Randall Brent Woodfield

Randall Brent Woodfield (born December 26, 1950 in Salem, Oregon, USA ) is an American serial killer nicknamed The I-5 Killer or The I-5 Bandit . The nickname comes from the fact that Randall Woodfield committed his crimes along Interstate 5 between Washington and California .

crime

In the early 1970s he was convicted three times for minor crimes, including a. Exhibitionism , arrested. In 1974 he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers , but later fired after Woodfield was arrested several times for exhibitionism.

In 1975 Woodfield assaulted several women and teenagers and molested them sexually at gunpoint. He was caught by a police officer in disguise and sentenced to ten years in prison. After four years, he was paroled.

Between 1979 and 1981 Woodfield raided gas stations, supermarkets, ice cream parlors, and single-family homes. His preferred victims were women between the ages of 14 and 22, who mostly worked in pairs in the evenings and whom he forced oral sex during his assaults. His youngest victim was eight years old. Some of the women were subsequently shot dead by Woodfield. Two police officers from Marion County, Oregon noticed a connection between various crimes involving the same modus operandi along Interstate 5 and they contacted various police stations to collate information.

In the early morning of February 15, 1981 in Beaverton, Oregon, Julie Reitz, an acquaintance of Randy Woodfield, was murdered in her parents' house. Randall Woodfield was staying in Beaverton at the time. As a result of the police investigation, the investigating police officers became aware of him. After several interrogations by the police, Woodfield became entangled in contradictions. The investigating officers remembered the ongoing investigation against the I-5 killer and exchanged views with officers in Marion County. Woodfield was then observed by police in Eugene, Oregon . He was later arrested. During the search of his home, numerous pieces of evidence - u. a. Pubic hair, pistol bullets, tape - seized and linked to the crime.

Woodfield was also suspected in connection with two other unsolved murders of two young women he knew.

A survivor of a robbery, Beth Wilmoth, was able to identify Woodfield beyond any doubt.

Randall Woodfield was sentenced to life in prison and an additional 90 years in prison with a 50-year suspended sentence. The first date for probation is therefore in 2031. In another trial, he was sentenced to an additional 75 years in prison, among other things, for violating his probation conditions, which he has to serve after the first sentence has expired.

Although he has only been charged with four murders, Woodfield is believed to be responsible for up to 18 murders and 60 sex crimes.

In 1983 the book The I-5 Killer by Anne Rule was published under the pseudonym Andi Stark.

On February 8, 2006, Randall Woodfield was linked to the murder of Cherie Ayers through DNA analysis .

literature

• Ann Rule: The I-5 Killer . Signet, 1984, ISBN 0-451-16559-4 .

Web links

• Woodfield on Charlespresspub.com