Westley Allan Dodd

Westley Allan Dodd (July 3, 1961 – January 5, 1993) was an American convicted serial killer and sex offender.

Westley Allan Dodd was born in Toppenish, Washington, on July 3, 1961, the oldest of Jim and Carol Dodd's three children.

Dodd claimed he was never abused or neglected as a child.

He claimed, however, that the words "I love you" were never said to him as he grew up, nor could he ever remember saying them.

On July 3, 1976—Dodd's 15th birthday—his father attempted suicide following an argument with his wife.

He graduated from Richland High School in 1979.

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 the 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 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 of juvenile counseling.

In August 1981, at the age of 20, Dodd tried to abduct two girls, who reported him to the police.

No action was taken.

The following month, he enlisted in the US Navy, and was assigned to the submarine base in Bangor, Washington, where he began abusing children who lived on the base.

Once, Dodd offered a group of boys $50 to accompany him to a motel room for a game of strip poker.

This time, he was arrested.

Despite confessing to police that he planned to molest the boys, he was released, with no charges filed.

Shortly afterwards, he was arrested again for exposing himself to a boy and was dishonorably discharged from the Navy.

Dodd spent 19 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.

He 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 the 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 or exposed himself.

He was placed on probation and ordered to seek psychiatric treatment.

After finishing probation, he stopped going to treatment and moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he was hired as a shipping clerk.

In 1989, he sexually assaulted and murdered three young boys in Vancouver, Washington.

He was arrested later that year after a failed attempt to abduct a six-year-old boy at a movie theatre.

Dodd wrote detailed accounts of his murders in a diary that was found by police.

After pleading guilty to the charges of murder, he received the death penalty.

In the early autumn of 1989, Dodd decided that David Douglas Park in Vancouver, a large, heavily wooded park with several secluded trails, would be a good place to find potential victims.

He was arrested several times over the next few years for child molestation, each time serving short jail sentences and being given court-mandated therapy.

All his victims (around 50 in all) were below the age of 12, some of them as young as 2, and most of them were boys.

Dodd's sexual fantasies became increasingly violent over the years; he would later say, "The more I thought about it, the more exciting the idea of murder sounded. I planned many ways to kill a boy."

After refusing an automatic appeal, he was executed by hanging on January 5, 1993, the first legal hanging in the United States since 1965.

His younger brother Gregory was arrested in 2016 for the attempted sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl.

The Seattle Times reported that Dodd described in a diary written during his imprisonment that his father was 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, Dodd had discovered that he was sexually attracted to other boys.