Serial rapist’s release sparks bipartisan crackdown in Olympia

State Sen. Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville) is pushing bipartisan legislation to prevent Washington from ever again releasing a serial rapist like Kevin Coe, whose unexpected freedom earlier this year outraged victims, lawmakers, and Spokane residents who still remember the terror he inflicted.

Schoesler prefiled the bill ahead of the 2026 legislative session, saying the state’s decision to release Coe from the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island was indefensible. Coe, known as the South Hill rapist, was suspected of attacking as many as 40 women and girls before his 1981 arrest. He refused treatment during decades of confinement and never expressed remorse.

Schoesler said he remains stunned the state allowed Coe to leave the secure facility. He noted he was a college student in Spokane when the attacks occurred and remembers the fear that gripped the community.

Here’s what the legislation would do

The Department of Social and Health Services released Coe in early October. He cycled through adult-family homes in Federal Way and Auburn before dying on Dec. 3, but the legislative effort continues. Schoesler said several of Coe’s victims approached him after the release, furious that the state freed an unrepentant predator.

The bill would block any release to a less-restrictive setting for a convicted rapist held at the SCC if the state can show the offender refused sex-offender treatment and has not demonstrated remorse. The proposal already has 16 co-sponsors, led by Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane.

Coe’s legal saga stretched more than four decades, with multiple convictions overturned before he was ultimately declared a sexually violent predator in 2008, allowing the state to confine him indefinitely — until this year’s release reignited the controversy.

Lawmakers return to Olympia on Jan. 12 for a 60-day session.

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