Randall Brent Woodfield, Oregon USA (1 Viewer)

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Eat Shit And Die

★Filthy European★
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Eat Shit And Die

★Filthy European★
A.K.A.: "The I-5 Killer" - "The I-5 Bandit"

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Serial rapist - Robbery spree
Number of victims: 3 - 18 +
Date of murders: October 1979 - February 1981
Date of arrest: March 7, 1981
Date of birth: December 26, 1950
Victims profile: Women aged between 14 and 37 years
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Oregon/Washington/California, USA
Status: Sentenced to life + 90 years in prison in Oregon in October 1981
 

Eat Shit And Die

★Filthy European★
Randall "Randy" Woodfield (b. December 26, 1950) is an American serial killer dubbed The I-5 Killer or The I-5 Bandit for the I-5 Highway running from Washington to California, where he committed multiple sexual assaults and murders. A native of Oregon, he was convicted of three murders and is suspected of killing up to 18 people. Woodfield is incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary.

Early life

Born in Salem, Oregon, Woodfield came from a middle class family with no evident signs of dysfunction. He was popular among his peers, and was a football star at Newport High School on the Oregon Coast and at Portland State University.

Beginning in adolescence, however, he began to exhibit antisocial sexual behaviors, primarily a penchant for indecent exposure. Upon his first arrest for this crime in high school, his football coaches hushed it up so that he wouldn't be kicked off the team.

Three arrests in the early 1970s for petty crimes such as vandalism and public indecency did not prevent Woodfield from being drafted by the Green Bay Packers, but he was dismissed from the team in 1974 after more than a dozen arrests for indecent exposure.

Rape and murder spree

The following year, Woodfield robbed and sexually assaulted several women at knife point. He was eventually caught by an undercover female police officer, however, and went to prison for second degree robbery. He served four years of a 10-year sentence.

In 1979, Woodfield embarked upon a two year robbery spree, holding up gas stations, ice cream parlors and homes along the Interstate 5 freeway. Several of his female victims were sexually assaulted, murdered, or both.

In March 1981, police investigating a shooting death in Beaverton, Oregon encountered Woodfield, who was a casual acquaintance of the victim. Citing his history of sexual assault, police searched his home and found evidence linking him to the murder, as well as the attempted murders of two young women. Woodfield was arrested and charged with the Beaverton murder and a double murder of a wife and daughter in Redding, California.

In October 1981, Woodfield was tried in Salem for the murder of Shari Hull, as well as charges of sodomy and attempted murder. Chris Van Dyke, son of actor Dick Van Dyke, was the district attorney of Marion County, Oregon at the time and prosecuted the case. He was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison, and sentenced to an additional 90 years for convictions of the other crimes.

Prior to a later 1981 trial, Woodfield’s counsel attempted to move the trial from the Willamette Valley due to the publicity the case received in an effort to ensure a fair trial. The judge in the case denied Woodfield’s request, along with a request to hypnotize a prosecution witness in an effort to determine if that witness had been influenced by the media coverage. He is serving the sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. While he was charged with four murders, it is estimated that Woodfield committed as many more, as well as upwards of 60 sexual assaults.
 

Eat Shit And Die

★Filthy European★
Prison life

In October 1983, Woodfield was injured at the prison during a disturbance by another inmate. In April 1987, Woodfield filed a $12 million libel suit against author Ann Rule. True crime author Rule wrote The I-5 Killer, a best-selling non-fiction account of Woodfield's life and crime spree in 1984. Oregon’s federal court dismissed the lawsuit on statute of limitations grounds in January 1988.

By 1990 he was suspected in at least 44 homicides. In 2001 and 2006, DNA testing linked Woodfield to two additional murders in Oregon from 1980 and 1981.

Woodfield married three times and was divorced twice during his time in prison. Some letters he wrote from prison were eventually sold online.

Woodfield wrote the following on his MySpace account in 2006: "I'm Randy, I'm 55. I spend the remainder of my days in prison because I have committed a murder along with many other crimes. I once tried out for the Green Bay Packers. The only reason I didn't make it is because the skills I had to offer they didn't need at the time."
 

Eat Shit And Die

★Filthy European★
BACKGROUND

Randall Brent Woodfield’s childhood was not filled with horrifying abuse and neglect like so many of the men I corresponded with. In fact it was just the opposite. He was a cherished son in a close-knit and supportive family, a star athlete and an accomplished student who was admired and respected by most of those who knew him. Charming, handsome, brimming with possibility and promise, Randall Woodfield could have done great things with his life. Tragically, things didn’t work out that way. He is now a convicted killer who will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The first sign that there was something wrong with Randall was when he was caught, at the age of 11, exposing himself to women. He also seemed to have a problem with anger. Even though his concerned parents sent him to see a therapist, no one seemed to pick up on the seriousness of his problems, or if they did, they certainly weren’t able to help him. The "flashing" continued and before long, Woodfield started committing petty thefts and burglaries.

At Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon, Woodfield excelled in just about every sport, especially in football. But his problems had not gone away. He was arrested for breaking into a girlfriend’s house and trashing her bedroom. (Due to a lack of evidence, a jury found him not guilty and all charges were dropped.) In 1971, Woodfield transferred to Portland State University where he became a born-again Christian. He took religion very seriously, but it didn’t seem to interfere with his need to expose himself to women. He was arrested repeatedly during the next few years for indecent exposure.

Woodfield’s dream finally came true in 1973 when he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. However, once training started, he was cut from the team — a monumental disappointment that devastated him. Angry and depressed, Woodfield promptly dropped out of college — just three semesters away from graduation. At age 25, things didn’t look too bright for Randall. He had no money, no job, no prospects.

In 1975, after being caught red-handed trying to rob a woman at knife point, Woodfield was sentenced to ten years in Oregon State Prison. Paroled after only four years, he was back on the streets. The crimes continued, but by now they had escalated far beyond flashing and petty theft.

In 1981, a spate of rapes and murders began to occur along the long stretch of Interstate 5 that runs through Oregon and Washington. The killer eluded frustrated police for a long time, especially because the attacks were occurring in so many different counties that it was hard for police to coordinate investigations.

The first murders attributed to the "I-5 Killer" were in Keiser, Oregon, in 1981, when Shari Hull and Lisa Garcia were sexually molested and shot. Shari Hull died, but Lisa Garcia survived the attack, despite two extremely bloody gunshot wounds to the head.

The next murder was in Redding, California, where 37-year-old Donna Eckard and her 14-year-old stepdaughter, Janell, were raped and murdered. Two weeks later in Beaverton, Oregon, Julie Reitz was found shot to death in her home. And there were many more victims that police suspected had died at the hands of the "I-5 Killer."

In addition to Lisa Garcia, there were other women who lived to give a description of the man who attacked them: white male, 25 to 30 years old, 6', 175 pounds, brown hair, short beard and mustache, Band-Aid across the nose, using a small nickel- or chrome-plated revolver, driving a gold VW.

Finally, many victims later, the name Randall Woodfield popped up while police were investigating the murder of Julie Reitz. Not only did Woodfield match the description exactly, but subsequent investigations turned up enough evidence that police were sure they had finally caught the "I-5 Killer."

Randall Woodfield was 30 years old at the time of his arrest. All told, he was charged with sodomy, attempted kidnapping, robbery, attempted murder and murder. He pleaded innocent on all charges. In the end, although suspected in as many as 18 murders, Woodfield was charged and convicted of only two murders. He is now serving a life sentence plus 157 years, in Oregon State Prison.

Woodfield admits to a history of exhibitionism and robbery, but murder? "No way!...I’m really innocent of this terrible murder charge." Woodfield says that the "real" killer is a man named Larry Moore. Woodfield also believes that he is an innocent victim of a legal conspiracy. "Something [about my case] stinks of corruption by a resigned D.A., a demoted lead detective and a judge [who retired] soon after my case."

Woodfield didn’t seem to hate women — that is, with the exception of true-crime author Ann Rule, who he unsuccessfully attempted to sue for libel for her book about him, The I-5 Killer. He wanted to make sure that I thought Ann Rule was all wrong in her estimation of him and it was clear he had read her book carefully. "You think Ann Rule lied about me having ‘shark’ eyes? Maybe I just looked a little scared or depressed in my bogus trial for murder? Ya think?" He also denies her accusation that he has small hands, herpes and a low I.Q.
 
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