A serial killer who murdered three children gave a chilling final speech explaining why he had to die.
Westley Allan Dodd sexually assaulted and murdered three boys in 1989 and 1992 - the youngest of which was just four years old, while the oldest was a pre-pubescent 11-year-old.
Dodd, who'd committed his first sexual offence at 13, carried out the first two of his three kills on September 1989, when he visited David Douglas Park in Vancouver, Washington.
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He abused and murdered two brothers, 11 and 10 years-old, stabbing them with a knife.
In October 1992, he then abused and murdered a four-year-old boy before dumping his body at Vancouver Lake.
He was eventually caught by police after he tried to abduct a six-year-old from a movie theatre in Camas, Washington in November that year.
Dodd also chronicled his gruesome crimes in a journal, cutting out newspaper articles about his heinous acts as well as a homemade torture rack and underwear belonging to one of his victims - which was discovered by police during an investigation.
He was charged with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder, to which he initially pleaded innocent before changing to a guilty plea - and ended up being placed on death row.
The 31-year-old was executed on January 5, 1993, at Washington State Penitentiary.
In an interview before his death, he said that he needed to be executed as he knew he'd 'kill again'.
He said: “I have to be [executed] because I know I will kill again. I know I would do it again. I’ve been molesting kids non-stop since I was 13 years old - over half my life.
“Anything happened, I guarantee I would do it again and sooner or later I would kill another child. I’ve done it before and, at the time, I liked it.”
Dodd also revealed that if he'd ever gotten out of prison, then there was one particular person he'd thought about murdering - though he never revealed who that was.
“I’m not going to say who,” he continued to say. “But there is somebody out there - there is a man out there.”
He also said that his execution would 'do some good' as it would make 'a few child molesters to think twice before they do anything again’.
In response to whether he 'looked forward to dying', Dodd added: “In a way - it could be a relief, I don't have to think about all these things anymore and I know that's the only way I can guarantee I’m not going to hurt anybody else.
"Right now I can sit here and say I don’t want to but I know it will happen.”
Topics: Crime, True crime, Death Row
Joe Yates