Serial Killer: Westley Allan Dodd - The Worst Serial Killer in the World

Serial Killer: Westley Allan Dodd - The Worst Serial Killer in the World

Episode Transcript

(00:16):
Wesley Dawn was a loner. Whenhe wasn't busy building his ill conceived torture
raq out of boards and ropes,he sat hunched over at his desk writing
deeply disturbing fantasies. In his diary. He sketched out the following plans for
his next victim, Incident III willdie. Maybe this way he'll be tied

(00:37):
down as Lee was an Incident two. Instead of placing a bag over his
head as had previously planned, I'lltape his mouth shut with duct tape.
Then, when ready, I'll usea clothes pin or something to plug his
nose. That way I can sitback, take pictures and watch him die.
Instead of concentrating on my hands orthe rope tied around his neck.

(00:59):
That would also eliminate the rope burnson the neck. I can clearly see
his face and eyes. Now,electrocution also a good means for quick death.
A few nights later, Dodd wentto the movies and sat in the
back row at the new Liberty Theaterin Camas, Washington, near Vancouver.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids wasplaying, but DoD wasn't there for the

(01:22):
film. Instead, he systematically scannedthe audience for his next victim. He
watched a young boy who walked upthe aisle toward the lobby alone. Dodd
casually got out of his seat andfollowed the child into the restroom. Another
boy, six years old also walkedthrough the lobby to use the bathroom.
Dodd, smiling, motioned to thesix year old to go first. The

(01:47):
theater employees relaxed and the quiet ofthe lobby after the film started, but
a child's frantic screams pierced the calm. The cries were coming from the men's
bathroom. DoD pushed the door open, carrying the shrieking boy over his shoulder.
The little boy was hysterical, saidone of the owners to the Oregonian
newspaper. He was screaming so loudyou could hear him for three blocks.

(02:10):
They watched as a small, youthfullooking man with dark hair in a thick
mustache walked to the exit, carryingthe boy, who twisted and writhed desperately
trying to break free. Calm down, son, he said, patting the
boy on the back. Calm down. It wasn't the first time that a
child had thrown a temper tantrum intheir theater, but the child's persistent cries

(02:32):
of help me, help me distressthem. They ran after Dowd, who
hurried down the dark street, tighteninghis grip on the tearfully frightened boy.
Approaching the car, he fumbled forhis keys, breathing hard, looking over
his shoulder, But six year oldJames broke free and scrambled away as fast
as he could. He ran straightinto one of the theater owners who was

(02:54):
pursuing DoD, grabbing on to herlegs and holding tight. That man was
going to hurt me, James toldher. The two went back to the
theater to find his mom. Meanwhile, William Ray Graves, the boyfriend of
James's mother, heard a commotion afterthe boy left to use the restroom in
the lobby. He heard what almosthappened and became furious. There was fire

(03:17):
in my eyes, he later said, it burned me up. That little
guy is pretty close to me.I love him and I love his family.
Someone had seen the abductor in amustard yellow Pinto station wagon. Graves
ran outside into the dark streets lookingfor the car. He was determined to
chase him down, even if byfoot. Astonishingly, the Pinto station wagon

(03:40):
was stopped on the street, apparentlystalled. The sky was stuck, and
Graves cautiously made his move. Heapproached the Pinto, acting as casually as
his racing heart would permit, andasked the driver if he needed help.
Todd nervously glanced at Graves and acceptedhis offer. When he had his chance,

(04:00):
Graves grabbed Daubs by the neck anddragged him back to the theater.
You've just been detained. We're goingto get the cops, he said,
resisting the urge to hurt the manwho tried to take James. In the
theater lobby, Craves tied the youngman's hands behind his back with a belt
and sat him down until the policearrived. Dodd stared at the floor and

(04:20):
said nothing. James knew to makea commotion if anyone tried to abduct him.
His mother had been worried since themurder of little lee Iszale and the
near brothers, and Tod her childrento scream, kick and bite if anyone
tried to take them. That boyis a real hero, said a lieutenant
with the Camass Police Department. TheNorthwest's most notorious and vicious child killer Wesley

(04:46):
Allen Dodd had terrorized the community,and it was fitting that community action,
led by a child, brought Doddto justice. In custody, twenty eight
year old Dodd denied any involvement inthe murder of other boys who had been
found in the last ten weeks.Ten year old Coal Near and his brother,
eleven year old William, were foundstabbed to death in a Vancouver park.

(05:10):
Four year old Lee Azale had beendiscovered at Vancouver Lake, less than
ten miles away from the park.When DoD told the police he worked at
a paper plant only a mile awayfrom where Lee was found, authorities pressed
him further that night in November ofnineteen eighty nine. In less than an
hour of custody, DoD confessed.But DoD's confession was just the beginning of

(05:32):
his ruthlessly brutal outpourings. He madethe interrogators sick. The more DoD talked
about hurting children, the more heseemed to enjoy himself, as if his
confessions were an opportunity to relive theexperience. When the police searched his home,
they found his torture rack, articlesabout the crimes, and other solid

(05:53):
evidence. The most disturbing evidence wasdiscovered in a briefcase under the bed.
Inside the briefcase, DoD kept photosof children, including the heartbreaking polaroids of
one of his victims, Lea Zeiley. He also kept a diary that would
shock and sadden the community. Itwas bewildering and terrifying. How could someone

(06:15):
do this to helpless kids and enjoyit. Not only had he meticulously recorded
all of his crimes against children,he choreographed sadistic torture fantasies for future victims.
He had every intention of living outthese fantasies and wouldn't stop until he
was caught. Wesley Allan Dodd isperhaps one of the most calculating predators to

(06:38):
prowl the playgrounds. Small in statureand sometimes assuming a baby voice himself,
he didn't fit the profile of thedangerous, trench coated stranger the children are
taught to avoid. Organizations like theNational Center for Missing and Exploited Children are
working hard to dispel myths of childmolesters as repugnant trolls luring kids with candy.

(07:00):
There usually someone kids trust. Likemany child molesters, Dodd knew how
to gain access to his victims.He befriended children with gifts and games,
and knew how to coax them intodangerous situations without using force. He was
described as being good with kids,few knew that he was also deadly with

(07:21):
them. In the following chapters,we'll look at Dot's childhood and how is
devnt behavior escalated from molestation to murder. Along the way, there'll be many
moments when Dodd's rampage could have beenabruptly halted by the criminal justice system.
But we must also remember that thesystem didn't rape and murder little boys Wesley

(07:44):
Dodd did. DoD began sexually abusingchildren when he was only thirteen years old.
As grade schoolers passed by his house, he stood in the upstairs bedroom
window naked, hiding his face behindthe curtain. Eventually, child reported the
flasher's addressed to the police, whonotified Dodd's parents that someone was exposing himself

(08:05):
to children from their residence. Theauthorities showed little interest in who it was
or prosecuting him. The Dodd's thoughtit might have been a friend of Wesley's.
After realizing that exposing himself from hisown house would get him in trouble,
Dodd took his show on the road, as he called it, and
peld the bike around the neighborhood lookingfor children ten or younger. He'd ride

(08:28):
by, yell at them, andexpose himself when he got their attention.
He looked for boys, he said, because boys didn't report me is often
as girls. Dodd said that hebegan exposing himself because he'd hit puberty and
wasn't educated about sex. He neverclaimed to have been sexually abused himself,
and later blamed his unhappiness as achild on his parents constant fighting and their

(08:50):
lack of emotional support. Wesley's father, Jim Dodd, told The Oregonian that
he acknowledged his son's sexual deviancy withfather sunshots, but mostly avoided talking about
it. Despite Wesley's increasing arrests andwarnings. The eldest of three kids,
Wesley was otherwise well behaved. Henever did drugs, he never drank,

(09:13):
he never smoke, said the elderDoD. When his parents divorced, the
exposing escalated to molesting. According tothe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual three are,
which classifies and describes mental disorders,pedophilia is one of the behaviors associated with
loners who have low self esteem.They feel sexually inadequate, afraid to risk

(09:35):
rejection by their peers. In avoidingmature relationships, they failed to mature themselves.
Dodd is described himself as socially isolated, intimidated by girls. When others
began dating and going to high schooldances, Dodd stayed at home, thinking
of ways to instigate sexual activity withchildren. Like most child molesters, DoD

(09:58):
betrayed the trust of ch children whowere close to him. Stranger abductions are
usually a last resort. If asexual predator has access to kids that no
one trusts him, he'll take advantageof their trust. Dodd's first victims were
his own cousins. At fourteen,he molested his eight year old cousin in
a closet, her six year oldbrother later that day, and another male

(10:20):
cousin weeks later. Dodd later molestedthe kids of a woman his father was
dating. When his cousins weren't availableto him, Dodd placed himself in situations
where he'd be around children. Hebefriended the neighborhood boys and offered a babysit.
At sixteen, Dodd was asked tofill in for a neighbor's usual babysitter

(10:41):
and molested the children as they slept. Later, Dodd sought jobs or he'd
encounter kids, including being a campcounselor. It wasn't until later that he
used force with his victims. Usually, DoD tricked children into inappropriate contact through
fun and games. He dared kidsto run around naked and suggested party games

(11:03):
like spin the bottle, strip poker, skinny dipping, or truther Dare.
He exploited the innocent curiosity of childrenand made the molestation seem like normal fun.
I've done this to other kids,he'd say, and they liked it.
He manipulated their uncertainty and nervousness,and perhaps their guilt that they'd done

(11:24):
something wrong. Dot attempted to naturalizethe situation to little kids who didn't know
better. He tried to convince aconfused child that he was teaching him something
fun that adults do, and thatit was perfectly normal. The arrests didn't
stop em. At the age offifteen, Dot had already been arrested for

(11:45):
exposing himself, but he wasn't prosecuted. Instead, the authorities recommended counseling Over
the years, Dot would fall inand out of court ordered counseling sessions,
but attended sporadically. If at all. The arrests accumulated, but Dodd was
rarely punished with the appropriate jail time. When children he'd been molesting on a

(12:05):
regular basis moved away, DoD,now eighteen and desperate for new victims,
pursued kids he didn't know. Herealized that what children he didn't know,
he could be more forceful. Inone typical instant, he encountered a young
boy fishing alone in a wooded area. He asked the boy if he wanted
to see something really neat. Oncethey were isolated, Dodd ordered the boy

(12:28):
to undress, but fortunately for thechild, they were interrupted by another group
of kids. If he couldn't finda child alone, he'd approach a group
of children and demand that one ofthem pull his pants down. Sometimes Dodd
went on bizarre nude excursions, rollickingat that children's playground naked in the middle
of the night. If I hadn'tjoined the Navy, then I may have

(12:52):
been killing within a year, saidDodd, weeks before enlisting. In September
of nineteen eighty one, Dot attemptedto abduct a couple of little girls.
Although they reported him to the police, DoD wasn't incarcerated. Dot was stationed
at a submarine base in Bangor,Washington, and preyed on the children who
lived on the base. He alsomade excursions to Seattle, where he accosted

(13:15):
kids in movie theater bathrooms. Dotbegan to use money as a lure,
coaxing children into secluded areas to helphim supposedly get something, then ordered the
child to pull down his pants.He discovered that the arcade was a good
place to find kids who wished theyhad more money, and gave them quarters
for each of his demands. Atone point, he was arrested offering to

(13:37):
pay some boys fifty dollars each togo to a motel and place strip poker
with him, But after he admittedto the police that he planned on molesting
the boys, the charges were mysteriouslydropped. Did the authorities think that admitting
to something as depraved as this waspunishment enough. Eventually, DoD was arrested
and received a general discharge from theNavy. He was apprehended after approaching a

(14:01):
young boy and found guilty of attemptedindecent liberties. For this, he served
nineteen days in jail and was orderedagain to get counseling, but Dodd was
relentless. No amount of counseling wouldkeep him from pursuing children. In May
nineteen eighty four, police arrested Doddfor molesting a ten year old boy.

(14:24):
Although his initial sentence would have kepthim off the streets, the judge,
for reasons unknown, allowed Dodd tostay out of jail by giving him a
suspended one year sentence, providing thathe attend counseling and conduct himself as a
good citizen for the balance of thesentence. During this period, he was
arrested twice for driving with a suspendedlicense, but he wasn't brought back to

(14:46):
jail. Dodd was free to seekout more targets as he called kids.
He'd not let probation or warrant stophim. Every decision he made involved his
access to children. He chose apartmentbuilding with lots of kids, and took
jobs at fast food restaurants, conveniencestores, and charity truck routes where he'd
pick up donations from houses. Asexual predator or child molester is always alert

(15:11):
and ready for any situation or possibilitythat may arise. He said, I
started staying alert and watching for opportunitieslike that to occur again. While on
his truck route, he was invitedinto houses with children. Changing a baby's
diapers was enough to arouse DoD tomolestation. If he saw a kid he
liked, he wrote down the addresswith plans to return in his own car,

(15:35):
hoping to catch the child alone.On his roots, he'd make notes
of any isolated areas he encountered andmark them on a map. DoD volunteered
to babysit. He took a coworker'sson on a fishing trip as a birthday
present, where he sexually abused him. He repeatedly molested a neighbor's two and

(15:56):
four year old kids, but themother didn't want to traumatize the boys by
pressing charges. In nineteen eighty six, at the age of twenty five,
Dodd moved to Seattle. He feltinvincible, having sexually assaulted at least thirty
kids at this point. Now,when I got to Seattle, I'd learned
I was less likely to be reportedfor a molestation than for an attempt.

(16:18):
I decided that from now on,I'd be a little more forceful. I'd
no longer accept no as an answerto my requests. He later wrote.
He chose the most vulnerable children,including a roommate's two year old son,
who was partially deaf and couldn't yettalk. The boy resisted, and Dodd
tied his hands with a bathrobe strap. The idea of force was exciting,

(16:41):
he said. Despite the ongoing counselingsessions, DoD had no intention of controlling
his pedophilic urges. In fact,Dodd began to fantasize about killing his victims.
The more I thought about it,the more exciting the idea of murder
sounded. I planned many ways tokill a boy. Then I started thinking

(17:02):
of torture, castration, and evencannibalism. Although we claimed that he decided
to murder to keep from going tojail, this is difficult to believe when
we consider that he was hardly prosecutedfor any of his crimes. Dodd would
later rant about how easy it wasto manipulate the justice system and stay out
of jail. The reason Dodd wantedto kill children was because he was a

(17:26):
sexual sadist, stimulated by his controlover their sufferings and death. In nineteen
eighty seven, Dodd chose the firstchild he'd murder. It would be an
eight year old boy he met whileworking as a security guard for a construction
site. On his day off,he drove to where the boy lived,
hoping to lure him into one ofthe vacant buildings nearby. Then he planned

(17:48):
to take the child into an isolatedwooded area where he'd kill him, but
the kid sensed that his new friendwas dangerous. After Dodd asked him to
help find a law lost little boy, the eight year old said that he
was going home to get some toysfor the lost boy and promised that he'd
be right back. Instead, hestayed inside and his mother called the police.

(18:11):
By his own admissions, he's predatoryand uncontrollable. Dodd received another light
sentence. We prosecuted the case tothe full extent that we were able,
said one district attorney. Essentially,he tried to get the boy to go
with him, but he refused.Nothing more serious happened that we could use.
Prosecutors tried to invoke Dodd's history asa sexual predator to convict him of

(18:34):
a longer sentence five to six yearsin jail, but the judge reduced the
charge to a gross misdemeanor and Doddspent only one hundred and eighteen days in
jail with one year probation, adisturbingly light sentence, especially in consideration of
Dodd's intentions for the boy. Psychologistkenevon Cleave saw that he was a serious

(18:56):
danger. Mister Dodd's history of devianassaults on mind is the most extensive I've
ever encountered in an offender of hisage, he wrote, and concluded that
Dodd was an extremely high risk forfuture reoffense. Doctor von Cleeve attempted to
get DoD's conviction upgraded to a felony, which would have meant a more aggressive
treatment. Yet he didn't believe thatDoD was capable of violence. He was

(19:21):
like a child, said doctor vonCleeve. When he talked about the offenses,
he did it in baby talk,like a kid. He fit right
in with them, he said,he didn't want to hurt them. The
following year, just months before themurders began, DoD briefly got together with
an old girlfriend who had brought withher a baby she claimed was his,
but after only five days together ina motel. She left. Dodd then

(19:45):
moved to Vancouver in September nineteen eightynine. At pack Paper, where DoD
worked as a shipping clerk, coworkers thought there was something odd about Dodd,
who told co workers that he wasemployed by the Clark County Sheriff's Office
to stand on the corner and watchchildren. He also claimed that he was
divorced and was upset because his infantson had just died of crip death.

(20:10):
Other than his weird remarks, noone suspected the clean shaven, well heeled
DoD of anything deadly. He wasbright, meticulous, and could have easily
advanced his position at the company,but Dodd didn't care. His secret vocation
preying on children was about to escalateto violence. He found a popular place

(20:30):
for kids, David Douglas Park inVancouver, and decided this would be his
new hunting grounds. In the fallof nineteen eighty nine, Dodd, who
just moved to Vancouver, was desperateto find children. On Labor Day,
I was tired from moving and didn'thave a TV or anything, so I
started thinking about molesting like I'd donein the past. He later said he

(20:53):
found David Douglas Park, located abouta mile from his new apartment. As
he walked down the dirt paths ofthe wooded park, he looked for isolated
areas behind the shrubs where kids mightwander. In his diary, he wrote
that David Douglas Park would be agood place for rape and murder, or
kidnap, rape and murder a goodhunting ground. On Saturday, September two,

(21:17):
on Labor Day weekend, DoD positionedhimself near a trail entrance at the
park, like a greedy little troll, waiting to exact an extreme toll from
his victim. He saw three boys, but didn't make a move. The
incident, however, sparked his violentfantasies. On Sunday morning, Dodd wrote
in his diary his plans for theday. Like most sociopaths, he depersonalized

(21:42):
his targeted victims. If I canget it home, I'll have more time
for various types of rape rather thanjust one quickie before murder. In the
afternoon, he returned home for lunch, discouraged that he hadn't found a child.
Tomorrow, he'd pack a lunch sothat he wouldn't miss any opportunities.

(22:03):
He considered attacking a group of children, fantasizing how he'd attacked them with groups
of three, he could kill theoldest quickly and take his time with the
younger victim. By Monday, hewas desperate he'd have to be prepared to
overtake two or more at once.He gathered his hunting gear, which included
a fish fill at, knife,bandage to his ankle, and shoe strings

(22:26):
to tie up his victims. Asin the previous two days, something always
seemed to thwart him, apparent followingin the wake of his child, a
kid's sudden spontaneous turn down another pathaway from DoD or potential witnesses. DoD
grew increasingly frustrated as a sick fantasiesinflamed with the passing of each child who

(22:47):
was under someone's watch. He becameagitated, willing to take bigger risks.
He went home and wrote in hisdiary. At six fifteen in the evening,
he returned to the park and pacedrestlessly up the path. In the
early evening, William near ten andhis brother Cole eleven, raced their bikes
through David Douglas Park on their wayhome. They were already late for dinner,

(23:11):
so they took the short cut throughthe park. Billy and Cole had
spent the warm afternoon at the golfcourse, scooping up and returning lost balls
for reward money. As they rodedown the dirt path, they were stopped
by a young man blocking the way. No one else was around. DoD
told Billy and Cole to get offtheir bikes. I want you to come

(23:32):
with me. When Billy asked why, Dodd responded, because I told you
too. Somehow DoD exerted control overthe two boys and they did what he
said. Two teenagers passed Dodd withthe boys, and Dodd told the brothers
to be quiet. He led themoff the trail and told them to lay
down their bikes, but they wereno longer visible from the path. They

(23:55):
continued through the bramble to an isolatedspot. Dodd ordered Billy and Cole to
stand with their backs to each otherand tied their wrists together with shoelaces.
Why, asked Cole over and over. Dodd said that one of them was
going to have to pull down hispants. The boys were terrified and confused.
Cole asked, will it hurt DoDsaid no. Cole agreed to it,

(24:21):
perhaps out of both fear and thedesire to protect his younger brother.
So far, the strange man didn'tsay that he was going to hurt them.
Perhaps it would be over soon andthey could go home. Why are
you doing this to us, askedCole. The boys grew increasingly panicked as
DoD began molesting them, but hepromised to let them go. Billy began

(24:44):
to cry when DoD turned his attentionsto him. DoD wanted to molest the
younger Billy, but he was cryingtoo hard. DoD then forced the boys
onto their knees, took out hisknife and cut apart the shoe strings that
connected the brothers. Billy asked ifhe could go home and tell their father
that they'd be late. Dodd saidno, he was almost done. He

(25:07):
ordered Billy to sit while he molestedCole. There's just one more thing,
said Dodd, with his knife inhand. The boy sobbed and pleaded,
but their cries meant nothing to thepredator. DoD stabbed Billy in the stomach
and then attacked Cole as he jumpedup, catching them in the side with
his knife, but Billy was ableto run off toward a busy street.

(25:30):
Panicked, DoD looked down to seeCole on the ground struggling. As Cole
tried to defend himself, Dodd stabbedhim two more times until he stopped moving.
He then ran after Billy. Doddcaught Billy before he made it to
the road and wrapped his hand aroundthe little boy's arm. Furious, I'm
sorry, I'm sorry, saw Billy. This would later haunt Dodd. He

(25:53):
was about to kill the boy,yet Billy was tearfully apologizing to him.
Stabbed the ten year old in theside and shoulder and ran back into the
woods. He left both Coal andBilly bleeding to death among the shrubs.
Dodd returned to make sure Cole wasdead and to retrieve any potential evidence.

(26:14):
He already had pocketed the shoelaces.He then calmly walked away, hiding his
bloody hand in his pocket. Billy, barely alive, was quickly discovered.
At first, authorities thought it wasa hidden run accident, but the boy
didn't live to tell them what hadhappened. It would soon be evident that
the boy had been viciously attacked thehomicide investigators arrived at the hospital where Billy,

(26:38):
then Junior Doe had died. Inthe meantime, Billy and Cole's father,
Claire Near, was worried. Hesearched the neighborhoods and then called the
police to report that his two sonshadn't come home. It then occurred to
the investigators that they'd better search thepark for another victim, the brother of
Junior Doe, now identified as Billynear By. Then night had fallen,

(27:03):
they explored the dusty paths and shrubswith their flashlights. It wasn't until two
a m. That they found coalnear where Dot had left him. The
parents of Vancouver were horrified. Theybanded together, organizing sentries watching over parks
and paths the kids used for schoolchildren were instructed to avoid isolated areas.

(27:26):
Although a few witnesses came forward describinga suspicious man lurking in David Douglas Park
the day that the Near brothers werekilled, the police had few leads.
Sketches of possible suspects circulated the community, but to no avail. The pointless
murders were frightening because of their randomness. Dot had been frustrated by the attack,

(27:48):
he didn't get to do the thingshe fantasized doing with his victims.
He went to work, but keptto himself, afraid that some one might
make a connection between the police artist'srendering of the suspect and him at home.
Alone in his room, he clippedarticles and wrote his sadistic fantasies in
his diary. He was excited bythoughts of how Cole Near looked as he
lay dying, covered with blood.Right up until the moment I did it,

(28:14):
I wasn't absolutely sure I could doit or not, Dowd later said
on killing Cole and Billy that mighthave been part of what made the first
incident so exciting. He decided thathe got more of a high out of
killing than molesting. Dowd listed waysto kill children, including fast ways such
as stabbing, and slower, morepainful deaths, including starvation and bleeding to

(28:37):
death. The twenty minutes he hadwith the Near boys wasn't enough. The
next victim he wanted to keep indefinitely. Rape and murder now bored him.
Dowd now fantasized about the experimental surgerieshe wanted to perform on his victims In
one of his many letters written aftercapture, DoD questioned his cannibal fantasies at

(29:02):
the time, why I don't know. I wanted to eat the genitals dead
children would be a cheap way tofeed my slaves if I ever had any.
He'd planned to cut a boy's genitalsoff and let him slowly bleed to
death, or keep them alive andmake him watch as he cooked the boy's
genitals to eat, forcing him toeat some of it. He'd serve a

(29:23):
mystery vegetable the testicles from other boys, and after revealing what the vegetable was,
he'd tell the kid that his werenext. And hey, you eat
beef liver, how about a boy'sliver. I was mainly interested in eating
the genitals while kids watched. Iwas going to do this as a form
of torture more than anything else.Dodd's plans were now beyond psychopathic, rivaling

(29:49):
the most deranged escapades of the notoriousAlbertfish. Many sexual murderers thrive on fantasies
to foment their sadistic head impulses.The more they fantasize, the more they
lose touch with reality, and themore they distance themselves from others who might
be able to help pull them back. As sexual sociopaths continue to nurture these

(30:12):
fantasies of killing and torturing people whoare little more than objects to them.
They diminish any innate sympathy for otherhuman beings. Their victims become puppets of
their cruel imaginations. In order toenact their fantasies, they must dehumanize their
victims, and torturing is the ultimatedehumanization. For some reason, the children's

(30:34):
very helplessness and innocence is something DoDwanted to destroy. Toward the end of
October, DoD plotted his next attack. He was frightened that he'd be arrested
for the murders of Billy and Coalnear at David Douglas Park, but when
he realized that the police didn't haveany solid clues, he began to think
about killing again. He decided thatSaturday afternoons after work was best to find

(30:59):
a boy. Now he needed todetermine where. He drove to Portland,
Oregon, just over the bridge fromVancouver, and stopped at Oaks Park,
a crowded popular place filled with kids. He approached a little boy who was
waiting for a ride, called theSpider and asked if he wanted to see
something interesting, but the child's fathershowed up and DoD scurried away. He

(31:22):
left Oaks Park and drove through southeastPortland, searching for playgrounds. He passed
by Richmond School and decided to tryback later. It was getting too dark
and kids weren't around. Some kidshe'd spotted quickly disappeared. DoD went to
the movies with the intent of abductinga child in the restroom. He chose

(31:42):
The Bear a family movie and satin the back row, but missed his
opportunities. With this frustration growing outof control, DoD was determined to kidnap
a child the next day. OnSunday, October twenty ninth, Justin and
his little brother Lee told their fatherthat they were going to the school ground
park along with another friend. Itwas a sunny day and their father,

(32:06):
Robert Izzie, thought it would beokay. The boys had been there a
couple of times before. He toldhis sons to stay together and to watch
out for strangers. The neighborhood wassafe, but he warned his children to
be careful. That same morning,DoD drove to the Richmond School playground and
waited. Some older kids were playingfootball while another watched. Dodd spotted four

(32:28):
year old Lee by himself, playingatop a concrete structure with a slide that
the kids called the volcano. Aftera bit, the little boy slid down
to the base. Dot approached himand smiled, Hi, how you doing.
Lee smiled back and said Hi.Would you like to have some fun
and make some money? He askedLee. The boy seemed frightened and hesitated,

(32:52):
looking around, and then shook hishead no. But Dot insisted and
offered his hand. Lee, perhapsin an automatic response, took his hand.
Dodd led the blonde, blue eyedchild to his car. Then Lee
started to resist. I don't wantany money, Lee said. Sensing his
fear, Don tried to assure Leethat it would be okay. His dad

(33:15):
had sent him to get the boy, he said. When Dodd placed Lee
in his car and drove off,the boy said I lived the other way.
We're going to my house and playsome games, said Dodd. Just
do what I tell you, andI promise I won't hurt you, but
you'll have to be quiet when weget there. My landlady doesn't like little

(33:35):
kids. Lee worried that his brotherwas going to miss him, but Dodd
soothed him, saying that they'd havefun and his brother was having fun too.
Through years of experience as aid predator, DoD knew what to say to
kids to gain their trust and whatwould keep a child common quiet. At
the same time that DoD and Leearrived at his apartment in Vancouver, a

(33:58):
distraught Robert Zie was calling them,pleased to report that his son was missing.
His older boyd returned home frantic hecouldn't find Lee anywhere. One minute
Lee was playing on the volcano,and the next he disappeared. Robert told
the police that Lee's the kind ofkid who doesn't take off, but he
can get sidetracked easily. What coulda four year old do to make someone

(34:22):
kill him? Wesley Dodd's landlord wasn'thome, and it seemed that no one
saw him arrive With Lee inside,DoD took some pictures of Lee with his
polaroid camera, then told Lee toget undressed and tied him to the bed
with ropes. He took more pictures, untied the boy, and then molested
him. Afterwards, Lee watched cartoonson the television while Dodd recorded the events

(34:45):
in his diary. He asked Leeif he wanted to spend the night with
him. No, the boy said, my brother might miss me, but
Dodd answered, nah, your brother'sprobably having fun too. He then took
Lee to Kmart buy him a toy, where the boy began to cry.
A store employee approached them concerned,but Dot explained that it was okay.

(35:07):
He was babysitting his nephew, whowanted to go home. Afterward, they
went to McDonald's in Vancouver, onlyblocks away from where Dog killed Cole and
Billy Neeer. Once back at theapartment, Dodd wrote, as Lee played
with his new toy, he suspectsnothing now. We'll probably wait until morning
to kill him. That way,his body will be fairly fresh for experiments

(35:29):
after work. I'll suffocate him inhis sleep when I wake up for work,
if I sleep. Dodd continued tomolest the little boy through the night,
taking breaks to record more notes inhis diary. He fantasized about how
he'd kill the child and how he'dhide him while he was at work.
At one point, DoD woke Leeup. I'm going to kill you in

(35:51):
the morning. He whispered to him, No, you're not cried, Lee
scared. Dodd then calmed the fouryear old down and told him that he
wouldn't kill him. Eventually, thechild fell back to sleep, but in
the early morning, Dodd strangled thesleeping boy, who struggled as hard as
he could against the attack. Aftercruelly reviving the child, Dodd strangled Lee

(36:15):
with a rope and hung him inhis crowded little closet so he could take
pictures, shoving aside hangers and jacketsto make room. Those who saw the
polaroids of Lee Aziale's sufferings and debasementwill never forget the depth of Dodd's cruel
and cold blooded depravity. Dodd thenhid Lee's little body in the closet behind

(36:36):
some blankets and pillows in case hislandlady came in. It was time to
go to work and Dodd didn't wantto be late. After he was in
custody, Dodd told investigator David Trimblethat he wasn't sure whether he should kill
Lee. He had considered dropping theboy off at the playground where he'd found
him, but then decided it wouldbe too risky. Either Lee would be

(36:58):
able to identify him later, orsomeone else might see him. When Dodd
returned home, he poured more intohis obsessive diary. He'd now have to
get some bags to hide Lee.Then he wrote, I'll figure out a
place to dump the garbage. Hedrove to a dog near the pack paper
plant and discarded Lee in the brushnear Vancouver Lake in plain sight, without

(37:21):
the slightest bit of remorse. Heburned the child's clothing in a barrel in
his backyard, except for Lee's LittleGhostbusters underwear, which he stashed away in
his briefcase under a bed. Ithad been a few days since Lee was
missing. Robert Izzli hoped that anadult who was lonely and wanted the company
of a little boy had abducted Lee. There are a lot of people out

(37:43):
there who are lonely, he saidin a public statement. Maybe someone who
never had a child, or whonever got to dress up on Halloween,
or never got presents at Christmas.If it's someone like that, he could
just drop him off at a storeor street corner. On the morning of
November first, nineteen eighty nine,a pheasant hunter discovered Lee at Vancouver Lake.

(38:05):
The investigators were shocked and dismayed tosee the little boy dumped alongside some
garbage so ruthlessly discarded. One sherifflater said, what could a four year
old do to make someone kill him? Doctor Ronald Turco prepared a psychological profile
of the killer. He'd be twentyfive to thirty five years old and kicked
out of the military if he served. He'd be a loner and probably kept

(38:30):
photos of his victims, a diaryof his offenses, including clipped articles and
child pornography. The killer probably choseboys because he saw girls as defective.
Although this profile accurately described Odd,it wasn't enough to conjure up a definitive
suspect. Compsett's sketches were released,and hundreds of calls came in from people

(38:51):
who thought they'd seen Lee with someone, but there were no solid leads.
Investigators attended at Lee's funeral, hopingto spot the killer, but Dodd stayed
away. He sat in his roomalone with the diary and built a torture
rack out of boards and ropes,intended for his next victim. He decided
his best chance now to find achild would be at the movies. He

(39:15):
checked the listings for family features.After a few attempts, there was success,
but this time Dodd would be thecapture, thanks to a brave six
year old boy and the courageous WilliamRay Graves. Wesley Dodd was apprehended after
trying to abduct the child from atheater bathroom. The police brought him into
the station for questioning. Dodd wasvisibly nervous as detectives from both Washington and

(39:40):
Oregon interrogated him. His record revealeda litany of crimes against children, the
most serious and attempted abduction in Seattlein nineteen eighty seven. More importantly,
they realized that their suspect lived ashort distance from where Coal and Billy Near
were killed and worked close to whereLea Zale's body was f When questioned about

(40:01):
the instant at the New Liberty Theater, Dodd tried to convince the detectives that
he intended only to molest the boyin the restroom. He admitted to his
history of molestations, but left outthe murders. Eventually, Dodd confessed that
he'd killed Billion coal Near and LeaZiale and went into graphic detail. He

(40:22):
claimed that he had to kill thenears so they wouldn't identify him. When
Cole pulled his pants down, Iknew I wouldn't be able to let them
go, he said, as ifCole had precipitated his own murder. Dodd
recounted how he'd coaxed Lean into hiscar and brought him home, where he
molested and killed him. The detectiveswere disgusted by Dodd's admissions, but were

(40:45):
even more disturbed by the fact thatDodd seemed to enjoy reliving the events.
He told them about the briefcase underthe bed where he hid his diaries,
his photo albums, and Lee's underwear. As investigators searched dodd small but orderly
apartment, they found ropes and beltsfor restraining his victims, exact o knives.

(41:05):
DoD planned to use these for hisexperimental surgeries, and ropes. Around
the single beds, headboard, andfootboard. They found four volumes of parent
child books and a copy of theNew Testament with the word Satan lives scrawled
inside. They also found DoD's homemadetorture rag, which had not yet been
used. But the most incriminating discoverywas Dodd's briefcase hidden under the bed.

(41:30):
The first thing investigators noticed when theyunlatched the briefcase was Lee's faded Ghostbusters underwear.
They found his diaries, which painstakinglyrecounted his assaults and plans for future
murders. Dodd had neatly organized thearticles pertaining to the near and his ay
cases, and had systematically arranged hisnotes on the crimes, divided into separate

(41:52):
envelopes titled Incident I, Incident two, and Incident three. A photo album
with the words family Memories on thecover functioned as Dodd's pornographic collection, which
included images of christ as a babyfrom iconographic paintings. It also contained advertising
images of children in underwear. Therewere polaroids of Dowd naked, Dodd assaulting

(42:16):
Lee, and pictures taken of Leeafter he died, including one of the
little boy hanging in the closet.There's nothing more precious than them little guys.
DoD was charged with first degree murderin the deaths of Billion Coalnier and
lea as Ailey, as well asattempted kidnapping at the New Liberty Theater.

(42:37):
Initially, don pleaded not guilty,but in January nineteen ninety against his attorney's
wishes, he changed his pleas toguilty on all counts. Later that year,
he stood before Clark County Judge andred a statement indicting himself on all
charges. He admitted that his crimes, including murder, were premeditated. There'd

(42:59):
be no trial to determine his guilt, but a jury would have to decide
whether to give him the death penalty. Look what mister Dodd likes to do
in his free time, said prosecutorRoger Bennett to the jury plan child murders,
commit child murders, relive fantasies aboutchild murders, and write about them.

(43:19):
With life without parole. Two ofthose things are still available to him.
The jury of six men and sixwomen listened with disbelief, disgust,
and grief as they were read sectionsfrom Dodd's diary and saw the photos implicating
Dodd's brutalities against Leazley. One ofthe jurors nearly passed out as he listened
to parts of the diary read aloud. They also heard Dodd's detailed plans for

(43:43):
his future victims, which included mutilation, dismemberment, and death. Dodd's defense
didn't call any witnesses, nor didthey present any evidence. During the trial,
defense attorney Lee Dane did try tosuggest that only an insane person would
write the diaries that DoD kept.During the trial, Dodd sat quietly,

(44:04):
stonefaced. He later told The Oregonianthat he was bored by the testimony.
I've heard it so many times now, it's kind of old. Really.
Prosecutors asked for the death penalty,and on Saturday, July fifteenth, nineteen
ninety, the jury agreed that Doddshould die for his crimes. William Ray
Graves, who apprehended Dodd outside theNew Liberty Theater, said, the man

(44:29):
don't deserve to live, not someonewho does that to babies. There's nothing
more precious than them, little guys. Dodd was in the odd position of
having to defend his decision to die. I didn't offer any mitigating evidence during
the penalty phase because in my mind, that's just an excuse, and I

(44:50):
don't want to make any excuses,he told the court. I do not
blame the criminal justice system for anything, but the system doesn't work, and
I can tell why. He said. It doesn't really matter why the crimes
happened. I should be punished tothe full extent of the law, as
should all sex offenders and murderers.Dodd stated that if his death would bring

(45:12):
relief to the family's victims, thenhe should die as soon as possible.
After the sentence, Dodd insisted thathanging was the appropriate means of execution and
that he didn't want his death delayedby appeals. I must be executed before
I have an opportunity to escape orkill someone within the prison. If I
do escape, I promise you Iwill kill and rape and enjoy every minute

(45:36):
of it. He told the court. He wanted a hang, he said,
because that's the way Lee Zale died. The judge set DoD's execution date
for January fifth, nineteen ninety three, in Walla Walla, Washington. The
ACLU fought to keep DoD off thegallows, arguing that death, especially hanging,
was cruel and unusual punishment, butWashington's justices and prevailed, and Dodd's

(46:00):
execution date moved closer. By choosinga particularly cruel form of capital punishment,
hanging. DoD fiercely polarized the capitalpunishment debate, and many rallied to stop
the execution. Although DoD indicated hewanted to die. It seemed that he
wanted to die a martyr, notas a criminal. Dodd made use of

(46:22):
his time by courting the news,claiming he could help by telling his story.
After his capture, he wrote apamphlet on how to keep kids safe,
but the Northwest communities where he molestedchildren didn't need Dodd as their spokesman
against pedophilia. Both the pornographic diary, numerous letters, and the cautionary pamphlet

(46:44):
expressed Dodd's need to talk and talkand talk about his sick fetish. Dodd
enticed the media, and the mediatrustingly took him by the hand as an
expert. He marketed himself as amonster. Look at me, watch out
for my kind. There are othersout there like me. He appeared on

(47:05):
TV shows, including Sally Jesse,Raphael, an SCNN special called Radio Programs
from a Cell Block, and gavecountless interviews to reporters and to anyone else
who wanted to listen to him recounthis molestations. During the trial, Judge
Robert Harris got so fed up withDodd's incessant interviews that he threatened don with
lockdown conditions, including revoking telephone andmale privileges. He also chastised reporters for

(47:31):
printing interviews with DoD that could swaythe jury. In the end, Dodd
used children for his own physical gratificationby molesting them, and then used them
for ego gratification by becoming an experton the subject of child molestation. As
his execution date approached, Dodd professedremorse for what he'd done. I've confessed

(47:53):
all my sins, he told areporter in his interview. I believe what
the Bible teaches. I'll go toheaven. I have doubts, but I'd
really like to believe that I'd beable to go up there to the three
little boys and give them a hugand tell them how sorry I was,
and be able to love them witha real, true love and have no

(48:13):
desire to hurt them in any way. We can only hope that Dodd's final
destination provided some permanent distance between himselfand the boys he heard. At twelve
o five am on January fifth,Wesley Dodd was executed by hanging. He
was the first inmate to die atthe gallows since nineteen sixty five. Everyone

(48:37):
wanted to know why this happened,Wesley Dodd seems so normal. No obvious
signposts indicated severe trauma in his childhood. While Dodd's own theories offered little insights
into the whys, he did havesomething to say on the hows once the
pornographic details were shucked away from hisnarrative. Certainly DoD's case should be discussed

(49:00):
and examined. What Dodd did tochildren has happened before, and it may
happen again. Dodd should never beenout on the streets after his repeated arrest
for molestation. The justice systems thatallowed Dodd to go free with minimal incarceration
and flimsy monitoring failed miserably. Accordingto the Oregon Criminal Justice Center in Portland,

(49:22):
at the time of Dodd's capture,eighty seven percent of convicted child abusers
were given probation and remained within theircommunities. The excuse was overpopulated prisons.
The court ordered counseling that Dodd underwenthad little effect on him. His sexually
deviant behavior began at the age ofthirteen, when he'd stand in the window

(49:44):
of his home, exposing himself tothe children who walked by. His behavior
escalated to more intrusive, violating episodesof molestation. No one seemed to notice
that his arrest record was growing andthat his offenses were becoming more severe.
Even though the courts ordered Dad tostay away from children, he sought any
opportunity to be near them, workingas a camp counselor babysitter, and living

(50:07):
close to playgrounds. By Dodd's ownadmission, he would have kept molesting and
murdering children until he was permanently incarceratedor executed. For children growing up,
the quality of their attachments to parentsand to other members of the family is
most important to how these children asadults relate to and value other members of

(50:28):
society, wrote Robert Wrestler, AnneBurgess, and John Douglas in Sexual Homicide
Patterns and Motives. Dodd remembered feelingabandoned by his parents when his two younger
siblings were born, and never seemedto have developed an emotional attachment to anyone
in his family. He described hisfamily as cold and unloving, His mother

(50:50):
hit him, and his father wasdistant. Dodd's siblings, however, disagree
with this assessment, insisting that theirfamily was emotionally healthy. For whatever reason,
Dow didn't bond with his family.He behaved in a distant manner.
In fact, the memories that intriguehim the most don't involve love, but
sex. He seemed fixated on incidentsof prepubescent sexual experimentations with his cousins.

(51:16):
Another important factor in the backgrounds ofsadistic murderers is a high degree of instability
and home structure, which includes frequentdislocation and a minimal attachment to a community
wrestler. At al, the Dawnfamily moved, often, disrupting Wesley's ability
to maintain friendships with his peers.His parents fought often, finally divorcing when

(51:37):
he was fifteen, the age whenhe began molesting school children. Wesley seems
to have no essential relationships within thefamily or the community. Psychologist Kenneth von
Cleeve wrote, mister Dodd can bedescribed as an individual who has had no
intimate relationships with anyone over the courseof his life. As such, you

(51:59):
remain is extremely emotionally immature and totallyunable to function as an adult on an
emotional level. His responses indicate abasic distrust of relationships. This likely accounts
for his tendency to isolate himself andto stalk and assault young children who are
safe and not in a position toreject him. Many child molesters had once

(52:22):
been victims of sexual abuse, althoughno one knows for certain, Dodd insisted
that he'd never been sexually abused asa child. He indicated a few sexual
incidents in his childhood, but theyappear to be little more than childhood curiosity,
never involving coercion or violence. Atthe age of nine, he saw
his cousins comparing their genitals and askedhim to show them his. Later,

(52:45):
he played a game of you showme yours, I'll show you mine with
the neighborhood girl, but was offendedwhen she showed little interest in Dodd's display.
When Dodd was nine, his motherinsisted that he'd try on school clothes
in front of her and his aunt. He was humiliated by having to strip
down to his underwear in front ofthem. Could that instent have contributed to

(53:06):
my starting to expose myself four yearslater? I don't know, he speculated,
but he brought it up frequently asa possible excuse. DoD's sexual curiosity
took a more ominous turn when hewas eleven years old, he became interested
in film footage of World War IIHolocaust victims and Nazi concentration camps. As

(53:28):
long as I saw nude people,it didn't matter if they were alive or
not, he wrote. Although Doddsaid he killed the boys to escape detection,
his diaries clearly indicate that he becamemore obsessed with the acts of torture
and murderer than with sexual molestation.DoD could be categorized as a sadistic murderer.
According to Wrestler, Burgess, andDouglas, the sadistic lust murderer kills

(53:52):
as part of a ritualized sadistic fantasy. For this murderer, aggression and sexuality
become fused in to a single psychologicalexperience sadism, in which aggression is eroticized,
isolated from others, sexual sadists compensateby living in a fantasy world where
they can control and dominate others.No, I don't want to let the

(54:15):
fantasies go, said Dodd after hewas caught. I enjoy them, and
I like what I did. Themore time spent daydreaming, the more dependent
they become on the fantasies to bolstertheir sense of self eventually, homicidal sexual
sadis may feel compelled to act outtheir cruel fantasies, subjugating their victims into

(54:36):
objects for their own pleasure. Basedon many studies conducted over the last thirty
years, many experts believe that fantasydrives murder, and after the initial crime
has been committed, the offender willretreat even further into an extensive fantasy realm
where he can exert control over thesituation. Wrestler at Ale Dodd's fantasy world

(54:59):
extorted a high I rent. Hewas willing to sacrifice the lives of children
to stay insulated in the dark shadowsof his imagination. Dodd didn't necessarily like
kids, but he fooled a lotof people who thought he was good with
kids. He befriended children so thathe could manipulate them for his own desires.

(55:21):
I'm only nice to the ones Iwant sex from, he wrote after
his capture. DoD was most certainlya sociopath, incapable of harboring genuine feelings
for others. He used children tosatisfy his need for control and domination.
He knew that molesting children was wrong, and it would stop me for a
while. But after a while thingsstarted to build up again. Stress,

(55:45):
things on the job, things justnot going good, and at a point
I couldn't really control myself any longer. Sociopaths exhibit poor impulse control. They
also get bored easily. Explanation toDoD's behavior might be due to a bad
fall. As a child, Hefell off a fence and knocked himself unconscious.

(56:07):
Although many children take hard falls,sometimes a bloat of the head can
cause brain injury, which can bea factor in antisocial behavior. Inhibitions are
less controllable. Recent studies indicate thatsociopaths have adult sense of stimulation, including
a higher pain threshold. They'll sometimesengage in risky and often hurtful behavior to

(56:30):
increased stimulation. Dodd was almost certainlya sadomasochist. At age fourteen, he
began inserting pins into his penis,often trying to break my previous record by
saying how many pins I could getin at one time. He also stuck
a stick up his anus and rodehis bike naked, letting the stick get
rattled by the rear entire The stickwas bloody by the time he was done,

(56:53):
but it didn't seem to hurt him. Much like many sociopaths, DoD
masqueraded as a nice guy. Heknew how to charm the kids and how
to coax them into doing what hewanted. Most of his molestations didn't involve
physical force. Instead, DoD developedthe ability to cloak his desires as a

(57:14):
game to be played with children.He befriended them, became one of them.
He understood their curiosities, their innocence, and trust, and knew exactly
when to back down if a childbecame confused or fearful. Children often play
games where they dare one another todo something dangerous or gross. DoD exploited

(57:35):
that insinuating himself in as one ofthem. He knew which games to evoke
truth or dare. Strip poker,skinny dipping, and spin the bottle were
all part of his routine to getkids to undress and touch them. As
a camp counselor and babysitter, helearned how to gain a child's confidence.
The fact that many of his victimswere repeatedly abused because they trusted him and

(57:58):
didn't understand that what Don God wasdoing was wrong indicates Dodd's masterful manipulation of
their innocence. Psychologist John B.Cochrane believes that there are roughly two kinds
of pedophiles. The regress type,who typically feels like he's underperforming in life
and due to pressure, goes backto a more primitive level of functioning.

(58:20):
The fixated type has always directed assexual desires towards children and is no normalizing
sexual experience with adults. Dodd avoidedsexual relationships with adults. If he did
get involved with a woman, itwas because she had young children. If
a child had any pubic hair orpubescent development, DoD lost interest. Is

(58:43):
pedophilia a fetish or a more deeplyrooted psychological disorder involving the need to control
and dominate. Doctor Kenneth von Cleeve, who interviewed DoD before the murders,
compared pedophilia to other fetishes, whichcan develop out of almost identical events.
If you trace back in his sexualhistory, you can usually find the time

(59:04):
when imprinting began occurring. It's usuallyan adolescence where a kid began masturbating to
something. For example, a motherused to lock her son in the closet
for punishment, Well, he'd sitin there and masturbate. He sat on
the floor with all of her shoes. Well, lo and behold, this
guy's got a fetish now at agethirty where it's just horrible with women shoes.

(59:29):
So it's the little insignificant thing thatoccurred back there in his sexual development
that became a full blown fetish asan adult. Although the origins of pedophilia
are debated, experts believe that pedophilesnurture their fantasies of children, and these
fantasies ingrain themselves into their sexual desires. If the pedophile also harbors fantasies of

(59:51):
aggression and domination, this person wouldbe classified as a sadist because he derives
his main satisfaction from the terror that'sbrought on in the child, said Cochrane.
Dodd was certainly a sadist, andhis victims were the most defenseless in
our population. At the time thatDodd was incarcerated, another man, Earl

(01:00:13):
Kenneth Shriner, was being tried frommolesting, choking, and mutilating an eight
year old boy in Washington State.The boy was lucky to survive the attack,
which had occurred only months before Dodd'sfirst murders. Like Dodd, forty
year old Shriner had an extensive criminalrecord of sexual assaults. Outraged that Shriner
wasn't incarcerated prior to this latest andmost deadly assault, a group of concerned

(01:00:38):
citizens called the Tennis Shoe Brigade tookaction. The group earned its name after
members gathered a symbolic pile of tennisshoes and dumped them at the governor's office,
outraged because he'd refused to listen totheir pleas for system reform. The
Tennis Shoe Brigade demanded longer sentences forsexual predators, a stop to early releases,

(01:00:59):
mandatory treatment, and more medical compensationfor the victims. They also called
for mandatory registration of all sex offenders. Wesley Down became a symbol of what
was wrong and an impetus to makeit right. He's an example of what
we're trying to stop, said aleader of the Tennis Shoe Brigade. Although
Shriner was the impetus for the organization, don became the poster child in their

(01:01:22):
crusade. It's disturbing that the authoritiesdidn't know that DoD, a known sexual
predator, lived only blocks away fromwhere the Near boys were found murdered.
Although Dodd at a lengthy criminal history, his name wasn't on the roster of
known sex offenders in the Vancouver area. Thanks to the persistent lobbying of the

(01:01:43):
Tennis Shoe Brigade and other concerned parties, the state of Washington passed a number
of new laws to keep convicted sexoffenders off the streets. Known offenders must
register with the local police. Thepublic is notified when an offenders released from
jail at prison, and victims arenotified in advance if their attackers do for
release. Other reforms include longer sentences, fewer early releases, and more funds

(01:02:07):
for victim services and offender rehabilitation.If a predator is still considered a risk
to the community, there's a provisionthat can keep them behind bars. Communities
across the nation are demanding to knowafor repeat offenders living next door. One
of the many reforms includes California's nineteenninety six Megan's Law, which provides the

(01:02:29):
public information on the location of knownchild molesters. Dodd's story is a cautionary
tale for communities, law enforcement,and families. Although he killed three children,
he plotted to murder and torture manymore. He claimed to have committed
two hundred and fifty crimes against children. He insisted that he killed his victims

(01:02:51):
to keep from going to jail formolestation. Yet it's hard to believe that
DoD would fear a justice system thatplayed catch and release with them, despite
the severity of his cares. Becauseof Dodd's example, tougher laws have been
set up to trap and incarcerate childmolesters. Children are more likely to be
sexually abused or hurt by someone theyknow, including a relative, than by

(01:03:13):
a stranger. While DoD became knownas a stranger abductor, he began by
molesting kids in his own family andlater children of acquaintances. The vast majority
of his victims were children that knewhim, and in some cases whose parents
knew him. Dodd preferred to molesta child that knew and trusted him,
and only began abducting unknown children whenthe ones he knew were no longer available.

(01:03:38):
I don't think I could have doneit if i'd known them, he
said of his murder victims. Accordingto psychologist Kevin McGovern, pedophiles are very
good at hiding their problems. Theymask their identity well. They're very friendly.
A percentage is drawn toward youth organizations, church organizations, places where they

(01:03:58):
have access to kids. They rarelyfit the image of the dirty old man,
clean cut, youthful looking, andsmall in size. Dot did not
appear like the big, bad strangerthe kids instinctively fear. According to the
National Center for Missing Exploited Children,someone the child knows and trusts usually perpetrates

(01:04:19):
child molestations. The US Department ofJustice is estimated that each year, three
hundred and fifty four thousand children areabducted by a family member, and up
to five thousand children are abducted bysomeone they know. Children are routinely told
to stay away from strangers, butthey need to understand what inappropriate behavior is

(01:04:41):
from someone they know and trust.As NCMEC says, its situations not strangers
that children need to watch. TheNCMEC's website www. Missingkids dot Com listed
some safety rules for children and parents, including if someone asks a child to

(01:05:02):
share a special secret, they mustsay no and tell a parent or school
teacher. Children should tell a parentor teacher if someone wants to take a
photo of them. Children should notallow anyone to touch a part of their
body. That a bathing suit wouldcover, and children should never touch anyone
else in the bathing suit areas.Parents need to inform their kids never to

(01:05:26):
accept a present from anyone without firsttelling them. If daycare is necessary,
ask if criminal checks are routinely runon employees. If finding a babysitter,
personal references are best, but ifnot available, ask the sitter for references
and check them. Watch for anadult or teenager who's paying extra attention to

(01:05:47):
your child or giving inappropriate gifts.Most importantly, children need to trust their
feelings and speak up if something doesn'tfeel right. Children need to be feel
confident that parents or a teacher willlisten to them if something seems wrong,
even if they feel guilty about something. Molesters will use shame to silence a

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child. Children should not be afraidto say no to someone. Too often
children are scared of being impolite toadults. Parents also need to watch for
sudden changes in their children's behavior,including an abrupt fear of a person or
place, and inappropriate interest in sexualactivity. These are relatively rare in the

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United States, estimated at two hundreda year according to the US Department of
Justice, but as we've seen thesekidnappings can be deadly. Here's some safety
tips from NCMEC. Parents should escorttheir children in public restrooms. Children should
not go to arcades unattended. Whenchildren are home alone, they should learn

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to lock the doors and never tellanyone that they're home alone. They also
need to know that they can calla neighbor if they're scared. If a
child gets lost in a public place, he or she should be taught to
go to a checkout counter or officeinstead of wandering around looking for the parent.
Children should be taught to say noto an adult who asks for help.

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If adults truly need help, theyshould ask another adult. Under no
circumstances should a child get into acar with someone they don't know or accept
money, even if it's for ajob from a stranger. The child should
be prepared to kick and scream ifa stranger grabs him or her and yell
this is not my parent, loudand clear, make a scene to get

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attention, even if it seems thatno one else is around. Ultimately,
children and parents must also depend ontheir communities for protection. Legislation needs to
be continually supported so that sexual offendersserve their full sentences and are monitored after
release. Individual efforts do make adifference. Robert Azzili, the father of

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Lee, became active in promoting children'ssafety, including work on an amendment to
Organ's constitution that would not allow childpornography to fall under the protection of free
speech. Employers need to commit todoing background checks on potential hires if employees
have extended contact with children. Perhapsmost importantly, we must be vigilant to

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sudden situations. In her November seventeenth, nineteen eighty nine column in The Oregonian,
Jan Mitchell reminded the community to reactwhen we see a child in an
uncomfortable situation. So many times weworry about overreaction or potential embarrassment. But
at what cost? When in doubt, Mitchell said, check it out.

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Some people might argue over whether weare indeed our brother's keepers, she wrote,
but surely we must be their child'skeepers. Battattetas think think boomed up

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policting it's people, so it's bumedup six things, so it's buned upslicting
it's people.