Westley Allan Dodd was an American convicted serial killer and sexual offender who was born on July 3, 1961. In 1989, in Vancouver, Washington, he sexually raped and murdered three young boys. Later that year, he was caught following a failed attempt to abduct a six-year-old boy from a movie theater.
In a diary that police found, Dodd wrote in detail about each murder he committed.
He asked for the death penalty, saying that he would kill again if he ever got out of jail.
The Troubled Childhood of Westley Allan Dodd
Westley Allan Dodd grew up in Washington as the oldest of three kids in a troubled home. The New York Times says that both Dodd and his younger sister told the judge that they grew up in a family “without love.” Even though it’s not clear if his troubled childhood led to his later crimes, it’s clear that Dodd started doing bad things when he was young.
Dodd started showing himself to kids through his bedroom window when he was 13 years old. The next year, he abused two of his younger cousins, who were only 6 and 8 years old.
Dodd was caught, and he was forced to go to counseling, but he didn’t stop doing bad things after that. During his teen years, he babysat neighborhood kids and then touched them while they slept. He was arrested more than once, but each time, he only got a slap on the wrist because he promised to get help.
Dodd joined the U.S. Navy in 1981, not long after he graduated from high school. He was kicked out of the Navy after he was accused of paying young boys for sex on base, but the Navy didn’t press criminal charges.
Over the next few years, he was arrested at least three times for molesting children or trying to do so. In 1984, Dodd was found guilty of sexually abusing a nine-year-old boy. The judge agreed to reduce his 10-year sentence to just four months if he agreed to attend counseling sessions.
The counseling had no positive effect on Dodd who continued to molest children.
The Three Murders
Dodd began plotting his fondest fantasies—and every parent’s worst nightmares—in his disgusting diary around 1989. He drew out plans for a torture rack he wanted to construct, planned rapes and murders, and described the horrifying deal he said he had made with Satan.
Dodd went to Vancouver’s David Douglas Park on September 4, 1989, with a fish fillet knife and shoelaces to kill young boys. He took Cole and William Neer, who were 11 and 10, to a remote area and made them take off their clothes. He then tied them to a tree and did sex acts on both of them. When he was done, he repeatedly stabbed them with a knife and then ran away. They were found in the park quickly. Cole was already dead at the scene, and William died on the way to a hospital nearby.
On October 29, Dodd drove to Portland, Oregon, where he met Lee Iseli, who was four years old, and his brother Justin, who was nine. They were at a park. Dodd was able to get the younger boy, who was playing alone on a slide, to come with him. Since Justin had already gone home, Dodd told Lee that he would take him home.
He got Lee to his apartment in Vancouver without anyone noticing, and he told the boy to take off his clothes. Dodd then tied Lee to his bed and sexually abused him while taking pictures of it. Dodd kept Lee in his room all night while he kept abusing him sexually. He wrote everything down in his diary. The next morning, he killed Lee by tying a rope around his neck and hanging him in the closet.
He burned Lee’s clothes in a trash barrel, but he kept the boy’s underwear as a reminder of the crime. Lee’s body was found the next day, which led to a search for the killer. Dodd stayed out of sight and spent most of his time in his apartment.
The End Of Westley Allan Dodd’s Crime
Dodd drove to Camas, Washington, about 12 miles east of Vancouver, on November 13, 1989, and tried to take James Kirk II, who was 6 years old, from the bathroom of the New Liberty Theater.
As Dodd walked out of the theater through the lobby with the boy in his arms, the child started to fight and cry. Even though Dodd tried to calm the boy down, the theater staff got suspicious and followed him out to the street. Dodd set his victim free, got in his car, and drove away because they were following him.
William “Ray” Graves, the boyfriend of the boy’s mother, came to the theater lobby and was told that the boy had almost been taken. Graves went outside the theatre in the direction where Dodd was last seen.
Dodd’s car had broken down close to the theater, and he was trying to get it going again. Graves pretended to be a stranger and offered to help Dodd, but he subdued him and took him back to the theatre where employees called the police.
Trial and Sentencing
Dodd eventually admitted to killing Iseli and the Neer brothers once he was in jail. When the police searched his home, they found pictures of Lee Iseli, his Ghostbusters underwear, Dodd’s scary diary, and even the torture rack he’d started to build himself.
Dodd didn’t defend himself in court because he thought it was pointless. He asked instead to be put to death by hanging, just like Lee Iseli had been. He said that he hoped it would bring peace to the families of the people he killed.
Credits: Wikipedia