Body Count

He seemed so normal. Robert Lee Yates, Jr. was a respected father of five who piloted helicopters and served in Desert Storm and the National Guard. No one suspected him of having a deadly hidden life. By night, he prowled streets in search of prostitutes. He gained their trust then shot them in the head. The bodies of two young women were discovered in Spokane, Washington on August 26, 1997. Four more women were discovered in the following few months. To avoid the death penalty, Yates pleaded guilty to thirteen murders in 2000. A year later, though, he was convicted of two more murders and now waits on death row in Washington State. Award-winning author Burl Barer’s real life thriller is a shocking portrait of one man’s depravity.