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Westley Allan DoddAmerican serial killer and child molester
Date of Birth: 03.07.1961
Country:  USA |
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Biography of Westley Allan Dodd
Westley Allan Dodd was an American serial killer and child molester who was known as "one of the most diabolical murderers in history." He was executed on January 5, 1993, becoming the first legally hanged person in the United States since 1965. Dodd was born on July 3, 1961, in Richland, Washington.
Early Life
Unlike most serial killers, Dodd claimed that he never experienced abuse or lacked parental love during his childhood. He also revealed that he grew up in a wealthy and happy family. However, his history of sexual abuse of children began in his teenage years. His first victims were his own relatives. All of his victims, numbering over 50, were under the age of 12, with some as young as 2 years old. Dodd's sexual fantasies progressively became more violent, and he even wrote about his sick desire to eat the genitals of his victims.
Crimes and Capture
Dodd murdered two brothers, 11-year-old Cole and 10-year-old William Neer, in Vancouver, Washington, in 1989. He also tortured and assaulted 4-year-old Lee Iseli. In 1990, Dodd attempted to kidnap a 6-year-old boy from the Liberty Theater in Camas, Washington. He was apprehended after the boy's stepfather chased him.
Dodd was arrested by the Camas police and interrogated by a specialized group of detectives. Detectives C. W. Jensen from the Portland Police Bureau and Rick Buckner from Clark County obtained confessions from Dodd and obtained a search warrant for his home. The police discovered a homemade torture rack in his house that had not yet been used. Several books have been written about Dodd's crimes and capture, including "When The Monster Comes Out Of The Closet" by Lori Steinhorst, who communicated with the killer through phone calls and letters for 18 months leading up to his execution.
Execution
Dodd was sentenced to death in 1990 for luring and then killing 11-year-old Cole Neer and his brother William in a Washington park in Vancouver. He was also sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Lee Iseli. From the time of his crimes to the announcement of his death sentence, less than four years had passed. Dodd refused to appeal his case or his death sentence, stating, "I need to be executed before I have an opportunity to escape or kill someone else in prison. If I did escape, I promise you I would kill all the guards if I had the chance and rape and enjoy every minute of it." In court, he also stated that if he escaped from prison, he would immediately return "to the killing and sexual molestation of children."
Dodd was hanged at 12:05 am on January 5, 1993, at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. According to state law, he chose hanging as his method of execution from the two options given: lethal injection or hanging. He later revealed that he chose this method because he had killed one of his victims, Lee Iseli, in the same way. Dodd requested that his execution be televised, but his request was denied. He was the first prisoner in the United States to be executed by hanging since George York and James Latham in Kansas in 1965. The execution was witnessed by 12 representatives of local and regional media, prison staff, and the families of three of his victims. For his last meal, Westley chose salmon and potatoes. His last recorded words to the media were, "Someone asked me, I don't remember who, 'Could there be anything that would stop you from going out on this path of sexual offending?' And I said 'no.' I was wrong. I was wrong when I said there was no hope, no peace. There is hope. There is peace. I found both in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Look to the Lord, and you will find peace."
Dodd was pronounced dead by the prison doctor, and his body was transported to Seattle for autopsy. Dr. Donald Reay of the King County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Westley died quickly and possibly with minimal pain. After the autopsy, Dodd's body was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family. Westley Allan Dodd became the first legally hanged person in the English-speaking world since Ronald Ryan was hanged in Australia in 1967.
