Victims' Parents Say Death Of Dodd Heals Their Pain

VANCOUVER, Wash. - The pain caused by Westley Allan Dodd's crimes lifted the moment the murderer of three young boys was hanged early Tuesday, parents of his victims say.

"I feel wonderful," Jewell Cornell said Wednesday evening. "I'm more relaxed. My headaches are gone. Dodd's gone. I feel great."

She and Clair Neer were the only members of the boys' families to witness the execution at the state penitentiary at Walla Walla. Dodd murdered Neer's sons William, 10, and Cole, 11, and Cornell's 4-year-old son, Lee Iseli, in late 1989.

In interviews with The Vancouver Columbian, both told of the relief they felt at Dodd's death.

"I more or less got a lot of things off my mind," Neer said. "I don't have to sit and think about that piece of crap any more."

Neer and Cornell both said the execution went the way they expected, though they had last-minute fears it would not take place.

"I figured there would be a last-minute stay," Neer said.

They also scoffed at Dodd's professed 11th-hour conversion to Christianity.

In his last words, Dodd said he had found peace in his belief in Jesus and God.

"How dare he say anything about God?" Neer said. "It takes a lifetime to be a Christian."

"That's bull," Cornell said. "It's just hype. For what he has done and how he has lived his life, he cannot spend two hours with the Bible and expect to be forgiven."

Cornell said Dodd's attorney, Darrell Lee, told her Dodd asked for her forgiveness. But she told Lee it would be "a cold day in hell" before she forgave her boy's killer.

Cornell and Neer also said they were offended by Dodd's statement, also made to Lee, that he wanted to meet the murdered boys in heaven so he could hug them and ask their forgiveness.

"It would be terrible for him to get ahold of my boy again," Cornell said.

The two parents said they had no qualms about watching Dodd die.

"I didn't think I could look at it when it happened," Neer said. "But after it did, heck, I could sit through it two or three times."

"It's kind of frightening that I have this kind of feeling," Cornell said.

"He got what he deserved and I feel healed. I know that sounds strange."