Westley Allan Dodd

Westley Allan Dodd (July 3, 1961 – January 5, 1993) was an American convicted serial killer and sex offender who sexually assaulted and murdered three young boys in Vancouver, Washington, in 1989. He was arrested later that year after a failed attempt to abduct a six-year-old boy at a movie theatre in Camas, Washington.

Dodd wrote detailed accounts of his murders in a diary that was found by police. He pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to death after taking the stand and telling the judge and jury that he would do everything possible to kill again, including trying to escape and killing prison guards, unless he was put to death. After refusing an automatic appeal, Dodd was executed by hanging on January 5, 1993, the first legal hanging in the United States since 1965.

In response to the cases of Dodd and Earl Kenneth Shriner, the Washington State Legislature authorized the indefinite civil commitment of a convict who has been deemed to be a "sexually violent predator."

Early life

Westley Allan Dodd was born in Toppenish, Washington, on July 3, 1961, the oldest of three children to James and Carol Dodd. Dodd was raised in Richland, Washington. He claimed he was never abused or neglected as a child, though he did state that the words "I love you" were never said to him as he grew up and that he could not remember saying them in return. Dodd's younger brother Gregory was arrested in 2016 for attempting to meet an undercover HSI agent for sex who was posing as a 13-year-old girl and her mother.

The Seattle Times reported that Dodd described in a diary written during his imprisonment that his father had been emotionally and physically abusive, that he was often neglected in favor of his younger siblings and that he witnessed violent fights between his parents. At school, Dodd was not welcomed into any social groups, leaving him with no friends. By the age of 9 he had discovered that he was sexually attracted to other boys. On July 3, 1976—Dodd's fifteenth birthday—his father attempted suicide following an argument with his wife.

Criminal history

Sex offenses

At the age of 13, Dodd began exposing himself to children in his neighborhood. His father eventually told an Oregon newspaper that he was aware of this behavior but largely ignored it, since he felt his son was otherwise a "well-behaved child who never had problems with drugs, drinking or smoking." By the time he entered high school, Dodd had progressed to child molestation, beginning with his younger cousins and then with neighborhood children he offered to babysit, as well as the children of a woman his father was dating. At the age of 15, Dodd was arrested for indecent exposure, but police released him with a recommendation for juvenile counseling. In one of these incidents, Dodd offered a group of boys $50 to accompany him to a motel room for a game of strip poker. Upon his arrest, Dodd confessed to police that he planned to molest the boys. He was released with no charges filed. Dodd was arrested again shortly afterwards for exposing himself to a boy and was dishonorably discharged from the Navy. He spent nineteen days in jail and underwent court-ordered counselling. In May 1984, he was arrested for molesting a 10-year-old boy but received only a suspended sentence.

Dodd planned his entire life around easy access to "targets", as he referred to children. He moved into an apartment block that housed families with children, and worked at fast food restaurants, as a charity truck driver and other such jobs. Dodd repeatedly molested the pre-school-aged children of a neighbor, but the woman declined to press charges, fearing the experience would be too traumatic for her children.

In 1987, Dodd tried to lure a young boy into a vacant building, but the boy refused to go with him and instead told police. Prosecutors were aware of Dodd's history of sexual offenses and recommended five years in prison. However, once again, Dodd received minimal punishment because he had not actually touched the boy nor exposed himself. Instead, he was placed on probation and ordered to seek psychiatric treatment. After finishing probation, Dodd stopped going to treatment and moved to Vancouver, Washington,

Arrest

On November 13, 1989, Dodd drove to Camas, Washington, around east of Vancouver, where he attempted to abduct 6-year-old James Kirk II from the restroom of the New Liberty Theatre. Kirk began fighting and crying as Dodd attempted to leave the theatre through the lobby, carrying the boy in his arms. Theatre employees became suspicious and followed Dodd out to the street. Due to their pursuit, Dodd released Kirk, got into his car and drove away.

Kirk's mother's boyfriend, William "Ray" Graves, came to the theatre lobby and was told that the boy had nearly been abducted. Graves went outside the theatre in the direction where Dodd was last seen. Dodd's car had broken down a short distance away and he was attempting to start the motor. In order not to raise Dodd's suspicion and to stall for time, Graves pretended to be a passerby and offered to help him. He then put Dodd into a headlock and returned him to the theatre, where employees called the police.

Judge: What would be your intention if you were forced to live in prison?
Dodd: Do everything I can to escape and if necessary kill prison guards on the way out and I'll go right back doing what I did before as soon as I hit the streets.
Judge: Which is what?
Dodd: Kill kids.
Judge: Kill and rape kids.
Dodd: Yes.
Judge: So you should be executed for the safety of others?
Dodd: Yes.

Dodd claimed that speaking in his own defense was pointless and, ultimately, "the system had failed repeatedly".<blockquote>"If you add up all the prison time I was given but never made to serve, I'd be in prison until 2026... and those boys would still be alive."</blockquote>Washington State law gave Dodd the choice of execution by lethal injection or by hanging; Dodd stated that he wished to die by hanging because that was how he had killed Iseli, his last victim. In 1990, Dodd was sentenced to death for the murder of the Neer brothers, as well as for the separate rape and murder of Lee Iseli. During his trial, Dodd wrote a pamphlet on how parents could protect children from child molesters such as himself.

The execution of Dodd by hanging was the first in the United States since 1965 when George York and James Latham were hanged by Kansas. Dodd's execution was witnessed by twelve members of regional and local media, prison officials and family members of the three victims. Dodd requested broiled salmon and scalloped potatoes for his last meal. His last words, spoken from the second floor of the indoor gallows, were recorded by the media witnesses as:

thumb|Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla

Dodd was executed at 12:05 a.m. on January 5, 1993, at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He was pronounced dead by the prison doctor and his body was transported to Seattle for autopsy. King County Medical Examiner Donald Reay found that Dodd had died quickly, within two to three minutes, though not from a broken neck, which is the usual cause of death from hanging. Reay stated that Dodd's death had likely not been very painful. Following the autopsy, Dodd's body was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.

Execution controversy

Dodd's execution came with some controversy over his choice of execution method. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit saying that execution by hanging was a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The lawsuit made it all the way to the Washington Supreme Court, but was unsuccessful in blocking Dodd's execution, largely because Dodd himself chose hanging.

On the day of the execution, many people gathered outside the prison, either supporting or protesting the execution. There was much media attention; some television news reports featured stories on the history of hanging, showing such things as the loud sound that the trap door can make, along with the silence that follows it; the type of rope that was going to be used; and how to properly prepare the rope for optimum effect.

In popular culture

Dodd's profile was featured along with another convicted sexual predator imprisoned in Washington in the 1992 Frontline episode "Monsters Among Us".

Dodd's crimes are included in the Investigation Discovery television series Real Detective. In the episode titled "Malice", detective C. W. Jensen describes his involvement in bringing Dodd to justice and the effect it had on him personally.

Dodd is mentioned in the 1993 episode "Born Bad" from the fourth season of the crime drama television series Law & Order.

In 2006 Discovery Channel television series Most Evil analyzed his life and crimes. He was ranked at level 22, the highest point of the scale.

Dodd was the basis for an unseen character, a child killer named "Wayne Dobbs", in the 2002 film Insomnia, starring Al Pacino. He was fictionalized as a man who murdered a young boy in a way similar to Dodd's murder of Lee Iseli.

Several books have been written about the Dodd case, including: When the Monster Comes Out of the Closet by Lori Steinhorst, who communicated with Dodd in writing and by phone almost daily for 18 months prior to his execution; Driven to Kill by true crime author Gary C. King; and Dr. Ron Turco's book about his experience during the initial investigation to assist in developing a profile of the killer.