Westley Allan Dodd

(Child Sex Killer)

By the age on 9, Westley began to notice that he was different from other children and began to feel an ominous sexual attraction to neighborhood boys. By the age of 14, Westley began to experiment with his odd sexual desires. With a fetish for exhibitionism, Dodd started flashing local children from his bedroom window. His interests soon turned to sadomasochism and he began inserting pins into his penis, “often trying to break my previous record by seeing how many pins I could get in at one time.” At one point Dodd inserted a stick in his anus and rode his bike around naked, excited by the vibrations caused by the bicycle and stick.

Westley’s father soon noticed his son’s odd sexual behaviors. Although they would have many “father-son chats”, his father would avoid the subject whenever possible. Dodd soon began to expand on his budding deviant sexual fantasies and molested 2 of his cousins, an 8-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother.

At the age of 15, Westley was arrested for exposing himself and his parents' once happy and stable marriage ended in ruins and divorce followed. Throughout the remainder of his adolescence, Dodd would seize all opportunities that would place him in the company of younger children. He would often volunteer as a camp counsellor or even do work as a babysitter. One can only imagine how many kids he molested during this period.

In 1979, Dodd graduated from high school and spent the next 2 years gallivanting around rural Washington. In September of 1981, Dodd attempted to abduct and molest a pair of young girls. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, Dodd was reported to local authorities. A few weeks later, in an attempt to avoid pending charges of attempted abduction and molestation, Dodd joined the United States Navy.

Upon completing boot camp, Dodd was stationed at a submarine base in Bangor, Washington, and began to prey upon local children that lived on the base. On June 6, 1982, Dodd was arrested in Richland, Washington for ordering a 9-year-old boy to disrobe. Charged with “attempted indecent liberties” Dodd was sentenced to 19 days in jail, discharged from the Navy, and ordered to seek counselling.

On December 29, 1982, Dodd was arrested in Benton City, Washington, for undressing a young boy that he lured away from a playground. Dodd pled guilty to the charges and in January of 1983, was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment. Prior to his release, he was yet again ordered by the court to seek counseling. With the court’s permission, Dodd went to live with his father in Lewiston, Idaho where he participated in an outpatient program.

In May 1984, Dodd was in hot water once again. He was arrested for molesting a ten-year-old boy. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for lewd conduct with a minor. For reasons unknown, Dodd served less than four months before his prison term was commuted to one year in county jail, that sentence was also soon suspended, provided that he agree to attend counseling.

In 1986, at the age of 25, Dodd moved to Seattle, Washington. Dodd later claimed to have sexually assaulted at least 30 kids by this point in his life. “Now, when I got to Seattle, I had learned I was less likely to be reported for a molestation than for an attempt. I decided that from now on I would be a little more forceful. I would no longer accept no as an answer to my requests.”

Dodd soon decided that it was in his best interest to change his method of operation and begin seeking out children that were more vulnerable. The first of which was a friend’s 2-year-old son who was deaf and could not yet talk. The boy resisted his advances, and Dodd had to tie the child’s hands with a strap. “The idea of force was exciting,” he later said.

Despite ongoing counseling, Dodd had no intention of controlling his urges, and decided to take them up a level. He soon began to fantasize about killing his victims. “The more I thought about it, the more exciting the idea of murder sounded. I planned many ways to kill a boy. Then I started thinking of torture, castration, and even cannibalism.”

On June 13, 1987, Dodd had plans to commit his first murder. He selected an 8-year-old boy whom he had met while working as a security guard. On his day off, Dodd drove to where the boy lived, hoping to lure him into one of the vacant buildings nearby. Upon locating the child he asked the young boy to help find a “lost little boy,” Luckily for the young boy, he sensed that his new “friend” was dangerous. The child told Dodd that he was going to run home and get some toys for the lost boy, and promised to hurry back. Instead, he told his mother and she quickly phoned the police. Dodd was arrested and convicted on a “gross misdemeanor” for attempted unlawful imprisonment. He was sentenced to 118 days in jail, 1 year probation and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Dodd’s probation ended in 1988, and he promptly abandoned his psychiatric treatment. Dodd soon began to keep a diary in which he would record his morbid fantasies of rape and murders. Within the diary, he drew sketches of a planned torture rack, and described a pact he had made with Satan to assist him in obtaining his victims. “I’ve now asked Satan to provide me a 6-10 year old boy to make love to, suck and fuck, play with, photograph, kill, and do my exploratory surgery on.”

In the fall of 1989, Dodd moved back to Vancouver, and his desire to kill was quickly escalating. His new apartment was located about a mile from a local park. In his diary, Dodd wrote that ‘David Douglas Park’ would be a “good place for rape and murder, or kidnap, rape and murder... a good hunting ground. If I can get it home, I’ll have more time for various types of rape, rather than just one quickie before murder.”

On the evening of September 4, 1989, Dodd, along with his "hunting gear", a 6-inch fillet knife and lengths of shoestring for binding his victims, set off for ‘David Douglas Park’.

Upon arriving at the park, Dodd decided to lay in wait. Eventually, 10-year-old William Neer, and his 11-year-old brother, Cole, came riding through the park on their bicycles. As the young boys rode down a dirt path, Dodd stopped them, he ordered the 2 youngsters to get off their bikes and come with him. Dodd seemed to exert total control over the 2 boys, and they did exactly what he said. He quickly led them off the trail and to an isolated spot he had previously picked. Dodd ordered the brothers to stand with their backs to each other, and tied their wrists. He then ordered them to pull down their pants and sexually molested them.

Upon satisfying his twisted sexual appetite, Dodd untied the boys and stabbed Billy in the stomach, Cole quickly jumped up. Noticing his intended victim attempting escape, Dodd caught him in the side with his knife. While Cole was being viciously assaulted with blows from the knife, Billy jumped up and ran off in a blind panic. Dodd ran after Billy and was able to catch him before he made it to the road. He then stabbed the child in the side and shoulder and ran back to make certain that Cole was dead, and to retrieve any evidence. He then calmly walked away from the scene. Billy, barely alive, was discovered just 15 minutes later by a teenage hiker. The young boy died a short time later. It was not until 2:00 A.M. that investigators discovered the lifeless body of Cole Neer.

Residents of Vancouver were outraged about the senseless murders of the young boys. They banded together, and organized neighborhood watch programs and passed out sketches of possible suspects, but all to no avail. The murderer seemed to have simply vanished.

Dodd spent the next few weeks watching the escalating manhunt from a distance, filling a scrapbook with press clippings and killing time with frequent masturbation. His violent fantasies were far from quenched. He began to fantasize about cutting off a boy’s genitals and making him watch as he cooked them to eat, forcing the victim to eat along with him. “I was mainly interested in eating the genitals while kids watched. I was going to do this as a form of torture more than anything else.” By fall, Dodd could no longer satisfy his twisted sexual urges with simple acts of masturbation. He needed to kill again.

On October 29, 1989, Dodd drove to ‘Richmond Elementary School’ in Portland, Oregon, hung out by the playground and waited for an opportunity to present itself. It soon did; Dodd spotted 4-year-old, Lee Iseli, playing on a slide and approached him. He offered the child a chance to earn some money, led him away to his car, and drove off. Lee was soon scared when he realized that they were driving off in a direction he did not recognize. Once back at Dodd’s apartment, he wrote in his diary as the child played on the floor with a toy he bought on the drive back.

“He suspects nothing now. Will probably wait until morning to kill him. That way his body will be fresh for experiments after work. I’ll suffocate him in his sleep when I wake up for work (if I sleep).”

Dodd soon began his evil deeds and repeatedly molested the child throughout the night. After taking a short nap, Dodd strangled the sleeping boy around 5:00 A.M, Lee fought back, but was no match for the cold-blooded killer. After the child lost consciousness, Dodd cruelly revived him and then strangled him with a length of rope. Upon making sure the child was dead, he suspended the corpse by a rod in his closet and began to take photographs to use for future stimulation. Satisfied with his photos, Dodd headed off to work as though nothing had happened. Upon returning home later that night, he began to write in his diary. At one point he attempted to have anal sex with the corpse but found that he was unable to go through with the act.

“I’ll figure out a place to dump the garbage.” Dodd loaded the small child’s corpse into his car and drove to Vancouver Lake. He then discarded the body in the brush, at the Washington State Game Preserve.

On the morning of November 1, 1989, a pheasant hunter discovered Lee’s body. On November 11, 1989, Dodd attempted to abduct a young boy from a Vancouver theater, but gave up when the child resisted his advances. This simply added fuel to the already scorching fire that burned within him.

2 days later, On November 13, 1989, Dodd drove to Camas, Washington, to try his luck at ‘New Liberty Theater’. The crazed killer abducted a 6-year-old boy from the restroom. However, the child resisted and screamed as Dodd was carrying him through the lobby. He quickly dropped the young boy when witnesses began to gather and bolted for his car. He started his car and made a mad dash for home but his car broke down less than two blocks from the theater. The child’s mother’s boyfriend, William Graves, had been chasing after Dodd and subdued him until police arrived and were able to take the suspect into custody.

Detectives from Washington and Oregon interrogated Dodd. His record revealed a string of crimes against children. Investigators also quickly noted that he lived a short distance from where Cole and Billy Neer were murdered, and worked close to where Lee Iseli’s body was discovered.

At the beginning of the interrogation, Dodd denied any involvement in the unsolved child murders, furthermore, stating that he loved children; however, as the night wore on, his denial wore down as well. Eventually, Dodd confessed and admitted that he had in fact killed Billy and Cole Neer, and Lee Iseli, and described the murders to detectives in graphic detail. Upon searching Dodd’s apartment, investigators discovered a home made ‘torture rack’, photos, a child’s under wear, and the suspects tell tale diary.

Dodd was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Billy and Cole Neer, and Lee Iseli, as well as attempted kidnapping. Dodd pleaded “not guilty”.

In January of 1990, against his attorney’s wishes, Dodd changed his pleas to guilty on all counts; hence, a trial to determine his guilt would not be necessary. “It doesn’t really matter why the crimes happened. I should be punished to the full extent of the law, as should all sex offenders and murderers.”

On July 15, 1990, after a penalty trial by jury, Westley Allan Dodd, was sentenced to death by hanging. “I must be executed before I have an opportunity to escape or kill someone within the prison. If I do escape, I promise you I will kill and rape and enjoy every minute of it.”

Dodd’s execution date was set for January 5, 1993, in Walla Walla, Washington. The ACLU fought to save Dodd, arguing that death, was cruel and unusual punishment. However, justice prevailed, and Dodd’s execution date remained.

“I believe what the Bible teaches: I’ll go to Heaven. I have doubts, but I’d really like to believe that I would be able to go up to the three little boys and give them a hug and tell them how sorry I was and be able to love them with a real true love and have no desire to hurt them in any way.”

On January 5, 1993, at 12:05 A.M, Westley Allan Dodd, was executed by hanging. People taking opposite positions on the death penalty swarmed the prison in Walla Walla, Washington. Media from all over the country were there to cover the first hanging in 3 decades. When the 12 journalists that witnessed the execution first hand emerged 30 minutes after Dodd was dead, they recounted what they had seen and heard. One of the witnesses claims that Dodd's last words included the statement, "I had thought there was no hope and no peace. I was wrong. I have found hope and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ." Moments after he said this, the platform dropped and Dodd was dead. Family members of the young victims, and various bystanders, expressed utter disgust at Dodd's supposed conversion.