Robert Lee Yates
Robert Lee Yates Jr. led a seemingly respectable life as a decorated U.S. Army pilot and family man, yet beneath this veneer lay a horrifying secret. For over two decades, he terrorized eastern Washington, becoming one of the region's most prolific and chilling serial killers. His dual existence highlights the disturbing capacity for darkness to hide in plain sight. Robert Yates maintained a chilling double life, balancing a military career and family with a hidden spree of violent murders. His pattern of targeting vulnerable individuals and using distinct methods earned him the chilling moniker 'The Grocery Bag Killer'. A crucial survivor's testimony and advanced forensic evidence ultimately brought his reign of terror to an end, leading to a complex legal battle over capital punishment.
AI Summary
Robert Lee Yates Jr. led a seemingly respectable life as a decorated U.S. Army pilot and family man, yet beneath this veneer lay a horrifying secret. For over two decades, he terrorized eastern Washington, becoming one of the region's most prolific and chilling serial killers. His dual existence highlights the disturbing capacity for darkness to hide in plain sight.
- Robert Yates maintained a chilling double life, balancing a military career and family with a hidden spree of violent murders.
- His pattern of targeting vulnerable individuals and using distinct methods earned him the chilling moniker 'The Grocery Bag Killer'.
- A crucial survivor's testimony and advanced forensic evidence ultimately brought his reign of terror to an end, leading to a complex legal battle over capital punishment.
Robert Lee Yates: The Spokane Serial Killer
Robert Lee Yates Jr., also known as the Spokane Serial Killer and the Grocery Bag Killer, was an American serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist. From 1975 to 1998, he was responsible for the murders of at least sixteen people in eastern Washington—a horrific span of violence that shocked the Pacific Northwest.
Yates spent nearly two decades in the U.S. Army, where he became a skilled helicopter pilot, even serving in overseas peacekeeping missions. This seemingly normal life stood in stark contrast to the brutal crimes he committed during those same years, a chilling double existence that remained hidden for far too long. He would eventually be sentenced to life in prison.
A Disturbing Family History
Born on May 27, 1952, Yates grew up in a middle-class family in Oak Harbor, Washington, attending a local Seventh-day Adventist church. However, his family history held a dark secret: in 1945, his grandmother murdered his grandfather with an axe—a disturbing shadow that preceded his own violent trajectory.
In 1975, the same year his first known murders occurred, Yates took a job as a corrections officer at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. It's a haunting irony, considering he would later become an inmate in that very facility.
Two years later, in October 1977, Yates enlisted in the United States Army, where he trained to fly civilian transport airplanes and helicopters. He was stationed in Germany, and later deployed to Somalia and Haiti for UN peacekeeping missions, earning several commendations and medals, including the US Army Master Aviator Badge.
Even as he committed his heinous acts, Yates maintained the façade of a respectable family man. He married his second wife, Linda, in 1976, and together they had five children—four daughters and a son—born between 1974 and 1989.
The First Shadows of Violence
Yates' killing spree is believed to have begun in July 1975, when he shot and killed 21-year-old Patrick Oliver and 22-year-old Susan Patricia Savage. The college couple had been on a picnic near Walla Walla, their bodies found the day after they were last seen.
Terror on East Sprague Avenue
For years, many of Yates's victims were vulnerable sex workers, often struggling with substance abuse, found along East Sprague Avenue in Spokane. He would solicit them, engage in drug use, then, often in his Ford van, kill them before dumping their bodies in rural areas.
His victims consistently died from gunshot wounds to the head or heart, with a .25-caliber handgun used in many cases. A signature detail that earned him the gruesome nickname 'The Grocery Bag Killer' was his method of covering victims' heads with multiple plastic bags—a chilling attempt to obscure their identities and the crime.
A crucial breakthrough came on August 1, 1998, when Christine Smith survived an attack. She filed a police report after being hit in the head during a sexual encounter, unaware she had actually been shot. Her detailed description of her assailant—a man around 50, 5'10", 175 pounds, sandy blond hair, driving a black van with an orange stripe, and claiming to be a National Guard helicopter pilot with five children—would prove invaluable.
Just weeks later, on September 19, 1998, Yates was asked by Spokane police to provide a DNA sample. He defiantly refused, stating it was 'too extreme' a request for a 'family man.' This refusal, combined with Smith's detailed account, painted a clear picture for investigators.
The Net Closes In
The full extent of Yates's crimes began to unravel in April 2000, when he was arrested for the murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Joseph. A search warrant was executed on a white 1977 Chevrolet Corvette he had owned, a car that had been mistakenly logged as a 'Camaro' in a previous traffic stop, delaying its crucial identification.
Inside the Corvette, police discovered blood linked to Jennifer Joseph. Subsequent DNA analysis matched Yates's profile to evidence found with 12 other victims. This irrefutable scientific proof solidified the case against him, revealing the horrifying scope of his undetected reign of terror.
In Spokane County Superior Court, facing 13 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, Yates entered a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. He confessed to the murders and was sentenced to an astounding 408 years in prison.
However, his legal troubles weren't over. In 2001, Yates was charged in Pierce County with two additional murders: Melinda Mercer in 1997 and Connie Ellis-LaFontaine in 1998. This time, prosecutors sought the death penalty, and on October 3, 2002, he was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Legal Battles and Commutation
Yates's death sentence sparked a lengthy appeals process, with his attorneys arguing that his initial plea bargain should have been 'all-encompassing.' They also controversially claimed he suffered from a 'severe paraphilic disorder' that predisposed him to murder—arguments repeatedly rejected by the Washington Supreme Court.
The case was further complicated in 2013 when Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a moratorium on death penalty executions, citing concerns about cost, randomness, and efficacy. This move effectively halted any immediate plans for Yates's execution.
Ultimately, in 2018, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the state constitution, deeming it 'arbitrary and racially biased.' This landmark decision commuted the sentences of all inmates on death row, including Robert Yates, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remains incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary.
The Victims: A Lasting Legacy
Behind the headlines and legal battles are the lives tragically cut short. Each victim was a person with their own story, family, and dreams. While Yates's crimes shook the region, their memory endures, a stark reminder of the lives he stole and the grief he inflicted. Here is a list of his known victims:
Name Date of murder Date of discovery Patrick Allen Oliver July 13, 1975 July 14, 1975 Susan Patricia Savage July 13, 1975 July 14, 1975 Stacy Elizabeth Hawn July 7, 1988 December 28, 1988 Shannon Rene Zielinski May 27, 1996 June 14, 1996 Heather Louise Hernandez August 21, 1997 August 26, 1997 Jennifer Ann Joseph August 16, 1997 August 26, 1997 Darla Sue Scott September 30 or October 1, 1997 November 5, 1997 Melinda Lee Mercer December 6, 1997 December 7, 1997 Shawn Lynette Johnson October 17, 1997 December 18, 1997 Shawn Ann McClenahan December 18, 1997 December 26, 1997 Laurie Page Wason November 3, 1997 December 26, 1997 Sunny Gail Oster November 1, 1997 February 8, 1998 Linda Marie Maybin November 21, 1997 April 1, 1998 Melody Ann Murfin May 20, 1998 October 18, 2000 Michelyn Joann Derning July 4, 1998 July 7, 1998 Connie Lynn Ellis-LaFontaine September 17, 1998 October 13, 1998
Article
Robert Lee Yates
Robert Lee Yates Jr. (born May 27, 1952), also known as the Spokane Serial Killer and the Grocery Bag Killer, is an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, necrophile, and former U.S. Army aircraft pilot who murdered at least sixteen people, mostly female prostitutes, in eastern Washington between 1975 and 1998.
Yates was enlisted in the United States Army from 1977 to 1996, during which time he flew helicopters. He is believed to have begun killing in 1975 when a couple was shot to death in Walla Walla. Between 1988 and 1998, Yates committed eleven murders in Spokane County, two in Pierce County, and one in Skagit County. He was sentenced to death in 2002 but it was commuted to life without parole after the Washington Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in 2018. He is currently serving life in prison at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Early life
Robert Lee Yates
Yates was born on May 27, 1952, in Oak Harbor, Washington, where he was raised in a middle-class family. They attended a local Seventh-day Adventist church. Yates had a family history of violence; in 1945, his grandmother murdered his grandfather with an axe.
Yates graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1970. In 1975, he was hired by the Washington State Department of Corrections to work as a correction officer at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
In October 1977, 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 1990s. Yates also served three years in the Army National Guard as a helicopter pilot from April 1997 through April 2000. 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 1996, 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 1997, and served three years until his arrest in April 2000. He served a total of 21.5 years in the military.
He has five children, (four daughters and one son), with his second wife Linda, whom he married in 1976. The children's birth years range from 1974 to 1989.
Murders
Robert Lee Yates
Yates committed his first murders in 1975, when he shot and killed two college students who were on a picnic together. Many of his subsequent victims were sex workers working along East Sprague Avenue who had substance abuse issues, and Yates would often do drugs with them and other sex workers. Yates initially solicited the victims; after having sex with them, often in his Ford van, he would kill them and dump their bodies in rural locations. All of his victims died of gunshot wounds to the head or heart. Eight of the murders were committed with a Raven .25-caliber handgun, and one attempted murder was linked to the same model of handgun.
Patrick Allen Oliver and Susan Patricia Savage On July 14, 1975, the bodies of Patrick Oliver, 21, and Patricia Savage, 22, were found shot in the head near Walla Walla. They were last seen the day before, on their way for an afternoon swim and picnic.
Stacy Elizabeth Hawn On December 28, 1988, the partial skeleton of Stacy Hawn, 23, was found near Big Lake. She was last seen on July 7, 1988, in Seattle. Yates confessed to picking up Hawn, who was working as a sex worker, in his van nearby.
Shannon Rene Zielinski On June 14, 1996, Shannon Zielinski, 38, was found shot in the head in Mead. Her partially nude body was badly decomposed and dumped in a wooded area near a school bus stop. Zielinski had a lengthy criminal record and worked as a sex worker.
Heather Louise Hernandez On August 26, 1997, the body of Heather Hernandez, 20, was found in an overgrown lot in Spokane. She was shot five days earlier according to detectives. Hernandez had only recently come to the area and within a few weeks was arrested twice for sex work.
Jennifer Ann Joseph On August 26, 1997, Jennifer Joseph, 16, was found shot in the head in a field in Spokane. Police found a brown towel and a brown hair belonging to a white male at the scene. After Joseph's parent's divorce, she dropped out of high school and moved to Tacoma. She started using methamphetamine and became involved in sex work. She was killed just a month after arriving in Spokane.
Darla Sue Scott On November 5, 1997, the partially decayed remains of Darla Scott, 29, were found in a shallow grave near a golf course in Spokane. Scott, who had a history of drugs and sex work, died of a gunshot wound to the head, likely in September or October.
Melinda Lee Mercer On December 7, 1997, Melinda Mercer, 24, was found shot and dumped in a field in Tacoma; she had been shot several times and had four plastic bags covering her head. At Yates' trial, he revealed that even after he shot her in the head, Mercer had chewed through two of the bags before succumbing to her injuries. Mercer did not have a criminal record. She reportedly worked as a waitress.
Shawn Lynette Johnson On December 18, 1997, the body of Shawn Johnson, 36, was found with two gunshot wounds and two plastic bags covering her head, about a mile from the remains of Darla Scott. She had been missing since October 17, 1997.
Shawn Ann McClenahan and Laurie Page Wason On December 26, 1997, the bodies of Shawn McClenahan, 39, and Laurie Wason, 31, were found in a gully in Spokane. Both women were shot twice in the head and their heads were wrapped with three plastic bags each. Wason, who was last seen on November 3, was the devoted mother of a 12-year-old son until a relapse with heroin unravelled six years of sobriety; she began working as a sex worker to fund her substance use. McClenahan also struggled with heroin, and was arrested early November for forging a check during a binge. She had been missing since December 18.
McClenahan had a passion for Winnie the Pooh and loved to attend auctions and yard sales. "She was always the one who would help the neighbors, she was always real giving," said her brother, Patrick McClenahan.
She married four times and had a son. Her sister, Kathy Lloyd, a teacher in Spokane, said an addiction to painkillers Shawn took for an arm injury led to heroin and a life on the streets.
She had worked at a hospital laboratory, but had to quit because of the injury. "I told her that I was really, truly worried about her safety," said Lloyd. "She said, ‘Don't worry, I can take care of myself.’ I believed her."
In early December 1997, Lloyd received a birthday card from her sister, telling her how hard it was on the streets. But the card bore good news, too: Shawn had been accepted into a methadone program and was determined to leave her life of drugs. Then Christmas arrived and Lloyd didn't hear from her sister. "We did everything humanely possible to get Shawn away from drugs," she said. "She wasn't working on Sprague because she wanted to."
Laurie Wason bred and trained Rottweilers. She also operated an adult-family home and was licensed by the state.
Sunny Gail Oster On February 8, 1998, Sunny Oster, 41, was found shot to death, in an identical manner as McClenahan and Wason, in a rural area of Spokane. Oster, a mother of two, was last seen in October; she disappeared the day after completing a drug treatment program.
Linda Marie Maybin On April 1, 1998, the remains of Linda Maybin, 34, also known as "Barefoot Linda," was found in Spokane, just 100 yards from the bodies of Shawn McClenahan and Laurie Wason. She was shot once and had two plastic bags covering her head. Maybin had been working as a sex worker and had been missing since November 22, 1997.
Melody Ann Murfin On May 20, 1998, Melody Murfin, 43, went missing. She was considered a victim of the same killer, due to her history and association with other victims, but her body was not discovered until six months after Yates' arrest and subsequent confession. She was buried beneath his bedroom window.
Michelyn Joann Derning On July 7, 1998, Michelyn Derning, 47, was found shot once in the head in Spokane. The .25 caliber bullet casing was still in her hair. She was found nude and partially obscured by a hot tub cover.
Michelyn Derning was the daughter of a Marine Corps colonel. She grew up a military brat, graduating from high school in Virginia and attending Palomar College in California before moving to nearby San Diego to be an executive secretary.
She married and had a son, but drugs cost her her marriage. She lost custody of her son. She moved to Spokane in 1997, working in a variety of jobs, from ranch hand to nursing assistant. At one point, she renewed a friendship with a computer instructor she had met in San Diego.
He helped her find an apartment and befriended her but later moved away to Arizona.
Christine Smith On August 1, 1998, Christine Smith filed a police report for assault and robbery after she was hit in the head during a sex act. She described the man as about 50 years old, 5'10" tall, 175 pounds, with sandy blond hair. His vehicle was described as a 70s era black van with an exterior yellow/orange stripe, bucket seats, wood panelling, and a raised bed. Smith also told police the man told her he was a National Guard helicopter pilot and had five children. Police discovered bullet fragments in her hair; Smith was unaware that she had actually been shot. Upon seeing Yates' photo in the newspaper following his arrest, Smith contacted police and identified Yates as the man who assaulted her. She is the only known survivor of Yates' crimes.
On September 19, 1998, Yates was asked to give a DNA sample to Spokane police after being stopped. He refused, stating that it was too extreme of a request for a "family man".
On October 13, 1998, the body of Connie Ellis-LaFontaine, 35, was found in a ditch in Tacoma. She was shot once in the head and had three plastic bags covering her head. She previously worked as a hairdresser in Spokane, but fell into drugs and sex work six years after she moved, following the death of her son, who was waiting for a heart transplant.
Ellis was Chippewa and the eldest of five children. Ellis grew up on Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Her mother moved to Spokane when Ellis was still in high school, and Ellis moved between family in Washington state and North Dakota. At age 17, she worked as a secretary for a tribal organization. She became the mother of a daughter early in life and suffered an abusive marriage.
Of her three children, only her daughter Angel survives.
Ellis lost both her sons in childhood - one as a baby to sudden infant death syndrome, the other to a heart condition at age 11, in 1996. The year prior, her mother died.
Emil LaFontaine, Ellis’ father, said he believes the boy's death contributed to Ellis' struggles with heroin. "She was devastated by that." Ellis studied cosmetology and planned to be a hair stylist. She tried to get into treatment for her addiction problem, her father said, "but it just didn't work."
Convictions and appeals
Robert Lee Yates
Yates was arrested on April 18, 2000, for the murder of Jennifer Joseph. After his arrest, a search warrant was executed on a white 1977 Chevrolet Corvette that he had previously owned. A white Corvette had been identified as the vehicle in which one of the victims had last been seen. Coincidentally, Yates had been pulled over in this vehicle while the task force was searching for it, but the field interview report was misread as saying "Camaro", not "Corvette," thus the incident was not realized until after Yates had been arrested.
After searching the Corvette, police discovered blood that they linked to Jennifer Joseph, and DNA from Yates that they then tied to 12 other victims. In 2000, he was charged with 13 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in Spokane County Superior Court. As part of a plea bargain, Yates confessed to the murders to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to 408 years in prison. Charges were dropped without prejudice in the murder of Shawn McClenahan so that, if Yates appealed his other guilty sentences, he could be tried for her murder and possibly sentenced to death. Following his sentencing hearing, Yates made a statement apologizing to the families of all the victims he had killed.
In 2001 Yates was charged in Pierce County, Washington, with the murders of two additional women. The prosecution sought the death penalty for the deaths of Melinda L. Mercer in 1997, and Connie Ellis in 1998, which were thought to be linked to the killings in Spokane County. On September 19, 2002, Yates was convicted of those murders and subsequently sentenced to death by lethal injection on October 3, 2002.
The 2002 death sentence was appealed on grounds that Yates believed his 2000 plea bargain to be "all-encompassing", and that a life sentence for 13 murders and a death sentence for two constituted "disproportionate, freakish, wanton and random" application of the death penalty. The arguments were rejected in 2007 by the Washington Supreme Court. A September 19, 2008 execution date was stayed by Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander pending additional appeals.
In 2013, Yates's attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in federal district court, stating that Yates is mentally ill and, "through no fault of his own ... suffers from a severe paraphilic disorder" that predisposed him to commit murder. The still-pending motion is regarded as a "long shot" by most observers. "I don't think Mr. Yates helps his cause by relying on the fact that he's a necrophiliac," said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.
Yates remains incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary. His case was further complicated by Washington Governor Jay Inslee's 2013 declaration that he would not sign death warrants for anyone on death row while he is in office. Inslee cited the high cost of the appeals process, the randomness with which death sentences are sought, and a lack of evidence that the penalty serves as a deterrent to other criminals.
In July 2015, the Washington Supreme Court once again rejected an effort by Yates to overturn his conviction and death sentence. After the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that the death penalty violated the state constitution, Yates's death sentence, as well as that of Washington's other death row inmates, was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Victims
Robert Lee Yates
<table><thead><tr><th>Name</th><th>Date of murder</th><th>Date of discovery</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Patrick Allen Oliver</td><td>July 13, 1975</td><td>July 14, 1975</td></tr><tr><td>Susan Patricia Savage</td><td>July 13, 1975</td><td>July 14, 1975</td></tr><tr><td>Stacy Elizabeth Hawn</td><td>July 7, 1988</td><td>December 28, 1988</td></tr><tr><td>Shannon Rene Zielinski</td><td>May 27, 1996</td><td>June 14, 1996</td></tr><tr><td>Heather Louise Hernandez</td><td>August 21, 1997</td><td>August 26, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Jennifer Ann Joseph</td><td>August 16, 1997</td><td>August 26, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Darla Sue Scott</td><td>September 30 or October 1, 1997</td><td>November 5, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Melinda Lee Mercer</td><td>December 6, 1997</td><td>December 7, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Shawn Lynette Johnson</td><td>October 17, 1997</td><td>December 18, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Shawn Ann McClenahan</td><td>December 18, 1997</td><td>December 26, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Laurie Page Wason</td><td>November 3, 1997</td><td>December 26, 1997</td></tr><tr><td>Sunny Gail Oster</td><td>November 1, 1997</td><td>February 8, 1998</td></tr><tr><td>Linda Marie Maybin</td><td>November 21, 1997</td><td>April 1, 1998</td></tr><tr><td>Melody Ann Murfin</td><td>May 20, 1998</td><td>October 18, 2000</td></tr><tr><td>Michelyn Joann Derning</td><td>July 4, 1998</td><td>July 7, 1998</td></tr><tr><td>Connie Lynn Ellis-LaFontaine</td><td>September 17, 1998</td><td>October 13, 1998</td></tr></tbody></table>
Works cited
Robert Lee Yates
• Morlin, Bill; White, Jeanette (2001). Bad Trick : The Hunt for Spokane's Serial Killer. Spokane, WA: New Media Ventures, Inc. ISBN 9780923910181. OCLC 48369684.