Born at Salem, Oregon, in December 1950, Randy Woofield was the classic, all-American boy next door. He made good grades, and high school coaches recognized his natural athletic talents, making him the star of Newport's football team. When woodfield started to expose himself in public, everybody laughed it off at first, and members of the coaching staff supressed his first arrest to keep him eligible for the squad.

In August 1970, attending college in Ontario, Oregon, he was picked up again, this time for vandalizing an exgirlfriends apartment. Two years later, in Vancouver, Washington, he logged his first adult arrest on charges of indecent exposure, receiving a suspended sentence. A similar arrest in Portland, earned him more suspended time in June of 1973.

Woodfield got a break that year, when he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers, but he could not shake his problems with a trip across the country. In 1974, after a dozen "flashing" incidents called unwelcome attention to Randy, the Packers gave up and sent him home. The local boy-made-good was coming home in failure, a disgrace.

In early 1975, several Portland women were accosted by a knife-wielding young man, forced to perform oral sex before they were robbed of their handbags. Policewomen were staked out as decoys, and Woodfield was arrested on March 3, after stealing marked money from one of the officers. In April, he pled guilty to reduced charges of second-degree robbery, receiving a sentence of ten years in prison. Four years later, in July 1979, Woodfield was freed on parole.

On October 9, 1980, a former classmate of Randy's Cherie Ayers was raped and murdered in Portland, bludgeoned about the head and stabbed repeatedly in the neck. Woodfield was routinely questioned and refused to sit for polygraph examinations. Homicide detectives found his answers generally "evasive and deceptive," but his blood type did not match the semen found inside the victim's body, and he was not charged.

A short month later, still in Portland, Darci Fix and Doug Altic were shot to death, execution-style, in Altic's apartment. A .32 caliber revolver was missing from the scene, and while the female victim had been formerly involved with one of Woodfield's closest friends, police had nothing to suggest that Randy was the killer.

On December 9, 1980, a young bandit wearing a fake beard held up a gas station in Vancouver, Washington. Four nights later, in Eugene, Oregon, the same man raided an ice cream parlor, rebounding on December 14 with the robbery of a drive-in restaurant at Albany. A week later, in Seattle, the gunman added a new twist, trapping a waitress in the restoom of a chicken restaurant and forcing her to masturbate him. Twenty minutes later, smiling through his phony beard, he robbed another ice cream parlor and escaped with cash in hand.

January was another busy month for the gunman police were already calling the "I-5 bandit," after his apparent highway of preference. On the eighth, he raided the same Vancouver gas station a second time, forcing a female attendant to expose her breasts after looting the till. Three days later, he robbed a market in Eugene, surfacing at Sutherlin, Oregon, on January 12, to wound a female grocery clerk with gunfire. He was wearing a fake beard in Corvallis, on January 14, when he invaded a home occupied by two sisters, aged eight and ten; the girls were foreced to disrobe before fellating their assailant. In Salem, four days later, the target was an office building, where he killed Shari Hull and wounded Beth Wilmot, after sexually abusing both women. The bandit rouned off his month on January 26 and 29, with robberies in Eugene, Medford, and Grant's Pass (fondling a clerk and female customer in the latter case).

On February 3, 1981, Donna Eckard, 37, and her 14-year-old daughter were found dead in their home at Montain Gate, California, north of Redding. Together in bed, each had been shot several times in the head, with lab tests revealing the girl had been sodomized. The same day, a female clerk was kidnapped, raped and sodomized after a holdup in Redding. An identical crime was reported from Yreka, on February 4, and the bandit robbed an Ashland motel that same night. Five days later, in Corvallis, he held up a fabric store, molesting the clerk and her customer before departing. February 12 witnessed a triple-header, with robberies in Vancouver, Olympia, and Bellevue, Washington---the last two stops included three more sexual assaults.

On February 15, Julie Reitz---a former girlfriend of Woofield's---was shot and killed at her home in Beaverton, Oregon. The investigation had focused on Randy by February 28, and by that time the I-5 gunman had struck three more times, in Eugene on February 18 and 21, with a final sex assault in Corvallis on February 25.

Interrogation of Woodfield on March 3, 1981, led to a search of his apartment two days later. On March 7, he was taken into custody after several victims picked him from a police lineup. By March 16, indictments were rolling in from various jurisdictions in Washington and Oregon, including multiple counts of murder, rape and sodomy, attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, and possession of firearms by an ex-convict.

The courts in Salem got to Woodfield first, on charges of murder, attempted murder, and two counts of sodomy. Convicted of all counts on June 26, 1981, the all-American killer was sentenced to a prison term of life plus 90 years. By December, conviction of sodomy and weapons charges in Benton County, Oregon, had added 35 more years to Randy's time.

Randy Woodfield (1980-1981) aka "the I-5 Killer" was a 30-year old bartender from Salem, Oregon who raped at least 60 women and killed at least 18 others, leaving their bodies strewn along the I-5 corridor from Washington state to California.

An outstanding college football player who never got over being rejected by the Green Bay Packers after only one tryout, Woodfield was accustomed to "hero" status. He was caught by the determination of one victim who dragged herself, bleeding heavily, to a telephone and called police. Woodfield's alibi that he was tending bar fell apart, and he was given multiple sentences.

RANDALL WOODFIELD

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.

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 Beth Wilmot were sexually molested and shot. Shari Hull died, but Beth Wilmoot 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.

The following are a few letters from Randall Woodfield to Jennifer Furio

(from "The Serial Killer Letters")

*****

Dear Ms Frio;

Okay — Truce. We are both right, and we need to find a middle ground. Im not angry with you, just disappointed in your style, or possibly "hidden agenda". Whatever. I will never really know. And you will just use me for your own purposes.

Ive shared a lot with you, now its up to you to "ASK" the right questions. And to be open-minded as well. You make statements like…"All the inspectors and courts disagree", etc. Not so Jenny. Read the police report first filed by Det. Kominek, lead "Dick" who hypnotized the victim-witness, who helped police draw the composite drawing of "I-5 Killer" suspect!! Go figure.…

Now ask yourself why they would fight my defense counsel, to keep (Larry Moore) out of my trial for murder. Because they KNOW they messed up, and arrest this mass-murderer 4-5 weeks after my arrest in the "I-5 Bandit" crime spree. Even the blood-type evidence doesnt match my type (B Neg.), so Judge throws state's blood evidence out of court! But my jury had a right to hear how the first blood test revealed (A/B) typing, and after my arrest, it changes to a plain (B) type. No "negative" enzyme can be detected. Maybe (Larry Moore's) blood type is (A/B)?

The 1986 "Break-In" at D.A. offices, stinks of an "Inside" corruption case! Only my file is ransacked —— so go figure Jenny. They only charged me because of a "Line-Up" identification by (Lisa Garcia). But she never ONCE picked me out of color, close-up photos! Or did she describe me in any police report! Even the ambulance attendants testified for me, they state Ms. Garcia was slightly wounded, with scalp wound, but clear thinking to describe a shorter, sandy-haired fella matching the mass-murderer (Larry Moore).

Justice prevails on appeal as my trial judge's ruling to bar defense from seeing (Larry Moore) in court, under cross-examination, etc. He said it was…"Irrelevent and immaterial" (unquote). Appeals court also agreed! Ha! Where is my right to call defense WITNESS & get a FAIR TRIAL?? I believe this is info. that (Walter Todd) knows, as he was Deputy D.A. and law clerk under my prosecutor (1981). Today he is covering up what he meant in his (1993) letter to me. (see both letters enclosed).

Now, Im trying to show or prove a frame-up in my only murder trial. God knows they (state) wanted me bad enough to violate my rights to fair trial. Now the TRANSCRIPTS dont reflect the truth of [what actually happened during my trial] — "leg-shackling" & blood type errors in State Testimony!! Even the other "I-5 Bandit" (state snitch-witness), testified that he made "No Deals" with prosecutors. Today we prove otherwise. But the transcripts omit his statement!!! Corruption to the core, Ms. Frio!

Okay, enough crying on your shoulder. You only care to know "why murderers strike out in anger or rage"? How should I know? What a question Jenny. Care to write more personally? Share a photo? Talk once by phone? Your choice.

"Ciao"

Randall Woodfield

'I-5-killer' suspected in 1980 murder

February 11, 2006