Westley Allan Dodd (Vancouver Child Killer)

* Famous quote: “There’s nothing more precious than them little guys.”

Background: • Born on July 3, 1961 in Toppenish, Washington• Grew up in a loveless home; parent favored his two younger brothers

and neglected him• Physically and emotionally abused by his father• Ostracized by his classmates • Father attempted suicide after an argument with his wife• Parents got divorced; even less attention given to him• At thirteen, he would watch children pass by his house; eventually

resorted to bicycling, in fear of getting caught by just sitting and watching them

• When he was a little older, he found ways to actually take advantage of children; he babysat his neighbors on occasion and became a camp counselor

• Took advantage of playing doctor with him or getting them to go skinny dipping with him

Crimes Accused on Committing:Crime Date Victim(s) Punishment

Accidently exposed for molesting children at age fifteen

1976 Two cousins and a family friend

See a professional counselor

Tortured and molested children

1987 About 30 victims

118 days in the Milwaukee County Jail and one year of probation

Molested and killed two victims (by stabbing)

September 4, 1989

Brothers, William (10) and Cole (11) Neer

When he wasn’t caught and assumed the police couldn’t pin him to the killings, he moved onto his next victim

Charged for 3 counts of first degree murder

October 29, 1989

Lee Joseph Iseli (4)

Received the death sentence (by hanging) on January 5, 1990

*Westley Allan Dodd was also convicted of attempted kidnapping when he tried to kidnap a six year old boy after he killed Iseli.

• Def: an unlawful killing that is both willful and that was committed after planning or "lying in wait" for the victim.

• Def: unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time.

Most recent crime & pieces of evidence:

• Westley Allan Dodd went to the Richmond School Playground. He noticed four-year-old Lee Iseli playing alone on a slide. Dodd asked little Lee if he wanted to have some fun and make some money. Lee - who had been taught not to talk to strangers - said no, but Dodd grabbed his hand and started toward his car. When Lee began to resist, Dodd told him not to worry, that Lee's father had sent Dodd to pick him up. (everything that happened after this is mentioned on the previous slide.)

• Constructed torture racks in his house

• Had specific diary excerpts about killing and torturing children

• Police found ropes and belts in his house, used for torturing and retraining victims

• Took photos of Iseli being hung to death

• Found Iseli’s Ghostbusters boxers in a briefcase under Dodd’s bed

Sociological Theory: • I believe that the theory that applies to Westley Allan Dodd is the anomie

theory. The reason I believe this is because Dodd was very committed to certain goals, but wasn’t able to carry some of them out. For example, he wasn’t able to kidnap one of his victims, which was actually how he was founded out about. Dodd also doesn’t show deviant behavior, he just keeps it to himself. He has legitimate goals and he seems culturally acceptable on the outside to people. On the inside, he was by no means culturally acceptable.

• Dodd made his goals obtainable to reach and had opportunities. Unfortunately, some of goals were weaker than others and he couldn’t commit fully to his goals. At first, he was softer on his victims but as he became more experience, he was able to carry more of his methods out. He tried to remain ritualistic in his actions by still acting normal on a day-to-day basis. When Dodd was arrested, he started to act rebellious and admitted that he enjoyed doing all the things to the boys that he did. These are the reasons I believe that the Anomie Theory applies to Westley Allan Dodd.

Cultural References: Books: • “When the Monster Comes Out of the Closet”- Lori Steinhorst • “Driven to Kill”- Gary C. King • “Westley Allan Dodd: The Victorian-Renaissance Evidence”- Thomas A. Green • Mentioned in “The Concrete Blonde”- Michael Conelly • Mentioned in “James Bond in World and Popular Culture: The Films are Not

Enough”- Robert G. Weiner, B. Lynn Whitefield, and Jack Becker• Mentioned in “From Noose to Needle: Capital Punishment and the Late Liberal

State”- Timothy Vance Kaufmen-OsbornMovies: • From the film Insomnia, the character “Dobbs” portrays Dodd and is meant to

represent him. Songs: • There are no songs about him.