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 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: two Metorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, three Army Achievement Medals, two Armed Forces Expeditionary Medals, two United Nations Service Medals and the US Army Master Aviator Badge.

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.

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.

Sunny Gail OsterOn 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.

Michelyn Joann DerningOn 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.

Convictions and appeals Yates was arrested on April 18, 2000, for the murder of Jennifer Joseph.

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. 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.

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.

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 Yates had killed the following individuals: