Murder In America - EP. 93 OREGON - Randall Woodfield: The I-5 Killer

Episode Date: December 17, 2022

The biggest interstate in America is called the I-5, which is 1,381 miles and stretches down the west coast from Canada to Mexico. Millions of people take this road every single day, and it’s also the main road used to haul drugs into the United States. But in the 1980s, Interstate-5 was known for something else: a series of burglaries on the west coast and a man who quickly became known as the I-5 bandit. And after awhile this man’s crimes started to escalate - first to sexual assaults, then finally to murder - and he was given the new name of the I-5 killer. This is the story of Randall Woodfield, and you are listening to Murder in America. - This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/MIA and use our custom code MIA for 10% off your first month of easy online therapy - Try Audible free for 30 days! Visit Audible.com/state or text STATE to 500500. - Try HelloFresh today- America's #1 Meal Kit! Just go to https://www.HelloFresh.com/state18 and use code STATE18 for 18 free meals plus free shipping! - Stay Connected:  Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash America for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash America. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover

may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. As we've seen throughout this podcast, crime is everywhere. It's in your small country towns with churches on every corner. It's in your affluent towns, with large homes surrounded by picket fences. Crime affects every city in America. And something that connects these cities that allows people to go from

place to place is our highways and interstates. Because of these roads, people can drive for thousands of miles, going any place their heart desires. As you take these drives, there are thousands of of other people on the roads as well, and everyone has a different agenda. Some people are going to a doctor's appointment. Others are taking their children to school or going to the grocery store. However, as we'll see in this episode, some people use these roads for much darker reasons, like murder. On these roads, we drive by all of these people and we have no idea who they are or where they are going. The biggest interstate in America is called the I-5,

which is 1,381 miles, stretching down the west coast from Mexico to Canada. Millions of people take this road every day, and it's the main road used to haul drugs into the United States. But in the 1980s, Interstate 5 was known for something else. You see, one main main thing, took this very road to start a series of burglaries on the west coast, going from city to city along the route, stealing from any place he could.

Because of this, he quickly earned the title the I-Fi Bandit. But after a while, his crime started to escalate, first to sexual assaults, and then finally to murder, giving him the new name of the I-Fi killer, And just as a trigger warning, this episode has very disturbing scenes of sexual assault. This is the story of Randall Woodfield. I'm Courtney Browne. And I'm Colin Brown. And you're listening to Murder in America.

In 18, 1981, police responded to a call at the Transamerica office building in the town of Kaiser, Oregon. They didn't really know what to expect from this call, and all that they knew was that two women had been shot in the the head. Miraculously, one of them was still conscious and was able to call the police. When first responders arrived at the building, they found 20-year-old Sherry Hull naked on the floor with her matted hair covered in blood. She had been shot three times in the head, and unfortunately, she didn't make it. Not far from Sherry's body, they find her best friend Lisa Garcia. She too was naked, with a black eye, and the right side of her face was bruised and oddly swollen. There was also blood oozing from a spot close to her right ear. But despite being shot in the head, she was still coherent. And as first responders

take her to the hospital, Lisa's able to give a description of her attacker to the police. He was a white man in his mid-20s, maybe 27. Um, average height, 5 feet 11 to 6 feet, slender build, dark brown hair he had a hooded black leather waistlinked jacket on and a cheap pair of jeans. and he had a band-aid on his nose. With one of the victims dead, investigators knew that their only chance at finding this guy was with the help of the sole survivor, Lisa Garcia. Once at the hospital, she's treated for her injuries,

and the doctors were amazed that the slender, dark-haired young woman was still alive, let alone conscious and speaking. After washing the blood away from her hair, face, and head, they find two 32-caliber bullets that had been completely flattened against her skull towards the back of her head. The bullets failed to penetrate through the skull, but they were strong enough to knock her down.

Ballistic experts determined that the ammunition could have been old, it was fired from a gun of the wrong caliber, or Lisa's skull was just thicker than your average persons. But after recovering for a bit, Lisa's ready to sit down with investigators and tell them exactly what happened that night. Hi, Lisa, my name is Detective Dave. Thanks for meeting with me today. We're going to do everything in our power to find who did this to you and Sherry. but first, walk me through what happened that night. Sherry and I started a business where we go into offices after hours and we clean for them, you know, sweeping the floors, cleaning the windows and bathrooms, taking out the trash. And this night was like any other. We'd cleaned the office and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

And we were about to leave when I noticed I missed a spot on one of the windows. So I went to wipe it down while Sherry went to take out the trash. And I was just rounding a corner going towards the entrance when I saw Sherry and this man walking towards me. He had a long-barreled gun in his right hand. Then he said, In the back room, both of you, both of you take off your clothes, strip, all of them. Get down and stay down.

I was terrified. I even tried to tell him that my dad was coming soon, thinking that maybe he would leave, but he didn't. He kept telling us to take our clothes off, so I did what he said. Sherry was a little hesitant to take off her bra, but he insisted. Come on, now, take it all off. Hurry, and get down on your knees. After we took off our clothes, we did exactly what he said, so he wouldn't hurt us.

Next, he unzipped his pants, and he told us to perform oral sex. Do you remember exactly what he was saying to you guys at that time? Yeah. He was talking to Sherry and he kept saying over and over... Suck on me, make me come. Then he turned to me and told me to join her. After a while, he told Sherry to start playing with herself. She said no and he got pretty mad.

Next, he told me to suck on Sherry's breasts. The whole time he was getting off. on how scared we were. Then he told me to spread my leg so he could have sex with me. I was terrified, so I did it. He tried to have sex with me, but his penis wouldn't go in,

and he just kept saying how tight I was. Then for the next 20 minutes, he raped the both of us. When he was close to finishing, I just remember him saying, Eat me. Which one of you wants to eat me? After he was finally done, we thought the nightmare was over, that he would just leave.

But then he made us lie on the ground face down, and he asked for rope. I need some rope. Do you guys have any rope? Do you know where any is? We both said no. Then Sherry started begging for her life, telling him, don't hurt us. Please don't hurt us. We won't tell anyone, just let us go. And he was quiet for about five seconds. almost like he was trying to decide what to do with us. Our heads were still down on the ground and all we could hear was the sound of him breathing. Then I heard a gunshot. He had shot Sherry in the head.

And then for the next few seconds, he alternated his shots. First Sherry, then me, then Sherry again, back and forth several times. And then I heard a final shot to Sherry. All I could hear was a loud ringing in my ear and the faint sounds of Sherry moaning next to me. And all I could think about was that I needed to play dead. I laid there as still as I possibly could. And I was afraid to get up because I didn't know if he was still in the building. And then after about five minutes, I decided to crawl over to one of the phones in the office.

And that's when I called the police. Sherry was dying and I'm scared that he's going to come back and shoot me again. Then I could see the ambulance lights and the police driving up. I called out to Sherry hoping she was still alive, but it was too late. She was gone. Had you ever seen that man before? No, never. After the attack, police searched the area for the killer, but he was gone.

At the hospital, Beth was swabbed for evidence, and they were able to. to find semen in her mouth and throat. But back in the 1980s, DNA evidence was new, and the only thing they could take from the swab was finding out that the killer's blood type was B-negative, which is a rare blood type, but it still didn't narrow down who did this. Back at the crime scene in the Transamerica office building,

authorities determined that the main attacks had taken place in the lunchroom. There were two large pulls of blood where the girls were shot in the head. Two pairs of blue jeans, a blue and white sweatshirt, a brown and white sweater, two pairs of underwear, a blood-stained bra, a pair of brown shoes, and a pair of blue and yellow running shoes. A stray bullet was found next to one of the girl's jackets, and a second one on the rug next to the counter. It was a very disturbing scene. Blood covered the walls and carpet,

and there were red smears all over the phone that Lisa had used to call the police. And lastly, they find one black pubic hair in the lunchroom that didn't match either of the victims. But considering this was carried out by a stranger and without a gun to match the bullets, detectives know that solving this case would be difficult. Investigators didn't know it at the time, but this was the work of the I-Fi killer. And this wasn't his first murder. Randall Woodfield had been on a spree, going town to town along Interstate 5,

raping and murdering people in his path, and he had no plans on stopping until he was caught. Randall Woodfield's upbringing wasn't the kind that usually leads someone to a life of crime. There were no signs of abuse or neglect. He was born into a loving home to educated upper middle class parents. His mother, Donna Jean, and father, Walter Jack Woodfield, fell in love and were married at the end of the Second World War. And soon after, his father landed an executive position at Pacific Northwest Bell.

The couple would have three children altogether. Susan came first, followed by Nancy. Both girls were pretty, smart, and educated. In fact, one would go on to become a doctor and the other an attorney. However, Donna and Jack would always long for a son. and when Donna Jean falls pregnant for the third time, she's certain it's a boy. December 26, 1950.

Randall Brent Woodfield was born in Salem, Oregon, and he was a very cute baby, with a thick head of curly brown hair and dark eyes. One of his old babysitters remembers Randy being a very easy and calm baby to take care of. He was very quiet. I remember that. I worried sometimes because he was almost too good, too quiet. Randy was doted on by his older sisters,

who treated him like their own personal little doll that they could dress up and play with. I know I definitely did that with my little brother. But about a year after Randy's birth, the family moved to Corvallis for two to three years before finally settling down in Otter Rock, Oregon. And despite his good upbringing, Randy started to rebel at a pretty young age.

You see, Randy's father was gone a lot of the time for work. So he was in a house of all girls most of the time. He soon began to resent his sisters because they were allowed to do things he wasn't. The understandable reason was that they were older than him, but he concluded it was because they were girls and girls were free to do whatever they wanted. This triggered a lot of jealousy and resentment, which led to constant fighting between the siblings. And this is pretty common between siblings, but it was obvious early on that Randy dealt with a lot of anger. The smallest of arguments between him and his sisters would have him enraged.

And from his perspective, it felt like he was always the one to get blamed and punished for everything. In school, however, Randy Woodfield seemed to be the perfect child. He made excellent grades. He got along with all of the other kids. kids, and he was an exceptional athlete. It was clear early on that Randy was good at just about any sport, and he was one of the best athletes at his school. In addition, Randy was handsome, and as he got older, girls started giving him a lot of attention.

But as he develops and starts experiencing these sexual feelings, he's slightly confused. You see, Randy was an early bloomer. But at the time, nobody really talked about sex. It was a taboo subject, especially within his family. So he didn't really know how to navigate those feelings. He would feel strong sexual urges, but then he became ridden with guilt for having them. He also felt like he was constantly surrounded by women. So he started to feel resentment towards women as a whole,

and this would eventually lead to sexual addiction. pretty early on in his development. The first signs of trouble in Randy's life could be traced back to middle school when he began exposing himself to young girls. Something about the way the girls would shriek with fear and shock when he flashed his genitals was extremely gratifying to him. And he was known to do this on multiple occasions. In fact, while he was in high school, Randy exposed himself to a girl that,

recognized him, and not long after he was arrested and had to spend some time in juvie. But because he was under 18, it wouldn't be on his record. Following this incident, his parents put him in therapy, wanting to get him the help he needed. But the therapist assured them that there wasn't anything to worry about. Randy was just exploring his sexual urges. After this incident blew over and Randy grew older and more mature, he was was popular and well liked by his peers. Like we mentioned, he was conventionally attractive, made good grades, and he was the star athlete at Newport High School.

By his junior and senior year, Randy made the Allstate first team in football and received an honorable mention in Allstate basketball. He also played varsity baseball and was a sprinter and field event specialist on the track team. But of all the sports, football was his favorite. The summer following graduation, Randy worked for Pacific Northwest Bell in Newport, cleaning and repairing telephone booths and driving trucks. But this life wasn't exciting enough for him. By the fall of 1969, he enrolled at the Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon,

but he didn't make the best grades in college. He was more focused on his athletic career, with dreams of eventually going into the NFL. At this school, he was co-captain of the varsity football team and was on the varsity weightlifting and basketball teams. While he was there, he started dating a girl named Sharon McNeil. It was his first serious relationship and according to his friend and roommate Mike Schaefer, he was really attached to her. And it was pretty clear that he liked her a lot more than she liked him.

Sharon would eventually break up with Randy after less than a year and he did not handle the breakup very well. In fact, after she broke up with him, he broke into her home that she shared with her parents by sneaking in a bathroom window, and he vandalized her bedroom. After he was finished, he left the home only taking one small item, a small stuffed animal that he had given her as a gift. When Sharon came home and saw that her room was trashed and that her stuffed animal was taken, she knew without a doubt it was Randy.

He was eventually arrested for this and charged with vandalism, And because he was 20 years old at the time, this would go on his record. But Randy was ultimately found not guilty because there just wasn't enough evidence to prove it was him, even though everyone knew that it was. After this incident, Randy would transfer to Mount Hood Community College for one term, but the entire time he was there, he continued to harass his ex-girlfriend Sharon. She's constantly bombarded with phone calls and letters from Randy, and she's just ready to move on with her life.

The harassment got so bad that she actually had to get an unlisted number, but that still didn't stop him from contacting her. In fact, for the next decade, she continues to get letters from Randy, and sometimes there would be a nude photograph of him inside of the letter. Even more disturbing. When Randy was 20 years old, he came home from college one weekend and met an eighth grader named Tracy. And soon enough, the two started dating,

and Randy would pressure her into drinking and having sex with him. and Tracy was young and had never really dated before, so she was really into Randy, even though he was clearly still in love with his ex-girlfriend Sharon. Tracy would later say that Randy would use her to call his ex-girlfriend. Like, he wasn't allowed to call her because her parents hated him, so he got his eighth-grade girlfriend to do it, which is just strange. But from this point forward, we start to see Randy's crimes slowly escalate. His friend Mike Schaefer would later say,

Randy stole some cassette tapes from some guy in the dorm. I knew he had those tapes, but when the guy asked about them, Randy lied and said he didn't have him. I told him it was his story to tell, and I wouldn't say anything, but then when it came down to his getting into trouble overtaking them, he'd have to tell the truth. Later, he confessed to the dorm proctor that he'd had them all along, and he gave them back. But this was just the beginning of his life of crime. After all of this, and the fact that he had been seen exposing himself to more women around Ontario, Randy decides to move and start somewhere new, a fresh start. He ended up getting accepted into Portland State University in the spring of 1971, and he was their football team's leading receiver.

For the first time in a while, Randy finally felt like his life was going in the right direction. He had always had dreams of going into the NFL, and this would be one step closer to that dream. We're going to pause the show for a second, for a small ad break. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Unfortunately, life doesn't come with a user manual. I know this for a fact. I've gone through plenty of things in my adult life. that I was confused on how to handle.

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over 3 million people with licensed therapists. It's convenient and accessible anywhere and it's 100% online. I love therapy. I really have gotten so much out of seeing a therapist every week. And let me tell you, I've been just learning so many new things about myself and understanding my own brain with a greater complexity since I started going to therapy. And that's why I love BetterHelp because it's therapy and it's so easy to access. As the world's largest therapy service, BetterHelp has matched 3 million people with professionally licensed and vetted therapists available 100% online. Plus, it's affordable. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to match with a therapist. If things aren't clicking, you can easily switch to a new therapist anytime. It couldn't

be simpler. No waiting rooms, no traffic, no endless searching for the right therapist. Learn more and save 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com slash MIA. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash M-I-A. We love BetterHelp. I hope y'all sign up and at least give it a try, especially going into the new year. Mental health help is extremely important and BetterHelp is here to help. And now back to today's story. From 1971 to 1973, Randy was a full-time student, majoring in health and physical education,

all while playing football for the Portland State Vikings, and working a part-time job as a waiter and cook at the Burger Chef restaurant near campus. Balancing college and work is incredibly hard, and I can't even imagine how hard it would be throwing an entire sport into your routine too. But Randy seemed to be handling it pretty well. He continued to make good grades and he was excelling in football. But even though it seemed like he had his life together, he still had a thing for exposing himself to women.

On August 7, 1972, Randy would be arrested again for indecent exposure. After this arrest, Randy faced a lot of guilt and he really wanted to get his life together. He even became a born-again Christian after he went to Lake Tahoe and participated in Campus Crusade for Christ. While he was here, he worked as a janitor

and he tried his best to stay on the right path. He even started journaling. In that journal, he listed his three life goals as, quote, to be successful in school, to reach the highest honors I could in my range of athletics, and to be popular with the girls. He also admits that he turned to religion to help him deal with his sexual obsessions.

But it doesn't stop him from stalking and flashing women. On June 22nd, 1973, he's arrested again for indecent exposure, resisting an officer and eluding arrest. This time, he gets five months and 25 days in jail and one year probation. But just when it seemed like his life hit rock bottom, Randy gets a stroke of luck. While playing football at Portland State, an NFL scout came to watch him and they were very His notes on Woodfield read. Randy Woodfield, wide receiver, 6 foot 170, Portland State, born 1226.50, timed at 4.7 and 40, cuts on dime, has good hands and catched well in crown, fluid and smooth, hustles, good jumper.

Randy was a very gifted athlete. Not only that, but his coaches had nothing but good things to say about him. One of them was named Gary Hamblet, and he would later describe Randy as the quote, nicest, most gentle manly kid I ever knew. But after this NFL scout saw Randy's talents, he would receive a one-year contract with the Green Bay Packers. They offered him $16,000 and he would get a $3,000 bonus if he caught 30 passes that season. Now, he had been arrested in June of that year, so he spent his summer in jail.

But I'm assuming the Green Bay Packers just didn't notice. he'd been arrested when they sent him the contract. When Randy got this news that he had been drafted into the NFL, it was the best day of his life. That was all he ever wanted. And when he signed his contract on February 20, 1974, he felt like all of his dreams had come true. Over the next few months, he boasted about this new accomplishment,

and he spent extra time in the gym so that he would be in the best shape possible when the season started. According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, they interviewed Randy and he said, quote, I'm pretty excited. I'm just really thankful for the opportunity, end quote. Randy's life had reached its peak, but it would all be short-lived.

Even with all of the good things happening in his life, he still couldn't seem to control his sexual urges. Just two days after he signed his contract, he would be arrested again for public indecency, and he received five years probation. The Packers management ended up finding out about this arrest, and they quickly took away the contract. And even though this was entirely Randy's fault, he was angry, not only with himself, but with the world. He finally got a taste of everything he ever wanted. just for it to be taken away.

Following this, instead of going back to school to finish his degree, he moved back home to Portland, just three semesters short of graduation. He had failed himself, but worst of all, he felt he had failed his mother and fell into a deep depression, followed by a deeper sense of rage. Back in Portland, Randy finds work at an electronics firm and works part-time as a bartender, where he gets a lot of female attention. At this point in his life, Randy shares a two-bedroom apartment with Tim Rossi, a friend from his Portland State Days, who was now an assistant professor at Reed College.

By the time Randy was 25, most of his friends were getting married and having kids. But Randy Woodfield was stuck in his hometown with nothing going for him. And with all this extra time on his hands, Randy starts getting into trouble. Exposing himself to women just wasn't enough anymore. So he escalates. In the early months of 1975, Randy noticed that there were always women walking alone in Portland's Dunaway Parkway. So one day he drives over and sits in his car and waits for the perfect victim to walk by. Soon enough, he spots one.

It was an innocent woman taking a stroll in the park all by herself. Randy quickly exits his vehicle with a knife in hand, runs up behind the woman and presses the knife into her back. Once he had the girl under his control, Randy pulled his pants down and forced her to perform oral sex at knife point. And there, in the middle of the park, Randy would finish, pull his pants up, steal the woman's purse, and then run off into the night. This exact incident would occur several times at all times of the day. Randy would attack women in broad daylight, and soon enough, the Portland Police Department knew that they had a big problem on their hands.

They eventually sent out some police officers to watch the park, but seeing their presence, Randy briefly stopped the attacks. But the Portland PD came up with another way to capture the sexual offender. They ended up sending one of their female officers to the park as a decoy to lure him in. Her name was Annette Jolin, and she was well aware that her safety wasn't guaranteed, considering the attacker used a knife, but she volunteered anyway. Then on Wednesday, March 5, 1975, around noon, Annette went out to the park dressed in athletic attire, giving off the idea that she was just a random woman going on a walk.

And what do you know, shortly after she started walking, Randy Woodfield ran up behind her and pressed the blade of a knife against her skin. Give me your money now. Annette quickly hands him her bag, and he stands there for a moment deciding his next move. Randy reaches and starts fondling her breast for a few seconds before running away. However, officers are already on the move, waiting for him to run in their direction. They know that he is fast, large, and muscular. but they are quickly able to bring him down.

Randy doesn't resist and he hands over the knife to the officers. When they ask his name, he says, Randall Woodfield, I go to Portland State you. In addition to the knife, officers also confiscate a gun, which is an Italian-made starter pistol. Randy admits to being, quote, totally guilty and was very sorry and deeply hurt for attacking. a police officer. He suggested he had a problem and that he really needed to see a psychologist.

According to Woodfield, his life started to collapse three years earlier because of his, quote, sexual problems. He said he wasn't sure why he was unable to control himself with women. He said he didn't do drugs and he hadn't drank alcohol since becoming a Christian in 1972. He admits to detectives that he had been taking steroids, and he wonders if they magnified his sexual urges. He told the officers that he even stopped dating in an attempt to control his violence. When Randy is examined by a psychologist, they are alarmed at how detached he is to his crimes. Their final evaluation read, quote, It would be, in my opinion, that Mr. Woodfield's problem is so severe as to be a very serious

threat to the community. And although treating him as an outpatient might actually present him with a greater opportunity to be treated, I think this would present too great of a risk to the community. For the safety of the community, he needs to be in an institutional setting. However, chances of being successfully treated in such a setting are rather dim." End quote. On June 10, 1975, Randy was sentenced to 10 years for armed robber. but he was released on parole in July 1979 after serving just four years. Following his release, he lands a job at Techronics and eventually becomes eligible to take a loan out from the company's credit union.

He also starts dating again, and soon as Little Black Book is filled with over 255 names and phone numbers of different women. Randy Woodfield never had a problem getting the attention of girls with his good looks and charm. His issue was keeping them around once they figured out the kind of person that he really was. After a while, he abandons his job at Tectronics for a life of bartending, and the young girls there absolutely loved him, especially the underage ones. He was never a stickler for IDs, and this job opened up a whole new world of women to Randy. So, to make up for lost time, Randy sleeps with a lot of women the first year he was released from prison.

He would later admit, I screwed up. I was in too much of a hurry, and I got herpes from one of them. With all this attention Randy was getting from girls, he had a newfound sense of confidence. So much so that in late 1979, he submitted some nude photos of himself to Playgirl magazine in California, and in May of 1980, he receives a response letter. Congratulations, you've been selected for possible publication in Playgirl's Guy Next Door feature. Please return the enclosed model release information sheet as soon as possible. Don't be discouraged if you don't hear from us right away. We reconsider all submissions each month.

Playgirl will notify you when we determine the issue for which you have been selected. Thank you for your time and patience. Playgirl looks forward to seeing more of you soon. Sincerely, Alison Morley, photo editor. But he never heard back from the magazine. Now, at this point in Randy's life, he didn't really have anything holding him down. And because of this, he had a number of different jobs and addresses between July 1979 and March 1981, making it hard for his parole officer, Judy Pulliam, to keep track of him.

Randy was quite busy during this time, and a little over a year after he was released from prison, Randy would commit his first murder. On October 10, 1980, Randy decided to knock on the door of his old high school classmate, 29-year-old Sherry Ayers. For some reason, while Randy was in prison, he decided to rekindle their friendship and write Sherry letters. Sherry was a nice girl who lived a non-risk lifestyle and worked as an X-ray technician in Portland.

And although she was in a relationship at the time, she thought that Randy just wanted a platonic relationship. The two continued to keep in touch over the years and they even worked together on planning their high school reunion. But in the months before October of 1980, Sherry started feeling uneasy and her new home that she had just bought. She confided in her close friends and family that she felt like someone had been watching her, through her windows. Then on October 11th, she heard a knock on her front door. Sherry would have never opened the door to a stranger, but it wasn't a stranger. It was Randy Woodfield, her old high school classmate, and she had no issues with inviting him inside. But shortly after, Sherry would quickly regret this decision. At some point during Randy's visit, his demeanor,

changed. He went from friendly to violent at the snap of a finger. During Sherry's last moments, she ran through the home trying to get away from Randy, but he eventually caught up to her and brutally raped her, leaving a seaman all over her body. Afterwards, he severely beat her, bludgeoning her head. Then before leaving, he stabbed her repeatedly in the neck until she was dead. Randy slipped out of her front door into the night without anyone knowing what happened to the 29-year-old X-ray technician. Over the next 24 hours, Sherry's boyfriend Jim had tried to get in touch with her, but she wasn't answering her phone, which wasn't like her. So on October 12th, he decided to stop by her house to see if she was there. Jim knocked on the door for several minutes,

but there was no answer, and he was starting to get worried. Sherry always kept a spare key under her doormat, so Gem used it to get inside. Sherry, are you here? Hello, Sherry? But Jim was met with an eerie silence. He went room to room calling her name, and he eventually made his way towards her bedroom.

Upon entering, he saw a sight that would be forever ingrained in his mind. There, on the ground, was Sherry's body, face down in a pull of blood. He quickly runs to her side and turns her over to see if he could help. But her body was cold to the touch. It was too late. Jim quickly runs next door to her neighbors to call for help. When the police arrived at the scene, it was clear to them that Sherry put up a fight. There was blood everywhere, and she was covered head to toe in bruises and cuts.

They also quickly determined that she had been. raped shortly before her murder. They took samples of the semen found on her body and sent them to the lab for testing. And pretty early on in the investigation, the police were very suspicious that Jim, her boyfriend, was responsible for her murder. You see, the two had actually had plans on getting married. But Sherry called off the wedding after finding out that Jim had been married before and lied to her about it. So investigators started to think that maybe that was Jim's motive for killing her. Even further, they determined that Sherry must have known her killer because there was no forced entry. They eventually gave Jim Polygraph, which he passed. And he was quickly

ruled out as a suspect. When investigators talked to Sherry's family, they told them that Sherry was loved by everyone. She didn't have enemies. But there was one person they wanted them to look into, Randy Woodfield. Her family knew that Randy had been writing Sherry letters from prison, and something about it didn't sit right with them. So investigators picked up Randy and brought him to the station for questioning. But this wasn't his first rodeo. Randy knew what to say to the police and what not to say, but he denied any involvement in Sherry's murder. And nothing really came from this interview

other than investigators getting a sample of his blood. You see, back in the 1980s, they didn't really have DNA testing. They were able to take the semen found at the scene, and from there, they determined that the killer had type O blood. But that was about it. And interestingly enough, Randy's blood type didn't match the killers. His blood type was B-negative, so he was quickly dropped as a suspect. Little did they know, somehow the blood sample retrieved from the scene had been contaminated,

and it showed up as type O when it was really B-negative. If only the detectives had discovered this sooner, Randy would feel like, probably would have been arrested for Sherry's murder, and he probably wouldn't have been able to go on and victimize dozens of others. But by the time detectives discovered this mistake, it was too late. Randy had already started on his murder spree

down the west coast. And now we're going to pause the show for a second for a brief ad break. So when you're in a tall building, you don't ride the elevator for the music, and you definitely don't fly across the country on an airline just for the movies that they have. So when it comes to audio entertainment, it makes sense to choose Audible.

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Especially when it comes to the true crime world, we've used Audible in the past to actually research for our show. So there's just endless stuff and endless entertainment on Audible. Audible's the home of storytelling with all your audio entertainment in one app. Find the best of what you love or something new to discover with Audible. And Audible has an incredible selection of audiobooks like I said across every genre, from bestsellers and new releases to mysteries and thrillers, horror, wellness, business, and more. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from their entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and brand new releases.

And if you're an Audible member, you also get full access to a growing selection of included audiobooks, Audible, originals, and podcasts. You can download or stream our included titles all you want. And now you can even listen to Murder in America on Audible. How cool is that? It's literally all of your favorite content on one app. Lately through Audible, I've been listening to The Exorcist by William Peter Blattie, the original novel that inspired the classic 70s movie.

And let me tell you, it's just so easy and it makes it incredibly accessible to find all of your audio entertainment, like we've said before, in one app. So let Audible help you discover new ways to laugh, be inspired, or entertained. New members can try it free for 30 days. Visit Audible.com slash state or text state to 500500. That's Audible.com slash state or text state to 5.00550 to try Audible free for 30 days. audible.com slash state. And now let's get back to today's story. Less than a month after Sherry's murder, Randy decided to pay his best friend and former roommate Tim Rossi

a visit in Tacoma, Washington. They talked about Rossi's recently broken heart and about how his girlfriend Darcy Fix left him for another man. Tim takes the breakup relatively well, but Randy is furious, almost as if he was the one being broken up with. And not long afterwards, Darcy and her new boyfriend, Doug Altick, would be found dead inside of her home. It was Thanksgiving day in 1980. Her family had prepared a nice Thanksgiving dinner, and they were just about ready to eat, but Darcy still hadn't made her way over. They tried calling her, but their calls went unanswered, so Darcy's dad drove over to her house. He knocked on the door for several minutes and even started looking through her windows to see if there was any movement inside, but there

wasn't. And he started to get a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something wasn't right. He Eventually pried open a window to get inside, and once he did, he was faced with a gruesome sight. There, right at the front door, her father saw the body of her boyfriend Doug in a pool of blood. From there, he began frantically calling out his daughter's name, hoping that she would answer, but she didn't. He quickly goes upstairs and finds his daughter, 22-year-old Darcy Fix, dead in her bedroom. She was lying on her bed, and there was blood everywhere. Upon seeing this, in total shock and still wanting to protect his little girl, he places a blanket over her dead body. Darcy had been shot in the neck, chest, and the back of her head.

Her boyfriend Doug was shot in the back of the head as well, execution style. From what investigators could tell, the killer had gained entry to the home and immediately shot Doug to get him out of the way. Darcy, trying to get away from her attacker, ran upstairs, but the killer quickly followed. Darcy was then raped and shot three times, execution style, with a 38 caliber revolver. After looking through the home, investigators also discovered that the killer stole Darcy's antique revolver that she kept in her bedroom. It was likely that she tried to grab it when the killer entered her home. But this was very concerning for detectives because that meant that their suspect now had two guns in their possession. Even though

these murders occurred 13 miles away from one another, the police didn't think to connect them. After all, they were still under the assumption that Sherry's killer had type O blood and Darcy and Doug's killer was B-negative. So Randy Woodfield wasn't on the police's radar, giving him the opportunity to continue his crimes. And his next one was just around the corner on December 9, 1980. Randy Woodfield is driving along Interstate 5 and he decides to make a stop in Vancouver, Washington. He ends up pulling his Volkswagen bug near a gas station and his adrenaline is pumping. While in the car, he puts a fake beard on his face and tapes athletic tape on his nose as a disguise. He then takes his gun, goes inside, and robs the gas station.

Because of Randy's athletic abilities, he's able to quickly run away from the scene and hop in his car without anyone noticing. The gas station clerk calls the police and they give a description of the robber saying he's around six foot, muscular, dark hair, with a fake beard and athletic tape across his nose. And the first of many composite sketches is drawn up, but it doesn't help in finding him. In the meantime, Randy Woodfield loves the fact that he's terrorizing people and no one knows it's him. These robberies give him a high, seeing the fear in people's eyes as he points a gun in their

face, gives him an indescribable feeling that he can't get enough of. In just four days after this robbery, he's ready to do it again. This time, as he drives along Interstate 5, he decides to stop in Eugene, Oregon, and he robs an ice cream parlor. The very next day he drives to Albany and robs a drive-in restaurant. With all of these robberies, Randy disguises himself a little differently. Sometimes he had on a mask, other times a fake beard. But one thing that was pretty consistent in his disguises was his use of white athletic tape on his nose. By now, there had been many composite sketches drawn of him, and the public soon started calling him the I-Fi Bandit, because all of the places he hit were within two miles of the interstate. And law enforcement

was so determined to find him that they even put up billboards along the interstate that read wanted I-5 Bandit with a picture of his composite sketch. But soon enough the I-5 bandit would be called the I-5 killer. The robberies

just weren't enough for him anymore. About a week after the drive-in robbery in Albany, Randy took Interstate 5 to Seattle. After taking the exit, he drove around in his gold Volkswagen looking for his next hit, and he decided on a local restaurant that didn't have very many employees. After putting on his disguise, Randy entered the restaurant and forced a 25-year-old

employee into one of the back rooms. He then pinned her to the ground, took his pants off, and forced her to perform sexual acts on him. The next attack would be on January 18th, with Lisa Garcia and Sherry Hall, the two women at the beginning of our story at the Transamerica office building. On that night, Randy was driving along I-5 when he decided to stop in central Oregon in a town called Kaiser. He spotted the two girls cleaning inside of the building and noticed that they were all alone. It wasn't a heavily trafficked area either, so they were the perfect targets. After sexually assaulting and shooting Sherry and Lisa in the head, Randy quickly ran from the scene as Lisa mustered up the courage to crawl over to the phone and call the police. Randy always parked

away from the scene so that no one would link his gold Volkswagen to the murders. As the adrenaline coursed through his veins, he felt as if he could easily run 20 miles without stopping. He felt invincible. Marvelling at what he had just done, he internally congratulates himself for orchestrating a double murder so flawlessly. Along this run, he finally takes pause to notice how quiet the streets are. More confident than ever, he stops running and casually walks the rest of the way to his car. And interestingly enough, a cop that responded to Lisa and Cherry's attack actually saw a man matching the killer's description, walking along a road, but it was miles away from the scene. The cop figured there was no way the killer could have traveled that far in such a short

amount of time. Little did he know, the suspect was a star athlete. Now as we know, Lisa Garcia would survive this attack, but her best friend Cherry Hole wouldn't. Following her death, tips on possible suspects started flooding in. And the four detectives in Marion County, who are working the case are receiving over 200 phone calls a day, but they still haven't narrowed in on a suspect. Following the murder of Sherry, Randy sexually assaults a 20-year-old clerk working alone at a donut shop and Grants Pass Oregon. And he assaults a teenage customer after robbing $70 cash from the register. An hour later, the same tape-wearing bandit holds up the Richards Market in Medford.

wielding a small silver revolver just 35 miles south on I-5. On February 3rd, 46-year-old Marie Sloan, the owner of the Burger Express, and her 18-year-old employee, Leah Morris, were working the register when a man with dark, wavy hair walks in. He's well over six feet tall and was wearing a windbreaker, faded jeans, expensive-looking tennis shoes, a wool cap, and blue gloves with gray trim. When Leo looks up at him to take his order, she sees that he's pointing a silver revolver at her. He also sees Mrs. Sloan and tells both women to sit down and you won't get hurt. Mrs. Sloan gently instructs Leah to open the register and hand all the money over to the gunman. She does as she's told. The man then demands Mrs. Sloan lead him to the bathroom with Leah in tow.

The woman obeys. He then tapes her hands behind her back, tapes her ankles together, and tapes her mouth shut before instructing her to face the door. He turns to Leah and barks at her to take your clothes off. As he waits for her to strip down, the man fondles Mrs. Sloan's breasts. In the tight confines of the bathroom, the intruder forces the girl to give him oral sex. But he can't ejaculate. Frustrated, he pushes her to the floor face town and attempts to sodomize her anally. Still unable to finish, he demands oral sex again until he finally climaxes. He then pulls his pants up and fastens them. The women are terrified that he's going to shoot them,

but as luck would have it, Mrs. Sloan's husband stops by at that very moment to check on her. She hears him outside the bathroom door, and when he knocks on it, the intruder calmly responds, It's busy. Not a second later, the man slams the door open and points the gun at her husband and forces him into the bathroom with the woman. Surprisingly, he doesn't shoot. Instead, he runs away. But just hours after this, Randy Woodfield would commit his next murder. A double murder. By now, every home and business along Interstate 5 is well aware of the eye-fell. killer and the entire West Coast seemed to be on edge because no one knew where he would strike next.

A California firefighter named Steve Eckert and his family were well aware of the killer. But like everyone else, they never thought they would actually become victims. It was February 3, 1981, when Steve left for a shift at the fire station, leaving his 37-year-old wife Donna and his 14-year-old stepdaughter Janelle at home. The family lived just south of the Lake Shasta Caverns and directly off the I-5 freeway. And Donna actually had another daughter, 12-year-old Kristen, who left to go to her friend's house that night. So after Steve left, Donna and Janelle were the only one's home. Steve last spoke to his wife at about 3.30 that afternoon, and she told him she was going to lay down to get some rest.

Hours later, 12-year-old Kristen ended up coming home that night shortly before 9 p.m. She remembered walking inside and seeing that the clock read 8.51 p.m. After putting her stuff down, Kristen yelled out for her mom and sister, but the house was quiet. Walking room to room, she starts feeling uneasy, and then she gets to her parents' bedroom. There she finds both her mother and sister lying side by side on the bed. Her mom's nightgown had been pulled down to her waist, exposing her breasts. Her ankles are bound with white surgical tape, and her arms are tied behind the back in the same fashion, and her mouth and nose are taped shut.

Janelle, her sister, is completely naked, and her face is covered in blood. Kristen immediately knows that her sister is gone, but she hoped that maybe her mom was still alive. But after ripping the tape from Donna's mouth and nose, she realizes that her mother is also dead. The terrified little girl quickly calls the police in hysterics. The call came in at exactly 9.01 p.m., and police were dispatched to the scene.

Sadly, the mountain gate fired a part of, was also dispatched, and Steve Eckert sees that it's his own address. In a panic, he rushes home and identifies the bodies as his wife and eldest stepdaughter. Donna had been shot twice in the back of the head, and Janelle had at least half a dozen wounds to the back of hers. Trying to figure out how and why this happened, they asked Kristen if her mom had any plans that night. Apparently, they had talked on the phone at about 6 p.m. And Kristen informs the police that her mom went to Jake's market to get some groceries. The market happened to be located directly off the I-Fi freeway, which was just down the street from their house. Hearing this,

the police were sure that this was the work of the I-Fi killer. When they find Janelle's jeans laying on the floor next to the bed, one of the officers carefully removes a check from the back pocket. It was a check dated February 3rd and was made out to Jake's market. It also had Donna's signature on it. This raises a major red flag. What stopped them from going inside the store to cash it? When authorities reconstruct the crime, the most likely scenario is that they left to make a quick trip to the store for groceries. It appeared Donna had recently worn her coat because it was found draped at the foot of the bed. They think she had thrown it on over her nightgown and sent Janelle inside to cash the check and to buy bread, milk and cereal, but they never made it.

The following day, the results from their autopsy came in. Donna had been shot twice in the back of the head, and Janelle was shot seven times in the head with a 32-caliber handgun. Both had been sodomized. The murders of Donna and Janelle bring the killer's body count to six, and investigators knew he wouldn't stop until he was caught. In fact, just a few hours after murdering the mother and daughter, Randy would go into a business in Reading, California. where he would rape and sodomize another female clerk. It was clear that he had a specific type when it came to his victims.

Most of them were female, Caucasian, petite, and young, usually in their teens or early 20s. The very next day, after committing double murder and rape, Randy takes the I-5 to the city of Eureka, and while there, he sees 21-year-old Jesse Clovis. After buying cigarettes at a liquor store, she gets into her car and is about to start the engine when a man who looked to be in his mid-20s suddenly opens her driver's side door. was wearing a green down jacket and said, Move over, I've got a gun. Don't look at my face.

Avoiding eye contact, she sees he's holding a small silver revolver with white grips, and she quickly follows orders and lets him get into the driver's seat. She notices that he's wearing blue jeans and running shoes. Slowly eyeing him up, she also notices that he's wearing sports gloves, a beanie, and white tape

over the bridge of his nose. Unaware that he had been seen, the man adjust the driver's seat to accommodate his long leg. before starting the engine and making a right on North Main Street. Attempting to build a rapport, she timidly asks, may I have a cigarette? No, and don't look at my face. Do you have any money? I only have like $20.

Is it in your purse? Get it for me. She pulls out the cash from her purse and asks if he also wants her change. But he tells her she can keep it. He's not really interested in the money after all. and that becomes a parent pretty fast. He's more interested in her sex life and demands to know if she's ever had sex before and how many men she had been with.

She tells him too before she breaks down and begins crying. He then orders her to put her head in his lap and he asks if she's ever given oral sex to which she says no. He then forces her to unzip his pants, making her cry even harder, and her tears anger him. He tells her to stop crying and to, quote,

Do what I say. You understand, don't you? For the next few moments, he fondles her breast, while asking, do you let your boyfriend do this to you? After some time passed, he ordered her to touch herself and then perform oral sex. But she refused. In response, he grabs her by the hand. hair and forces her onto him. Jesse recalled trying not to vomit as he pinned her head down.

And the next thing she remembers is hearing him say, oops, got to turn around. The car then makes a U-turn and after about five minutes, he slows down and comes to a stop at the side of the road. Take your pants off and your underwear and your shoes. Now get in the back seat. But keep your head down and don't look at my face. The man told Jesse to bend over. over and she obeys. And after a horrifying few minutes of being raped by this stranger, he gives Jesse an ultimatum. I can either come inside of you or pull out and make you drink it. It's up to you. The thought of giving him oral sex again made her sick to her stomach. So she tells him to finish inside of her. But he was toying with her. He wanted to do the exact opposite of what she preferred.

And with that, he finished in her mouth all while saying, That was good, wasn't it? Terror-stricken, she sees something in his hand and assumes it was the silver gun, but it turns out to be a half-use roll of white tape. Taping her wrist together, he warns her. Don't go to the police. If you do, I'll just say you pick me up hitchhiking and you asked for it.

They'll believe me. That would be an embarrassment for you. As Jesse lays in the backseat of her car, the man climbs to the front, starts the engine, and begins driving again. Curious, Jesse asks, why did you do this to me? Because all women are alike. They only give you pussy when they wanted. My girlfriend was a waitress and fooled around behind my back. She attracted a lot of men, and that made me jealous.

I'm a very jealous guy. But she was a bitch. She put out only when she wanted to. Like you, you should give it to your boyfriend all the time. It was clear to Jesse that this guy really hated women, and she was scared about what he was going to do with her. Are you going to kill me now? She asks.

No, I'm not that kind of guy. Do you think I'm that kind of guy? No, no, of course not. So what are you going to do with me? She asks. Randy tells her that he's going to drop her off at a store. so Jesse asks if she could have her clothes back. No, you'll try to escape if I let you get dressed.

Suddenly, Jesse feels the car come to a stop. And before exiting the vehicle, Randy grabs her breasts, gives them a little shake, and tells her. Okay, now don't report this to the police. And with that, he disappears into the dark night. It takes Jesse about 15 minutes to free yourself from the tape and a few more to put her clothes back on. She then drives home and calls the police,

describing her rapist in detail. 25 to 30, 6 feet tall, 175 pounds, brown hair, short beard, and a mustache, white tape or a band-aid over his nose, blue watch cap, green jacket, blue jeans, white tennis shoes, nickel-plated revolver, approximately four to six-inch barrel. By now, the police are well aware of this exact description. As Randy Woodfield fled the scene that night, he felt invincible,

and knowing that the entire West Coast was out on the lookout for him, made it all the more exciting. Five days after this string of robberies, murders, and assaults, Randy takes the I-5 towards Corvales, where he robbed a fabric store and molested another female clerk and customer before running away. Then, on February 12th, feeling unstoppable, Randy robbed a business in Vancouver Olympia and Bellevue, Washington, sexually assaulting three people in the process. And with every hit, the exact same description was given. They were all committed along the I-5 freeway, and all within a week of the double murder and Mountain Gate.

By this point, ballistic tests confirmed that the bullets found in Donna Eckerd, Janelle Jarvis, Sherry Hall, and Lisa Garcia all matched and were fired from the same gun. The surgical tape used to bind the victims in Medford, Grants Pass, Eureka, Redding, and Shasta County had all come from the same role of tape. On February 9th, Randy Woodfield appeared at a fabric store in Corvallis, Oregon at around 8 p.m. There, he steals $300 and threatens the 30-year-old clerk with a small silver gun before forcing her and another female customer to the back room. He wraps their ankles, hands, and mouths with surgical tape before following the clerk and masturbating himself on her face before leaving. And now we're going to take a short ad break. It's the holidays. It's the most festive time of the year.

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night, Randy took the I-5 to a laundromat in Albany. Once inside, he bound and sodomized two more women in a back room. A few days later, Valentine's Day of 1981, Randy would commit his seventh and final murder, the murder that would lead to his downfall. 18-year-old Julianne Reitz had met Randy Woodfield at a club, months before the murders. Some sources say they were just friends and others say they briefly dated. But either way, Randy took the I-5 and drove back to his hometown of Portland. From there, he made a stop by Julie's house where she lived with her mother. Her mom was out for the day, so Julie invited Randy inside. Over the next few hours, the two shared a bottle of wine, and Julie even set out two

mugs so they could drink some tea. But before she could make the tea, something went awry. Randy chased Julie and tackled her on the stairs. From there, he removed her clothes, raped her, and once he was satisfied, he shoots her twice in the back of the head. hours later, Julie's mom comes home to her worst nightmare, and she would later say that as soon as she saw her daughter's nude and bloodied body, she immediately knew she was murdered by the I-Fi killer. And sadly, before she even left her home that day, she warned her daughter to be safe since there was a killer on the loose. But she obviously had no idea that her daughter would be his next victim. When the police got to the scene, they were sure this was the work

of the I-Fi killer, but something was different about this case. For one, they saw the two wine glasses on the counter, meaning Julie must have known her killer. There was just no way she would have invited a stranger in for drinks. From the evidence taken at the scene, Tess come back positive for the presence of semen on Julie's body. When the police talked to people in the neighborhood, an eyewitness reported seeing a gold Volkswagen bug driving up and down the street in front of Julie's house. The car eventually pulls over and the headlights are flashed before Julie came out to greet him.

When they asked Julie's family to create a list of all of the people that had been in her life, Randy Woodfield's name was on it. According to Julie's friends, she and Randy had hung out a couple of times, but she started to distance herself because Randy, was getting a little obsessive. To investigators, Randy seemed like a likely suspect. And what do you know, he happened to drive a gold Volkswagen bug. For the first time, investigators finally have a name they can start looking into. And as it turns out, Randy Woodfield's name had popped up several times throughout their investigations. But while they were building their case, the I-5 killer would

continue his reign of terror following Julie Reitz's death. On February 17th, a male customer entered a 7-11 store in Eugene at 325 a.m. He waits for the clerk, but no one seems to be in the store. It's unlocked and all the lights are on, but he can't see any employees. Ben, just as he was about to leave, he hears a muffled thumping sound coming from a back room, so he apprehensively approaches. There, in the back of the store, he sees a woman lying on her stomach, her hands, feet, and mouth bound with white tape. Quickly, he frees her and notifies the police. Another three days later on February 20th,

he hits a taco time a little after 9 p.m. and Eugene. Two teenage girls were working back in the kitchen when they heard the front door open and saw a tall, dark man in khaki jacket and beanie stroll directly past the food prep area. His hands were jammed in his pockets. 17-year-old Connie Saldano had read about the I-5 killer and she didn't wait around to see what the man wanted.

She bolted out the back door as he was yelling for her to stop. She half turns and can see he's pointing a little silver pistol in her direction. She keeps running as fast as she can, expecting to feel a bullet in her back at any moment. But nothing happens. She runs into a neighboring dairy queen and calls the Lane County Sheriff's Office, feeling guilty about leaving her friend behind. Back at Taco Time, the large man gives up the chase and turns his attention to Terry Brady, his lone captive.

You, you squat down on the floor and don't move. She follows his orders, but then out of nowhere he runs out. Seconds later, the building is surrounded by police, but the man is long gone, and the only thing that remains is a wadded up piece of athletic tape found in the parking lot. The good and bad news is that he doesn't stay hidden for long. On February 25th, he found a small restaurant in Corvallis, where two pretty teenage girls are working. He waits for a customer to pick up his order and leave before he makes his move.

At 5.52 p.m., 18-year-old Jill Martin leaves the restaurant to walk around back to the restrooms. Seeing this, Randy decides to follow her, and he forces his way into the restroom and pulls a gun on the young woman. She was in shock, and he suddenly demands that she perform oral sex on him. When he finishes in her mouth, she spits it out onto the floor, which makes him laugh. From there, he binds her hands and feet with tape and leaves her alone on the bathroom floor. It takes her a while to free herself and make her way back to the restaurant, and she had to kick the door to alert her friend because her hands were still bound behind her back. Seaman was found on the bathroom floor and it's collected and tested.

And surprise, surprise, it belongs to the I-Fi killer. By now, investigators are sure that Randy Woodfield is the I-5 killer. So after looking up his criminal record and seeing that he was on parole, they decided to call his parole officer, Judy Pulliam. She unloads his entire criminal record on them, and they found that he had been arrested and convicted of many sex crimes, and that he was a suspect in at least three murders in Portland, the murders of Darcy Fix, Doug Altick, and Sherry Ayers.

Like we mentioned earlier, he was questioned for these but never charged. His parole officer also informs detectives that Randy had moved to Eugene without ever notifying her, which is against the rules, and he had just recently gotten a new parole officer there. Beaverton detectives called this new parole officer, and he informs them that Randy had a parole meeting on March 3rd at 8 a.m. And with that, they had to wait. They had no idea where Randy was at the time. But this was their best bet when it came to tracking him down.

concurrently, the Oregon State Crime Lab announced that they're on the lookout for a man with type B blood and who's a secretor, so any suspects without that blood type can be eliminated. Considering only 9 to 10% of the population has type B blood, it'll help them hone in on their suspect. But unfortunately, March 3rd comes around and Randy doesn't show up for his probation appointment, peaking detectives' interest in him even more. Eventually, they find his address in Eugene, and they decide to pay him a visit. But they knocked and knocked and there was no answer. Finally, after pounding on the door for several minutes, Randy opens the door up, looking very tired.

Why don't you show up for your parole meeting, they ask? Randy tells him that he must have gotten the dates mixed up. And at that very moment, the detectives decide to cut straight to the chase. We're investigating the murder of Julie Reeds. Do you mind coming to the station for questioning? Randy tells the detectives that he doesn't know anyone by the name of Julie Reeds, and he doesn't understand why they're probing him about her. her murder. The detective tells him, well, weird because several people have said that you two were

acquainted. So why don't you come to the station and we can talk about it some more? With that, Randy gets dressed and makes his way over. At the station, he's read his Miranda rights and Randy understands them and is willing to speak without a lawyer. Investigators then hand him a picture of Julie, and suddenly he remembers that he does know her. He tells the detectives that they hung out a few times, but it was nothing serious and he hasn't seen her since. Have you ever had sex with Julie, they ask? No, never. Did you see Julie over Valentine's Day weekend? No, I didn't. I was in Portland visiting my sister, and I met a friend at the Marriott for a few drinks, then I went to several other spots in the Portland area and had more drinks. I met a girl,

her name was Jeannie, but I can't recall her last name. She tripped around with me after that. We went to Baxter's Corner, Frank Peters's Inn, and the Greenwood Inn. We stayed there until the bar closed. It was clear that Randy wasn't going to come clean, so instead they asked him to take a polygraph and give them a sample of his blood. If you can do that for us, you're free to go. We can eliminate you as a suspect and we won't waste any more of your time. They say, Initially, he agrees, but then suddenly he shuts down. It's just against my principles to do that. I'd rather move back to Portland. I'd rather go back to the penitentiary before I'd do that. Pressing him a little further, Randy ultimately admits that he did have sex with Julie that night,

but he would have never killed her. So they ask him, well, earlier you said you never had sex with, with her. So why did you lie? Feeling the walls caving in, Randy tells the detectives that they can't have his blood sample, but they can search his house. Go ahead and search it. You're not going to find anything. I have nothing to hide. But that wasn't the case. Upon searching Randy's car and home, they logged the following into evidence. Item one, one set of bedsheets and a mattress pad from the subject's bedroom. On mattress pad some dried blood. Sheets contain many head and pubic hairs. Item two, one set of sheets from the hamper next to the bed. Item three, one brown wallet containing identification and a receipt for the purchase of a gun. Item four, one smoking

device with residue. Item 5. One box of athletic adhesive tape. Item 6. A paper bag containing a 38-caliber gun cleaning kit. Item 7. A cocaine snorter. Item 8. One box of firecrackers out of the glove compartment. Of all the items that were seized, Woodfield seemed the most concerned about the adhesive tape. He wanted to know why they would want tape as evidence. And at this point, the detectives are forced to let Randy leave the station. Until they tested the evidence, they didn't have enough to arrest him. And with that, he drives away in his gold beetle. Now, in the 1980s, it took a long time for the lab to test evidence. So in the meantime, detectives stake out his home to observe his routine. Interestingly enough, they run into Randy's roommate, a woman named Arden Bates.

She tells them she'd met Randy by placing an ad in the paper seeking a roommate. She also said it was weird because he was an unemployed man, but he always had enough money for rent. She thought that he was just a trust fund baby whose parents paid for everything. Little did she know, Randy got all of his money from robbing businesses along I-5. After a few more questions, Arden asks the detectives. It's him, isn't it? Randy's the I-5 killer, isn't he? I've been afraid of that, but I didn't want to say it out loud.

The detectives neither confirm or deny the claim, but Arden got the idea. She then says, You know, he's a really nice guy. I liked him right away when he's. he came during the room. If you met him, you wouldn't even think he could do anything violent. Detectives then look at Randy's call logs, and they noticed that his location during these calls matched with the locations of the murders and robberies, and there was more. According to medical records from the Oregon State Penitentiary, Woodfield had B-negative blood, just like the I-5 killer.

And with that, they finally had enough evidence for an arrest. On March 5th at 1.45 p.m., detectives go to to Randy's home and knock on the door. He opens it and politely ushers the men into the living room. Not knowing he was about to be arrested, Randy starts complaining about the police taking his athletic tape. And it was here where they place him under arrest. Randy continued to deny that he was the IFI killer, but evidence proved otherwise. One pubic hair seized from Woodfield's body is scanned under a microscope, and it's a perfect match to the pubic hair found in the Transamerica office building. They also find one lone 32 caliber bullet in the pouch of his

racquetball back, and it's the same exact bullet that was used to kill Janelle Jarvis, Donna Eckerd, and Sherry Hull. On March 7, 1981, various other victims of the I-Fi Bandit positively identified Woodfield in a lineup. And with that, he is indicted for murder, rape, sodomy, attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm in both Washington and Oregon. With all of this, they could finally bring an end to the biggest investigation in Oregon's history. In the summer of 1981, Randy Woodfield has tried in Salem for the murder of Sherry Hall. and for the attempted murder and sodomy of Lisa Garcia. On June 26, 1981, Woodfield is convicted on all counts and was sentenced to life in prison plus 90 years.

In October of 1981, a second trial was held in Benton County, Oregon. There, he was tried and convicted for a sodomy and weapons charge for the attack on Jill Martin, where he receives an additional 35 years on his sentence. Randall Woodfield is currently serving his sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. but despite the clear connection to countless other crimes and homicides, Woodfield has never prosecuted or held accountable for anything else. By 2006, DNA testing confirmed Woodfield as the murderer of Darcy Renee Thicks, Douglas Keith Altig, Janelle Jarvis, Donna Eckerd, and Julie Reitz.

And while it brings closure to their families, there are still dozens of other people that were victimized by Randy Woodfield who never got a trial due to a lack of evidence. It's suspected that Randy could be responsible for as many as 44 murders and 60 rapes, all of which matched his M.O. But again, the state can't prove it was him so nothing can be done. During his time in prison, Randy Woodfield has never confessed to any of the murders, and he refuses to take responsibility for them. Also, while in prison, he continues to get the attention of women. Following his arrest, the entire world found out about the almost famous NFL player and his crimes along Interstate 5.

and despite him being a disgusting rapist and murderer, women still found him to be very attractive. In fact, while in prison, he married three different women. But even though Randy refused to give his victims closure by confession to his horrible acts, one thing we can find comfort in is that he will never be released from prison. His 150-year sentence is more than any other inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary. And he will be there forever until his very last breath, paying eternally for the horrors he inflicted upon people near Interstate 5 in the 1980s. Hey everybody, it's Colin here.

And Courtney. Thank you all for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. Courtney, you have an announcement to make? Yeah, this will actually be our last full episode of the year. Next week, we are going to release an episode, but we're just going to update everyone on the changes coming to murder in America in 2023. and we're going to talk about some true crime cases going on in the U.S. right now. Some really crazy stuff, especially from the city that we live in.

So stay tuned for that. I want to shout out our patrons this week, Ashley Harrison, Peter B., Julia Davidson, Juliana Corbo-Cierro, Mariah Waswick, Jordan Bell, Michelle Kamau, Jack Cinquingrano, Kara, Cynthia Morales, Dylan Couthera, Bryn Holzbach, and Piggy Patrol. Once again, guys, I'm so sorry if I slaughter your names. You all have some very interesting and amazing names out there. But if you want to have your name right at the end of an episode of our show, or you want to get access to the ad-free versions of every single episode of our podcast,

all you have to do is head to patreon.com, search up Murder in America, and become a patron for only $5 a month. If you want to see all of the pictures from this episode and every other episode, make sure to follow us on Instagram at Murder in America and join our Facebook group. Yeah, we have so many crazy things coming up next year, don't we? Yeah, I'm honestly so excited to tell you guys all about them, so make sure you listen to next week's episode. Yeah, and good hair days do more than we give them credit for. When your hair feels healthy, you show up differently.

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