Notorious Spokane South Hills Rapist Kevin Coe Dead at 78

The man who terrorized the South Hill District of Spokane, and was the son of a famous Spokane Chronicle newspaper managing editor, is dead.

 Kevin Coe  dead at 78

Coe, who grew up in the Lilac City, was in an adult family home due to his ailing health. Coe, who was the son of Gordon Coe who ran the now defunct afternoon Spokane Newspaper, was 31 when he was arrested and found guilty for a sexual assault in 1981.

Coe was known to stake out his victims for days at a time, especially female joggers in the affluent South Hill area.  He was arrested following a report from a school custodian who noticed a car illegally parked in a bus drop-off zone where one of the assaults had occurred. The vehicle was located and had yellow cellophane over the license plates, as described by one victim.  Officers were able to gather evidence to tie him to several sexual assaults and the list began to grow.

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Coe committed an estimated 37 rapes between 1978 and 1981. But he was only able to be convicted on one count and sent to prison for 25 years, due to issues with  evidence.

In 2006, after release, he was committed to McNeil Island as he was considered a threat due to his compromised mental state.  Finally, after years of civil trials as well, he was sent to the adult family home in Federal Way were paramedics were called on Wednesday, December 3rd. He'd had a stroke and heart failure prior. CPR failed to revive him, according to Federal Way Police.

One of his victims was a very popular Spokane radio and TV host, 'Sunshine' Shelly Monohan, who was attacked following an airshift at KJRB Radio, beaten and sexually assaulted and left for dead in a field, but she survived. She was not able to conclusively identify him, but the evidence matched that of other Coe assaults.

Coe was 78, and forever occupies a space in the list of most notorious sexual predators and serial criminals in American history.

 The image of Coe is taken from a YouTube video from Non-Stop Local taken when Coe was interviewed at the WA State Penitentiary shortly after his incarceration at age 31.