I-5 Killer in my neighborhood

(No, there's not actually a serial killer loose in my community.)

I was coming home from the library and Trader Joe's when I spotted a camera crew standing in the middle of the road, shooting something that was up in the trees. I looked around for a media van, but instead caught sight of a collection of police cruisers.

Given the drug raid we had here in recent memory, this wasn't a welcome sight.

I lowered my car window, and a nearby officer walked over.

"What's going on?"

"Court TV. Just shooting some scenes for television." He smiled and shook his head. "Don't worry. No crime here today."

I was expressing my relief when another man in a suit called out, laughing, "You want to be on TV?"

I leaned my head out the window. "I'm a journalist. You sure you want me on camera?"

This older gentleman jogged over and introduced himself. "David Bishop." He reached in to shake my hand. "Chief of Police."

He seemed pleasantly surprised to hear that I freelance for the Tribune, then gave me some background on the production. Court TV is doing a program about the I-5 Killer, Randall Woodfield, suspected of murdering at least 13 women along I-5 from Bellevue, Washington, to Redding, California, between 1979 and 1981. Woodfield is currently serving a life sentence -- plus about 125 years -- in Washington State.

"You should write about it," the Chief advised.

"Obviously, this wasn't the original crime scene," Bishop gestured toward my neighbors' homes. "This was all happening over in Springfield. But they're putting together this program for Court TV."

Chief Bishop mentioned that he'd been involved in the original investigation and manhunt, then joked about not looking as young as he used to on camera.

I wished him luck and let him get back to work. All I'd been doing was running some mid-day errands, and ended up with a history lesson on local serial killings and a meeting with the Beaverton Chief of Police. Not bad.