The Spokane Serial Killer: Robert Lee Yates Jr. and the Geography of Justice

The Spokane Serial Killer: Robert Lee Yates Jr. and the Geography of Justice

Between 1975 and 2000, decorated U.S. Army helicopter pilot Robert Lee Yates Jr. murdered at least fifteen women while maintaining an impeccable facade as a family man and military veteran. Operating primarily in Spokane, Washington, Yates targeted vulnerable sex workers, driven by severe paraphilic disorder including necrophilia. His double life-respected pilot by day, predator by night-exemplified the compartmentalized psychopath hiding in plain sight.

Yates's April 2000 arrest came through forensic breakthroughs: fiber evidence and DNA analysis linking his white Corvette to multiple victims. But his prosecution revealed profound flaws in America's capital punishment system. Spokane County accepted a plea agreement resulting in 408 years for thirteen murders, while Pierce County pursued death sentences for two murders-the same defendant, same crimes, different outcomes based solely on geography.

His case became central to Washington's 2018 abolition of capital punishment in State v. Gregory, where Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst cited statistical evidence proving death penalty was "imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner." Yates's death sentences were commuted to life without parole-though he was already serving a life sentence.

Now seventy-three, Yates remains imprisoned at Washington State Penitentiary, his case a study in serial murder, forensic evolution, prosecutorial fragmentation, and justice's uncomfortable compromises.