Book Review: The I-5 Killer

Ann Rule, The I-5 Killer: the True Story of an NFL Draftee Who Became a Perverted Serial Killer. New York: Berkley, 2022. ISBN: 9780593441374.

 

Genre: nonfiction

Subgenre: true crime, 1980s, serial killers

Format: trade paperback

Source: Berea branch, Madison County (KY) Public Library 

 

Randall Woodfield seemed to have it all in his youth: award winning student and athlete, drafted  by the Green Bay Packers, and chosen by Playgirl as a centerfold candidate, or so this book's description would have us believe. To be honest, that description leaves out a lot. Randy basically failed with Green Bay and was basically let go by the team. He did submit photos to the magazine, but he was never chosen as a centerfold. What the book's back blurb does get right is that he did leave a trail of victims along the I-5 corridor. The man was a monster who basically raped and robbed and murdered through California, Oregon, and Washington. 

The events described in the book happened in the early 1980s. This 2022 edition is a reprint of a book published in 1984 with an update at the end of the book that was added in 1988. 

Rule first introduces us to the crimes in the prologue to set up the story. Then the story starts with Beth Wilmot's case. After that, the narrative goes between Randy's life and crimes, his victims, and the police officers and prosecutors working to capture him. Since Randy was so mobile, initially it was very difficult to connect the various crimes. As Randy wanders up and down Interstate 5 we wonder if he will be caught. Gradually the difference police agencies come together, with some issues, start comparing notes, and eventually Randy becomes their subject. Once the puzzle pieces come together, it's the end for Randy, for the most part. 

Rule writes a pretty dramatic narrative, able to weave back and forth between Randy, victims, and law enforcement. The pace does slow down a bit in the middle of the book, but once the cops start working together the pace picks up until he gets caught, taken to trial, and convicted. 

To be honest, I am amazed at how charming Randy could appear to women. I've seen the photos in the book. He is not all that. All he really had was his jock physique and a strong ability to manipulate women, the younger the better. He learned early on what to say and how to say it to push women's buttons. Granted, some older women saw right through him, but many women overall did not. Still, the ones he could not manipulate he also hurt anyhow. Even in prison, via letters, he could still manipulate women. Part of me wondered just what the hell women saw in this loser who never really had gainful employment, but we do have to give the devil his due. Randy, maybe not too smart, certainly was a master manipulator. That and many women were unable or unwilling to see the red flags made for terrible outcomes. 

Overall, the book was interesting, but the pace was inconsistent. The story still holds up today, though I wonder if he could've been caught sooner if it happened today given better technology. Fans of true crime will likely enjoy this one. In the end, I liked it. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

* * * * * 

Additional reading notes: 

This book is in one way a cop tale, and in typical cop story fashion cops from different places have difficulty playing nice: 

 

"And then the specter of territorial rights raised its ugly head" (170). 

 

After all, whoever got the guy would get credit and fame. 

 

What Randy really was: 

 

"He was quite probably the most prolific sexual criminal in Oregon criminal history. He would garner far more headlines over the next months and years in this role than he ever had as a star athlete" (210). 

 

On Randy's lawyers: 

 

"Randy Woodfield was indigent; all of his attorneys were supplied by the taxpayers of Oregon" (273). 

 

Lucky for Randy, unlike most people who often get subpar lawyers as public defenders, Randy had some seriously competent, high end lawyers appointed by the courts. He certainly got a good defense in his trials. 

 

On Randy and women, his manipulation: 

 

"There is a bleak irony in how well Randy Woodfield understands women. For a male who has demonstrated over and over an almost visceral hatred for the opposite sex, he knows just which buttons to push, when to be forceful, when to offer tenderness" (280).