Robert Lee Yates Washington

Status: Incarcerated

Robert Lee Yates is a serial killer in the United States. He was active from 1975–1998 . He currently has 13 victims, though he is suspected of 18+ . According to Wikipedia, Yates was convicted of killing two women in Pierce County and sentenced to death, but his death sentences were commuted to life without parole after Washington State outlawed the death penalty in 2018. He is currently serving life in prison at the Washington State Penitentiary.

This happened primarily in Washington. He was sentenced to Sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment .

His appeal includes:

The Pierce County Murders.   Melinda Mercer turned to prostitution in November 1997 to support her heroin addiction.   She was last seen alive on the night of December 6, 1997, leaving a Seattle tavern.   According to the testimony of a friend, Mercer left the tavern to go to Aurora Avenue to make money for a heroin buy.   On the following morning, Mercer's nude body was found in some blackberry bushes in a vacant lot in Tacoma, a lot used as a dump site for garbage.   Some of her clothing had been thrown on top of her, but other items were never recovered.   An autopsy revealed that she had been shot three times in the back left side of the head.   Only one of the three bullets penetrated her brain, but it did so without affecting the areas that control consciousness and motor response.   Found nearby was a .25 caliber shell casing.   Bloodstains on her blouse indicated that she had been clothed and upright when shot in the head.   After shooting her, the killer encased her head in four plastic grocery bags.   The two outer bags contained very little blood, but blood had pooled inside the two inner bags.   Mercer's nostrils and upper lip were visible through small tears in the two inner bags, which had been partially drawn into Mercer's mouth;  the holes suggested that Mercer was alive when the bags were tied over her head and that she had used her teeth to create the holes.   Although Mercer could have died solely from the gunshot wounds, the oxygen deprivation would have hastened her death.

Victims

His victims include:  Patrick Allen Oliver, Susan Patricia Savage, Stacy Elizabeth Hawn, Shannon Rene Zielinski, Patricia J. Barnes, Heather Marie Hernandez, Jennifer Joseph, Darla S. Scott, Melinda Lee Mercer, Shawn Johnson, Shawn Ann McClenahan Laurie Page Wason Sunny Gail Oster Linda Gayle Daveys Linda Marie Maybin Melody Ann Murfin Michelyn Joann Derning-Hoyt Connie LaFontaine Ellis

You can write to Robert Lee Yates at:

Robert Lee Yates 817529

Washington State Penitentiary 

1313 North 13th Avenue
Walla Walla, WA 99362

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