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Topics: Crime, US News, True crime
Claire Reid
A depraved serial killer and sex offender said the decision to execute him was the right one as he’d only end up offending again if not.
Westley Allan Dodd was sentenced to the death penalty after he pleaded guilty to the sexual assault and murder of three young boys in 1989. You can hear talk about why he thought the sentence was the right choice here:
Dodd committed his first sexual offence when he was just 13-years-old and in the years that followed he became more and more depraved before eventually going on to kill three boys aged between 11 and four.
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He was eventually apprehended after a failed attempt to abduct a six-year-old boy.
When cops carried out an investigation into Dodd, they discovered a diary where he kept detailed accounts of his murders - they also found a homemade torture rack, newspaper clippings about the murders and underwear belonging to one of his victims.
Dodd was given three charges of aggravated first-degree murder. He initially claimed to be innocent but later pleaded guilty to all charges in court.
During an unnerving interview while he was awaiting his execution, Dodd spoke matter-of-factly about why he thought the death penalty was the best solution.
Asked why he wanted to be executed, he said: “I have to be, because I know I will kill again. I know I would do it again. I’ve been molesting kids nonstop 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 said he had already thought about one particular person he wanted to murder if he had the chance.
“I’m not going to say who,” he went on. “But there is somebody out there - there is a man out there.”
Later in the interview, Dodd said he believed his execution would ‘do some good’ as it would deter ‘a few child molesters to think twice before they do anything again’.
When asked if he ‘looked forward to dying’ he replied: “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.”
He was executed by hanging on 5 January 1993 aged 31.