The I-5 Killer /// Part 1 /// 313 | Forensic Files

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[Music] pick a country and you likely can find a citizen who is killed ritualistically
and repeatedly consider the phrase run amok which derives from a Malay word translated
loosely as to attack with homicidal mania believing that amok was caused by an evil spirit
Indonesian culture tolerated these violent outburst and dealt with the after-effects with no ill-will toward
the assailant the underlining premise the capacity to kill indiscriminately dwells in all of us
most people just suppress the urge or avoid the spirit still the serial killer occupies a
singular role in the cast of Americana here he and the vast majority have been male has been hyperbolized
and fetish sized and even romanticized serial killers are responsible for only a small fraction of the murders
committed in the u.s. but they are some of the most notorious figures in our history and culture says Sarah Weinman
who runs the newsletter the crime lady serial killing is twisted fantasy that has roots in the wide open American
landscape where it is all too easy to hunt and kill without detection and with impunity it was in the 1970s that agents
Robert Ressler and John Douglas of the FBI's behavioral science unit coined and defined the term serial killer
distinguishing one from a mass murderer who may kill many at once or spree killer who lacks a so-called cooling-off
period between murders indeed the 70s marked the crimson stain height of serial killing in the u.s. in that era
there were a number of factors working in the assailants favor from lacks gun laws to the popularity of psychedelic
drugs to the sprawling interstate highway system and cheap gas and from the dearth of surveillance
technology to the spotty coordination among police precincts it may never have been easier to avoid getting caught
taken from John Wertheim si.com long-form article titled the i-5 killer this is true crime garage
[Music] [Music] we start off on the evening of December 9th 1980 in Vancouver Washington a 20
year old female attendant is working the second shift at a gas station when seemingly out of nowhere a man suddenly
appears he was tall with dark hair and on his face he had what was very obviously a fake beard before the
attendant knew it the man was standing right in front of her and he had a gun the man told her to open up the register
and give him the money she did as he requested he then told her to turn around and just like that he was gone
the robbery was reported and the attendant provided police with the description of a young dark-haired man
who was tall and had an athletic body type and it was with this very quick but very terrifying event that a series of
robberies and holdups started just days later an ice cream parlor was hit the next day a drive-in restaurant the
robberies occurred in both Washington and Oregon but then on December 21st a different type of report came in 200
miles away from the holdup at the drive-in restaurant in Seattle Washington a woman working at churches
Fried Chicken reported that before 9:00 p.m. she was in the women's restroom washing her hands and face when a man
walked in he said excuse me but he did not leave instead he locked the door behind him he put the gun to her head
and said do what I say and you won't get hurt he then forced her to perform a sex
act and immediately after the assault he left but not before telling her to count
to 100 before she dared to exit the restroom she obeyed and then out of fear she stayed in the restroom screaming for
help a co-worker called police the victim gave a description of her attacker a tall man with dark hair and a
small silver gun who was the man with the silver gun who seemed to appear out of nowhere one mr.
fake weird beard was was he wearing a beard during this attack so we have a several robberies that take place and we
have at least one sexual assault but in these cases most of these cases he is wearing what is a fake beard and it's
not even like a good fake beard because the witnesses are able to tell law enforcement is there such thing as a
good thing I don't I don't think there is but if there is I've never seen one I know in one of the attacks that the the
beard was like hanging off his face it wasn't really even attached to his face very well hmm the other key thing about
these robberies is the witnesses will always tell law enforcement that the weird thing of the man seeming to just
appear out of nowhere and these are all storefronts and gas stations and drive up restaurants so what they mean by him
appearing out of nowhere it's not like they saw him get out of a car and walk into the establishment and then hold up
the place they said that they would turn around or look up from whatever they were doing and he was standing right in
front of them by January of 1981 law enforcement had dubbed the robber the i-5 bandit this given his apparent
preference for committing crimes along the interstate 5 corridor on January 8th he held up the same Vancouver gas
station he had robbed in December three days later on January 11th he robbed a market in Eugene the next day on the
12th he shot and wounded a female grocery clerk at a store in Sutherland Oregon and some of these robberies the
man had a band-aid or a piece of tape across the bridge of his nose when he shot and robbed the grocery clerk in
Oregon he had two band-aids across the bridge of his nose the woman survived and the man made off with over $300 in
cash the bullet went into the woman's shoulder and out through her back police recovered the bullet
it was now evidence and a possible witness reported seeing a VW Bug parked just outside of the grocery store around the
time of the attack and we all know that's not good this leads us to Salem Oregon January 18th 1981 just before 10
p.m. an emergency call comes in the caller is a woman and she is asking for help she tells the operator that we have
been shot at races put on the call and the call is coming from the trans American Title building squad cars and
an ambulance are sent racing toward the building the operator asks the woman for
her name the caller is having trouble speaking her voices faint and her breathing is weak fighting through the
pain the caller says her name is Beth Wilmot and that they need to hurry because we have been shot in the head
and Beth is pretty sure her best friend Cheri Hall is already dead the operator asks who shot you Beth says it was a man
but she did not know him Beth and Cheri were at the TransAmerican building cleaning the office when a man walked in
she said the man was above average height with dark hair and a bandaid on his nose the man was wearing a coat and
jeans and he was in his mid to late 20s Beth said again and again that her friend Shari is dying Beth was afraid
that the man was going to return now a police officer arrived at the scene he arrives there first and he's alone the
emergency caller did not know if the shooter was still in the building the officer knowing the general layout
of the building he knew if he entered he would become the perfect target should the shooter remain inside but by the
description of the attack and the injuries he heard on his police radio he also knew if he didn't go in the two
women inside would surely die so with a gun drawn the officer kicked open the door and entered the operator stayed on
the line until the ambulance arrived the shooter thankfully had left Beth somehow
survived this attack Cheri did not despite her being shot in the head twice luckily neither bullet penetrated Beth's
skull and she lived and she remembered a lot about the attack and about the attacker in horrific detail she was
later able to describe both two detectives the two women Beth and Cheri were best friends and they operated an
evening and weekend cleaning business that Sunday night they were cleaning the TransAmerican building they were almost
done and getting ready to leave and go home for the night sherry unlocked the front door went out
to the parking lot started up her red Bronco she left it running and went back into the building
just to finish up a few things just then a man with a silver gun and a bandaid on
his nose entered the building he ordered the women to a room in the back once there he threatens them he makes them
take off all of their clothes he sexually assaulted both of the women when he was done he told both of them to
lay face down on the floor next to each other then standing overtop of them he shot sherry in the head then he shot
Beth in the head then sherry again then Beth again and then sherry then he left well Beth after being shot the first
time she kind of plays dead which is possibly what saved her life yeah Beth went on to say that she knew the man
would just keep shooting them if they moved so after that first shot she made herself like ompletely still and silent
but we do know he shot her again anyway this probably just to make sure that she
was dead and Beth said that she was lucky because the man shot sherry three times and she was only shot twice police
were able to retrieve some evidence from the crime scene but we have to keep in mind how difficult of a situation this
would be to collect evidence one we have a guy that it seems like neither of the
victim even knew so what was he doing there in the first place but then on top of that we have first responders who
there main objective their first goal arriving on the scene is to preserve life as to
save the lives of these victims right and when they arrived on the scene both of these women they were alive but
they're both clinging clinging to life they're very close to death and so we have a situation of the police they have
to go in to save lives they have first responders we have we have medical technicians there everybody is working
and really they're trampling and contaminating the scene plus we have the added factor of this is taking place in
a building and the police have to go in there and clear the building to make sure that the shooter is not still in
this building luckily they are able to retrieve some evidence from this crime scene and they might have got lucky here
because this is some pretty decent evidence so first they find a single hair which after some testing and
comparing it to first responders they believed in the victims they believe this hair to be from the suspect they
also were able to retrieve the suspects blood type was it a real hair or was it a fake hair this was a real hair my
friend and they retrieved the suspects blood type which they later determined to be be negative this is also a good
thing for them because it eliminates quite a good deal of the male population they also had a living witness and most
importantly they found a bullet now obviously we know there were five shots so there was more than one bullet but
one bullet was in great condition this was a 32 caliber and because of its condition they were able to narrow it
down to just a few different guns meaning they had a very good idea of what kind of gun fired this bullet right
are they making the connection that this is their i-5 bandit yet they have not but then we have this situation that is
just 16 days later and it's about 380 miles away and right off I five just north of Redding California
there was another attack in this time it ended in a double homicide just before 9
p.m. on February 3rd 1981 a young woman came home and the house looked empty she
called out as she walked the house but no one answered when she reached the upstairs she came into a bedroom and
discovered the lifeless bodies of Donna Eckerd and Janelle Jarvis each had been shot several times in the head one of
the women was bound at the wrists and ankles and her mouth and nose were covered with surgical tape detectives
quickly deduced that both were alive and well just less than three hours earlier
this because of a phone call that took place with Donna yeah because the person that was on that phone call is also the
person that found the bodies yeah Donna told the caller that she and Janelle were going to go down to Jake's market
to pick up some some items for breakfast the next day now inside of one of the woman's pants pocket detectives found a
handwritten check made out to Jake's market interviews conducted at Jakes market determined that the two never
made it to Jake's someone had intercepted them right law enforcement also determined that the victim had only
been dead maybe an hour before they were discovered they were both killed with a
32 caliber gun now back in Salem we have Beth Wilmot the one who almost died was shot in the
head twice she is recovering from her two gunshot wounds to the head and to everyone's surprise she is healing much
faster than anticipated she's able to give detectives a description of the man that killed her friend and it tried
unsuccessfully to kill her now with some good old-fashioned detective work the Salem Police were now working under the
theory and suspicion that the killer was not a local this leads them to sending out a teletype to police offices in
other jurisdictions and other states now they are asking if any commune he had experienced a similar homicide
immediately they got a response from the Redding California area after comparing
notes they firmly believed that the two cases were linked they were in fact the same type of crimes same caliber gun and
both right along the i-5 corridor then Salem released the following description to other jurisdictions and to other
states Salem Police were looking for a male white 25 to 28 years old 5 foot 11 to 6 foot 1 inches tall medium build
described as good build with dark hair possibly curly collar length and dark eyes pale or light complexion described
as being good looking and has sad eyes with more white showing below the iris the suspect wears a black or orange knit
cap a green hooded coat brown cord or sheepskin lined jacket green windbreaker the coats always buttoned blue jeans and
all incidences white tennis shoes with red stripe blue driving type gloves with open back they go on to describe the gun
that is believed to have been used in these crimes a possible H&R break top six-shot revolver vehicle a 66 or later
light-colored VW Bug possibly modified in some manner now keep in mind regarding this vehicle that's more of a
suspicion rather than they're saying that we've seen this in all of these incidents in sight and because we have
multiple attacks and robberies and such that have taken place we have a different description of what this
suspect could be wearing after the description goes out more police agencies contacted Salem the description
matched that of the robberies and holdups that we previously discussed and in the
following February 3rd in Redding a female store clerk was kidnapped raped and a holdup
an identical crime was reported in Yreka on February 4th but the same man robbing
in Ashland Oregon motel that same night five days later in Corvallis a man matching the description held up a
fabric store molesting the clerk and a customer before he left On February 12th there were robberies
committed in Vancouver Olympia and Bellevue Washington the Olympia and Bellevue incidences included sexual
assaults some jurisdictions were looking for the i5 bandit some jurisdictions were looking for the i-5 killer and as
police were learning the two were one in the same and at this point did they decide to change his name from the i-5
killer to broken dick nose fake beard [Music] if you'd like to check out our old
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[Music] all right we're back Cheers so now we have police from several jurisdictions
that are now in communication with each other they are sharing the details of the robberies the assaults and the
murders and what evidence and witness statements they may have these are dedicated detectives determined to
solving these murders and ending this crime spree and to ensure that they can track this guy down they want to know
everything about him so they start to put together a psychological profile and list out what is known about the
offender's modus operandi here is what they come up with they are looking for a male Caucasian who has a macho image of
himself recently divorced or separated from a lover recently released from penal or mental institution this man
would be described as a nice guy and would not be considered a suspect by a friend or neighbors the motivation in
all of these incidents is primarily sexual he is a loner some things to consider the offender has not hit
Portland or Multnomah County does not like location with men present has not hit outside of time spam they had
narrowed down most of these attacks to taking place in the early evening hours so when they reference timespan that's
what they are stating this is with the exception of one incident that took place in February in Eugene Oregon
the offender has only hit one convenience store takes band-aid off when fleeing tape is an unknown brand
now this is tape that was used to to bind the victims and also we have to consider that on some of these attacks
it's not a band-aid across the bridge of his nose it is some type of tape the individual parks one to four blocks away
from the scene is never seen by the clerk prior to the incident they go on to say that they suspect that the
individual may be hiding glasses mark on nose with the band-aid or the tape they go on to discuss the offender's
method of operation stating that the offender picks a location where young girls are working or likely to work he
prefers to hit in the evening hours between 5:40 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. only attacks during slack times of operation
this is when the businesses would not be busy there wouldn't be a lot of traffic
in and out of these businesses he is armed with a 32 caliber nickel-plated revolver he ties or tapes
victims has victim disrobe but he stays dressed in 13 of these 23 incidences there were sexual assaults the older
female victims are only fondled the offender is soft-spoken and not verbally abusive he takes the victims to the back
room no drug alcohol or tobacco odors are detected by victims he has never seen casing the businesses he has his
own vehicle parks up to four blocks away wears bandaid on nose and he has used a
wig and/or fake beard as a disguise he also takes the telephone receiver away from the scene this occurred in almost
all of the attacks in which there was somebody shot or some type of sexual assault this seemingly so he they can't
call police immediately after he leaves the hood of his jacket always stays on and he wears gloves but may take them
off to fondle the victims he has victims count to 100 as he is leaving the scene
well the first question for me becomes the true motive you know because they're not convinced that all these but there's
23 attacks and robberies 13 of them sexual it seems like to me that there's a double motive and it's not just sexual
it's that this guy needs money I agree with that he needs money but also the he also needs this this sexual
satisfaction yeah because that's if if the the primary motive is simply money he's putting himself at a much greater
risk to assault these women agreed but hands but in every scenario there is money taken correct I don't think that
there was in the first sexual assault that we welcome describe where he walked into the restroom where the woman was
already in there but it's like escalating right like it seems like there was a couple robberies and then
once he figured it's almost like this guy figured out I can control this situation enough that not only do I get
money but now I can then the motive then becomes sexual I actually think what's going on here is kind of a two-pronged
motive one I think you're absolutely right this guy needs the money but I think money is mainly secondary to his
motivation for these crimes I think sexual is the the primary motivating factor here I think that in
situations where we have a robbery that occurs and there is not a sexual assault
I think there's something else going on there one it could be practice to see how much he believes he can control a
situation right and to also just kind of see what's going to go down and then later determine okay I it's safe for me
to be here for a longer period of time I'm more comfortable controlling these victims and more comfortable controlling
the scene of the robbery and so I think that the primary motivating factor here is the sexual aspect but I also think
that in some of these situations he could either get spooked and just want to get the money and get out of there
yeah or he sees a situation where he thinks they might fight back or he might not be able to control the situation
what I'm getting at is there's some variable there that comes into play in the situations where sexual assault does
not occur that we probably will understand when I also might be looking for a certain type correct because he's
just going into these random places almost well and that's what I think that the police are trying to point out here
where they say his motivation you know one of his methods of operation is he picks locations where young women are
working or likely to work right okay and then when he's fondling older women he's
just fondling them mm-hmm so so it does appear he has some type of right victimology some type that he may be
looking for in these sexual assaults the interesting thing here though too is like you pointed out in this situation
they're never going to be 100% certain that all 23 of these incidences are in fact connected and committed by the same
offender so what they do is when they're pulling together their their information
that they know things that they know occurred during the the committing of these crimes and things that the
offender said and did his actions they're comparing notes and these these lists that they're providing us now mind
you this is not something that they wanted to send out there but they're not so much putting it forward to the public
they're just sharing it with other jurisdictions and other states mm-hmm this is a time when jurisdictions didn't
always work together very well or cooperate together and I'm sure all the technology wasn't there as well and I'm
sure on some level it took some convincing from one police department to another to point out that we may be
dealing with the same guy and we all need this to stop because not only is this guy hitting all these places and
he's this is a rapid-fire attack here we're talking about 23 incidences in a short period of time
well they mentioned somebody that might had just got out of a relationship okay that just got maybe divorced
yeah or recently released from penitentiary or a mental institution yeah which would then go with the whole
no job thing I'd also put on that description possibly a guy that recently just lost a
job or job opportunity because again that money it's it's always there the sexual assaults are not always there but
it's almost in every case there is some money being taken now 300 bucks is not and I think one of the cases it was 300
bucks not a huge amount of money but I wonder if that's because this guy knows I'm just gonna keep doing this again
so well doesn't matter if I disown if I only get 300 he's not doing anything that is setting himself up for a big
takeover well and obviously we didn't go through all 23 of those those situations
because it's just too much to list out and just too much to go through but on some occasions he's hitting more than
one place where where there's a robbery and or sexual assault he's hitting more than one place in the same day right so
like you said he's going he knows he's going to rob again he knows that regardless if it's $10 or
$100 in the till they are there will be another robbery soon well right and I like the fact that they say look he only
hit one convenience store and so there was something about that convenience store whether it was too difficult to
take over maybe it was too difficult to control is the more customers the possibility of more customers than he
can control the situation or is it just simply ah there was there was not enough
money there is that one of the reasons why he only hit one convenience store well we should also keep in mind back
we're not talking about something that took place five or ten years ago these crimes that we've described so far here
are 1980-1981 so back then we have an average salary in the united states of like 13 to 14 thousand dollars so right
300 bucks is a good hit for him we're talking about this is a guy that is probably pulling down enough be it
whether there's a little bit of money or something more like $300 that he might be able to
survive off of just these hits just off of these robberies so where you say that
somebody we should also factor in and consider somebody who recently lost a job I think you're spot on there because
yeah what they're all eating out with what yeah what they're pointing out here is recently divorced or separated from a
girlfriend or lover you're adding in loss of job or loss of opportunity that's fantastic because they want to
know something triggered this yeah we we have a the similar description and all of these incidences so something
triggered this and once that that trigger was set this guy hit the ground running and he committed a lot of crimes
and at a fast pace so they want to know what what was preventing him from doing this in the first place maybe he was
married and didn't need didn't need the money yeah that's weird though - because
he's described as attractive so you would think if again I lean to that idea where they were they're saying oh well
possibly he was in a relationship or married some kind of sexual needs were being met and for some reason now here's
this attractive man he's newly single and instead of going and trying to meet another mate this is how he is going
about his life now yeah and some of our listeners do not like when they hear the
description that's put forward by law enforcement that the offender is described as good-looking and I get that
but this is a quick reminder that monsters don't always look like monsters right and we have this situation here
where in some of these incidences you know they're asking questions to these victims saying be it for a robbery or
sexual assault or what have you they're asking them very simple things to try to lead them to who the offender
is you know what did anything seem off was there any thing weird going on or did you notice
thing anything out of the ordinary before the attack occurred well no I didn't notice anything nothing seemed
off that day so that's where they're going they're saying well it doesn't appear that he is casing the business
that he's watching the business and then hitting right that take too much time in
there seems to be a frequency here and then the the the added factor of they say well he's parking his vehicle 1 to 4
blocks away and fleeing the scene that's they can simply come up with that by going okay after the attack did you hear
or see a vehicle leave the property leave the premise no did not and none of them so they know that this guy is
fleeing on foot furthermore when it comes to the good looking thing I I know of one of these
incidences where when the victim was asked is there anything was there anything weird or out of the ordinary
before the attack she said that the strangest thing occurred before the attack is that a this this dirty looking
younger guy came in and she said the man had a threatening appearance and the guy
said to her something to the effect of you know this would be an incredibly easy place to rob mm-hmm and this put
her on edge well this this threatening looking individual according to her statement made a made a small purchase
and then left and she said the oddest thing about this whole holdup to her was that shortly after this weird-looking
dude left this this good-looking tall man clean-cut comes in and I my guard was down because of his appearance and
then he's the one that robs me so that's where we have that statement of of possibly good-looking right have we have
we had any other statements like that before that they saw a dirty guy I I'm only throwing that out there that we
have a guy that's wearing possibly wearing wigs and wearing fake beard and then with the whole tape
on the nose it's really like he's trying to do the the tape on the nose thing is
weird or the bandaid on the nose because to me one it's like broken nose or possibly now to open up the nose a
little bit and I would only say that because possibly he's parking you know very far away some people you know I'm
just throwing out straws there you know is is he wearing this because he's sprinting to and from the places but we
have these disguises is this guy puttin on a disguise and going in there and encasing the joint
they say he's not casing the joint but what if he's casing the joint as as an another character well I have to believe
that they were just wrong about that in some form because you don't get lucky 23
times you don't go into a business 23 times and commit some kind of crime and then get away scot-free right that's
just playing the numbers game there it doesn't add up so I have to believe that in some way yeah but there's a lot that
you can learn from parking two blocks away from a place and then approaching it you know I mean there's so I I think
their statement is almost bogus by default well I don't think he was sitting there for hours or on multiple
days watching agree these businesses what we see is somebody who is offending in multiple jurisdictions and we're
talking a lot of these are hundreds of miles away from each other but they're all off of this I five interstate so I
think this is somebody with a good knowledge of that interstate and the businesses along the way I think this is
somebody that probably travels the i-5 a good deal and in his travels maybe he's
he's learning he's doing a bit of Intel along the way and he can make he can make a side note and say that gas
station that I stopped at tonight that I got gasps from I didn't stop there to case
the joint I stopped there because my tank was low and I need a gas oh it was 8:30 p.m. there was a young woman
working alone in the gas station it's Thursday and there was no other customers here and you could just make a
quick mental note of that and say you know what if I'm back in Eugene Oregon on this date you know on the on this day
next week at 8 p.m. this might be a spot to hit and then with the disguise stuff
I love the the suspicion or the the question of could the tape or band-aid be used for hiding glasses marks on the
nose you know that this would be somebody that in his everyday life he wears glasses but that could be an
identifier so when committing these crimes he is not wearing these glasses and to cover that up he's put this
band-aid or tape across the bridge of his nose and I think that's an easy conclusion to come up with I I think
it's creative but where you make that leap is you know that he's used fake a fake beard and more than one occasion so
he is making some attempt at disguising himself right and he may have taken it a
step further and come up with this idea to use the band-aid or the tape across the bridge of his nose well and even
with the the fake beard or the tape or the band-aid like it causes a distraction from natural features so
yeah I mean even if it's not really so much to cover up you know a broken nose or the classes marks on the on the
bridge of the nose it's almost it dis creates a distraction in general and then I thought about the frequency of
how much this is happening like you said there could be a robbery one day and then and later that day sexual assault
and so to me that leans towards possible like alcoholism or some addiction but but they're not smelling any alcohol and
there's no like it seems like this guy is coming in and they're going he was not suspicious so there was almost no
signs of drug activity well and I think you're right there this to me would point to a very organized offender we
have somebody that is has determined that it's best for him to park not near the business and to enter and leave on
foot he is arriving and he's attempting to disguise himself he's wearing gloves in all of these incidences so he's not
leaving fingerprints behind he's also very organized in the way that he controls the situation and really
follows almost the same script each time you know taking the the victim to the back room where they're concealed and so
I think we are dealing with somebody that might not be incredibly intelligent but he's at least good at doing this
thing and he is organized in the sense that that's why I go you know to back up what the victims were saying no drug
alcohol or tobacco odors he doesn't he does not appear to be out of control in any of these situations he doesn't
appear to be out of his mind or drunk or anything like that he's not making a lot
of mistakes well they also point out that he doesn't hit he didn't hit a couple areas like all of his attacks
were outside those areas and so that makes you wonder do they believe that he's from that area that he's not
attacking that because he's would be more likely to be known than those areas yeah that was Portland OR Multnomah
County as well as he only hit Eugene Oregon seems to be a place that he has hit but only once maybe during all of
this so you're right when we have all of these attacks now he does have hundreds
of miles to choose from for these attacks but for whatever reason he seems to be staying out of those areas but
while we were saying that there they can never be 100 percent convinced that all of these
incidences are in fact all linked to one another the very interesting thing here
is when they're comparing notes they're seeing the same stuff in these all 23 of
these things we got the offenders actions the way that he speaks to the victims we also have a very similar
description in all of these incidences as well as the same description of the weapon used during which so it's good
that they're sharing information it's bad that they now know that they're dealing with a guy that is roaming
basically the the countryside and roaming the the west coast up and down the i5 and he doesn't seem to be
stopping or even slowing down when committing these crimes On February 15th now keep in mind captain this is just
three days after multiple attacks took place on the 12th 18 year-old Julie Ann Reitz she is at a party she is leaving
that party this is around 2 a.m. she tells all of her friends that she is heading home Julie Ann Reitz lives with
her mother at Southwest Cherry Hill Drive this is in Beaverton Oregon mm-hmm now her mother is out of town that night
and when her mother returns the next day she finds the body of Julie Reitz finding her lying nude on the stairs
her hair blood-stained she had been shot point-blank in the head yeah the time of
death was later determined to be between 3 and 4 a.m. police recovered a 38 caliber bullet from the victim there was
an eyewitness statement that said that the only thing that he noticed out of the ordinary was that he had seen a VW
Bug driving up and down Julie's Street that night police went on to interview about a hundred and fifty
people who were closest to Julie who were in her social circles they believed that none of the people they interviewed
made for a good suspect now this case is not connected to the i-5 killer for one simple fact
the police were working under the suspicion that Julie knew her killer they based this off of what they found
at the crime scene Julie Wright's had shared a glass of wine with her attacker and she had also
was in the process of preparing coffee for two ok and somewhere in this process she is gunned down by her assailant so
what we have here is you come up with what why did they come up with this well this is easy to put together they know
that Julie lives with her mother when's the last time you saw Julie what time were you last at your home oh I
Julie was already gone for the day I left when I returned I find my daughter dead we know that Julie came home that
night and then they find wine glasses and somebody you know evidence to suggest that somebody was in the process
of making or serving coffee so we're under the assumption that Julie knew the killer well enough to let the individual
into the home and spend some time talking with him but we have a sexual assault and we have shots to the head
mm-hmm so this is why they are very interested in interviewing all the people that are closest to earth these
are your obvious this is your obvious go-to they believe that out of those 150 people approximately 150 people that
none of the people that they interviewed made for a good suspect this points them
to a different thought that their suspect is known to the victim Julie Wright's but would be on the fringes of
her life and social circles yeah they're going to have to go back and re-interview all of these people or a
good majority of them this is because now they're not looking at any of those individuals as actual suspects they are
wanting to get more information from them on who are the people that that kind of knew Joe
is there anyone that stands out is there a guy that she might have known they come up with two or three different
people out of this group of 150 that mentioned a name of an individual that Julie had some type of relationship with
it seems like they they work together at one point this man took her on a date maybe two but Julie didn't really want a
relationship with this individual the name that's presented to them is Randall Woodfield
he is somebody that worked at the faucet with Julie writes this was a bar and I believe that Woodfield was a bouncer or
possibly a bartender he he worked from time to time as a bouncer and or bartender at some of these different
bars this fawcett bar is located in Portland so not terribly far away apparently he didn't last very long
working at this bar because yeah he must have been a bouncer because it says in my notes here that he was let go because
he didn't didn't seem comfortable removing people from the bar mm-hmm so they want to track down this Randy
Woodfield and give him a looking at getting the business well the the other added factor here too is one of the one
of the individuals that supply police with his name says you know what do you know about this guy well I know that he
he did some time or got in trouble for some robberies years ago okay so now we have a guy that actually fits what
they're looking for that's on the fringes of her life and social circles and then on top of that it's a guy with
a record right but riddle me this is he wearing a fake beard well police do once
they have his name they want to go talk to him because it's very simple this is our next guy in line here this is
somebody that has pointed out to us by two or three of the people that knew Julie Ann Reitz so let's go talk to him
because he could either be a Specht or if he has an alibi that is good then we can clear him and move on
with our investigation so they have to travel out to Eugene Oregon and they meet with Randy Woodfield he answers the
door when they knock and they're talking to him and early on in their conversation they say hey we do you know
somebody named Julie Ann Reitz and he says no I can't place the name I don't know anybody by that name to which
police follow up with the question of what would you mind coming to our Police Department and discussing some things
with us there right because this is what's going to set off some alarm bells for the investigators we have a guy that
wants to lie about knowing Julie Ann Reitz who was found murdered yet we have at least two or three people that say
not only did they know each other but there was some type of involvement which which is interesting because this
happens a lot in cases it's it's when the people when the person lies about knowing the victim the red flags go up
but me and you were or so we're good with faces bad with names and so it's like I could totally see you being
interviewed by the police and then and then asking you do you know so-and-so and you go on I don't think so you know
I get that but one of the witnesses are saying that they went on a date together
the other is saying that Randy was pursuing aggressively pursuing a relationship with Julie Ann Reitz so it
wasn't even it wasn't just it's not work together it's not that yeah it's not that they just happened to cross paths
and work together for a brief time period together and on top of that when he worked at the faucet was less than
half a year less than six months before they're questioning him about Julie Ann run right but it's not a it's not a good
deal of time and it's also others perception that they were at least friends or went on a date together right right
I'd say the the friends are being pursued by this guy that's definitely more of a reason why he would know her
than that they worked at a bar together which ton of you know there's a ton of turnover at bars too so well and think
about this from Randy's perspective because he doesn't know everything that the investigators that are talking to
him he does not know what they know right and he is technically when he's asked that question he's in a no-win
situation this is a lose-lose baby because if he says yes I do know her well they've already stated that they
are looking for somebody that knew her as a very good suspect but when he says no I did not know her this makes it a
double whammy because now they want to know why one we're looking for somebody that knows her but why does this man
want to lie and say that he does not [Music] thank you so much for joining us back in
the garage so much more to get to next episode won't you please join us yeah we'll be back for part two tomorrow
until then be good be kind don't live [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Source: https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-hnrcf-b5d115

The I-5 Killer /// Part 1 /// 313 Part 1 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com At a time when random crime was at a new all time high, an evil man traveled hundreds of miles up and down the I-5 corridor. This man was a bandit, a rapist and a killer. The police were learning about the traveling killer so they may end the terror. Join us in the garage as we discuss one very violent criminal and the crimes he perpetrated. Beer of the Week - DDH Noise Pollution by Southern Grist Brewing Garage Grade - 5 out of 5 bottle caps

The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

Brief Summary

The episode details the I-5 Bandit’s crimes and the investigation leading to Randy Woodfield, connecting various assaults and murders along the I-5 corridor.

Key points

The I-5 Bandit Emerges. A series of robberies and assaults along the I-5 corridor begins with a terrifying gas station robbery.
A Night of Horror. Beth and Cheri are attacked while cleaning an office, leading to a tragic shooting.
Linking the Crimes. Detectives connect multiple attacks across states, suspecting a serial offender.
Psychological Profile Developed. Police create a profile of the suspect based on the crime spree's characteristics.
The I-5 Killer's Modus Operandi. The offender targets locations with young women, often during quiet hours, using disguises.
Julie Ann Reitz's Tragic Death. 18-year-old Julie Ann Reitz is found murdered shortly after leaving a party.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The capacity to kill indiscriminately dwells in all of us.

Discussion on human nature and violence

3:48WatchJun 25, 2019

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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