Suspected or convicted serial killers in Washington 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 John R. Gasser Harvy L. Carignan James Dwight Canady What is a serial killer? Even the nation’s leading experts don’t agree. The most general Warren Forrest definition is based on numbers and patterns: Two or more unrelated victims in distinctly Gary G. Grant Ted Bundy separate incidents. The Northwest has a notorious history of these “prototype” The .22 Caliber Killer, killers – among them are Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer, who Identity unknown, James Elledge Brian Keith Lord are synonymous with the term “serial killer.” Spokane The same killer is believed James Edward Ruzicka Yet other, less infamous killers have claimed scores of lives across the state. to be responsible for three Gary A. Taylor Some have been convicted of only one or two murders, but are suspected slayings of women found William Batten of many more. Four remain only suspects, pending trial. dumped near the Spokane Robert Lee Yates Jr. River in 1990. All of the victims Kenneth Bianchi were known prostitutes shot with the s Following general definitions provided by the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, criminal Morris Frampton profilers and other experts, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer compiled this list of the state’s ame .22 caliber gun. Investigators once looked at the crimes in relation to a string of Stanley Bernson modern-day serial killers. prostitute killings in Spokane that Robert Lee Lewiston Valley Killer It’s impossible to know if the list is comprehensive. There’s no national database of serial Yates Jr. later confessed to. But the Army Randy Woodfield helicopter pilot was later ruled out as the Martin Lee Sanders killers. It’s also true that some are better than others in hiding their morbid harvest. But murderer in these cases, as he was stationed in Charles Sinclair it does show that killers often roam our state for years, exploiting holes in a law Germany at the time of the killings. First known enforcement system that often fails to protect the missing or bring justice for the dead. murder 1990. Green River Killer Dwayne Elton Status: Unsolved William Scott Smith John R. Gasser William Batten Dwayne Elton Billy Ray Ballard Jr. Student/state employee, Car lot worker, Aberdeen Army sergeant, Fort Lewis. Joe Kondro Seattle/Olympia PHOTO Gary A. Shaw Committed to state psychiatric Shot and killed one prostitute, NOT KEY Daniel Yates A Seattle University student in hospital as a “sexual psychopath” strangled and sliced the throat of AVAILABLE Free 1948, Gasser raped and strangled a following child molestations in 1967. another. Elton dumped his victims Snohomish County Dismemberment Killer 22-year-old carhop and dumped her Stabbed two teenage hitchhikers near Madigan Army Hospital in 1984. In custody John Bill Fletcher Jr. body near the Sand Point Naval to death near Moclips in 1975. He The Seattle native later pleaded guilty to the First known murder The Index Killer Station. Years after his release from prison, he raped remains a suspect in the 1969 disappearance of a killings in military court to avoid a death sentence. and strangled a 49-year-old woman and dumped woman he had dated. Most recent arrest Westley Allan Dodd Status: In military prison in Kansas. Scott William Cox her body in a ditch outside Olympia in 1982. Status: In prison in Washington. First known murder and Status: In prison in Washington. arrest in same year Keith Jesperson William Scott Smith George Russell Robert Lee Yates Jr. Unemployed cook, Salem, Ore. The .22 Caliber Killer Aluminum plant worker and Westley Allan Dodd The Want Ad Killer Convicted of two counts of Robert “Sidetrack” Silveria Harvy L. Carignan Army Reserve helicopter pilot, Shipping clerk, Clark County aggravated murder for the sex Jack Owen Spillman III Gas station manager Spokane Raped, tortured and killed three boys slayings of two young Salem women Robert Lee Parker Seattle/Minneapolis Killed a string of prostitutes in in separate attacks in the spring of in Vancouver-Portland area. Caught Rafael Ramirez Suspected in dozens of sex-slayings Spokane and Pierce County since 1984. Smith was also questioned in after he tried to abduct a boy from spanning four decades and several 1996. Admitted to 16 murders, the 1983 unsolved murder of a 14-year-old girl in a Camas movie theater. Admitted to Dewayne Lee Harris Western states and provinces, convicted of 15. Typically would pick up prostitutes, Idaho. Although not officially a suspect in any molesting about 30 children. John Eric Armstrong Carignan is thought to have killed at least two shoot them and engage in post-mortem sex. Grew Washington murders, Green River investigators at Status: Executed in Washington in 1993. women in Washington. He was convicted of two up on Whidbey Island and lived in several one time looked at him in relation to serial killings in murders in Minnesota. He met some victims by Washington cities. this state. Smith also has family ties to Pierce County. Dewayne Lee Harris Scott William Cox placing newspaper help wanted ads. A map found in Status: On death row in Washington. Status: In prison in Oregon. Transient his Minnesota home had at least 180 areas circled – Long-haul trucker, Newberg, Ore. Killed three prostitutes and transient including 18 in Washington – where some bodies Stabbed one prostitute and strangled have been found. women in Seattle. Typically would The Hillside Strangler: Billy Ray Ballard Jr. another in Portland. Suspected in bind his victims’ wrists and ankles Status: In prison in Minnesota. Kenneth Bianchi Truck driver, Plains, Mont. more than 20 other murders, with their shoelaces, gag them with Security-alarm installer, Confessed to killing a Seattle couple including the 1988 homicide of their under clothes and strangle them, Bellingham who disappeared while sightseeing Snohomish County transient Hazel then leave bodies in vacant city lots. John Dwight Canaday Gelnett and the 1990 murder of Tia Hicks, a Seattle Strangled at least seven women in the Columbia River Gorge. Their Status: In prison in Washington. City water department employee, and left their bodies on hillsides in bodies were recovered at different woman whose body was found in Montlake Terrace. Seattle Los Angeles. Also killed two times, dumped 30 miles apart, in Also suspected of raping and trying to kill a Seattle prostitute in May 1991. Abducted, raped and strangled two Western Washington University students in rural Grant County. Ballard’s arrest for the abduction, John Eric Armstrong women, then dumped their bodies Bellingham in 1979. He worked with an adopted rape and torture of two women in Wyoming months Status: In prison in Oregon. U.S. Navy, Bremerton/Detroit, Mich. near Stevens Pass. Canaday later “cousin” convicted of nine similar murders in Los later helped investigators match his fingerprint to Claims to have killed two women attacked two other women and Angeles. one left on the Washington couple’s abandoned car. Happy Face Killer: and a transsexual man in Seattle was being held in King County Jail on rape, assault Status: In prison in Washington. Status: In prison in Wyoming. and kidnapping charges when he confessed to the Keith Jesperson while stationed on the Bremerton- murders, leading detectives to one body. Long-haul trucker, based USS Nimitz from 1993 to Yakima Valley/Portland 1999, plus eight others worldwide. Status: In prison in Washington. Morris Frampton Joe Kondro Convicted of five Detroit-area prostitute murders. Sprinkler system installer, Seattle Laborer, mill worker, Longview Confessed to eight murders in five Police discount many of his claims. states. Jesperson typically raped, Beat to death a Seattle prostitute, Admits to raping and strangling two Status: In prison in Michigan. Warren Forrest then dumped her body near the young girls in Southwest beat and strangled truck-stop Clark County parks employee, South Park marina. Also convicted Washington – killings more than prostitutes and transients, then dumped bodies Vancouver of assaulting two other Seattle 11 years apart. Convicted of two along wooded roadsides. Sent taunting letters to Awaiting trial Suspected of kidnapping, raping prostitutes and acquitted of killing other rapes, he also admits to media and authorities, signed with a “happy face.” and strangling six women near another. abducting a teenage store clerk at knifepoint. Caught after killing his girlfriend near Camas. Vancouver. Convicted of killing one Status: In prison in Washington. Suspect in dozens of disappearances, rapes and Status: In prison in Oregon. Brian Keith Lord and abducting, raping and murders since 1982. Carpenter, Kitsap County attempting to kill two others, after serving seven Suspected of the 1986 sex slaying Status: In prison in Washington. Eastside Serial Killer: years in a state mental hospital. Stanley Bernson of a Poulsbo teenage girl. At age 14, George Russell Status: In prison in Washington. Produce salesman, Spokane Lord shot and killed a family friend Unemployed, Mercer Island Suspected of killing up to 30 Gary A. Shaw in California; and abducted his Northwest women, Bernson Unemployed, Tacoma Raped and killed three women he sister-in-law when he was 20. His Gary G. Grant stabbed a 15-year-old girl to death Convicted of raping and killing two met in Eastside bars, leaving their conviction and death sentence for the Washington Navy enlistee, Renton and buried her in a shallow grave in Tacoma women in separate bodies in particular poses. A small- murder was overturned, with retrial set for this year. time burglar/con-artist who Confessed to four sex-slayings, Richland. Authorities in Oregon also attacks in early 1985. Shaw Status: In Kitsap County Jail, awaiting trial. including the murders of two 6-year- charged him for the 1978 murder of a Umatilla dumped his victim’s bodies in pretended to be a cop, Russell made his living old boys and two teenage girls.