John Dwight Canaday

John Dwight Canaday (1945 – December 26, 2012) was an American serial killer who raped and killed three young women in Seattle, Washington, from 1968 to 1969. He was considered Washington's first known serial killer. At the time of his death, Canaday was serving three life sentences at Clallam Bay Prison.

Murders In the early hours of December 17, 1968, 16-year-old Sandra Bowman, a pregnant newlywed, informed her husband Thomas that she had fallen ill, and was going to be bedridden for the rest of the day. Hours later, when Thomas returned home from his job at a canning company, he discovered Sandra stabbed to death, with her hands bound behind her back. A reward was put out for the killer, with Thomas Bowman initially cashing in some of his own money. Thomas was ruled out as a suspect based on part of an alibi, and sooner or later police had exhausted all leads.

On January 24, 20-year-old Lynne Carol Tuski, a Washington State University student, disappeared in northern Seattle. She was last seen walking to her car.

Arrest and trial By March 1969, Seattle police launched an investigation into Canaday, a divorced Vietnam War veteran, who had been accused of raping two women. Once in custody, he agreed to lead investigators to the bodies of Bjornson and Tuski, which he had hidden in a snow-covered patch.

At the time of Bowman's murder, Canaday was working as a pipeman's helper for the city water department. The identification was a record moment as, at the time, Bowman's murder was the oldest cold case solved in Washington. It also identified Canaday as Washington's first known serial killer. On December 26, 2012, Canaday was found unresponsive in his cell at Clallam Bay Prison. His death, according to the State's department of corrections, was from natural causes.