6.8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Pages 256 pp Dewey Decimal 364.15/23/0979737 Country United States of America | 3.4/5 Goodreads Publication date 2012 (2nd ed), 2002 ISBN 978-0786029273 Originally published 2002 Genre True crime OCLC 2003271224 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (paperback), e-book Publisher KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. Similar Mom Said Kill, Fatal Beauty, Head shot, Broken doll, Murder in the family | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Body Count: The Terrifying True Story of the Spokane Serial Killer is a non-fiction book released in December 2012 by Pinnacle Books and written by the crime writer Burl Barer about the American serial killer Robert Lee Yates from Spokane, Washington. It was first published in 2002, and then updated and re-released 10 years later.
Storyline
Robert Lee Yates, Jr. was the father of five, an Air National Guard pilot who served in Desert Storm, and someone no one suspected as a killer. But at night, he prowled the streets where prostitutes gathered. The book follows the four-year investigation, describing it as a "process of elimination" to solve it. The book covers how Yates was finally caught and the effect Yates's double life had on his family.
After a trial in 2002, Yates was convicted of killing two women and sentenced to death. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to 13 other murders and was given a sentence of 408 years.
The author appeared in 2010 on BlogTalkRadio's "True Murder" show to talk about the book and the lengthy investigation, telling radio host Dan Zupansky that he gained access to the law enforcement task force that gave him a behind-the-scenes look to the investigation."
Barer had a personal connection to the killer, as Yates's first victims were friends of the author's family in Walla Walla, Washington.