Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer (18 page)

Dayton's wife, Julie, meanwhile, moved out of
their Eugene house and fled to California to get away from her
disturbed husband. Wanting nothing further to do with Dayton, she
filed for divorce with the help of California Legal Aid. Dayton,
however, didn't accept the rejection easily.

With access to a telephone, he located
Julie's parents' telephone number in California. Suspecting that
Julie was living with them, he called. When he reached her, he told
her that he had become a doctor and that he was making really good
money. It was all a blatant lie, of course, and Julie recognized it
as such. What kind of fool did he take her for? Begging her to come
back to him, Dayton persisted and said that he was sorry for
everything and promised that he would never behave in such a manner
again. Julie, however, told him that it was too late, that she had
been through enough problems with him and she was filing for a
divorce.

"Why are you divorcing me?" asked Dayton.

"Well, look at you," said Julie. "Look at the
way you are. You're in a mental institution. You're telling me that
you are a doctor. I can't take it anymore." She hung up on him and
never heard from him again.

Meanwhile, all Dayton could think about was
getting out of the hospital. He was careful, though, not to show
his anxiousness to the hospital staff, and he worked hard to meet
the goals set by himself and his therapists. He followed to the
letter the list of do's and don't's given to him by hospital
staff.

Demonstrating that he could cope with work
and responsibility, Dayton obtained employment with a furniture
painting company in Salem and was allowed to leave the hospital
campus to perform his duties. He also befriended a local pastor and
began to regularly attend religious services. If he engaged in any
drinking or drug use while off hospital grounds, it never came to
the attention of the staff or doctors. As far as hospital officials
were concerned, he was a model patient. On November 18, 1974, Dr.
J. H. Treleaven, clinical director of the hospital's psychiatric
security section, decided that Dayton "appears to be recovered from
his mental illness to the degree that he is no longer a menace to
himself or others. He is no longer in need of hospital treatment.
Therefore, his release from the hospital is recommended."

Continuing to obey ward routines and making
no waves, Dayton was formally released on December 12, 1974. Back
on the streets, he was a free man again.

Feeling ostracized by his family, who had by
now moved to Eugene, Dayton chose to remain in Salem. He obtained a
job as a house painter and moved into an apartment with the
minister from the church he began attending while hospitalized. He
was still plagued by violent sexual fantasies, and he masturbated
voraciously at every opportunity as an attempt at release from his
troubled mind.

Three months later he met Sherry Miller, an
innocent, naive, gorgeous, but sexually inexperienced young woman
with a religious upbringing from nearby Canby. He was enthralled by
her clean-cut and loving family, and he especially liked Sherry's
father, Roy. He soon moved out of the apartment he shared with the
minister and rented an apartment of his own at 357 A Street in
Woodburn so that he could be nearer to Sherry and her family.
Despite his closeness with Sherry, Dayton's sexual urges weren't
satiated. He looked elsewhere, unknown to Sherry, and cavorted with
a number of women he knew only casually. Despite his sexual
escapades, he and Sherry were married on October 25, 1975. Sherry
and her family hoped that the marriage would bring a lifetime of
happiness for them, but unfortunately they were unable to see
behind the mask Dayton had learned to wear so cunningly.

Within only weeks after the wedding, however,
troubles arose. Union problems began at the painting company where
Dayton worked, and he soon found himself unemployed and dependent
upon Sherry and her family. His sexual relationship with his wife
was no longer satisfying to him, and he became even more sexually
involved with casual acquaintances he would pick up in the bars and
restaurants. Despite the abundance of sex available to him,
Dayton's urges were not being satisfied. He soon became despondent,
and he began drinking heavily again on a regular basis. He also
began smoking marijuana and using amphetamines, and began suffering
from severe headaches.

The extramarital sex, alcohol, and drugs soon
were no help at all to him, and Dayton became more depressed and
agitated than ever. In his mind-set the more depressed he became,
the more alienated from family and friends he felt. Instead of
reaching out for help or seeking therapy, he struck out at those
closest to him, primarily his wife.

Finally, on the evening of December 4, 1975,
questions about his nocturnal activities from his wife triggered
his explosive temper. He blew up at home and had a serious fight
with Sherry, and stormed out of the house. In his mind he was going
to drive to Eugene, but he never told Sherry where he was headed.
He just left. The next time his wife heard from him, he would be in
jail on a charge of rape and coercion involving an
eighteen-year-old Canby girl.

Chapter 10

It was 1 A.M. on December 5, 1975, when
Dayton Leroy Rogers, driving through Salem, spotted the parked car
at the corner of Fairgrounds Boulevard and Portland Road. As he
passed by in his blue 1967 Chevrolet Malibu, he observed that the
car's lone occupant was an attractive young woman. He pulled off
the road and parked in front of her. When he approached her car, he
flashed her a wide smile in what would become a part of his usual
manner.

"Hi! I'm from Eugene," he said. "Where does
everyone go to have fun around here? I don't know my way around
town. There must be some local hangouts for young people like
us."