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Westley Allan Dodd

Active

1989–1989

Region

Vancouver, Washington, USA

Status

Executed

Victims

3

Westley Allan Dodd, a repeat child sex offender, killed three young boys in Vancouver, Washington, in the autumn of 1989: brothers Cole and William Neer in David Douglas Park, and four-year-old Lee Iseli of Portland. He was caught on November 13, 1989, after theater staff and a bystander stopped him from abducting a six-year-old boy from a movie theater in Camas, and he confessed. He pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder, refused to appeal his death sentence, and in 1993 became the first person legally hanged in the United States since 1965.

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Cole Neer, 11 · September 4, 1989
• William "Billy" Neer, 10 · September 4, 1989

  Cole Neer's younger brother.

• Lee Iseli, 4 · October 30, 1989

  A Portland boy taken from a playground on October 29, 1989.

Timeline of locations

1. September 4, 1989
   David Douglas Park (Crime scene)

   Brothers Cole and William Neer were attacked while riding their bikes in this wooded Vancouver park. Cole died at the scene and William died on the way to the hospital.

2. October 29, 1989
   Dodd's apartment (Vancouver) (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Dodd lived in an apartment less than a mile from David Douglas Park. He brought Lee Iseli here and killed him the next morning. After Dodd's arrest, police searching the apartment found his diary and other evidence.

3. November 1, 1989
   Near Vancouver Lake (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Lee Iseli's body was found near Vancouver Lake on November 1, 1989.

4. November 13, 1989
   Liberty Theatre, Camas (Arrest)

   Dodd tried to carry a six-year-old boy out of this movie theater. The boy broke free, and Dodd was caught nearby and held until Camas police arrested him. He confessed to the three murders in interviews that began that night.

5. June 1990
   Clark County Superior Court, Vancouver (Court / trial, approximate area)

   Dodd pleaded guilty in June 1990 to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder. At the penalty phase he asked for a death sentence, and the jury sentenced him to death on July 14, 1990.

6. January 5, 1993
   Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla (Prison)

   Dodd was hanged here at 12:05 a.m. on January 5, 1993, the first execution in Washington since 1963 and the first legal hanging in the United States since 1965.

Sources

• Westley Allan Dodd (Wikipedia)
• State v. Dodd, 120 Wn.2d 1 (Washington Supreme Court, 1992) (Caselaw Access Project)
• Westley Dodd: A Long, Steady Slide Into Dark Desperation (The Seattle Times, Jan 3, 1993)
• Dodd Hanged (The Seattle Times, Jan 5, 1993)
• Washington hangs Westley Allan Dodd on January 5, 1993 (HistoryLink.org)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.