My library had a big selection of books about various serial killers on the audio book page a couple of months ago — I think it coincided with some release on Netflix. Anyway, I downloaded The I-5 Killer mostly because it didn’t have a hold list. And then I made the mistake of listening to it while running, mostly in Vegas, by myself. That, FYI, is a great way to give yourself the creeps.
I had never heard of the I-5 Killer, Randall Woodfield, prior to reading this book but I had heard of the author, Ann Rule. She wrote The Stranger Beside Me about another serial killer — Ted Bundy, who happened to be a close friend of hers. As far as I know, she had no previous relationship with Woodfield, but she definitely brings a lot of research and information to this book.
Randall Woodfield was by all accounts a nice young man, good looking and popular. He was a star athlete in school, and always a hit with women. But of course, he had his dark side. In the early 1980s, he cruised up and down I-5 along the west coast, raping and murdering women. He’s suspected to have killed up to 44 women, although only he’s serving a sentence for only one murder.
Rule collected massive amounts of information, and interviewed law enforcement officials as well as the victim’s families. She never sensationalizes his crimes, but they’re chilling nonetheless. Woodfield escalated quickly from indecent exposure (which got him cut from the Minnesota Vikings) to rape and murder, and it’s terrifying to think how much more damage he could have done had the police not caught him when they did.