Man Arrested In Prostitute's Death

On tonight's 5 o'clock news it was confimed that Yates was a replacement worker at Mead.

In a rapidly developing case, a Spokane man, identified as Robert Yates, 47, of Spokane, has been arrested for the murder of a Spokane area prostitute.

Following the detainment of Yates as a “person of interest”, Spokane authorities began searching his home located at 2220 E 49th Ave on the South Hill early Tuesday morning for evidence that might link him to the death of a Spokane area prostitute.

Yates was taken into custody early Tuesday morning by authorities. Soon afterward, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at his home, located in the Spokane South Hill neighborhood of 49th and Altamont. Detectives from the Property Crimes and Sex Crimes divisions of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office have sealed off an 8-square block area around the man’s home. According to Cpl. Dave Reagan, spokesman for the Sheriff’s office, detectives are now going through the man’s home, inch-by-inch, as well as canvassing the neighborhood.

According to Cpl. Reagan, Yates was detained Tuesday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into a murder that was “many months old.”

“This is something that has been in the works for awhile, though I’m not at liberty to say how long,” he said.

Authorities have cordoned off that South Hill neighborhood, according to Reagan, to protect potential evidence from being exposed prematurely to the public.

“One of the things we need to accomplish is to get information regarding our person’s movements, habits … things he may have told people … get that in hand and on paper before those statements are made public via the media,” Reagan said. “It’s a matter of protecting those statements as evidence for upcoming trial.”

Cpl. Dave Reagan further emphasized that Yates is under arrest now only in the murder of one prostitute.

“We are very specifically not saying he is our serial killer,” Reagan said. “We have evidence that ties him to the homicide of one prostitute.”

One way they hope to prove or disprove whether Yates is linked to the deaths of other prostitutes in the Spokane area is by testing his DNA. Reagan said authorities plan to test Yates’ DNA – and compare it with that of DNA found during the course of the serial killer investigation – within the next 24 hours.

Reagan said that Tuesday’s development was very “encouraging” with Yates’ arrest and that it is “looking like progress”.