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He was 'I-5 Killer' suspected of killing 18 in late 1970s and early 1980s
October 10, 2010 - By Tony Walter
twalter@greenbaypressgazette.com

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's four-game suspension for his alleged misconduct in a college bar in Georgia ends today.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who handed down Roethlisberger's suspension, should be relieved that he didn't have to deal with Randall Brent Woodfield.

He was a wide receiver at Portland State University and the Green Bay Packers' 17th-round draft choice in 1974.

He also went on to be a serial killer.

By any measure, he ranks as the Packers' worst draft choice of all time.

Now 59, Woodfield is serving a life sentence without parole at the Oregon State Penitentiary for a brutal crime spree that got him labeled as the "I-5 Killer." Prosecutors say he may have killed as many as 18 people, mostly females, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Woodfield was convicted in 1981 of one murder, one attempted murder and several sodomy charges, but prosecutors decided not to bring the other cases to trial since it would have been costly, and Woodfield wasn't going anywhere for the rest of his life anyway.

He didn't get the death penalty because Oregon didn't have it in 1981, although it has since been reinstated.

Woodfield tried to catch on with the Packers during Coach and General Manager Dan Devine's last season. He signed a contract in February 1974 but was cut during training camp, never making it to the team's final roster.

Green Bay Police Department and Brown County Sheriff's Department officials say there is no record of any criminal activity by Woodfield while he was in the Green Bay area. There is nothing on record at the Brown County Courthouse, either.

But Ann Rule, a prolific crime book author who wrote "The I-5 Killer" in 1984 — a book that led to an unsuccessful $20 million libel suit from Woodfield — claimed that there were rumors of numerous indecent exposure incidents involving Woodfield while he was in Wisconsin.

Erik Torkelson, a Packers running back who was drafted in the 11th round in 1974 and played seven seasons for the Packers, has a vague memory of Woodfield.

"I remember him but nothing special," said Torkelson, who still lives in Green Bay. "That was the year there was a preseason strike so there were so many rookies in camp. That whole year was a blur. But I guess he (Woodfield) went on to become quite famous. It was about 10 years ago when I first heard about him being the I-5 killer."

After the Packers cut Woodfield, he played the 1974 season with the semipro Manitowoc Chiefs and for a while worked for Oshkosh Truck. He then returned to Oregon where he began one of the West Coast's worst crime rampages in history.

Woodfield in 1975 pled guilty to a lesser-degree crime of second-degree robbery after several Portland, Ore., women were accosted by a knife-wielding man and sexually assaulted. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, served four of them and was released in 1979.

That's when prosecutors say Woodfield began the worst of his crimes.

In October 1980, police believe he killed former classmate Cherie Ayers in Portland, but Woodfield refused to take a polygraph exam and he wasn't charged.

Over the next several months along the Interstate 5 corridor from Washington to California, he became the leading suspect in a series of rapes, kidnappings, armed robberies and murders that didn't end until he was arrested in Salem, Ore., on March 7, 1981.

This time he was sentenced to life in prison plus 95 years. Two later convictions added another 35 years to his term.

Woodfield married three times and was divorced twice while in prison. Some letters he wrote from prison were eventually sold online.

Four years ago, Woodfield wrote the following on his MySpace account.

"I'm Randy, I'm 55. I spend the remainder of my days in prison because I have committed a murder along with many other crimes. I once tried out for the Green Bay Packers. The only reason I didn't make it is because the skills I had to offer they didn't need at the time."

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