03:02But for more than 20 years, Robert Lee Yates led a double life.
03:10At night, he was a cold-blooded serial killer,
03:13preying on vulnerable young women, mostly in the city of Spokane.
03:18Local journalist Bill Morlin covered the story of the murders.
03:22The common ingredient in these deaths were the women had been picked up
03:26on an area in Spokane called East Sprague.
03:29It's an area east of the downtown area.
03:31It's sometimes called the track.
03:34The women would be picked up,
03:35and he apparently would engage in sexual activities.
03:38In some instances, he engaged in drug usage with these women
03:41and then would shoot them, usually in the head.
03:45Most of the murders were committed by a .25-caliber handgun.
03:48Their bodies would be found many times in drainage ditches
03:52or in semi-wooded areas outside of town.
03:59Special Agent Norm Brown is a seasoned investigator.
04:04In 1998, he supervised the task force assigned to track down the killer.
04:09This one stands out in that it involved the deaths of so many innocent people.
04:15It was very challenging to find this person.
04:17The Spokane community was on edge during this investigation.
04:22A number of people thought that the investigators weren't doing enough
04:26to catch the killer at the time because the victims were prostitutes.
04:29Nothing could be farther from the truth.
04:31The victims were humans.
04:33They didn't deserve to die, so we were bound and determined to find them.
04:37At the start of the investigation, Yates was not a suspect.
04:41He wasn't on our radar.
04:42There was nothing that pointed us in his direction as being the serial killer.
04:47This killer story begins in 1952.
04:53On May the 27th, Robert Lee Yates Jr. was born in Spokane
05:00and was raised in the small town of Oak Harbor, Washington.
05:04Robert Lee Yates' father worked on a local naval base.
05:08He was a blue-collar worker.
05:10He had a very close relationship with his father.
05:12I think he idolised him.
05:14And his father was a coach for a little league baseball team.
05:18Yates' time at school was very normal.
05:21Robert Lee Yates Jr. played baseball at school,
05:24but he wasn't the star on the team.
05:27He was good at his schoolwork,
05:29but he wasn't the smartest person in the class.
05:32He was just average.
05:33So there was nothing that stood out.
05:35There was nothing that said that this family would be the family
05:38that would produce a serial killer.
05:40To the outside world, the Yates' were a happy, contented, all-American family.
05:46In many ways, Yates' relationship with his father was completely normal.
05:51Usually it's thought that even one positive role model is sufficient
05:56to stop people from becoming seriously psychiatrically disturbed,
06:00and yet it didn't do anything here.
06:02We have to ask ourselves the question, why?
06:05When investigators dug into Yates' family history,
06:09they discovered something shocking.
06:12We learned that his grandmother killed his grandfather,
06:16and there was some violence in the family, obviously.
06:19His grandmother didn't just kill his grandfather,
06:22but she killed him in an especially gruesome way.
06:25She took an axe to him, actually,
06:27and then was committed to a mental institution.
06:30And that becomes, I suspect, an intergenerational message,
06:34which is women are very dangerous.
06:38They have what you want, but they're very dangerous people.
06:44While there was a violent history in the family,
06:48Yates himself allegedly suffered some trauma
06:50when he was just six years old.
06:53We often find in serial killers
06:55that that violence is actually rooted in shame.
06:58That shame is often something that has happened during the childhood,
07:03something that the child felt they had no control over,
07:06but something that they felt judged by,
07:07something that made them feel less worthy.
07:11Robert Lee Yates was sexually assaulted
07:13by another child who was a neighbour.
07:16But Yates kept the assault a secret.
07:19The incident was never reported to police.
07:24After graduating high school, Yates met his first wife.
07:28In 1972, aged 20,
07:31Yates and his wife moved to the small town of Walla Walla
07:35in Washington State, where they enrolled in college.
07:39There he spent his free time alone in the woods,
07:42hunting, hiking and fishing.
07:45The parents of his wife, years later,
07:47say, actually, he was quite a loner.
07:49We never really got to know him.
07:51Even though he was married to their daughter,
07:53he was somebody who was quite insular.
07:55And it's that constant theme of invisibility.
07:58Yates' marriage to his first wife ended in divorce
08:02just 18 months later.
08:04However, he had already begun a new relationship
08:06with another woman.
08:08In December that year,
08:10Yates got a job at the Washington State Penitentiary,
08:13and the first of their five children was born.
08:17In July 1976, they were married.
08:20He works as a prison officer.
08:22And this is a job that's about the enforcement of rules
08:25and regulations.
08:25It's about status and it's about power.
08:28And it's about authority.
08:30And this also coincides with his first murder.
08:33On July the 13th, 1975,
08:40a 23-year-old Yates was practising shooting targets
08:43just outside town near Mill Creek
08:46when he came across two students.
08:49Lifelong friends Susan, age 22,
08:51and Patrick, age 21, were having a picnic.
08:55This was an area that he knew quite well.
08:57It was out in the middle of nowhere,
08:59and he was fairly confident
09:00that he wasn't going to be disturbed.
09:01And it wouldn't surprise me if he'd been fantasising
09:04about this for quite some time.
09:06And he comes across two college graduates,
09:09and he decides that he's going to kill them.
09:11And that's what he does.
09:13He literally shoots them in cold blood.
09:17A rage burst out.
09:19He acted entirely instinctively
09:21and shot them both.
09:23It is unimaginable.
09:26Why would you do that?
09:28There is something profoundly out of kilter
09:31in Yates' personality.
09:33For Yates, simply murdering the young friends
09:36was not enough.
09:38He placed the body of Susan on top of that of Patrick.
09:41And Susan's body, he'd removed a lot of her clothing.
09:45So this is really humiliating.
09:46This is really demeaning.
09:49Yates left the bodies by the side of the creek
09:51and covered them with a pile of rubbish,
09:54a sleeping bag, and an old tyre.
09:56Yates essentially assassinates them.
09:58And what his motivation was is, I mean, it's anyone's guess.
10:02Did he think that these people were being sinful?
10:04Did it go against his religious upbringing?
10:07I'm only speculating.
10:08There's no way of knowing.
10:09He's never talked about what motivated him
10:11to kill that young couple.
10:12This would have been an escalation of behaviour
10:16rather than a switch being flipped.
10:18People don't just decide to kill overnight.
10:21They don't turn into murderers one day
10:23having been completely normal the previous day.
10:27I think that he was probably stalking people.
10:30He was probably fantasizing about harming others.
10:37Walla Walla, Washington, 1977.
10:40Two years after murdering two students at Mill Creek,
10:44the killer, 25-year-old Robert Lee Yates Jr., joined the army.
10:49In October, he decided to become a pilot.
10:52But during his 18 years of service,
10:55he could not contain his murderer's urges.
11:00There was one interesting incident
11:04when he was serving in Somalia.
11:07He allegedly shot a pig from the helicopter.
11:11And that wouldn't have been an easy thing to achieve
11:14in a moving airborne vehicle.
11:17It's something that he did that he didn't have to do.
11:20He wanted to prove to himself
11:22that he had hit a target from that far away.
11:25Wherever warrant officer Yates was stationed,
11:28trouble seemed to follow.
11:30Women in that area near where he'd been stationed,
11:33many of them prostitutes, suddenly ended up dead.
11:36But without conclusive evidence,
11:39Yates was never tied to these mysterious murders.
11:42Apparently, because of the lapse of time
11:44and because of technology issues,
11:46there was no DNA saved from some of those victims.
11:48On April the 1st, 1996,
11:54the father of five 44-year-old Yates
11:57made a surprising decision.
11:59After nearly two decades of distinguished service,
12:03he resigned his position.
12:05He pulls out and suddenly returns to Spokane.
12:09He only had to serve a further 18 months
12:11before he would have got a full military pension.
12:14Now, why would a man with five children and a wife
12:18suddenly decide to leave the army?
12:22I think the answer lies in another killing.
12:26In August 1995, Dale County, Alabama.
12:31Eight months before Yates' resignation,
12:34a 19-year-old transvestite prostitute
12:36was shot in the face by an unknown killer.
12:39The body was found dumped on the roadside bordering Fort Rucker,
12:44an army aviation base
12:46where Yates had been stationed at the time for training.
12:49A culprit was never found,
12:51but some continue to speculate.
12:55I think that unknown killer was Robert Lee Yates Jr.
13:00and I think that's why he left the army suddenly.
13:06That I feel that he was appalled.
13:09Here is a woman who is actually a man.
13:12I think Yates flipped,
13:15and I think that's why
13:17he suddenly snatched his wife and family
13:20out of a very good army career,
13:23which was about to see him
13:24get a substantial and generous pension
13:27and take them back to Spokane out of the blue.
13:30And this is a real pivotal moment, I think, in his life
13:34because he's somebody who operates quite well
13:36when there are boundaries around him,
13:38but now those boundaries are gone,
13:40I think we're going to see some changes.
13:42Though it's never been proven,
13:44he's suspected of committing two other murders
13:47between 1995 and 1996 in Washington state.
13:52And in the following year, Yates picked up the pace.
13:56He was intent on killing,
13:59and intent on killing prostitutes.
14:02He would target prostitutes,
14:04perhaps because they were easy,
14:05perhaps because no one would miss them.
14:08In 1997, Yates joined the Army National Guard,
14:12hoping to become a helicopter pilot.
14:15We have him entering yet another career
14:18that involves him enforcing the law.
14:21So this is something that enables him
14:23to continue having that power
14:25and that control and that status.
14:27But Yates' flying career
14:29was quickly put on hold
14:31as his medical results were being processed.
14:34He's grounded.
14:35He's not allowed to fly his helicopter.
14:37Now, this is a pivotal moment for me
14:39because somebody else has taken control.
14:41Somebody else has made that decision.
14:44He's not the one
14:44that's in the driving seat anymore.
14:48Despite not initially being able to fly,
14:52he remains in the National Guard.
14:54But with a large family to support,
14:57he takes on a menial job
14:58at a manufacturing plant in Spokane.
15:01And all the while,
15:03Yates continued to kill.
15:05I think the murders that he committed
15:07were an attempt to get back control.
15:09I think there were things happening in his life
15:12that he felt were out of his control
15:14and he wanted to feel powerful again.
15:17His new hunting ground
15:19was the seedy strip in downtown Spokane
15:22known as The Track.
15:24Prostitutes to Yates were easy targets
15:27in that they would get into his vehicle
15:29without any questions asked.
15:31They would just decide
15:33what money was going to be exchanged for services.
15:36And the prostitutes were very vulnerable
15:38because most of them were drug addicts
15:40and they'd sell themselves for money
15:42and use it to buy drugs.
15:45Robert Lee Yates was very much a regular face
15:47on the sex workers scene
15:49in this part of town at the time.
15:51So he wouldn't just pick up women to have sex with.
15:54He would do drugs with them.
15:55He became part of their community.
15:57And I think he would be trusted by them.
16:00He was somebody that they knew.
16:03In the summer of 1997,
16:05Yates picked up 20-year-old Heather
16:08from the downtown track
16:10to have sex with her.
16:12I suspect that the victims
16:13may not have known
16:15even the second before they died
16:17that this was going to be a killing
16:19because I suspect
16:21their interaction went down
16:23much as an interaction
16:25with a prostitute goes down.
16:27And then when he was done,
16:29he draws his gun
16:30and he shoots.
16:33Yates shot Heather in the head
16:35with a .22-caliber handgun.
16:38Literally, there's just a second
16:40that the victim becomes aware
16:42that something's amiss
16:44and after that,
16:44the victim is dead.
16:46After Yates murdered Heather,
16:48he dumped her body
16:49on the side of the road.
16:51He was brazen in his thought
16:53as far as dumping the bodies.
16:54In August that year,
16:58Yates was back on the track
17:00looking for easy prey.
17:02He picked up 16-year-old Jennifer.
17:05Like the young woman before her,
17:08her fate was a foregone conclusion.
17:10Unlike money serial killers,
17:12the way that Yates kills
17:15is instrumental.
17:17He has sex with his victims
17:19and then he pulls out a gun
17:20and he shoots them.
17:21They die virtually instantaneously
17:24at the hand of somebody
17:26who knows how to use weapons effectively.
17:28He's not trying to torture.
17:30He's not trying to terrorize.
17:32He's simply eliminating the witness.
17:35He watches as the life
17:37literally drains from them.
17:39And this is an individual
17:40who is not going to stop
17:41because his offending is getting worse.
17:43It's becoming more sadistic.
17:46Once dead,
17:47Yates prepared to move Jennifer's body,
17:50a ritual he would repeat
17:51time and time again.
17:54After shooting them in the heads,
17:55he put bags over their head
17:56largely to keep his car clean.
17:58I mean,
17:59he didn't want the blood dripping out
18:01and would put plastic bags
18:02over their heads
18:03to keep the mess off his car.
18:06Ten days later,
18:08local farmers found
18:09Jennifer's badly decomposed body.
18:12It had been dumped in brush
18:13northeast of Spokane.
18:16This site where Jennifer was found,
18:18it was next to a working farm
18:20near to an alfalfa field.
18:23So he's not really seeming too bothered
18:25about covering up.
18:27It seems that he just wants to get away
18:29at this point in time.
18:31That same day,
18:33officers made another grim discovery,
18:36another of his victims.
18:38Heather is found in a field
18:39in a parking lot
18:40off the strip in East Spokane.
18:42Robert Yates would typically
18:44bury them slightly
18:45or partially.
18:47Other times,
18:47he'd cover them with debris.
18:49Many of them were found nude
18:50or semi-nude.
18:52They were discarded
18:52like trash along the road.
18:54And that's exactly
18:55how he saw these women.
18:56He saw them as disposable.
18:58He saw them for
18:59just his own pleasure
19:00and then he'd get rid of them
19:02after he'd had his fun.
19:04But this time,
19:05the Spokane-based detectives
19:07had a vital lead.
19:10We received a tip
19:11that one of the victims,
19:13Jennifer Joseph,
19:14was last seen
19:15getting into a white Corvette.
19:17On the 24th of September, 1997,
19:21a local police officer
19:22patrolling the track
19:23pulled Yates for speeding.
19:25And a police officer
19:26actually had stopped him
19:28to fill out a report.
19:29But in the vehicle description,
19:30instead of writing down Corvette,
19:32the officer wrote down C-A-M,
19:34apparently referring to a Camaro.
19:36The police officer
19:38actually wrote down
19:40that he was in
19:41a different kind of car
19:42and that meant
19:43that they missed
19:44Robert Lee Yates.
19:46Later that autumn,
19:48Yates picked up Darla,
19:49a 28-year-old sex worker,
19:51on the track.
19:52He would pick up these women,
19:54he would shoot them in the head
19:55and then he would bury
19:56their bodies.
19:57So this was very cold,
19:59this was very kind of
20:00executioner style.
20:02Darla's body was found
20:03on November the 5th, 1997,
20:0610 miles south of downtown Spokane
20:08on Hangman Valley Road.
20:11I visited the recovery site
20:12of Darla,
20:13and she was dumped
20:14in some bushes
20:15by some trees
20:16and rolled down a hill,
20:18but not very far off
20:19off the Hangman Valley Road
20:21where I often rode my bicycle
20:23for exercise.
20:25When I ride by there,
20:26I always think of her
20:28and my heart goes out
20:29to her and her family
20:30because she was treated
20:31like trash
20:32after she was killed.
20:35In December that year,
20:37Yates' killing spree
20:38spread some 300 miles east
20:40to Tacoma,
20:41an area he's familiar with.
20:43As a pilot
20:44with the Washington
20:45Army National Guard,
20:46he was based here in Spokane,
20:47but on certain weekends
20:48he would travel
20:49to the other side
20:50of the state,
20:51near Tacoma, Washington,
20:52where he would do
20:53military weekend drills.
20:56On December the 6th,
20:58Yates chose his next victim.
21:00He picked up 34-year-old
21:02sex worker, Melinda.
21:04Robert E. Yates
21:05didn't just target
21:06an area that he was
21:07familiar with.
21:08He would be carrying out
21:10his crimes in areas
21:12where he just happened
21:13to find himself.
21:14He was in Tacoma
21:15on one particular date,
21:17and this coincided
21:18with the murder of Melinda.
21:20Melinda's body
21:21was found the following day,
21:23dumped in wasteland
21:24by a railroad track.
21:26I think at this point
21:28he's becoming quite arrogant.
21:29He's not gotten caught so far,
21:32so he's pushing
21:32the boundaries a little bit.
21:34And you see this happen
21:35with quite a lot
21:35of serial killers.
21:36They have this kind
21:37of proneness to boredom,
21:39this need for stimulation,
21:40this need to kind of
21:41mix things up a bit,
21:42and I think that's
21:43what he's doing
21:44when he's killing
21:44outside of the area
21:46he knows.
21:48By the end of 1997,
21:50the 45-year-old serial killer
21:53had shot and murdered
21:54at least 12 innocent people.
21:57Most were vulnerable
21:58young women.
22:03I think the fact
22:04that sex workers
22:05in this area
22:06were still going out
22:07and still working,
22:08even though they knew
22:09that their friends
22:10and their acquaintances
22:12were being killed
22:13by this serial killer,
22:14just shows what desperate
22:16circumstances these women
22:17live in.
22:18They have to go out,
22:20they have to work
22:21for money,
22:22often to feed drug habits.
22:26On December the 22nd, 1997,
22:30police set up
22:31a special task force
22:32in Spokane
22:33to catch the serial killer
22:35terrorizing America's
22:37Pacific Northwest.
22:39But the killings
22:40that holiday season
22:41continued unabated.
22:44Robert E. Yates'
22:45murders, Sonny,
22:45during the Christmas period
22:47of 1997,
22:48where most people
22:49are celebrating
22:50the festivities
22:51with their families.
22:53This really does show me
22:54that serial killers
22:55don't take time out.
22:57They don't stop
22:58for the holidays.
22:59They want to keep killing
23:00because they enjoy it,
23:02because it gives them power
23:02and it gives them control.
23:05A day after Christmas,
23:07detectives discovered
23:08the lifeless bodies
23:10of two more women.
23:11Both were found
23:12within the Spokane city limits.
23:15Laurel and Sean,
23:16their bodies were found
23:18at the same time.
23:19Laurel was shot in the head
23:21and discarded
23:22like a piece of rubbish.
23:24Sean was another one
23:25of Robert E. Yates' victims
23:27and I think he was getting
23:29a little bit arrogant.
23:30He was getting
23:31a little bit sloppy
23:32at the time of her killing.
23:34So after he killed her,
23:35he placed the plastic bag
23:37over her head
23:38and there was a print
23:39that was found
23:40on that bag
23:41and that turned out
23:42to be his print.
23:43So as he's becoming
23:45more bold,
23:46as he's becoming
23:46more confident,
23:47he's starting
23:48to make mistakes.
23:49Fear amongst
23:51the general public
23:53escalated
23:54as the murders
23:55across the Pacific
23:56Northwest continued.
23:58By the end of the 90s,
23:59there were like
23:59a dozen or so
24:00of these prostitutes
24:01who had turned up dead
24:02and there was no killer
24:03in custody
24:04and by then
24:05everyone was saying,
24:06we have a serial killer
24:07in our midst
24:07and something needs
24:09to be done about it.
24:10I think the impact
24:11of his crimes
24:11on the community
24:12were incredibly significant
24:14because here's this guy
24:15who appears to be
24:16completely regular,
24:17completely average,
24:18completely invisible
24:19to be honest,
24:20somebody who didn't
24:21really stand out
24:22and yet he was able
24:23to wreak such havoc
24:25across the community.
24:27By January 1998,
24:30the number of unsolved
24:31murder cases
24:32in Spokane
24:33had drastically risen.
24:35The FBI was called in
24:37to assist the Spokane
24:38task force
24:39in catching the killer.
24:41The Spokane
24:41serial killer task force
24:43had hundreds of leads
24:44to begin with
24:45and turned into
24:45thousands of leads.
24:47Some of those leads
24:48were interstate,
24:49in fact,
24:49even in other countries.
24:50So they asked the FBI
24:52to get involved.
24:55Special Agent Norm Brown
24:57was the FBI's
24:58liaison officer
24:59who coordinated efforts
25:01and resources
25:02with the Spokane
25:03serial killer task force.
25:05It's difficult
25:06to work these type
25:07of cases
25:07because we know
25:08women are being killed
25:09the longer we can't
25:12find the serial killer.
25:13so we're anxious
25:15to find the killer.
25:16So that works
25:17on the head
25:18and the hearts
25:19of the investigators.
25:21I spent about
25:22100 hours plus
25:23following leads
25:24and helping
25:25the task force.
25:27It was challenging.
25:28We tried to think
25:29why the killer
25:30would pick this site
25:31to dump the bodies.
25:33Generally,
25:33they're found
25:34in fields
25:34or in wooded areas,
25:36but not always.
25:37A couple of the bodies
25:38were found
25:38within the city limits.
25:39On January
25:45the 19th,
25:461998,
25:47the task force
25:48sponsored a candlelit
25:49vigil to memorialize
25:51the many women
25:52who'd been murdered
25:53on the streets
25:54of Spokane
25:55in the hope
25:56it would lead
25:56to more information
25:58about the killer.
25:59There was a lot
26:00of community outrage.
26:02A lot of people
26:02thought that
26:03the law enforcement
26:04authorities weren't
26:04giving us enough attention
26:06because of who
26:06these victims were.
26:08There were candlelight
26:08vigils.
26:09And, of course,
26:10there were undercover
26:10police there
26:11watching to see
26:12who would show up.
26:14But there were
26:15no further leads.
26:18Four months later,
26:19Yates sold
26:20his white Corvette,
26:21a car he'd been
26:22stopped in
26:22for speeding in
26:23on the track
26:24by police
26:25the previous year.
26:27He began prowling
26:28his favorite
26:29hunting ground
26:30in a big black van.
26:32Robert Lee Yates
26:33really is the embodiment
26:34of the arrogant
26:35narcissistic serial killer
26:37who really does
26:38know his patch,
26:39that he would
26:40go up and down
26:41and he set up
26:42his vehicle
26:43as a mobile
26:43sex unit.
26:45So this is a guy
26:46who's very confident
26:47in what he's doing.
26:48He's hiding
26:48in plain sight.
26:50He's almost
26:51taunting the police,
26:52essentially,
26:53and saying,
26:53hey, everybody,
26:54look at me,
26:54look what I'm up to
26:55and none of you
26:56have caught me yet.
27:00In May 1998,
27:02Yates picked up
27:0343-year-old Melody
27:04downtown.
27:06Like his previous victims,
27:08he followed
27:09the same deadly routine.
27:11After he'd had sex
27:12with her,
27:13he killed her.
27:16Melody was reported
27:17missing by her family
27:19shortly after
27:20she disappeared.
27:22Even with support
27:23from the FBI,
27:24the task force
27:25were unable
27:26to locate her body.
27:27Melody had been
27:28missing for several days,
27:30weeks,
27:30and then months.
27:31She was last seen
27:32living with her sister
27:33in Minnesota
27:34or that she was
27:35working the streets
27:36in Tennessee
27:37or selling drugs
27:38in California.
27:39None of these leads
27:40panned out.
27:41It's like she just
27:42dropped off the face
27:43of the earth.
27:44Shortly after
27:45Melody's murder,
27:46the overconfident killer
27:48began to make
27:48a series of mistakes.
27:54In July that year,
27:57Yates picked up
27:5847-year-old
27:59Mickalyn downtown.
28:02This time,
28:02Yates buried her body
28:04close to home,
28:05a block from
28:06the manufacturing company
28:07in Spokane
28:08where he worked.
28:10The body of
28:11Mickalyn was actually
28:12found near
28:13Robert Lee Yates'
28:14place of work,
28:15and I think this shows
28:16how arrogant
28:17and how incredibly
28:18confident he was
28:20becoming in his
28:21killing.
28:22Very often,
28:23serial killers
28:23will keep a clear
28:24separation between
28:25their work life
28:26and their home life
28:27and their killing,
28:28but it's starting
28:29to merge into one.
28:32Police questioned
28:33a number of employees
28:34who worked at
28:35the manufacturing company,
28:37including Yates.
28:38But with no evidence
28:40to link him to the murder,
28:41no further action
28:43was taken.
28:44And he's actually
28:44interviewed in relation
28:46to the discovery
28:46of this body.
28:48And part of me thinks
28:48he probably quite
28:49enjoyed that.
28:50He probably quite enjoyed
28:51the police asking him
28:52questions,
28:53knowing that he knew
28:55all along who was
28:56responsible.
28:57Like many serial killers,
28:59he starts slow
29:00and begins to escalate,
29:01and the frequency
29:02of the killing
29:03and the amount
29:04of the killing
29:04gets more and more,
29:06and there's something else
29:07that becomes more
29:08and more over time.
29:09He makes less and less
29:10efforts to hide the bodies
29:12after a while.
29:13But Yates' luck
29:14was about to run out.
29:19On August 1st, 1998,
29:23Yates picked up
29:24another sex worker,
29:25Christine Smith,
29:26in downtown Spokane.
29:29Christine Smith
29:29got inside the van
29:31of Robert Yates,
29:32attempted to perform
29:33oral sex on him,
29:35and during that process,
29:36she felt a sharp blow
29:38to her head.
29:41And she immediately
29:42got out,
29:43ran away.
29:45It was like a glancing blow,
29:46and she didn't even realize
29:47initially that she'd been shot.
29:49It was a superficial wound
29:51near her ear,
29:52as I recall.
29:53Christine Smith's case
29:54really is absolutely astounding.
29:56She thought she'd just
29:57been stabbed.
29:59She managed to escape the car
30:01and go and get help
30:02from people.
30:03This is a witness
30:04who has survived.
30:05This is a witness
30:06who can identify him,
30:07and it's only a matter
30:08of time before the police
30:10catch up with him.
30:13Despite Christine's escape,
30:15Yates was unable
30:16to contain the urge
30:17to kill.
30:18In September,
30:19he was on the hunt
30:20again.
30:22Sex worker Connie
30:23was his next victim.
30:25Her body was found
30:26weeks later
30:27by a search and rescue dog
30:28down an embankment
30:30in Pierce County, Tacoma.
30:32These women
30:33turning up dead,
30:34and most of them
30:35were prostitutes,
30:36and it was the common theme
30:38with these victims.
30:39And they were difficult
30:42to find background information
30:44about them,
30:45and they were turning up dead
30:46one at a time,
30:47and many of these cases
30:48would result in just,
30:50you know,
30:50a short little news item
30:51on the evening news
30:52or in the newspaper.
30:55The following month,
30:56Yates went on the prowl
30:58to his favorite
30:59hunting ground,
31:00the track.
31:01On November the 10th, 1998,
31:04he picked up
31:05sex worker Jennifer.
31:07But before Yates
31:08could make his move,
31:09they were pulled over,
31:11and his details
31:11were taken down.
31:13And a police officer
31:14actually had stopped him
31:15and filled out
31:15a police report
31:16about suspicious activity.
31:18He had a young woman
31:19in the car with him,
31:20and there was no criminal conduct
31:22that he could be arrested
31:23on the spot for,
31:24and the police officer
31:25filled out a report.
31:27The police encounter
31:28saved Jennifer's life.
31:30Yates immediately dropped her off
31:32just a few blocks away.
31:34Spokane, Washington, 1999.
31:42After almost 30 years,
31:44Robert Lee Yates Jr.,
31:46the serial killer
31:47responsible for at least 13 murders,
31:50is still on the loose.
31:52Following two police interviews
31:54the previous year,
31:56detectives discovered
31:57that Yates had once owned
31:58a white Corvette,
31:59a car linked
32:01to one of the victims
32:02found in 1997.
32:07There was a witness
32:09who saw Jennifer Joseph
32:10getting into
32:11a white Corvette
32:12on that summer evening
32:14that she disappeared.
32:15And a white Corvette
32:16is quite a distinctive vehicle.
32:18It's one that you're not
32:19going to mistake
32:20for something else.
32:21And this is something
32:22that's going to be
32:23really important
32:23in the conviction
32:24of Robert Lee Yates.
32:26On September the 15th, 1999,
32:3047-year-old Yates
32:32was brought in
32:33for questioning.
32:34Robert Lee Yates
32:35is called in
32:36by the police
32:37and he can't account
32:38for his whereabouts
32:39on a couple
32:40of the key dates.
32:42One of the things
32:43that really does
32:44trip him up
32:44is the police
32:45are presenting
32:46their evidence to him
32:47and they say
32:49about a white Camaro
32:51being seen.
32:52And he corrects them.
32:53He goes,
32:53oh, no,
32:53it's not a Camaro.
32:54It's a Corvette.
32:56Yates' admission
32:57was a breakthrough.
32:59But it wasn't enough
33:00to arrest him.
33:01Police needed more evidence
33:03to link him
33:04to the Washington murders.
33:06Yates was released
33:07the same day.
33:09The task force
33:10issued a search warrant
33:11and tracked down
33:12the new owner
33:13of the 1977
33:14white Corvette
33:15that Yates had sold.
33:17They pulled registrations
33:18for every white Corvette
33:20in Idaho and Washington
33:21in this region
33:22and winnowed that down
33:23and ultimately
33:24located the Corvette
33:26that Robert Yates
33:27had once owned.
33:28The task force
33:30recovered Yates'
33:31white Corvette
33:32and submitted it
33:33to forensic examination.
33:35Investigators
33:36were able
33:36to recover evidence
33:37that linked Yates
33:39to the killing
33:40of one of the prostitutes.
33:42One of the victims,
33:44Jennifer Joseph,
33:45had carpet fibers
33:46on her body.
33:47They processed that car
33:49and found the same
33:50kind of carpet threads
33:51that matched Jennifer.
33:59Jennifer Joseph
34:00had been murdered
34:01two years earlier
34:02and her body
34:03was found
34:04in an alfalfa field
34:05northeast of Spokane.
34:08The detectives
34:09meticulously
34:10took the Corvette apart
34:11and in that process
34:12they found
34:13a small button
34:14that matched
34:15the kind of button
34:16that was on the clothing
34:17worn by Jennifer Joseph.
34:19They then knew
34:19that Jennifer Joseph
34:20had been in that vehicle
34:21prior to her death.
34:24Investigators
34:25also found
34:26a number of bloodstains.
34:28When tested
34:28they revealed DNA
34:30belonging to Jennifer.
34:35They knew
34:36that her murder
34:37had been in that vehicle
34:38before she'd been dumped
34:39in a field
34:40northwest of Spokane.
34:41All of the evidence
34:42is starting to match up
34:44and it leads them
34:45right back
34:45to Robert Lee Yates.
34:46The task force
34:48put in a warrant
34:49for Yates' arrest.
34:50By the time
34:51the detectives
34:51get a warrant
34:52for his arrest
34:53they are 100% certain
34:54they've got the right man.
34:55On April 17th
34:57of 2000
34:58the task force
34:59put Yates
35:00under 24-hour surveillance.
35:02The police
35:03had staked out
35:03the family home
35:04made sure
35:06that he was there
35:06and after he left
35:08for work
35:08at 6 o'clock
35:09the following morning
35:11they moved in
35:12and they arrested him.
35:14The same day
35:15detectives searched
35:16Yates' house
35:16for further evidence.
35:18Immediately
35:19after his arrest
35:20a sample
35:21of Yates' DNA
35:22was taken
35:22and compared
35:23with samples
35:24collected
35:25from a number
35:26of murder victims
35:27found between
35:281996
35:29and 1998.
35:31It was tested
35:32that day
35:32and came back
35:33late that afternoon.
35:34I recall
35:35that we were
35:36at the Yates home
35:37conducting a search
35:38when we got word
35:40that the DNA
35:41matched Robert Yates.
35:43At least
35:44eight of the victims
35:45had the same DNA
35:46found on them
35:48so we knew
35:49we were dealing
35:49with a serial killer.
35:51All investigators
35:51were very happy
35:53we were actually elated.
35:57The day after
35:59Yates was apprehended
36:00a newspaper report
36:02was released
36:02detailing his arrest.
36:05Upon seeing it
36:06former sex worker
36:08Christine Smith
36:09instantly recognised
36:11Yates as being
36:11the man who shot her
36:13in the back of his van
36:14in August of 1998.
36:18At the time
36:19of the incident
36:19she thought
36:20she'd been stabbed
36:21and had reported
36:22it to police.
36:25It wasn't until
36:26a couple of years later
36:28when she was involved
36:29in a car wreck
36:30that she went
36:30to the hospital
36:31and they discovered
36:33shrapnel in her head
36:34and then she realises
36:35that she's actually
36:36been shot.
36:37She hasn't been stabbed.
36:38Somebody has held
36:39a gun to her head
36:40and pulled the trigger
36:41and not only that
36:43this person
36:44who's done this
36:44is Robert Lee Yates
36:46and she realises
36:47I could have been
36:48one of his victims.
36:53Christine's evidence
36:54helped connect
36:55the final pieces
36:56of the puzzle.
36:58Her coming forward
36:59was very crucial
37:00to the task force.
37:01She came forward
37:02provided the information
37:03to law enforcement
37:04and she was
37:05a living victim
37:06if you will.
37:07It's a living person
37:09that could testify
37:09against Robert Yates.
37:11A month later
37:13in May of 2000
37:14investigators
37:15meticulously searched
37:17Yates' black van.
37:18They discovered blood
37:19pertaining to
37:20two other victims
37:21three bullet holes
37:23and spent bullets
37:24and bullet debris
37:25containing Christine's DNA.
37:28When the task force
37:29finally got to her
37:30they had the bullet fragment
37:32surgically removed
37:33and it ballistically
37:34matched up
37:35to the same weapon
37:36that was used
37:37in some of these
37:37other killings.
37:39While searching
37:40Yates' property
37:41investigators discovered
37:43the murder weapons.
37:45He used handguns.
37:46Some of the victims
37:46may also have been
37:47killed with a .22
37:48but most of the murders
37:50were committed
37:50by a .25 caliber handgun.
37:53The task force
37:54now had enough evidence
37:55to charge him
37:56with a total
37:57of 13 murders
37:58and the attempted murder
38:00of Christine Smith.
38:02In October of 2000
38:03at the Spokane Superior Court
38:06Yates faced his charges.
38:08In front of a packed room
38:10the serial killer
38:11took to the stand
38:12and made a shock plea.
38:14Yates, to the surprise of many
38:16goes to court
38:17and pleads guilty
38:17to 13 counts of murder
38:19and one count
38:20of attempted murder.
38:21The callous killer
38:23avoided going to trial
38:24by pleading guilty
38:26to the murders.
38:27Robert E. Yates
38:28struck a plea bargain.
38:29He confessed
38:30to 13 murders
38:32and actually got
38:33life in prison
38:35without the possibility
38:37of parole.
38:38As part of the deal
38:40Yates revealed
38:41a horrible secret.
38:43Robert Yates
38:44agreed to disclose
38:45the location of Melanie.
38:47None of the investigators
38:48knew where she was
38:49and the family
38:51didn't know
38:51where she was either.
38:53So he agreed
38:54to lead us
38:55to her body.
38:56Using Yates's
38:58hand-drawn map
38:59the task force
39:00excavated an area
39:01to the east side
39:02of the killer's home.
39:05Her body was located
39:06in Robert Yates's yard
39:08buried.
39:10It was his trophy
39:12so to speak.
39:13It was pretty horrendous
39:14when the investigators
39:16were conducting
39:16the search
39:17inside the house
39:18no one ever dreamt
39:19that she would be buried
39:21right outside his bedroom.
39:22We were surprised
39:24and dejected
39:25to know that he would
39:26do such a thing.
39:27This says
39:28he wants to be able
39:29to watch over
39:30the body of this victim
39:31to have control
39:32over this crime scene.
39:35There was obviously
39:35some sadistic
39:36kind of a thrill
39:37associated with that.
39:39I mean,
39:39this body was buried
39:40at his family home
39:41right outside the bedroom
39:43where he and his wife
39:43slept.
39:45Yates' deal
39:46with the police
39:47saved his life.
39:50That was a strong
39:52selling point
39:53that he would give up
39:54the location of a body
39:55and he would get
39:57a life sentence
39:57as opposed to
39:58the death penalty.
39:59The investigators,
40:01including myself,
40:02believed that he should
40:03get a death sentence.
40:04If the death sentence
40:05doesn't apply to him,
40:06who does it apply to?
40:07He ended up getting
40:08408 years
40:09for the murders.
40:11In 2002,
40:13prosecutors in Pierce County
40:15charged Yates
40:16with two additional murders,
40:18that of Melinda
40:19in 1997
40:20and of Connie
40:22in 1998.
40:24Yates murdered
40:25both women
40:25in Pierce County,
40:27Washington.
40:28In 2002,
40:29he was convicted
40:30of further murders
40:31and for those murders,
40:33he actually received
40:34the death penalty.
40:35In October of 2002,
40:38Yates was sentenced
40:39to death
40:39by lethal injection
40:40but Washington State
40:42has now abolished
40:43capital punishment.
40:45As a result,
40:46Yates is now serving
40:47life in prison
40:48without the possibility
40:49of parole
40:50in Washington State
40:51Penitentiary
40:52in Walla Walla.
40:54In an ironic twist
40:55of fate,
40:56he's now housed
40:57in the same facility
40:58that he once served in
41:00as a prison guard
41:0125 years earlier.
41:03A fitting end
41:04for the monstrous murderer.
41:07That is the most
41:08shocking part of this.
41:09He was just the guy
41:10that everybody has
41:10living next door to them.
41:11He wasn't this
41:12three-eyed monster
41:13or some sexual psychopath
41:15or registered sex offender.
41:17I mean,
41:17he was a father.
41:19He lived in a modest,
41:20upscale part of town.
41:22He'd been in the military.
41:23Just about as ordinary
41:24as you could possibly get.
41:26And he didn't look
41:27like a monster either.
41:28He looked like
41:29an average Joe.
41:30This averageness
41:31is something that actually
41:33played to his advantage
41:34as a serial killer.
41:35Convicted of 15
41:37cold-blooded murders,
41:39Spokane's mass murderer
41:41is suspected
41:42of taking many more
41:43innocent lives.
41:45And that makes
41:45Robert Lee Yates Jr.
41:47one of the world's
41:48most evil killers.
41:50Who's most evil killers?
41:52Who's most evil killers?
41:53Who's most evil killers?
41:53Who's most evil killers?
41:54Who's most evil killers?
41:55Who's most evil killers?
41:56Who's most evil killers?
41:57Who's most evil killers?
41:58Who's most evil killers?
41:58Who's most evil killers?
41:58Who's most evil killers?
41:59Who's most evil killers?
42:00Who's most evil killers?
42:00Who's most evil killers?
42:01Who's most evil killers?
42:02Who's most evil killers?
42:02Who's most evil killers?
42:02Who's most evil killers?
42:04Who's most evil killers?
42:04Who's most evil killers?
42:04Who's most evil killers?
42:06Who's most evil killers?
42:07Who's most evil killers?
42:08Who's most evil killers?
42:08Who's most evil killers?
42:08Who's most evil killers?
42:09Who's most evil killers?
42:09Transcription by CastingWords