Robert Yates, a master engine builder and longtime NASCAR team owner, died Monday. - by Sarah Firth. "There's absolutely no doubt," says Sterk, adding that DNA links Yates to eight of the deaths. Wason, who was last seen on November 3, was the devoted mother of a 12-year-old son until a relapse with heroin unravelled six years of sobriety; she began working as a prostitute to fund her addiction. My Dad and Hero . Seattle Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this report. The four youngest children enroll in the public school system. However, Seattle Times reports his death sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole following the Washington Supreme Court's decision to abolish capital punishment. The helicopter he knew best was also becoming obsolete, replaced by the Kiowa Warrior. . She said her father hit her all the time. January 1999 - He's told the misdemeanor charge for striking his daughter will be dropped if he doesn't do anything similar for two years. Well, the offseason hits, Kyle Busch gets the 18 and Mars has a choice, go with the best young talent in the sport at the time or stick with an unproven rookie. Detectives then talked to the "friend's daughter," who said Yates had agreed to pay her $20 for oral sex, according to police. Authorities seized the Corvette. For that, he was almost court-martialed. Meet the candidates and likely candidates vying for your vote He mostly chose sex workers as his victims, and they died as a result of gunshot wounds. [1] After his arrest, a search warrant was executed on a white 1977 Chevrolet Corvette that he had previously owned. On October 13, 1998, the body of Connie Ellis-LaFontaine, 35, was found in a ditch in Tacoma. He didn't eat pork. [42][43][20], Yates was arrested on April 18, 2000, for the murder of Jennifer Joseph. "You dont go out hunting with cologne on.". At the urging of Bobby Allison's son, Davey, Yates bought the operation and renamed it Robert Yates Racing. On July 14, 1975, the bodies of Patrick Oliver, 21, and Patricia Savage, 22, were found shot in the head near Walla Walla. Yates was 22. As reported by In Touch Weekly, Yates had sex with all of his victims before killing them with one gunshot to the head or heart. At Yates' trial, it was revealed that even after she was shot in the head, Mercer had chewed through two of the bags before succumbing to her injuries. Nearly $1 million in state funds could mean free testing and other services for sexually transmitted infections. "He never used any profanity. He declined to comment on the specifics of the case: "The place where I do battle is in the courtroom.". When the family's church burned down, Robert and his father worked together to help rebuild it. display: none; [35][36][37][32][20], Melody Ann Murfin He will be . Yates' 25-year-old daughter, Sasha, got no answer when she asked why the killings happened. She and the couples children were rousted from their home without notice law-enforcement officers who had come to search the house for evidence. Last September, they called him into the office. All of these women were shot and dumped in remote areas. The Spokane Serial Killer: An American Monster by Investigation Discovery explores gruesome crimes committed by Robert Lee Yates. In 1970, he graduated from Oak Harbor High School. Yates, a name synonymous with power. Yates said she was his friend's daughter, and he was driving her home. Two were for meritorious service. The family settled in Spokane, Washington, and Robert was seen as a doting father as well. The petition states that Yates and his wife have assets of more than $136,000 and liabilities totaling $475,000. [7][8] Eight of the murders were committed with a Raven .25-caliber handgun, and one attempted murder was linked to the same model of handgun. They loved their dad and I just kind of suffered through it. The couple went on to have four daughters and one son. The prosecutor in Pierce County, where the other two murders took place, has said he will not allow Yates a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty. [5], In 2001 Yates was charged in Pierce County, Washington, with the murders of two additional women. She was buried beneath his bedroom window. He still maintained that, when stopped the year before, he had been driving a friend's daughter home. They were last seen the day before, on their way for an afternoon swim and picnic. She was shot five days earlier according to detectives. He married Kay (Harrison) Barnes August 4, 1979. Once, Yates told Gatti that what ticked him off about his religion was he couldn't eat the pork spare ribs at a local buffet. He served a total of 21.5 years in the military. [3], He has five children, (four daughters and one son), with his second wife Linda, whom he married in 1976. Someone spilled coffee in his hard hat, and Yates shouted, jokingly at first, and then seriously. Yates was charged with misdemeanor assault. Six months after moving to Spokane, Yates found a job at Pantrol, a tiny company that makes circuit boards. "He has disgraced and dishonored every uniform he ever wore," said John Joseph, father of Jennifer Joseph, killed in 1997. He joined the National Guard and trained near Tacoma once a month. Bobby Labonte drives the Ask.com Ford during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono 500 on June 6, 2009 at Pocono International Raceway in. A stand-up guy, say his high-school friends. In August 1997, more women's bodies started showing up, one after another. He also refused to give a blood sample for a DNA test. Linda Yates said everyone asks her how she could "not see the signs" that her husband was a serial killer. October 1987 to May 1988 - Yates is a support aviator and a standardization pilot at Fort Rucker. On December 7, 1997, Melinda Mercer, 24, was found shot and dumped in a field in Tacoma; she had been shot several times and had four plastic bags covering her head. All 18 women used drugs, worked as prostitutes or lived on the streets. 38. He worked his way up to an elite post flying helicopters in the Army, but left two years shy of full retirement. "If he did do these things, knowing Bob like I do, he'd 'fess up to it," Gatti says. Yates was born on May 27, 1952, and grew up in Oak Harbor, Washington[1] in a middle-class family. "I want to know why, like anybody else," Linda Yates said she asked her husband. Serial killer experts frequently point to childhood sexual molestation as a trigger that can produce such a killer. "Especially when he said he was going hunting, and he was dressed up nice and had cologne on," she told "Dateline." Select this result to view Kyle Robert Yates's phone number, address, and more. He even worked as an usher in a movie theater, says Gatti, who started logging after he got back from the war. Investigators from 30 states and two countries have called about him, wondering if he can be linked to their unsolved killings. She was shot once in the head and had three plastic bags covering her head. His English teacher, Trudy Sundberg, said one of the poems he wrote, and read aloud in class, was comparable to Shakespeare. He and his wife, Linda, had five children together and were still married at the time of his arrest. #inline-recirc-item--id-922979d6-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { He would say, `I think there might be a better way,' " Merrill says. On December 28, 1988, the partial skeleton of Stacy Hawn, 23, was found near Big Lake. Sometime in mid-May 1998, Melody Murfin, 43, went missing. [5] Many of his subsequent victims were sex workers working along East Sprague Avenue who had substance abuse issues, and Yates would often do drugs with them and other sex workers. The newlyweds moved to College Place, where they enrolled in Walla Walla College, a Seventh-day Adventist school. They take some carpet fibers for testing. December 1998 - Yates crosses picket lines to go to work at Kaiser Aluminum as a carbon setter. Fall 1970 - Goes to Skagit Valley Community College. Read More: Where is Robert Lee Yates Now? Trending News In Touch Weekly reports DNA evidence, which was found inside Yates' vehicle, conclusively linked him to 13 of the victims. May 27, 1952 - Born in Anacortes to Anna Mae and Robert Lee Yates. November 1997 - Yates is cited for speeding in his Corvette, about 2.5 miles from where a slain woman's body was found three weeks earlier. In March 1996, the tail end of another reduction in Army forces, Yates accepted a special incentive that allowed him to continue receiving 45 percent of his normal pay, probably about $20,000 a year. His vehicle was described as a 70s era black van with an exterior yellow/orange stripe, bucket seats, wood panelling, and a raised bed. He had a powerful arm and perfect control with a baseball. She was considered a victim of the same killer, due to her history and association with other victims, but her body was not discovered until six months after Yates' arrest and subsequent confession. Two fifth grade classes from Fryelands Elementary helped plant a tree at Lake Tye. Before his birth, his grandmother had murdered his grandfather with an axe in 1945. The Truth About The Spokane Killer's Childhood. Yates pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder in that attack. Bob was born January 27, 1935 in Tacoma, WA to Peter and Margaret (Lingham) Yates. Linda even confronted her husband after she found evidence of an extra-marital affair in 1999. She moved back to her home town, Walla Walla. Honorary pallbearers will be David Goff, Jake Vincent, Seth Taylor, John David Kersey, Ricky King, Chris Pritchett, Trent Allman, Jeremy Barnes, Kyle Bailey, Jack Parker and Sammy McCollum. All had ties to prostitution or drugs or lived on the streets. I didnt love him like a wife should. A killing spree was embarked upon by Yates, a U.S. Army veteran, and a family man with five children. September 1999 - Investigators interview Yates in connection with the serial slayings. He had been . Island County Sheriff Mike Hawley last month said hes investigating Yates in connection with two more unsolved homicides and a missing person. When she confronted him about his unusual behavior, she learned Robert Yates used his credit card multiple times to book a hotel where customers paid by the hour. They still haven't found a gun, although Robert Yates had a hunting license and helped his daughter through a gun-safety course last year. Although he denied having an affair, Linda was not convinced.