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Robert Lee Yates: The Spokane Serial Killer

Jun 16
3 min read

Updated: Jun 25

Robert Lee Yates Jr. led one of the most jarring double lives in American crime: a decorated former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and a married father of five, he was also a serial killer who murdered at least sixteen women, mostly sex workers, in eastern Washington over more than two decades. Known as the Spokane Serial Killer, he hunted the vulnerable by night while presenting the image of a respectable family man by day. Out of respect for the victims, this account avoids graphic detail.

The contrast between his public life and his secret crimes is part of what makes his case so disturbing.

Robert Lee Yates: The Spokane Serial Killer

Key Facts at a Glance

Full name: Robert Lee Yates Jr.
Born: 27 May 1952, Oak Harbor, Washington
Known as: The Spokane Serial Killer
Victims: At least 16 women, over two decades
Background: Former US Army helicopter pilot; married father of five
Outcome: Sentenced to death; additional life terms

A respectable façade

Yates served in the U.S. Army from the late 1970s into the 1990s, flying helicopters and earning a reputation as a capable serviceman. He married and raised five children, and to those who knew him he was an unremarkable, even upstanding, family man. Behind that façade, he had been killing since at least the mid-1970s.

Decades of murder

Yates is believed to have begun killing around 1975, and over the following decades he murdered at least sixteen people, the majority of them women working in Spokane's sex trade. He typically picked up his victims, killed them, and disposed of their bodies in rural areas. The marginalisation of his victims meant their disappearances drew limited urgent attention for years.

A city in fear

As bodies were discovered around Spokane through the 1990s, the city realised a serial killer was preying on its most vulnerable women. A task force was formed, and the investigation became one of the largest in the region's history, even as the killer continued to evade identification.

Caught by forensics

Yates's undoing came through forensic evidence. A fibre and DNA trail, along with other clues, ultimately linked him to the murders, and his connection to a 1998 incident helped focus suspicion. He was arrested in April 2000, and the evidence against him proved overwhelming.

Convictions

Yates pleaded guilty in Spokane County in 2000 to multiple murders in a deal that spared him the death penalty there, receiving a sentence of 408 years. Prosecutors in Pierce County, however, pursued capital charges for two further murders, and in 2002 he was sentenced to death — a sentence later commuted to life when Washington moved away from capital punishment.

The Spokane Serial Killer case is a stark study in how thoroughly a predator can conceal himself behind an ordinary, even admired, life. The women Yates murdered, too often dismissed because of how they lived, are the heart of the story, and a reminder that every victim's life mattered.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people did Robert Lee Yates kill?

He is believed to have murdered at least 16 people, mostly sex workers, in eastern Washington between 1975 and 1998.

What was his double life?

Yates was a married father of five and a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot, even as he hunted and killed vulnerable women.

What happened to Robert Lee Yates?

He received a 408-year sentence in Spokane and a death sentence, later commuted to life, in Pierce County.

Two Counties, Two Reckonings

Yates's prosecution unfolded across two Washington jurisdictions with strikingly different outcomes. In 2000, faced with overwhelming forensic evidence in Spokane County, he pleaded guilty to 13 murders and an attempted murder in exchange for a sentence of more than 400 years, sparing himself the death penalty there. Prosecutors in Pierce County, however, pressed capital charges for two further killings, and in 2002 a jury sentenced him to death. He has remained on Washington's death row ever since, his fate bound up with the state's long moratorium on executions, which lawmakers and the courts ultimately moved to abolish in 2018.