Molester Writes Brochure On Safety For Youngsters -- Murder Suspect Says He Speaks From Experience

VANCOUVER, Clark County - ``My name is Wes. I am the stranger you should stay away from.''

Those words take on the chill of grisly truth when you know what their author is accused of.

But Westley Allan Dodd, charged with three brutal child killings last fall and an admitted child-molester, says he is hopeful that his reputation also will add a certain credibility to what he has to say. His message is contained in a brochure he's written in prison telling children what to do when approached by a stranger.

Three weeks from today, Dodd is expected to go to court to face the first of two death-penalty trials stemming from the rape and fatal stabbing of two Vancouver brothers and the rape and strangulation of a 4-year-old Portland, Ore., boy.

Meanwhile, he said he has ``decided to do what I can, while I can, to help.''

Dodd's brochure is called ``When You Meet a Stranger.'' He wrote it, he said, because he believes he has a unique perspective on what is often called stranger danger.

The brochure is hand-printed, in pencil, on blue-lined note paper. The artwork, in colored pencil, was done by others, most of it by the 14-year-old daughter of a former fellow inmate.

``There's all kinds of programs that tell (children) to say `no' and run away, find help, things like that, but I don't think there's ever been anybody in my position saying, `Hey, that works. This is how you can protect yourself from me,' you know? It does work,'' he said.

And in his pamphlet he describes six of the more than 40 molestation attempts he said he has made during the past 15 years. He tells how and why some of those children got away without being molested.

The ``hero'' of his pamphlet is a 6-year-old boy whose circumstances bear a resemblance to those of James Kirk, the Washougal youngster whose ability to fight back resulted in Dodd's arrest last November.

``He knew he couldn't get away,'' Dodd writes of the 6-year-old, ``but he didn't give up. He started screaming and yelled, `Someone help me! He's killing me!' He kept screaming and yelling. I was afraid someone would hear him, so I let him go and ran away. The boy ran and told someone what happened, and the police caught me 10 minutes later . . . He's a hero now . . . Be a hero.''

Kirk was abducted from the restroom of a Camas movie theater. He told police that when he refused to go with his kidnapper, the man struck him, picked him up and carried him, screaming, out of the theater. It was the boy's screaming and struggling that caught the attention of witnesses, and it was the boy's screaming that apparently led the kidnapper to release him.

Dodd said he was 12 when he first began exposing himself from a bedroom window to children walking home from school. At age 13, he sexually molested his cousin. Since that time, Dodd figures he has molested 21 children, almost all of them boys. There are another 20 or so whom he said he approached and did not molest.

At first, his victims were children he knew - cousins, children of friends and neighbors. Then, fearing detection, he began approaching young boys in parks. He is not surprised to hear that readers of his pamphlet might question his motives in writing it and making it public, with his first trial about to begin. He was told that people may say he is trying to gain sympathy, to make himself look good.

``Yeah, I'd expect that,'' he said. ``I'm just trying to show that, like I said before, I know from experience those things do work if they're done.''

Dodd's brochure includes the following advice, written in his own style:

JUST SAY NO: ``I met (a) boy at the park. I told him to pull down his pants. He said NO! I told him he couldn't leave until he did. He said NO again. I made him promise not to tell anyone what happened and let him go. He didn't pull his pants down.

RUN!: ``Another boy said NO. Then, before I could make him do what I wanted anyway, he ran away. I ran away, too. I went the other way.

SCREAM! YELL!: ``I met another boy . . . He said NO and tried to get away from me, but I picked him up and started to carry him away. He knew he couldn't get away, but he didn't give up. He started screaming and yelled: `Someone help me. He's killing me!' He kept screaming and yelling. I was afraid someone would hear him, so I let him go and ran away.

SOMETIMES IT'S NOT A STRANGER: Remember, the stranger can be a man or a woman. But sometimes, the person that wants to do bad things is someone you know. It could be a teacher, friend, aunt or uncle. It could be the baby-sitter or your neighbor. It could be anyone. Whoever it is, tell them no . . . then tell someone as soon as you can . . . get away . . . call 911.''

IS IT TOO LATE?: If it did happen to you or someone you know, please tell someone. Tell your mom or dad, or your teacher. Tell anyone you trust. Even if the person said he'd hurt you or someone you know if you tell, tell on him anyway. You can still be a hero by telling the truth.

JUST REMEMBER: Just say no! Run! Scream! Yell! Get away! Tell someone! Be a hero!