ROBERT LEE YATES JR.
FULL NAME: Robert Lee Yates Jr.
ALIASES: The Spokane Serial Killer, The Spokane Killer
DOB: May 27, 1952
POB: Oak Harbor, Washington, USA
DOD: N/A (Alive)
NATIONALITY: American
GENDER: Male
OCCUPATION: U.S. Army helicopter pilot, National Guard pilot, factory worker
ACTIVE YEARS: 1975–1998
NUMBER OF VICTIMS: Confirmed 13, suspected up to 18
APPREHENDED: April 18, 2000
CONVICTION: 13 counts of murder, 1 count of attempted murder
SENTENCE: Death (2002), commuted to life without parole (2023)
CURRENT STATUS: Incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Lee Yates Jr. was born in Oak Harbor, Washington, and raised in a middle-class, devoutly religious household. A former U.S. Army helicopter pilot, Yates served with distinction in multiple overseas deployments, including Somalia and the Persian Gulf. Outwardly, he appeared as a stable family man—married with five children, active in his community, and respected for his military service. However, beneath that image was a hidden double life of sexual compulsion and escalating homicidal behavior.
Between 1975 and 1998, Yates targeted vulnerable women, primarily sex workers in the Spokane, Washington area. He picked up his victims in his white Corvette or van, engaged them sexually, and then executed them with a .25-caliber handgun. He frequently wrapped the bodies in plastic bags and disposed of them in rural areas, orchards, and alleys around Spokane County. His crimes went undetected for years due to the transient nature of his victims and a lack of physical evidence tying him directly to the murders.
VICTIMS
- Patrick Oliver and Susan Savage (1975) – First known victims, shot in Walla Walla County.
- Jennifer Joseph (1997) – 16, killed after entering Yates’s car; body found near Mount Spokane.
- Heather Hernandez (1997) – 20, last seen in East Sprague area.
- Melody Murfin (1998) – 43, body buried in Yates’s backyard.
- Additional victims include Darci Stack, Christine Smith (survivor), Connie Ellis, and several unidentified women believed to match his known pattern.
CRIME SCENES
Yates’s crime scenes were concentrated along Spokane’s East Sprague Avenue corridor, an area known for prostitution activity. He often disposed of bodies along rural backroads, fields, and near orchard rows in Spokane, Skagit, and Walla Walla counties. The precision and consistency of the wounds indicated controlled, execution-style shootings, most involving a single shot to the head. Plastic bags were used both as a control mechanism and concealment method, aligning with forensic profiles of organized offenders.
METHODS AND SIGNATURE
Yates’s modus operandi centered on control and concealment. His weapon of choice was a Raven Arms .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol, which he kept hidden in his vehicle. The victims were usually shot at close range inside his car. He wrapped the bodies in plastic trash bags and dumped them in areas with low traffic visibility. Yates frequently cleaned his vehicle thoroughly and replaced the car’s upholstery, a pattern that initially helped him evade detection. Investigators later recovered blood and fiber evidence matching multiple victims from his vehicles and home.
INVESTIGATION
During the late 1990s, Spokane police and the Washington State Patrol formed a joint task force after several bodies were discovered in similar conditions. Despite extensive investigation, leads were sparse until DNA evidence linked Yates to multiple victims. On April 18, 2000, Yates was arrested outside his home in Spokane. A search warrant revealed incriminating ballistic evidence, bloodstains, and buried remains in his backyard. In 2002, he pled guilty to thirteen murders in Spokane County and received multiple life sentences. He was later sentenced to death in Pierce County for two additional murders committed in 1997 and 1998. His death sentence was commuted to life without parole following Washington State’s abolition of the death penalty in 2023.
TRIAL AND SENTENCING
In court, Yates maintained a subdued and emotionless demeanor. Prosecutors emphasized his pattern of deception, military precision, and complete lack of remorse. Forensic testimony and ballistic analysis conclusively tied his handgun to multiple victims. Yates accepted a plea deal in Spokane to avoid the death penalty but faced capital punishment in Pierce County for the aggravated murders of two women. He was formally sentenced to death in 2002, later commuted to life imprisonment without parole.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Behavioral analysts classified Yates as an organized, mission-oriented serial killer with strong sexual compulsions and psychopathic traits. His dual existence—as a decorated veteran and family man versus his nocturnal violence—illustrates compartmentalization typical in sexually motivated offenders. His killings were ritualized acts of control and domination rather than spontaneous rage. He demonstrated an ability to suppress his homicidal behavior for extended periods, indicating advanced impulse control and cognitive planning.
CULTURAL IMPACT
The Yates case profoundly impacted public perception of safety in Spokane during the late 1990s. The revelation that a respected Army veteran and father was responsible for the city’s string of prostitute murders shocked the region. It prompted renewed discussions on the vulnerability of marginalized populations and the challenges law enforcement faces when investigating transient victim groups. His case remains one of the most notorious in Washington State criminal history.
KILLER THEORY
Investigators believe Yates’s motives stemmed from deep-rooted sexual repression and psychological conflict tied to his strict religious upbringing and military service. His killings may have functioned as a perverse means of control and release. The methodical nature of his crimes suggests a calculated effort to dominate and then erase the existence of women who represented temptation or moral weakness in his worldview. Despite multiple interviews and evaluations, Yates has never expressed genuine remorse or provided full disclosure of all his crimes, leaving open the possibility that the true victim count remains higher than officially confirmed.
