Serial Killer Hunt Worth The Money

The women left the world through violence. They were shot to death, and then discarded like garbage. The serial killer behind the deaths of at least 10 Inland Northwest women obviously didn’t respect his victims. They were engaged in what media and police have dubbed “high-risk lifestyles.”

But these women who had come to drugs and prostitution at that point in their lives were loved by people just as much as those who do not engage in high-risk lifestyles. They left behind parents, siblings, children, friends. They left behind memories. They are missed. And they should not - they cannot - be forgotten.

Concern for the women was obvious at a Feb. 28 public meeting in Spokane conducted by Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk and serial killer investigators. About 100 women and men listened to theories about the killer, and revelations about DNA evidence. The most moving part of the meeting came toward the end when family members talked about their murdered loved ones.

The department deserves kudos for a finding a creative way to keep the investigation alive in the minds and hearts of community members.

On Tuesday, Spokane County commissioners gave serial killer investigators a needed financial boost by approving $120,000 to hire a crime-records analyst and to pay private labs for examining evidence.

Commissioners balked, and rightfully so, at paying more money to add two detectives to the task force. The reason more are needed? Spokane police pulled their five members off the task force last January after I-695’s passage left the department with a $1.3 million budget shortfall.

County commissioners said they think city police should pick up some of the serial killer investigation burden, and Spokane Police Chief Roger Bragdon says he hopes to do just that, as soon as more money becomes available.

Bragdon should make that a budget priority as soon as possible, because it’s worth it. A New Testament story says that in the end, people will be judged on what they did for “the least of their brothers.” Likewise, the true health of a community can be judged on how it treats the least of its citizens. This means finding, and stopping, the person who preys on high-risk lifestyle women.