THE WEREWOLF BUTCHER: JACK OWEN SPILLMAN III

Jack Owen Spillman III, born on August 30, 1969, was from Spokane, Washington, and is widely known as “The Werewolf Butcher.” His criminal rap sheet includes charges on rape in King County, Washington, and burglary in Spokane County, Washington, as well as a long list of charges ranging from indecent exposure, theft, malicious mischief, assault, and rape, dating all the way back to 1982.

In 1995, Spillman viciously attacked, mutilated, raped and murdered a mother and her teenage daughter in East Wenatchee, Washington. Under threat of the death penalty, he pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder, including the 1994 mutilation-murder of a 9-year-old girl in Okanogan County, Washington. The confession of the child’s murder surprised authorities, although he had been a suspect in her disappearance.

On April 29, 1996, at the young age of 27, he was convicted of all three counts of aggravated murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is currently serving his sentence at Washington State Penitentiary. According to official court documents, “Spillman would declare to Mark Miller (his cellmate) that he wanted to be the world’s greatest serial killer. “

Spillman’s mother had a total of four husbands, with whom she had four children. He and his three siblings never knew for certain which husband was the father of which child. He dropped out of school in the 9th grade. To the public eye, he was a low-IQ laborer (some news reports state that he had most recently been employed as either a butcher or a roofer) with a criminal record, but in reality, he was a true monster, who spent his time stalking the women he would eventually kill.

Rita Huffman, 48, was a car salesperson, and her daughter Amanda “Mandy” Huffman, 15, was a student. They did not know Spillman, but it was alleged by the State that he stalked them before killing them. There was no forced entry on their home, so he must have watched them for long enough to learn about the rear sliding door to the home, which always remained unlocked.

The court reports that Trial Judge Carol A. Wardell submitted state that Rita was stabbed a total of 31 times in the upper chest and lower neck, which damaged and severed major blood vessels. The wounds were caused by a single-edged instrument, presumptively a knife. She sustained wounds on her hands and arms which were consistent with defensive actions, indicating that she was conscious and aware of being attacked.

Despite her defensive efforts, Rita died of exsanguination. She would have lost consciousness rather quickly as a result of the multiple stab wounds. Her body was found on a couch in the family room. Her genital area was excised and stuffed in her mouth, and her body was posed for exposure in a final indignity.

Rita’s daughter, Amanda, was killed by a blow to her skull from a blunt instrument, presumably the baseball bat which was found pushed into her vagina. He placed the skin from her genitalia on her face. Her body was found in her mother’s bed, with her mother’s eviscerated breasts near her. Because of the nature of the crimes, it was possible that Amanda was held hostage for a short period of time prior to her death.

Although the evisceration and various injuries sustained from sexual mutilation were not inflicted prior to death, the details were included in the court report, because Spillman had discussed with various former cellmates that he wanted to commit the same type of mutilation-murders. This provided the court and investigators with deeper insight into the nature and degree of his premeditation.

When detectives checked the incident reports from the night of the double murder, they discovered that Jack Owen Spillman had been arrested in the small hours of the morning, not far from the crime scene, on suspicion of burglary. Upon a search of the area, they turned up a bloody knife which was matched to one of the victims. A witness also noted seeing his truck near the crime scene around 11:30pm the night of the murders.

Since police initially had no concrete evidence tying Spillman to the crimes, they released him from custody, and kept him under surveillance for nearly a week after the slayings. During this time, he disposed of a bloodied ski-mask, which was matched to a victim. It was later discovered that he had drank Amanda Huffman’s blood, as her blood was smeared near the mouth opening of the ski-mask.

Rita’s death, and the rape and torture leading to it, was incidental, as Spillman had been keeping his eye on Amanda. The daughter had been his intended victim.

When the body of Spillman’s 9-year-old victim, Penny Davis, was exhumed, it appeared that Spillman had buried her in the same position in which Amanda was later found on her mother’s bed. He admitted he had stalked the Davis family with an interest in Penny’s older sister, and he had stayed with the family on occasion. He moved out of the area when the little girl turned up missing and the police began to question him.

Writer J.J. Rogers states that just 6 months later, Spillman broke into an apartment where he mutilated a pet hamster in a child’s room, cutting off its head and splattering the walls and toys with blood. He left the knife he had used protruding from a stuffed panda’s head, and escaped. It was only a matter of time before he turned his sadistic proclivity onto the Huffman family.

Jack Spillman had studied forensics and other serial killers in an effort to learn how to avoid being caught. He often described to his cellmates the precautions he would take against leaving clues. He believed himself to be a real werewolf, and he stalked his prey as he assumed such a beast would. He fanaticized about torturing women, and expressed his urge to cut the heart out of his victim in order to consume it. Additionally, he desired to keep his victims in a cave.

Spillman’s youngest victim, Penny, had died quickly from torture and a cut to her throat that was too deep, in the local cave he had taken her to, and he was unable to fulfill all of his dark fantasies. After he buried her body in the woods, he exhumed her corpse several times for sexual purposes. When recounting his blood-thirsty fantasies, Spillman would reportedly grow quite frenzied.

Those are the facts. But what is it that drives a man to such heinous acts? Could the murders of Penny Davis and the Huffman’s have been prevented? Others like Spillman, during the 19th century, were described as psychiatric patients. These compulsive, bestial slaughters have happened before Jack Owen Spillman “The Werewolf Butcher”, and they will surely happen again. For now, we can only be grateful that Spillman was apprehended before he unleashed this horror on dozens of other unsuspecting women in Washington State.