Westley Allan Dodd

Westley Allan Dodd (July 3, 1961 – January 5, 1993) was an American convicted serial killer and sex offender who sexually assaulted and murdered three young boys in Vancouver, Washington, in 1989. He was arrested later that year after a failed attempt to abduct a six-year-old boy at a movie theatre in Camas, Washington.

Dodd wrote detailed accounts of his murders in a diary that was found by police. He pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to death after taking the stand and telling the judge and jury that he would do everything possible to kill again, including trying to escape and killing prison guards, unless he was put to death. After refusing an automatic appeal, Dodd was executed by hanging on January 5, 1993, the first legal hanging in the United States since 1965.

In response to the cases of Dodd and Earl Kenneth Shriner, the Washington State Legislature authorized the indefinite civil commitment of a convict who has been deemed to be a "sexually violent predator."

Early life

Westley Allan Dodd was born in Toppenish, Washington, on July 3, 1961, the oldest of three children to James and Carol Dodd. Dodd was raised in Richland, Washington. He claimed he was never abused or neglected as a child, though he did state that the words "I love you" were never said to him as he grew up and that he could not remember saying them in return. In a court document, Dodd's younger sister said about their upbringing: "We were never beaten, we had food and clothes, but there was just no family, no love." Dodd's younger brother Gregory was arrested in 2016 for attempting to meet an undercover Homeland Security agent for sex who was posing as a 13-year-old girl and her mother.

The Seattle Times reported that Dodd described in a diary written during his imprisonment that his father had been emotionally and physically abusive, that he was often neglected in favor of his younger siblings and that he witnessed violent fights between his parents.