Renard Spivey
Appearances
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In late February of 1998, the police commissioned a National Guard helicopter equipped with an infrared camera to fly over the crime scene where the two bodies were found, looking for heat emanated by decomposing bodies.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
And, of course, the next day, April 1st. Another body was found at the site. That's when the task force got knocked on their heels. Nine women had been murdered in 21 months' time, and the police seemed nowhere in their investigation.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Nine women murdered in 21 months. None of these cases is solved. You'd think they'd have some kind of an inkling. That was the body count in Spokane after Linda Maben's body was discovered on April Fool's Day, 1998, just after police had declared there were no more bodies at the 14th and Carnahan location.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Two detectives transferred out of the task force and in a political shakeup. These people have everything to be proud of. Cal Walker was named as a new supervisor. And so this is the task force room.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Nine months later, Mark Sterk joined the team as newly elected sheriff.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
The task force began electronic surveillance of the track on East Sprague Avenue, shooting hundreds of hours of videotapes.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
The police were also taking a more hands-on approach toward protecting the killer's potential victims, even though the women were breaking the law.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Despite a re-energized investigation, it wasn't long before the serial killer struck again.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
47-year-old Michael Lynn Durning had been missing for several days by July 7, 1998.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Landis says Michael Lynn was struggling to rebuild her life and didn't fit the profile of the killer's usual victims.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In January of 1999, the task force announced that two murders in Tacoma, Washington, 300 miles away, were both linked to the Spokane Killer. And then, in the strangest turn of all, the killings suddenly stopped. Months passed. And with no new bodies discovered... We're committed to continuing this case. Sheriff Sterk faced a new problem.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In the first year and a half of the serial killer case, investigators had amassed a lot of physical evidence. They had DNA samples from several crime scenes, as well as ballistics. But what they really needed was a prime suspect. Well, they found one by reexamining one of their earlier leads.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Jennifer Joseph was one of the first serial killer victims back in August 1997.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Through computer databasing, detectives zeroed in on a smaller list of potential suspects. About 47 names. Now, you've got this list. You've got these 47-odd names here. What do you do with it?
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
One of the names given to Task Force Detective Rick Grabenstein was a man who had sold a 1977 white Corvette.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Those fibers were sent to a lab and compared with fibers taken from the original Jennifer Joseph crime scene. And what were the results?
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
On April 10th, 2000, a search warrant was issued for the car. Police discovered blood on the passenger seatbelt and a missing button from the blouse belonging to Jennifer Joseph. At that point, you knew you had your man. We knew it. We got our guy. When we come back, police arrest Jennifer Joseph's killer. We took him off the street before he could create any new victims.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Can they link this married father of five to the murders of all these women? That's next.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
On April 18, 2000, the Spokane Homicide Task Force arrested Robert Yates Jr. for the murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Joseph.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Through DNA analysis, police were able to link Yates to nine more murder victims, positively identifying him as the Spokane serial killer.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Yates, a career military helicopter pilot and married father of five, had somehow kept his killing spree a secret.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
And the more police investigated, the more the number of Yates victims began to climb. We are talking about none other than Robert Yates. The outcome of the task force investigation seemed fine to Mark Furman until he took a closer look at the arrest affidavit.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
According to the affidavit, Robert Yates Jr. had been questioned by the police a total of three times over the course of the investigation. Jennifer Joseph died from gunshot wounds. The first encounter, a mere month after Jennifer Joseph was murdered.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Remember, back in August of 1997, an eyewitness told police she had last seen Jennifer Joseph in a white Corvette. Well, just five weeks later, Officer Corey Turman, acting on instructions from detectives, pulled over a white Corvette right here on the corner of Ralph and Sprague.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Satisfied because Yates had a reason for being in the area. Driver works at 2200 East Riverside. Officer Turman filed a standard police field interview, known as an FI, and let Yates go.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
The field interview was routed to the city's equivalent of a vice squad. Task force members didn't see it until two years later.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Police also maintained that the Corvette tip was just one of many in their investigation.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In November of 1997, Yates was pulled over for speeding in a white Corvette. One year later, he was stopped for possible solicitation of a prostitute. Both stops were treated routinely.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Finally, in August of 1999, almost two years after police first stopped Yates, his name appeared on a list of 47 Corvette owners. He was brought in for questioning on September 24th.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
But Yates refused to cooperate. Which was within his right at that point. Absolutely. And once again, police let him go. Looking back on it, Mark, if you could pick out major mistakes that led to prolonging the arrest of the suspect.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
And some cops question Furman's credibility in light of his behavior during the O.J. Simpson trial.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Despite charges of a problematic investigation, We have 11 felony charges involving homicide suspect Robert Yates. It was the Spokane Task Force that ultimately got its man. Coming up... Mr. Yates, any last words? Robert Yates Jr. God will not forgive me, Mr. Yates. Serial killer stands accused. You killed my mom. Mr. Yates deserves to die. His fate, next on 48 Hours.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
What looks can be deceiving. A suspected serial killer is in custody tonight. 47-year-old Robert Yates Jr. served as a helicopter pilot in the National Guard. On May 31, 2000, this married father of five was arraigned on eight counts of first-degree murder.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
What is your plea? Not guilty, Your Honor. At first, the prosecution sought the death penalty.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
But Spokane prosecutor Stephen Tucker cut a deal with the killer. In exchange for a full accounting of his crimes... The state will forego the pursuit of the death penalty. Yates would receive life in prison.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Guilty, Your Honor. And disclosed the location of Melanie Murfin's body, another of his victims.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
But there was another bombshell. Not all of Yates' victims were women or prostitutes.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Yates confessed to murdering a young couple, Susan Savage and Patrick Oliver, way back in 1975.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Yates was only 24 years old when he committed the murders. Anything in his childhood that would indicate that he would be sitting where he's sitting right now in jail for murder?
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
1986 is when i started working the street michelle not her real name worked this dangerous stretch of east sprague known as the track there was always somebody disappearing when a prostitute disappears that's it it's scary but in 1997 the track suddenly got a lot scarier i was the fourth prostitute found dead in the spokane area in less than three months
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Yates grew up in Washington State, Gotti says, with the support of a strong, nurturing family.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Robert Yates' father. What was Bob Yates Jr. like, your son like, growing up?
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Yates spent a few years in college and then joined the Army in 1977. He became a respected helicopter pilot, serving for 18 years.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In 1974, 23-year-old Robert Yates married his current wife, Linda. They raised five children together.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
All rise. At his sentencing on October 26, 2000. This is the time for the sentencing. Yates faced not only justice.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Robert Yates was sentenced to 408 years in state prison. Was justice served?
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Within a two-year period, 16 women, most believed to be prostitutes, were murdered, their bodies dumped in out-of-the-way places. County detectives say that a serial killer is at work here.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Mike Fitzsimmons, who earned a law degree before beginning a 30-year career as a journalist, is well-known in Spokane. It's all about crime. His call-in radio show, All About Crime, has been on the air since early 1997. And the consensus was it wouldn't fly. Fitzsimmons soon began doing some of his shows with a former Los Angeles homicide detective.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
After his infamous testimony at the O.J. trial... Detective Furman, would you resume the witness stand, please? Furman pled no contest to perjury for lying about making racist comments and left the L.A. Police Department in disgrace. Okay, sir. He resurfaced two years later. The ex-homicide detective had reinvented himself as a journalist.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Furman investigated the 23-year-old murder of Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut. I saw the solution to this crime. His book about the case, Murder in Greenwich, named Kennedy relative Michael Skakel as the killer. Skakel was subsequently indicted.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Let's fish. Today, Furman lives in northwest Idaho, 90 miles from Spokane. And now, Mark Furman. He's been co-hosting All About Crime since early 1998. We are back. Soon after prostitutes started to die.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
29-year-old Darla Sue Scott was discovered on November 5th, 1997, partially buried with white plastic bags over her head. Cause of death, two gunshot wounds to the head.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
A mother of two young boys, Shawn was struggling to overcome a drug problem when she was murdered.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
The murders and what police were doing to catch the killer became the number one topic on Furman and Fitzsimmons' radio show.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Looking for evidence to link the four murders, police formed a task force in late 1997.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Two more murdered prostitutes, their bodies buried head to head within inches of each other.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In the year to come, prostitutes would keep turning up dead. They've got bodies stacking up like cordwood. We're going, what are they doing? Did the task force mishandle the investigation? Errors were made, and people died because errors were made.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
By the end of 1997, the women who worked Spokane's Sex for Pay District were under siege, held hostage by a serial killer who was murdering them one after another, then disposing of their bodies like bags of trash.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Rena is a former prostitute. I just didn't think it was going to happen to me. Inside police headquarters, Detective Fred Roitsch was determined to put an end to the bloodshed. They were human beings. Every one of them was a daughter, a sister. A lot of them were mothers. They were loved by somebody. Roitsch was part of the task force established in late 1997 to investigate the serial killings.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Former forensic pathologist George Lindholm soon discovered something else that tied the killings together.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
By the end of 1997, seven women had been murdered. No one on the task force had ever dealt with anything like this. A great deal of time educating ourselves. Ben Estes is a city police detective.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Early on, a crucial decision was made. Keep details and possible clues to the crimes a secret from the public.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
That decision immediately came under fire from Mark Furman and Mike Fitzsimmons.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
In fact, investigators were keeping the lid on exactly that kind of evidence, DNA.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
And fingerprints found on a plastic bag used to cover one victim's head.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Detectives soon had another lead. Sixteen-year-old Jennifer Joseph, the killer's second victim, was last seen climbing into a white Corvette on East Bragg Avenue. Now, the police couldn't know this at the time, but that white Corvette would prove to be the key to solving the case. Again, police made no mention of it to the public.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
The killings and police response gave Furman the subject for a new book.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
They visited the site at 14th and Carnahan, where the sixth and seventh victims had been discovered, buried head to head. When we start patrolling through here, have a look. The two men discovered unexamined debris not far from the crime scene. It turned out to be unrelated to the murders, but the failure to examine it, they claim, was sloppy police work. Why wouldn't they at least check this out?
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Sonny Oster, victim number eight, a woman known to work East Sprague, was found dead from gunshot wounds to her head. Once again, Furman and Fitzsimmons decided to investigate.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
And the answer was no. One man living nearby saw a maroon car near where Oster's body was dumped. This is where the car was parked? The car was parked right here, right across from where the body was found.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Although the car turned out not to be involved in the crime, Furman's frustration with the task force continued to grow.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
Task force officials say they had a good reason not to talk to Furman about the case.
48 Hours
Homicide in Spokane
A car passing by here on the side of the road is only... Furman and Fitzsimmons began to openly question the thoroughness of the task force investigation.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
What is your emergency? A shot fired. What is your name? My name is Renard Spivey. Yeah, my wife had an argument. I accidentally shot her. You accidentally shot her? Yeah.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Well, that was the replacement. It's called replacement therapy. That's not steroids.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
And she thought I probably was cheating on her or something because we wasn't intimate anymore.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
When I walked over to her, I was getting ready to go to bed. And every time I walk over to her, she'd turn her phone down. And then I was trying to kiss her. She said, I'm not kissing you.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I want to see what she was looking at. And so when I grab the phone, I'm thinking she's asleep. I go in the master closet. It's dark. And it wasn't seconds before, you know, pointing the gun at me. Give me my damn phone.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Then when I turned around and saw her finger on the trigger, I was scared for my life. When I turned around, she had the gun pointed at me.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I was really scared because, you know, put your finger on the trigger unless you're prepared to shoot.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Well, I was afraid because I've never been in a situation like that before. So the best thing I knew in my training was to try to take the weapon away from him.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
When I grabbed her wrist, I grabbed the top of the weapon. She pulled back with her finger on the trigger, and it went off and shot me in the leg.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I was in the process of falling down, and when I tried to take the weapon away from me, it went off a couple more times.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
What is your emergency? He's pretty calm. The demeanor does look pretty off to me. They. He doesn't say my wife or she. It's an emotional step back from what has happened.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
When you're traumatized and to see your wife shot and you shot two at the same time, it's a lot.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Since she is not awake and not breathing normally, sir, we need to perform CPR on her. I said we need to perform CPR on her.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Need to apply for indirect pressure to your wounds and her wounds, but we still need to continue the CPR. Okay, ma'am.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I probably was on maybe one or two of them, but, you know, you get lonely. You need, you know, some friends or something like that.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
It was tough. People pointing fingers at you. You did it. And I know deep inside that I didn't.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
My heart is, you know, I'm emotional. I don't know what to expect. And found him... Happy anniversary.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I fall to the floor crying. Boo crying. My attorneys help pick me up, my family, you know.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I'm hurting, so I know how they feel. Actually, I would like to, you know, come to their family, go to their family and say, hey, look, you know, I loved her. You know, and they knew that. It's no doubt in my mind that they knew I loved Patricia Marshall.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I work for an organization and a volunteer for healing for hoodies. And we feed the homeless every Sunday.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
What'd you shoot her? We was tussling in the chair. Okay, sorry. No problem.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
A lot of the officers, a lot of other people, we knew that you didn't do that. We knew that you would get, you know, found not guilty. We know you. We know your character. We know the type of person you are.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. Your body's good. Your God is good.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
You remember stuff that she used to like. You remember the music. You remember the food she liked. You know, what color dress. Certain things she liked. You remember all that. So, every day, it's a challenge. There's still times that I can't sleep at night. I live with it every day.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
She was a fun person. She was spontaneous, and she was just a beautiful person.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Right there where the ring was, I said, come here, I want to show you. I proposed, got on my knees and proposed to her.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
We was arguing, tussling with the gun. And we had been arguing all day.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I had a union rep who was an attorney. Then he came to the hospital. Union rep. We said, do not talk to him.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
It was tough. It was real tough. What I've been through, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Well, as soon as you go in the door and then you go in the bedroom, bam, it hits you.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
I love my wife. You know, I did everything for her. Anything she wanted, I always treated like my queen.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Actually, during that period of time, it was more therapeutic for me because I've been doing it for 40 years. That's my love.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Before that, we were still taping. Then after that, we didn't do any more taping.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
Oh, she loved it. She was excited. And as a matter of fact, I took her to a couple of the Emmys.
48 Hours
TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial
She thought I was on steroids and stuff, and I'm trying to get her to understand that my testosterone was low and I was going to a doctor.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
She thought I was on steroids and stuff, and I'm trying to get her to understand that my testosterone was low and I was going to a doctor.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Well, that was the replacement. It's called replacement therapy. That's not steroids.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
And she thought I probably was cheating on her or something because we wasn't intimate anymore.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
When I walked over to her, I was getting ready to go to bed. And every time I walk over to her, she'd turn her phone down. And then I was trying to kiss her. She said, I'm not kissing you.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I want to see what she was looking at. And so when I grab the phone, I'm thinking she's asleep. I go in the master closet, it's dark, and it wasn't seconds before, you know, pointing the gun at me. Give me my damn phone.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Then when I turned around and saw her finger on the trigger, I was scared for my life. When I turned around, she had the gun pointed at me.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I was really scared because, you know, put your finger on the trigger unless you're prepared to shoot.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Well, I was afraid because I've never been in a situation like that before. So the best thing I knew in my training was to try to take the weapon away from him.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
When I grabbed her wrist, I grabbed the top of the weapon. She pulled back with her finger on the trigger, and it went off and shot me in the leg.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I was in the process of falling down, and when I tried to take the weapon away from me, it went off a couple more times.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Well, when you're traumatized and to see your wife shot and you shot two at the same time, it's a lot.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I probably was on maybe one or two of them, but, you know, you get lonely. You need, you know, some friends or something like that.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
It was tough. People pointing fingers at you. You did it. And I know deep inside that I didn't.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
My heart is, you know, I'm emotional. I don't know what to expect. And found him... Happy anniversary.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I fall to the floor crying. Boo crying. My attorneys helped pick me up, my family, you know.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I'm hurting, so I know how they feel. Actually, I would like to, you know, come to their family, go to their family and say, hey, look, you know, I loved her. You know, and they knew that. It's no doubt in my mind that they knew I loved Patricia Marshall.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I work for an organization and a volunteer for healing for hoodies. And we feed the homeless every Sunday.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
A lot of the officers, a lot of other people, we knew that you didn't do that. We knew that you would get, you know, found out guilty. We know you. We know your character. We know the type of person you are. I appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. Your body's good. Your God is good.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
You remember stuff that she used to like. You remember the music. You remember the food she liked. You know, what color dress. Certain things she liked. You remember all that. So every day, it's a challenge. There's still times that I can't sleep at night. I live with it every day.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
She was a fun person. She was spontaneous, and she was just a beautiful person.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
My name is Renard Spivey. Me and my wife had an argument. I accidentally shot her.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Right there where the ring was, I said, come here. I proposed, got on my knees and proposed to her.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I had a union rep who was an attorney. Then he came to the hospital. Union rep. We said, do not talk to him.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
It was tough. It was real tough. What I've been through, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Well, as soon as you go in the door and then you go in the bedroom, bam, it hits you.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
I love my wife. You know, I did everything for her. Anything she wanted, I always treated like my queen.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Renard Spivey was a longtime deputy sheriff, and the deceased was his wife, Pat or Patricia Spivey.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Actually, during that period of time, it was more therapeutic for me because I've been doing it for 40 years. That's my love.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Before that, we were still taping. Then after that, we didn't do any more taping.
48 Hours
Deputy Spivey on Trial
Oh, she loved it. She was excited. And as a matter of fact, I took her to a couple of the Emmys.