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Robert Lee
YATES Jr. |
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Billboard of slaying victims on Sprague Avenue in Spokane.
The home of Robert L. Yates Jr.
is closed off as police investigate.
Robert Yate's home is a police investigation site.
Law enforcement officers
examine the back yard of the home of Robert Yates in Spokane,
Wash.,
Monday, Oct. 16, 2000. Yates will plead guilty to 13
murders and one attempted murder under a
plea agreement that would allow him to escape the death penalty,
officials said Monday.
A body was found Monday buried
in the yard of Yates' home, less than a foot under the ground
and exactly where Yates said it would be found. Yates has admitted some of
the Spokane
serial killings in a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty.
Spokane County detective Ben
Estes, right, and an unidentified official search for new evidence
in the yard
outside the home of Robert L. Yates Jr., Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000, in
Spokane, Wash.
Law enforcement officers
scrambled Tuesday to identify a body found in the yard of the home
owned by
Yates, a confessed serial killer. Officials in two counties were
resurrecting the cases of three murders
during the 1970s that Yates admitted to. In confessing to 13
murders, Yates is moving up on the list
of the nation's worst serial killers.
A Spokane Sheriff's
deputy, left, Spokane County Sheriff's Sgt. Cal Walker,
center, and a Washington State
Patrol officer talk outside
the home of Robert L. Yates Jr., Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000, in
Spokane, Wash.
Law enforcement officers prepare to dig in the yard of the home of
Robert Yates, the man charged
in the serial killings of 10 women, Monday, Oct. 16, 2000, in Spokane, Wash.
Blue tarps are part of
the scenery once again around the former home of Robert
Yates.
The police found the body of Melody Murfin.
Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker works in his office in
Spokane, Wash., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2000.
Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker is shown
Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2000, in Spokane, Wash.
Robert Yates daughter Sasha spoke in court Thursday,
along with her grandfather Robert Yates Sr.
Kathy Lloyd, the sister of Shawn McClenahan, and
Robert Yates Sr. exchange a hug after Thursday's guilty pleas.
Unidentified spectators
and relatives of victims allegedly killed by serial killer
Robert L. Yates Jr. react during
Yates' arraignment in
Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma, Wash., Tuesday, Oct.
31, 2000.
Unidentifed family
members of murder victims killed in Pierce County weep as
Washington State serial killer
Robert Lee Yates Jr. enters a
Pierce County Superior Courtroom in Tacoma, Washington,
October 31, 2000.
Unidentifed family
members of murder victims killed in Pierce County console
each other as Washington
state serial killer Robert Lee
Yates Jr. (unpictured) stands at a Pierce County Superior
Courtroom in
Tacoma, Washington, October 31, 2000. Yates
pleaded not-guilty to two counts of aggravated first
degree
murder. On October 26, Yates received a 408-year prison
sentence for the 13 murders he
plead guilty to in Spokane
County, Washington.
Sonja Yates, a daughter
of Robert L. Yates Jr., leaves a courtroom with an
unidentified man
in Spokane, Wash., after her father pleaded
guilty, Oct. 19, 2000.
Audrey Oster, sister of
Sunny Gail Oster, a victim of serial killer Robert L. Yates
Jr., embraces Robert L.
Yates Sr. after the senior Yates
spoke to victim's family members and his son in a Spokane,
Wash.
courtroom, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000.
Laurie Wason sister,
Shari Flores, left, wipes away a tear during the court
appearance
of Robert L. Yates Jr., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000.
Audrey Oster, right,
sister of Sonny Gail Oster, a victim of Robert L. Yates Jr.,
comforts Ondraya Smith,
Sonny Gail Oster's mother, while
other relatives of Yates' victims speak at the serial
killer's sentencing,
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000.
Ondraya Smith, right, is
hugged by Laurie Anne Murray, a victims advocate, outside a
Pierce County
courtroom before the arraignment of Robert L.
Yates Jr., in Tacoma, Wash., Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2000.
`My
feeling are so mixed,'' said Smith, whose daughter, Sunny Oster, was one of Yates' Spokane County
victims. Yates, who
last week pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder in Spokane
County, was arraigned
in Pierce County Superior Court on two
counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of
Melinda L. Mercer in 1997 and Connie Ellis in 1998.
Wendy Engeldinger, right,
comforts Ann Davis with a kiss, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000, in
a courtroom
in Spokane, Wash., during the sentencing of
serial killer Robert L. Yates Jr. Engeldinger and Davis
are
daughters of one of Yates' victims, Melody Murfin. Yates
offered apologies, but no motive.
Daughters of murder
victim Melody Murfin, Wendi Engeldinger (L) and Ann Davis
(R) console one
another as serial killer Robert Lee Yates Jr.
is sentenced to a 408-year prison term in a Spokane
County
Superior courtroom in Spokane, Washington, October 26, 2000.
Yates buried Murfin's
body in his home backyard in Spokane.
Robert Yates Sr.
is now starting to accept what his son has done.
Robert L. Yates Sr.,
center, attends the court appearance of his son, Robert L.
Yates Jr.,
who pleaded guilty Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000, in
Spokane, Wash.
Family members of Melinda Mercer
gasped when Robert Yates entered a not guilty plea.
Yates may face the death penalty for the
murders of Connie LaFontaine Ellis and Melinda Mercer.
Robert's second wife Linda Brewer Yates.
Sasha Yates says her father was moody,
and could fly off the handle.
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