Robert Lee Yates | Victims | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Robert Lee YATES Jr.

Victims

The Walla Walla Killings

Name: Susan Savage
Killed: July 13th 1975
Cause of death: Two gunshots in the head

Name: Patrick Alan Oliver
Killed: July 13th 1975
Cause of death: Three gunshots in the head

They were just two months out of college in 1975 when they set out for a Sunday afternoon swim and a picnic. At some point, the childhood friends crossed paths with another young man on a hunting trip -- 23-year-old Robert Lee Yates, Jr. For Oliver, fresh from studies in France, and Savage, a recent graduate of Washington State University, the chance encounter marked a tragic end. Yates killed both.

The Skagit County Murder

Name: Stacy Elizabeth Hawn
Age: 23
Killed: She was last seen alive on July 7, 1988.
Cause of death: Single gunshot in the head

Her skeletal remains were found five months later in Skagit County. Yates confessed to that crime
as part of the plea bargain to spare his life.

The Spokane Killings

In the Spokane killings, all the victims were shot one, two or three times in the head with a .25-caliber gun.

The victims' bodies were found in remote locations near well-traveled roads, according to authorities.
Almost all the victims had been transported to the locations where they were found -- referred
to as "dump sites" in police parlance. Authorities do not know where they were killed.

Almost all had two to four small plastic grocery bags covering their heads. Investigators suggest that
the bags were a "signature" -- things serial killers do to their victims that are not necessary for murder.

Name: Shannon Zielinski
Found: June 1996
Cause of death: Multiple gunshots

Name: Jennifer A. Joseph
Date of birth: October 6, 1980
Age: 16
Killed: July 1997
Cause of death: Multiple gunshots

Name: Heather Hermandez
Found: August 1997
Cause of death: Multiple gunshots

Name: Darla Sue Scott
Date of birth: September 18, 1968
Cause of death: Two gunshots in the head

Her decomposing body was found on November 5, 1997 near South 12600 Hangman
Vally Road, Spokane County, Washington.

Name: Shawn L. Johnson
Date of birth: March 27, 1961
Cause of death: 2 gunshots in the head.

Her body was found Dec. 18, 1997. Two plastic bags covered her head.

Name: Laurie A. Wasson
Date of birth: January 22, 1966
Cause of death: Two gunshots in the head.

Her body was found December 26, 1997 at approxmately East 4800 14th, Spokane County, Washington.

Name: Sunny Gail Oster
Date of birth: August the 7th 1956
Cause of death: Two gunshots in the head.

Her body was found February 8, 1998, along Graham Road, Near Tyler, in remote western Spokane County. She had been shot in the head and her body dumped by the side of the road, just like five other victims. And like the other victims, she lived a high risk lifestyle that may have included involvement with drugs and prostitution. Oster’s family lives in Auburn, on the western side of Washington. Her father says she came to Spokane last September 1997, trying to turn his daughter’s life around by placing her in a drug treatment center. But Oster left the treatment center early. Her father Ed says that “more than anything in the world” he would prefer to have her with him. “I don’t care what shape she was in, just here alive.”

Name: Linda M. Maybin
Date of birth: April 25, 1963
Cause of death: Single gunshot in the head.

Her body was found April 1, 1998 at approxmately East 4800 14th, Spokane County, Washington.
Whitin fifty yards of where Wason's and McClenahan's bodies were recovered on December 26, 1997.

Name: Melody Ann Murfin
Age: 43
Cause of death: Two gunshots in the head.

Police said she has an extensive history of drug abuse. She was reported missing on June 4, 1998. Her body was found 2000. Yates directing investigators to a body buried in his own side yard, evidence investigators missed in more than a month of searching his home.

An autopsy failed to positively identify the body, and investigators said DNA samples would be required. However, jewelry found with the corpse matched jewelry that Murfin's family members described. "The family members verified the rings she had on and the necklace," "Everything matches. [Yates] hasn't told us anything that is not true yet."

Name: Michelyn J. Derning
Date of birth: February 14, 1951
Age: 47
Killed: 3 or 4 July 1998
Cause of death: One shot in the head.

Her body was found July 7, 1998 at North 218 Creatline, Spokane County, Washington.

He admited he killed also

Name: Shawn A. McClenahan
Date of birth: May 30, 1958
Cause of death: Two gunshots in the head.

Her body was found December 26, 1997 at approxmately East 4800 14th, Spokane County, Washington.

The Tacoma murders

Name: Melinda L. Mercer
Age: 24
Date of Birth: June 27, 1973
Cause of death: Three gunshots in the head

Her body was found nude on December 7, 1997 at approxmately 3800 South 50th,
Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.

Name: Connie Lafontaine Ellis
Date of birth: August 28, 1953
Age: 35
Cause of death: Single gunshot in the head.

Her body was found October 13, 1998 near the 1700 block of 108th Street South, Tacoma, Pierce
County, Washington. In January 1999, LaFontaine was officially added to the serial killer cluster.