Robert Lee Yates Jr. From to , he is known to have murdered at least 11 women in Spokane. He also confessed to two murders committed in Walla Walla in and a murder committed in Skagit County. In , Yates was convicted of killing two women in Pierce County and sentenced to death, but it was commuted to life without parole after the Washington Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in He is currently serving life in prison at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Yates was born on May 27, , and grew up in Oak Harbor, Washington [ 1 ] in a middle-class family. They attended a local Seventh-day Adventist church. Before his birth, his grandmother had murdered his grandfather with an axe in Yates graduated from Oak Harbor High School in In October , Yates enlisted in the United States Army , where he became certified to fly civilian transport airplanes and helicopters. Yates was stationed in various countries outside the continental United States, including Germany , and later Somalia and Haiti during the United Nations peacekeeping missions of the s.
Yates also served three years in the Army National Guard as a helicopter pilot from April through April He earned several commendation and service medals during his military career, including the US Army Master Aviator Badge.
Yates left the active duty Army in April , apparently a year and a half short of being eligible for his full retirement benefits and pension. At this time, the military was reducing its numbers, so he received full retirement despite being short of the customary 20 years served.
He then joined the Army National Guard in April , and served three years until his arrest in April He served a total of He has five children, four daughters and one son , with his second wife Linda, whom he married in The children's birth years range from to Yates committed his first murders in , when he shot and killed two college students who were on a picnic together. All of his victims died of gunshot wounds to the head or heart.
