Registered sex offender and convicted rapist Kevin Coe, 78, who recently moved to Federal Way after being released from McNeil Island Special Commitment Center, died on the morning of Dec. 3.
According to a statement from the Federal Way Police Department, at about 5:25 a.m., officers responded to an adult family home in the 33700 block of 38th Place SW in Federal Way for a reported medical emergency. According to the statement, fire personnel were already on the scene performing CPR on an unresponsive male.
According to statement, despite lifesaving efforts, the individual, identified as Coe, was pronounced deceased at the scene. It is believed that Coe died of natural causes.
According to the Washington State Sex Offender Registry, Coe resided in the 33700 block of 38th Place Southwest in Federal Way.
Coe moved to Federal Way in late October after being released from state custody, where he was placed in 2008 following a prison sentence for a rape offense in the 1970s. Coe was placed into the custody of the Department of Social and Health Services in 2008, when, at the end of his prison sentence, a civil jury declared Coe to be a sexually violent predator. Coe was then civilly committed to the state’s Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island for dangerous sex offenders.
Coe was initially slated to move into a home in Federal Way upon his release from state custody in early October, but he instead moved to Auburn. However, on Oct. 22, Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus announced that through the efforts of the Auburn Police Department, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and community members, Coe was removed from his Auburn residence. Coe then moved to Federal Way in late October.
According to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), from 1978 to 1981, Coe is accused of committing as many as 37 assaults in the South Hill neighborhood of Spokane that terrified the city. According to the DPLA, in 1981, Kevin Coe was arrested in connection to several of the rapes, and was ultimately convicted of four counts of rape. He was given the nickname of the “South Hill rapist.”
In 1984, the Washington Supreme Court later overturned the convictions because police hypnotized some of the victims in hopes they would remember more details. However, according to the DPLA, Coe was later convicted of one count of rape, which resulted in a 25-year prison sentence.
After serving his prison sentence, in 2008, a civil jury declared Coe to be a sexually violent predator, and he was sent to the state’s Department of Social Health Services Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island for sex offenders.
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