Not since the Green River Killer had the Pacific Northwest been terrorized by so savage a serial murderer as Robert Lee Yates, Jr., 48. On August 26, 1997, the half-naked body of 16-year-old street hooker Jennifer Joseph was found in an empty lot in Spokane, Washington. The same day, the decomposed corpse of prostitute Heather Hernandez, 20, was discovered in a wheat field. Both women had been shot point blank in the head. By the day after Christmas, four more women were added to the mounting death toll. All were found with plastic grocery bags tied over their heads - the gruesome signature of a killer who had sexually violated each one of them after snuffing out their lives. Spokane's elite Homicide Task Force's intense investigation turned up only one common link: a white Corvette driven by a frequent customer of Spokane's prostitutes. After building a data-base of Corvette owners, investigators found a button from Jennifer Joseph's blouse and multiple blood stains in a vehicle recently sold by Robert Lee Yates, Jr. On October 18, 2000, Yates, a devoted husband, father of five, National Guard helicopter pilot, and Desert Storm veteran pled guilty to 13 murders and was sentenced to 408 years behind bars. Charged with two similar murders in Washington's Pierce County, Yates now faces a possible death sentence.
Burl Barer
Professional Biography
Burl Barer is a Edgar Award winning author and two-time Anthony Award nominee with extensive media, advertising, marketing, and public relations experience.
Garnering accolades for his creative contributions to radio, television, and print media, Barer's career has been highlighted in The Hollywood Reporter, London Sunday Telegraph, New York Times, USA Today, Variety, Broadcasting, Electronic Media, ABC's Good Morning America, Investigation Discovery's "Deadly Women," and "Snapped" on the Oxygen Network. He also hosts TRUE CRIMES on OUTLAW RADIO with famed attorney Don Woldman.
