Entrance of David Douglas Park

Dodd had actually begun the "hunt," as he would call it, earlier that day after he found Vancouver's David Douglas Park almost by accident.  Dodd had only recently moved to Vancouver from the Seattle area, but he spotted David Douglas Park while driving along Northeast Andresen Road, a busy north-south thoroughfare adjacent to the west side of the park.  He was moving some of his things from his dad's house into his apartment when he saw the sign and decided to check it out.

The park was convenient for him, located about a mile northwest of his apartment, and he liked that.  It was easy to get to, and its close proximity to his apartment meant that going there frequently wouldn't cut too deeply into his gas money as would, say, going to a park on the other side of town.  After he walked through it and visually studied it, he drew a map of the park.  He initially noted that the ideal area for carrying out his grim deeds would be along the south and west sides, a densely-wooded gully area where the dirt bicycle trails coursed in and out among the trees.  But after he became more familiar with the park's layout, Dodd realized that the area he had chosen was distinctly set off and, he thought, perhaps too remote from the rest of the park.  The kids that he so desperately wanted might not wander over that far very often, at least not alone.  After another walk through the park, during which he again carefully considered the layout, Dodd finally focused his attention on an area that ran east to west.  The east end was the most isolated, he saw, yet it was still close enough to the more populous areas from where children would venture off.  He found a place near one of the trailheads and sat down on that Saturday evening, where he watched and waited from his inconspicuous vantage point for just the right opportunity to arise.

He waited there from 6:10-6:40 p.m. but saw only three young boys, and they were together.  He visualized raping and murdering those boys at the site.  He also contemplated kidnapping the boys so that he could "play" with them first, then taunt and humiliate them just as many kids had done to him while he was growing up.  To Dodd, the ultimate game was to molest and rape the children, then murder them in the most horrendous ways imaginable.  However, for whatever reason, whether he lost his nerve or his conscience took control, Dodd returned home that evening without harming those boys.  They were the extremely lucky ones.