Defense Calls No Witnesses For Medlock Jurors Begin Deliberations In Killing Of 13-Year Old Spokane Prostitute

The only mystery is the motive.

Why did John Medlock kill a 13-yearold prostitute for $50?

There’s no doubt any more that Medlock, a 35-year-old Spokane warehouseman, clubbed Rebecca Hedman to death on Oct. 17, 1993.

Medlock’s lawyer conceded as much in his closing argument Tuesday afternoon, when he didn’t bother seeking an acquittal and essentially appealed for a second-degree murder conviction.

Earlier in the day, defense attorney John Muenster closed the case without calling any witnesses - raising eyebrows in the oak-paneled jury box.

“The jury has all the information it needs,” he said afterward.

The defense offered no explanation for the bloodshed, but Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Kinn did.

Medlock was enraged by the poor quality of the sex he purchased that night and demanded a refund, Kinn told the eight-woman, four-man jury.

When Hedman refused, Medlock grabbed a wood baseball bat from beneath his bed and swung at the back of her head as she began pulling on her jeans.

She screamed and tumbled to the floor. He kept swinging - five more times - until she was dead.

“Almost like a time bomb, the defendant exploded in a rage,” Kinn said.

Calling the evidence “overwhelming,” the prosecutor asked the Superior Court jury to return a verdict of first-degree murder, based on a killing occurring during the course of a robbery.

Jurors deliberated for a couple of hours Tuesday before being sent home for the night. They resume their task today.

During the three-day trial, Muenster focused his attack on the underlying robbery allegation, claiming it isn’t supported by evidence other than Medlock’s surprise confession to police.

It came 16 months ago, when Medlock was arrested for threatening to kill himself by jumping off a bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Canadian officers asked him what was wrong, and the guilt-ridden man blurted out a confession to the Spokane murder.

“It was almost as if he was haunted,” Kinn said.

During his more detailed second confession, Spokane Police detectives said Medlock clearly stated he killed the girl to get his money back.

But Muenster questioned the accuracy of the detectives’ interview notes and his client’s recollection, given his troubled state of mind. At the time, the defendant was under suicide watch in the psychiatric unit of a hospital.

“Why would be kill someone for $50?” Muenster asked the jury. “… This guy has never had any contact with the police. He’s a dependable worker … He had money. He didn’t want the money.”

Then he added: “What if he didn’t rob her and you convict him of first-degree murder?”

Kinn countered by citing evidence corroborating Medlock’s “accurate” confession.

Some examples:

Medlock said he clubbed the victim about six times. Forensic pathologist Dr. George Lindholm, who performed the autopsy, said the victim suffered six blows to the head from a blunt instrument with a round end.

The victim’s body was found exactly where Medlock said he dumped it - by the Spokane River near Downriver Golf Course.

Medlock told detectives where they could find the baseball bat. They found it in Medlock’s downtown storage locker. The bat had traces of human blood on it.

Bloodstains in the carpet in Medlock’s motel room were found where he said Hedman was beaten to death.

The day of the killing, a Sunday, Medlock said he spent the morning and afternoon at Playfair Race Track, betting on horses and drinking wine coolers.

After leaving the track, he picked up Hedman at the corner of 2nd and Madison.

He paid for sex and took her to his room at the Ranch Motel on South Lewis. Medlock told authorities he improvised a condom out of a plastic sandwich bag.

The crude condom tore the victim’s vagina in several places, according to Kinn, probably causing her too much pain to continue.

In his confession, Medlock denied harming the victim during sex. He couldn’t explain why he killed Hedman.

Hours afterward, he said he rolled her body in a wool blanket, loaded the bundle into his compact car and headed for an isolated spot along the river.

Medlock grew up in Spokane, graduating from Lewis and Clark High School and attending Eastern Washington University for two years. Until the killing, he had worked in a Liberty Lake warehouse for 14 years.

He has no criminal record. If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces 20 years to life in prison. A second-degree murder conviction carries a minimum 10-year sentence.

Hedman ran away from her Tacoma home and became “Misty,” a crack-smoking prostitute. Her death helped convince the Legislature to pass the “Becca Bill,” giving parents and authorities more control over runaways.