For two years, the family of Melody Ann Murfin held onto hope, clouded by the agonizing uncertainty of not knowing where she was. A 43-year-old woman, Melody disappeared from Spokane, Washington, on May 20, 1998. Her case was linked to a string of unsolved murders that had cast a shadow of fear over the city, but without her body, there were no definitive answers, only the dread of what might have happened.
The terrible truth of Melody’s fate remained a secret, buried in the most
chilling of places. The man responsible for her death was Robert Lee Yates Jr., a decorated former U.S. Army helicopter pilot, a husband, and a father of five who lived a seemingly ordinary life. To his neighbors, he was a family man who played softball with his son in the yard of his split-level home. In reality, Yates was one of the most prolific serial killers in the state's history, preying on vulnerable women, many of whom were involved in prostitution and drugs along Spokane's E. Sprague Avenue.
Between 1975 and 1998, Yates murdered at least 16 people. His method was consistent and brutal: he would solicit women, take them to a secluded location or his van, shoot them in the head with a.25-caliber handgun, and dump their bodies in rural areas. Some victims were found with plastic grocery bags placed over their heads, a grim signature that led to him being dubbed "The Grocery Bag Killer."
The investigation into the serial killings intensified, and police eventually zeroed in on Yates after he was pulled over in his white Corvette, a vehicle that had been linked to one of the victims. DNA evidence found in the car connected him to the murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Joseph. Following his arrest in April 2000, investigators uncovered a mountain of evidence linking him to numerous other slayings. Facing multiple charges of aggravated first-degree murder, Yates chose to negotiate.
To avoid the death penalty in Spokane County, Yates agreed to a plea bargain. A crucial condition of this deal was that he confess to all his crimes and lead investigators to the remains of his undiscovered victims. In October 2000, he finally revealed the location of Melody Ann Murfin. In a shocking disclosure, he directed detectives to his own home, to a flower bed just outside his bedroom window. There, authorities unearthed Melody's body, ending the two-year search. Though decomposition made immediate identification difficult, jewelry found with the remains, including rings and a necklace, was recognized by her family.
Yates confessed to 13 murders and one attempted murder in Spokane County. During his sentencing, the court heard from the devastated families of his victims. Melody’s daughter, Wendy Ergelbinger, confronted him directly. “How could you take my mother and bury her in your yard, and your family walk around on my mother for 2 1/2 years?” she asked. “You're a sick monster, and you will be judged.”
Yates was sentenced to 408 years in prison for the Spokane County crimes, ensuring he would die behind bars. He offered a statement, saying, "I pray that God will right the wrongs that I have committed and that justice will bring closure." The plea deal, however, did not extend to two other murders he committed in Pierce County. He was later tried and convicted for those killings and sentenced to death, though this was commuted to life without parole in 2018 when Washington's Supreme Court ruled the state's death penalty unconstitutional.
Robert Lee Yates Jr. is now serving his life sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary. For the family of Melody Murfin, the resolution of the case brought a painful end to a long and harrowing ordeal, finally laying to rest the question of what happened to her, even as it revealed the horrifying proximity of her killer.
