Wsp To Aid Serial Killer Task Force Patrol Will Provide Detective Next Year

Tue., Dec. 22, 1998

By Adam Lynn adaml@spokesman.com

The task force chasing Spokane’s serial killer will gain another detective in 1999.

The Washington State Patrol has agreed to provide an investigator to augment the group, officials said Monday.

The detective probably will come from the State Patrol’s Spokane office and be attached to the serial killer task force for a year, WSP Capt. Eric Robertson said.

The State Patrol will continue to pay the person’s salary during the assignment.

“We want to do our part to help,” Robertson said. “We believe it’s going to take a partnership to catch this person.”

The task force is composed of personnel from the Spokane police and sheriff’s departments. Eight detectives, two sergeants, a lieutenant and two clerks are working on the investigation.

Police and sheriff’s administrators balked this year at adding State Patrol investigators to the group. They said they didn’t have enough clerical staff to serve more detectives and wondered if an investigator from the state agency would be able to work well with local law enforcement.

But new Spokane Police Chief Alan Chertok and sheriff-elect Mark Sterk recently requested help from the State Patrol, saying the task force needs all the help it can get.

The announcement was met with enthusiasm by sheriff’s Capt. Doug Silver, a co-commander of the task force.

“Anytime we can get another investigator, it gives us a helping hand,” Silver said.

Authorities believe one person has killed nine women - eight in Spokane and one in Tacoma - since November 1997.

The victims worked as prostitutes, used drugs, or both. They all were shot and dumped in out-of-the-way areas.

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