Westley Allan Dodd – One of the Most Evil Child Killers

Westley Allan Dodd

Westley Allan Dodd was born on July 3rd of 1961 in Toppenish, Washington, to Jim and Carol; he was their very first child. His childhood changed his life in ways he could not understand as a child. Dodd would go on to have over 50 victims in all, one of them as young as two years of age.

Despite Dodd dismissing claims about having experienced abuse or negligence during his adolescence, Dodd’s diary revealed evidence to the contrary. The Seattle Times reported that Dodd’s diary, which had been written during his imprisonment, recounts how his father was both physically and emotionally abusive towards him and that he had witnessed aggressive fights between his parents growing up.

At 13 years of age, Dodd began to reflect the abuses he experienced at home. He started to expose himself to children who passed by his home. Though his parents knew of his strange behavior, they failed to get him help because they were preoccupied with their own problems, including a bitter divorce. His behaviors continued to grow more disturbing after the divorce of his parents was finalized. He began molesting his six-year-old and eight-year-old cousins along with the child of a woman whom his father was dating.

During his later teenage years, Dodd was described as an attractive and fairly intelligent young man. Physical attributes assisted him in obtaining part-time jobs caring for children. He spent time babysitting for his neighbors, which in turn allowed him the opportunity to molest the children he was in charge of caring for while they were sound asleep. Dodd also worked as a camp counselor, where he would then use the trust and admiration he received from children to take advantage of them.

In August 1981, Dodd attempted to lure in two little girls but was reported to the police after failing to do so. He received no punishment, and he joined the Navy the following month. His enlistment, however, did not put an end to his pedophiliac desires, and he continued to prey on children while being stationed in Washington. After being dishonorably discharged from the Navy for “attempting indecent liberties”, he was arrested twice for attempted molestation. However, due to many parents’ reluctance to put their traumatized child through the court system, Dodd’s penalties seldom resulted in jail time. The lack of punishment allowed Dodd’s fantasies to continue to spiral out of control, and he began to experience thoughts of torture, mutilation, and cannibalism. In 1987, when Dodd was 26 years old, he could no longer resist the temptation to kill.

The Neer Brothers

The first children who fell victim to Dodd’s temptations were 11-year-old Cole Neer and his little brother, 10-year-old William. The two boys had been taking a shortcut home through the park, where they happened upon Dodd. Dodd forced the boys to follow him, and once they were off of the trail, Dodd molested and stabbed them, and then proceeded to clean up the evidence- all in a matter of 20 minutes.

Lee Iseli

Relieved that the police had no leads to the murders he had committed, Dodd soon moved to Portland, Oregon. After several failed attempts at abducting children over the course of a few weeks, Dodd wandered into the Richmond School Playground where he noticed Lee Iseli, only four-years-old, playing by himself.

Dodd offered Lee the chance to have some fun and make some money, trying to gain the boy’s trust. However, Lee did not agree to his offer, so Dodd forced the resisting boy to his car. Dodd tried to soothe the boy by claiming to be a friend of Lee’s father, sent to pick him up. Once they arrived at Dodd’s apartment, the four-year-old boy was exposed to horrifying accounts of abuse and torture which Dodd documented with pictures and entries in his diary. He strangled Lee to death in the early morning, only to revive him and repeating this horrendous torture. Dodd finished it, when he hung Lee to die in his closet and taking pictures of the boy’s body. Before heading to work the following morning as a shipping clerk at Pac Paper, Dodd hid Lee’s body behind some blankets and a sleeping bag on a shelf in his closet.

During this time, Lee’s father, Robert Iseli, spoke with the press about his hope for Lee’s safe return, despite the few days he had been missing. On the morning of November 1st, 1989, Lee’s body was found and a manhunt began for the killer.

“I don’t think there’s been another case, where I was so emotionally tied to a victim and so badly wanted to catch somebody.” (…) “Even when you are asleep the case is overwhelming here, nothing compared to working this case. If somebody said I can erase this from your memory, I’d say put it on me, I take it. This case made me cry, a whole lot of times.” (…) “40 murders I’ve probably done by that day, I .. I can’t tell you what the second most horrible was … I mean … There was no contender. It was the worst thing I ever had to do.” (…)

– Transcript from Lieutenant C.W. Jensen (Ret.), when he discussed this case on Real Detective, Episode 2. After the case he severely suffered from PTSD.

Capture

On November 1, 1989, Dr. Ronald Turco prepared a psychological profile of the killer: “He would be 25 – 35 years old, and “kicked out of the military if he served. He would be a loner, and probably kept photos of his victims, a diary of his offenses, including clipped articles, and child pornography. The killer probably chose boys because he saw girls as “defective.”, which accurately described Westley Allan Dodd.

Later that month, on the 13th of November, Dodd abducted a 6-year-old boy from the New Liberty Theater’s washrooms. Due to the boy’s cries and struggles as he was being carried out, theater employees became suspicious and Dodd left the boy outside before driving away.

In the theater, the boy’s mother’s boyfriend found out about the abduction and spotted Dodd’s car in the distance after the car had broken down not far from the theater. In order to not raise suspicion, the boyfriend offered to help Dodd, but once he was able to, he held Dodd in a headlock and pulled him back into the theater. The local police were notified, and after three days of interrogation Dodd confessed to his crimes.

According to various sources, Dodd molested around 50 to 170 children.

Death Sentence

Dodd was sentenced by a jury of his peers to death, and on January 5, 1993, he was hanged to death as per his request because “that’s the way Lee Iseli died”.

Dodd’s Diary

Sources: Gary C. King, Driven to Kill (2011)

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[accordion title=”Monday – September 4, 1989 (WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT)” load=”hide”]

9:35 a.m.  Awoke three or four times last night. Seem to have maintained a stiff erection all night. Only a boy can make it soft again now. Now ready for my second day of the hunt. Will start about 10:00 a.m. and take a lunch so I don’t have to return home. Got to thinking last night I’m better off taking them somewhere else to M them. If I leave M’d ones there, I’ll lose hunting ground for up to two or three months; but if they just disappear, it won’t be as bad. This is even better than the river in Richland.

5:40 p.m.  Got home. At park for all but two trips totalling one half hour. Only two incidents.
1) 1:15 p.m.  Two boys on bikes. I passed them, watched for 2-3 minutes and passed again. They were 9-10 years old. I started walking away and they followed a ways behind. I finally decided to turn and confront and separate them (they were a little big), but they took another trail and left.
2) 4:30 p.m.  Boy in red (about 7 years old) on bike passed me. I turned to run him down but his father was a little behind the boy and came into view as I saw the boy’s great-looking butt on the bike seat. It was well-rounded — he would have been a great fuck.

5:45 p.m.  I was going to call it quits, but believe I’ll go try once more before weekend is over.

6:10 p.m.  Arrived park.

6:15 p.m.  Began walking from end of trail.

6:18 p.m.  Found two boys. No one else around. About proper age, I figured.

6:19 p.m.  I approached and said, “I want you two to come with me.” Older said, “Why?” I said, “Because I told you to. You can bring your bikes if you want.” Said that because younger was going to leave his behind. I didn’t want someone to find it and start looking for him. I realized they were not American (Caucasian), but was committed. I had never liked the idea of sucking foreigners. They both followed me for about five minutes to most isolated part of park. We passed two teenagers and I warned the boys not to talk to them.

(Approximately) 6:25 p.m.  Had learned older boy was 11 years old, named Cole, and younger was 10 years old, named Billy. Also, older than I thought but I was committed. Leaving bikes on trail, we went a few yards into the trees and bushes. Billy kept quiet, Cole always said, “Why?” once to each command by me. I had them stand back to back, and tied their wrists together tightly binding the boys together by a 10-inch piece of cord. They then both faced me and I knelt in front of them.

(Approximately) 6:30 p.m.  I said one of them had to let me pull down their pants and Billy quickly said, “Him.” Cole said, “Why?” I said I wanted to [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. Cole asked if it would hurt — I said no so he said OK. I was hoping for Billy, since he was younger and prettier, but I didn’t want him to scream nor to cry louder than the little whines he just started. Cole agreed. Billy was wearing jeans. Cole was wearing shorts.I pushed Cole’s button-down colored shirt up and slid fingers into waist of his shorts and underwear, and pulled them to his knees. Cole almost looked Chinese. His [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] was different than any I’d seen before. I lifted it and felt his [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)].  He had a fairly [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)], (biggest I’d ever molested), but his [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)].  The head was really pretty large, however. I moved in and sucked [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. He was definitely the oldest I’d ever sucked. I swirled it in my mouth a little. The entire oral was about 40 seconds [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. He had a birthmark (light brown) covering about one-third of the top of the head on[CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. I wish I had more time to study him. I pulled up his pants and turned to Billy. I wanted to suck him longer than I did Cole, but when I said I wanted him to do it to me, he started crying again. So I told Cole he had to do something else. They both said they had to go because they were hungry, late, and dad would be mad. I said to tell him they got lost.

I had them kneel to their knees and pulled Cole’s pants back down. I decided I had to cut them loose to do what I wanted, and did. I put the rope pieces in my pocket (no evidence to be found). Billy said he’d go tell dad Cole would be late. I said, “You can go in a couple minutes — I’m almost done.” Billy knelt back from his knees onto his heels (Good he couldn’t make a quick getaway!). With Cole’s bare butt toward me, I unzipped and pulled my jeans and underwear down in front only, and attempted to get my [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. I quickly gave up — unable to get an erection (I was in too much of a hurry — must slow down and relax next time). Cole turned to face me. I didn’t notice if he pulled up his pants or not. I learned later he didn’t, as you’ll see. I said, “Just one more thing,” as I again took knife from sheath (hidden in sock under pant leg).

They were both facing me, about a foot apart, me centered in front of them. I reached out and shoved the knife into Billy’s gut. I thought he’d drop, but as I quickly turned to Cole before he could react, Billy grabbed his stomach and started running. Cole had just started to turn and rise. So I went for his gut and caught him in the side. He may have then been dead, but kept moving. I then got him in the chest, and the third stab struck him, but I’m not sure where as I was rising to chase Billy. I didn’t want him to reach a nearby busy road. I caught him by the right arm. We were both running — I stopped and stabbed him, I believe in the lower side, as he spun. He said, “I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!” as he spun around. I stabbed him again in the left shoulder I think as he went down.

I didn’t stay to make sure he was dead this time. I ran to where their bikes were on the trail and started walking. I put the knife back under my pant leg. I went about 30 yards and decided to run back to make sure I hadn’t left any evidence behind. I found Cole flat on his back, head tilted to the left, eyes (the one I could see) still open, arms at his side. He was covered with blood and not moving. At first I thought something was poking out of his belly, then realized his pants were still half way to his knees and I was looking at his [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. He was definitely dead. That only took a second to take it all in, and I started looking around and found no evidence. I thought about running back to be sure Billy was dead, and decided not to risk the extra time.

I then noticed blood on my left hand. Keeping it in my pocket I calmly climbed to the main park, greeting an older man and throwing a stray baseball to a couple guys on the way back to my car. I circled around and on the other side of the park found a guy running down the hill. I figured he’d found Billy, since I’d left him out on the trail. I didn’t want to leave fingerprints on his bloody clothes, or get his blood on me trying to get him into hidden bushes as Cole was. I had expected Billy to die right with Cole still hidden. It turns out lucky I didn’t go back to check Billy, or the guy would have seen me, too.

It was about 6:45 p.m. when I got out to the main park. My total time with the boys had been 18-20 minutes. Billy was reported found at 6:50 p.m. by phone and 9-1-1, and taken by helicopter to a Portland hospital at 7:37 p.m. I didn’t know for sure he was dead until the 6:00 a.m. news on the radio the next morning. I already knew for sure Cole was dead. After the incident Monday I was pretty shook up. I thought about it all day — couldn’t get picture of Cole’s body, or Billy’s “I’m sorry” out of my mind. By the time I got home from work on Tuesday, 9-5-89, about 4:10 p.m.,I was able to masturbate to fantasy and mind pictures of Cole, both alive and dead and bloody. I climaxed in about three minutes. I dumped knife, wrapped in old used manilla envelope, in garbage dumpster at work at lunch time on Tuesday, 9-5-89.

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[accordion title=”Sunday – October 29, 1989 (WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT)” load=”hide”]

10:30 a.m.  Left home.

10:45 a.m.  Bought film for Polaroid camera.

11:30 a.m.  At the school I found yesterday evening saw two 8- 9-year-olds and a 4 -5-year-old a little ways away. Watched a few minutes and decided not to risk it.

11:48 a.m.  Arrived at park.

12:15 p.m.  No signs of any children.

12:43 p.m.  Back at school. Three 8- 9-year-olds and one 4- or maybe 5-year-old. Circled school (drove around block) and thought an adult showed up with another 3- 4-year-old. Park on opposite side of school from kids–adult turned out to be only about 12-years-old. I stood against a pole. The big kid and his 3- 4-year-old brother left. Two 8- 9-year-olds were playing ball and heading toward the far end of the school. The other 8- 9-year- old was sitting on a post watching them, the backs of the older three toward me and the 4- 5-year-old playing on a mound 20 feet to my left.

I went up to the little boy and asked him if he wanted to “have some fun and make some money.” He seemed unsure, but not scared. I said, “Come on — this will be fun,” and reached out my hand. He took it and walked to the end of the building with me — we got out of sight of the other kids unseen. I told him as we kept walking, hand-in-hand, “we’re going to get in my car.”

He said, “I don’t want any money.” I picked him up and said, “We’re still going–let’s go ask your dad if you can go with me.” We got to my car. I put him in the driver’s side. As we drove away he said, “I live the other way.” I said, “We’re going to my house and play some games–just do what I tell you and I promise I won’t hurt you.”

12:50 p.m.  A couple blocks from the school I asked and he said his name was Lee, and he was 4-years-old.  He started to cry a couple times, but I reached out and held his hand, assuring him he’d be okay, and that we’d have some fun.

1:30 p.m.  We got to my house at 1:30 p.m. Both the landlady and the other tenant were gone. Perfect. I started to carry him from the car but he said, “I can walk,” and I put him down.

1:32 p.m.  Put polaroid film into the camera and took his picture as I found him.

1:33 p.m.  Showed him my nude photo book.

1:36 p.m.  Told him twice to take clothes off, speaking in a calm, quiet voice, pulling off one of his shoes the second time. As I finished taking off his shoes and socks he pulled off his jacket and shirt. I watched as he took off his pants and underwear in the same movement.

1:42 p.m.  Immediately had him lay on his back and took photo #2. Untouched.

1:44 p.m.  Untouched.

1:48 p.m.  After two minutes [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] in attempt to gain erection.

1:52 p.m.  For show at 1:52.

1:56 p.m.  After three minutes [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)], in bed, both naked for foreplay.

2:05-2:25 p.m.  Sex. Lee’s happy and cheerful… I let him put his clothes back on at

2:30 p.m.  Watched Yogi Bear at 3:00 p.m.

4:02 p.m.  Lee wanted to open briefcase — back to pictures, put pictures of him in photo book.

4:10 p.m.  Decided to spend night with me if I buy him a toy and go out for burger. We did.

5:35 p.m.  Returned home — he played with “Robo-cop.”

6:38 p.m.  Lee’s still playing. Will probably wait till morning to kill him. He suspects nothing now, and that way his body will still be fairly fresh for experiments after work (I’ll suffocate him in his sleep when I wake up for work [if I sleep]).

6:40 p.m.  Lee spilled hot coffee on him. I let him wear one of my shirts — it made his chest red.

7:00 p.m.  Started crying because his dad and brother miss him. I was able to quickly quiet him.

7:48 p.m.  Lee wanted to look at pictures again — he thumbed through album and kept looking up at me.

8:05 p.m.  Peeked through crack in door as he was taking a shit.

9:00 p.m.  Wants to “look at my pictures one more time” — He wants to see his nude photos, but doesn’t want to do any more. Little does he know that in about 20 hours I’ll take photos of a dead, 4-year-old naked boy.

9:35 p.m.  Bed.  Asleep

9:45 p.m. — had him nude by 10:00 — me also.

10:45 p.m.  Have played with [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] — surgery will be very delicate. Am waiting for 11:00 p.m. news and trying to decide best way of killing him — he’ll either be choked, strangled, or suffocated. I don’t want to leave marks on his neck but it must be quick and quiet. His body will be hidden in closet behind sleeping bag while I’m at work (want 11:00 p.m. news as this will be first news broadcast since he “disappeared”). Okay. News says he disappeared from a store (not where I got him at school).

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[accordion title=”Monday – October 30, 1989 (WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT)” load=”hide”]

Didn’t sleep at all. [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)], masturbated ten to fifteen times, [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] six or seven times.

2:00 a.m.  He woke up – didn’t seem to mind being nude. I pulled him up on top of me – his belly to mine, my [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)]. He slept on top of me for half hour as I rubbed his back and butt. Was able to give him good erection as he slept.

2:45 a.m.  He woke up. I made him [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] about five seconds before going back to sleep.

3:15 a.m.  Said, “I’m going to kill you in the morning.” He said, “No, you’re not.” I said I wouldn’t before he started crying too loud.

4:20 a.m.  Put rod into his [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] — he woke and said, “What’s in there?” when it was half way in. I put it in again under the covers.

4:55 a.m.  He woke as [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] and I let him watch me put the rod two-thirds into his [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] — it hurt just a little, he said.

5:30 a.m.  Crawled over him, him on his back, me on his left side leaning into him. My body pinned his right arm under pillow and his head — holding his left wrist up by pillow. Thus totally pinned, I choked him with my right hand. He got his legs loose. I had to hold my hand very tight on his neck. I held for about fifteen seconds after he quit struggling. He lay motionless. After about twenty seconds I blew into his mouth once to see if he was revivable. Decided not but he started slow gasps about twenty seconds after that. I choked him for about another minute before he was still again.

He started to gasp again and opened his eyes. I grabbed a rope and put around his neck as he lay breathing shallowly but unconscious. I tightened the rope and picked him upright with the rope. His chest was heaving but he wasn’t getting air. Keeping rope tight with right hand I picked him up under his butt and carried him to the closet, holding him up by just the rope as I moved clothes aside.

I then held his butt up with left hand as I tied rope to the clothes bar and hung him, at 5:35 a.m., so I wouldn’t get tired of a grip and maybe let him breath again. He hung about ten minutes as I took picture #7 and cleaned up the room.

At 5:45 a.m. I cut the rope and lay him on the bed. I [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] a little and shoved my [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] his mouth to [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] that way, but I had a bad angle and gave up. I checked for heartbeat and breathing, then put him up on a shelf in the closet behind some blankets and a sleeping bag. I’ll do more after work.

4:10 p.m.  Got home. Saw paper article about missing boy in today’s Oregonian.

4:20 p.m.  Caught up this log as I haven’t written in it since I watched the 11:00 p.m. news last night.

4:50 p.m.  Will now go take a leak and take the naked body of 4-year-old Lee Joseph Iseli out of the closet.  I’ll log everything as I go now. (The paper article — labeled “The Oregonian, 10/30/89,” was on page 5 of Section B, like it was no major deal he’s missing.  Looks like a perfect kidnapping.)

5:05 p.m.  Talked to Ken–now getting Lee out. Oh yeah–I knew for sure this morning he was dead. I’d heard of muscles relaxing and it’s normal to “go potty” after dying — he peed on me twice as I hid his body in the closet, and once more on the shelf in the closet.

5:10 p.m.  He is rather gross-looking — cold, stiff, and purple. I was going to try [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] him, but now not sure I could if I wanted to….

5:16 p.m.  See photos #8 and #9. Will now try to loosen him up a little as well as get his body temperature via his butt. These photos show the position he’s stuck in from being in a small closet area. At least his [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] are limp — I’ll see if dead boys get erections with suction to pull in blood. I wish I had time for this while he was still warm. Erection not possible (frozen blood?). I was hoping to keep him a couple days, but I’ll have to get rid of him tonight I think.

5:25 p.m.  He’s too cold for a normal fever thermometer — wish I had an indoor/outdoor thermometer with the bulb I could stick up his ass.

5:30 p.m.  See (photo #10) how stiff dead little boys are– this is after I loosened up his legs!

5:35 p.m.  I’m going to go get some garbage bags now to put his bundled-up body into after I try to get my cock into his little butt. Then I’ll figure out a place to dump the “garbage.” I’ll wear gloves when handling the bags — no chance of fingerprints if someone discovers contents of the bag. Money allowing, I think I’ll use a rubber to penetrate his butt.

6:00 p.m.  Home with rubbers and trash bags. If I can’t get good anal penetration, I’ll take off rubber and [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] his body. The mouth is now out–teeth are pinched together and it stinks anyway. Spent twenty minutes [CENSORED (CHILD MOLESTATION – SODOMIZING)] — got it about three-quarters of the way in. Felt good — I went slow and stopped short of climax three times, ejaculating on fourth climax (near climax).

6:50 p.m.  Now wearing gloves (after shower) to handle trash bags to put Lee in. Will now go dump his naked body.

8:00 p.m.  Home. Dumped 7:35 p.m. on 10-30.

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[accordion title=”Tuesday – October 31, 1989″ load=”hide”]

5:32 p.m.  Just saw a photo on news of person seen talking to Lee at the school. Looks a lot like me.  6 o’clock news added: Blue baseball cap, and “person of interest” may have had a German shepherd with him and was either driving or dropped off by a white pickup truck. FBI is entering info into their files. I’ll be watching news carefully for about a month now, as well as staying out of site.

6:40 p.m.  Burned his socks, shirt, sweater, and pants. Will keep his underwear as a souvenir. Will throw away his shoes tomorrow at a convenience store.

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[accordion title=”Wednesday – November 1, 1989″ load=”hide”]

4:40 p.m.  Washed his underwear in shower when I took it–they smelled like “P.”

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On Amazon you can find several books on this matter, especially the main source we used for this article: Driven to Kill by Gary C. King, The Mind of The Devil: The Cases of Arthur Gary Bishop and Westley Allan Dodd by Al Carlisle. Also an episode of Real Detective (Season 1) covered the murder of Lee Iseli.