Yates Doing Guard Duty When Slaying Victim Found Suspect In Serial Killings May Have Been In Tacoma Area

FOR THE RECORD: (Thursday, May 4, 2000) A story in Wednesday’s editions said a Spokane man who bought a black van that was owned by serial killer suspect Robert Lee Yates Jr. found bullet casings and a stain after he bought it. The stain did not come from blood.

Army National Guard records show Robert Lee Yates Jr. was taking part in training the same weekend the body of a suspected serial killer victim was found in the Tacoma area.

Yates, a Guard helicopter pilot, typically performed such exercises at Fort Lewis and Camp Murray outside Tacoma. However, the Guard could not say Tuesday exactly where Yates had trained on the dates in question.

Those locations are expected to be released today.

Yates was undergoing military training Dec. 5, 6 and 7 in 1997. The body of Melinda Mercer was discovered in south Tacoma on Dec. 7.

Investigators believe Mercer’s remains had been at the site for less than 24 hours. A plastic bag had been placed over her head.

In October 1998, the body of Connie LaFontaine Ellis was discovered in south Tacoma, not far from where Mercer’s body had been found. LaFontaine Ellis’ body was badly decomposed.

National Guard records show Yates was on training assignments in the months prior to when LaFontaine Ellis’ remains were located - including two days in September. One investigator said LaFontaine Ellis’ body was not found until about a month after her death.

Yates was arrested April 18 and is being held in the Spokane County Jail in lieu of $1.5 million cash bail. He has been charged in the 1997 murder of Jennifer Joseph, a 16-year-old runaway who was found dead near Mount Spokane.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office says DNA and other evidence could link Yates to at least 11 other killings in Spokane and Tacoma - including the slayings of Mercer and LaFontaine Ellis.

Steve Tucker, county prosecuting attorney, has said additional charges are expected in coming weeks. Pierce County would prosecute any of the serial killer deaths that occurred in its jurisdiction.

Each of the Spokane serial killer victims had lifestyles that involved drugs, prostitution or both. All of the victims were shot.

On Tuesday, investigators affiliated with the Spokane County Homicide Task Force began contacting authorities around the country that are looking into unsolved prostitute deaths.

Jim Hansen, an investigator with the state attorney general’s office and former Spokane County sheriff’s detective, is acting as the liaison between the task force and outside police departments.

Hansen said between 25 and 30 departments are interested in information about Yates, including agencies from California, New York, British Columbia and several around Washington state. Kootenai County in Idaho is also dealing with an unsolved death from 1993, Hansen said.

Initially, Hansen said he will ask for case summaries to see whether key details match with those of the Spokane serial killer.

The FBI has taken the lead in pursuing possible connections to Yates overseas.

During his active-duty Army career, Yates was stationed at a base in Germany, from 1987 to 1991 and at another base in Hanau, Germany, from 1980 to 1984.

Between 1984 and 1987, Yates was stationed at either Fort Drum in New York or Fort Rucker, Ala.

A person familiar with the case said Germany’s federal police, the BKA, have a high level of interest in Yates. German authorities have also asked for mug shots, Yates’ DNA profile and fingerprints.

So far, German investigators are being provided with a rough timeline of Yates’ military whereabouts and details of the U.S. cases he may be involved with.

It’s not clear how many deaths German police are investigating. But Egon Dezihan, with the FBI in Spokane, said, “They are very interested in” Yates.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Cal Walker said a weapon has not been recovered from Yates’ home. He also did not discuss items that have been found inside the house on East 49th Street, where police have been searching since Yates’ arrest.

Detectives spent part of Tuesday mapping the home’s interior. An X-ray machine is being used to look for evidence inside the walls.

A trained weapon-sniffing dog, brought to Spokane by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, keyed in on six spots in the house, Sterk said two weeks ago.

Last week, the owner of a black van that Yates formerly owned said he found blood and shell casings inside after he bought it.

The man was reinterviewed by sheriff’s detectives.

Walker said he was told the items found in the van have since been destroyed. Investigators were not told about the bullet casing and blood during an initial interview.