In the summer of 1988, the life of 23-year-old Stacy Elizabeth Hawn, a female, was tragically cut short, though the full story of her disappearance and death would remain a painful mystery for more than a decade. Stacy was last seen alive in Seattle, Washington, on July 7, 1988. For months, her family and friends were left with only questions as her whereabouts remained unknown.
The search for answers took a grim turn on December 28, 1988.
On that day, skeletal remains were discovered in a remote, unpopulated area south of Big Lake in Skagit County, miles from where Stacy was last seen. An examination confirmed the remains were Stacy's and revealed she had died from a single gunshot wound to the head. With no suspects and few leads, the investigation into her murder eventually went cold, leaving a void of uncertainty for those who mourned her.
For twelve years, Stacy's case file gathered dust, one of Washington's many unsolved homicides. The break would come from an entirely different investigation, hundreds of miles away. In April 2000, authorities in Spokane arrested Robert Lee Yates Jr., a decorated former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and father of five, unmasking a prolific serial killer who had terrorized the state for years. As investigators connected him to a string of murders, Yates began to confess, hoping to avoid the death penalty.
Among his many confessions was the murder of Stacy Elizabeth Hawn. Yates told investigators that while on military leave in July 1988, he had picked Stacy up on Aurora Avenue in Seattle. He admitted to shooting her and dumping her body in the secluded location on Lake Cavanaugh Road where she was eventually found. Skagit County Prosecutor Tom Verge later expressed his shock at the confession, stating, "We had no reason to believe he was involved in the case." The admission finally brought a resolution to a case that had seemed destined to remain unsolved.
Robert Lee Yates Jr., also known as the Spokane Serial Killer, was responsible for at least 16 murders between 1975 and 1998. His victims were often vulnerable women, and his method was tragically consistent: shooting them and leaving their bodies in rural areas. To avoid a death sentence for his crimes in Spokane County, Yates pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder, including Stacy's, and one count of attempted first-degree murder. For these crimes, he was sentenced to 408 years in prison.
Subsequently, Yates faced trial in Pierce County for two additional murders, where he was convicted and sentenced to death. However, after the Washington Supreme Court ruled the state's death penalty unconstitutional in 2018, his sentence was commuted. Robert Lee Yates Jr. is now serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole at the Washington State Penitentiary, ensuring he will never again be free. While justice was legally served, the resolution did little to fill the space left by the lives he destroyed, including that of a young woman who vanished on a summer day in 1988.
