Written by Teri Phillips-Offield.

Intro: Jessica told you about the monster behind these heinous crimes, and now, I am going to tell you about the victims. I think it is important to know about their lives and not the fact that they died, but that they lived. The victims are the ones who should be remembered.
I feel that his sisters were among his first victims along with Helen Pilkerton. They suffered abuse at his hand and also were used to lure unsuspecting victims. To my utter disbelief, there were not much information for the beautiful lost souls, and none for the hitchhikers they fell victim to him. I want them to know that I, a complete stranger, do not know who you are or where you are, did not forget you.
I also feel that if his parents would have not covered for him and turned him in, many lives would have been saved. This is my opinion but after hearing the whole story from his sisters, my opinion is that they didn’t protect them and then did not protect the poor innocent girls from this monster.
Ted Bundy was suspected of Kathy’s death, but DNA proved to be William Cosden Jr. He was in prison for attacking Beverly Pearson already hiding right under their nose. It took 28 years and DNA evidence to find the truth. Here is the havoc this man created and the grief he inflicted on the families of his victims. I will start with his earliest victims, his sisters, and then go on to victims he raped, and killed, and finally Kathy Devine, his final known victim. A story full of senseless killings that never should have happened if he would have stayed in jail where he belonged.

Early Victim, Helen Pilkerton: Cosden was sent to a mental hospital in Maryland for killing a woman in 1967 and was serving a three to four-year term at the McNeil Island Corrections Center near Tacoma for a 1976 rape and murder conviction.  Her name was Helen Patricia Pilkerton.  She was an employee of the Lexington Park Motel and was just 20 years old.  Helen Patricia Pilkerton was born on May 24th, 1945, in St. Mary’s, Maryland, her father, John was 22 and her mother Helen was 21.  She had one brother and four sisters.  She died on April 16, 1967, at the age of 21, and was buried in Hollywood, Maryland.  

Helen was found in a stream by two teenage girls and her body was badly beaten.  Cosden had just returned from active duty in Vietnam where he was discharged due to violent behavior. The family of the victim had to sue the Military because of the outrageous leniency of the sentence. To my utter disbelief, Cosden was free after 6 years to rape and kill again. Deputy Prosecutor Philip Harju said, “He is an obvious danger to society.”  Yet, he was released to rape and kill again.  The story should have ended here, better yet not allowed at all.

His sisters, Karen and Susan: They were told their brother was away at a hospital and so his sisters thought he was all better when he came home. There was no warning from their parents whatsoever. They never told them why he was away and never took steps to protect them. He would get in constant trouble at home and in school almost like he invited the punishment. He always had to be in control. His sisters wished their parents were more aware. He loved to torment his sisters and animals. He got pleasure in making his sisters cry. When Karen was 4, he started sexually abusing her. He warned her he would hurt the whole family if she told. The same thing happened to Susan in a few years. He took steps to encourage them to not be close.
When Susan was 8, her brother can downstairs all dressed up to go out. The next morning, she woke to find the sheriff at the kitchen table. They came for her brother. He had confessed to his father that he had killed a woman the night before. The sisters were beginning to see just how evil he was. He did four years in a mental hospital. Four years. His parents told the girls he had went to get well and he was well. That very night he came home, he sexually assaulted his sister.
He was also a firebug and burned down the family home. His mother suspected it was him but did nothing. Again. The cause of the fire was listed as electrical. A house down the block burned too. He seemed to get away with everything. He would also burn his truck to cover evidence.
Then one day the paper was showing about a body found. He got more and more agitated as the paper was read and screamed at them to stop reading. This turned out to be Kathy. He would go to “help” people on snow days when in fact he was looking for prey. One day after a snow day he was arrested for rape.
In 1986, Susan came across his file that showed he was going to be released, she freaked out. She went to the police department to talk about her abuse. The detective she talked to said he believed her brother killed Kathy and would not retire until he found out. Susan told her story and wanted to make sure he didn’t get out. DNA tests were done, and he was convicted. She even flipped him the bird as they were sentencing him. Her family was actually mad at her for doing this. Susan, you are a hero to me.
In 2015, he died alone of a heart attack. They had to deal with the effects of their traumatic past as adults, with one of the sisters even nearing death. Despite the difficulties, the sisters band together to discuss the harm done to them and make an effort to make things right. About a week after filming, Sisters in Silence, Karen Harris passed away following a battle with lung cancer. RIP Karen.

Hitchhikers: Restover Truck Stop in Tumwater, just off Interstate 5, focal point for hitchhikers where he worked there, and his father owned. As I pointed out, Susan says her brother Williams Cosden Jr. would use her as bait to pick up women hitchhikers. The women would feel safe getting into his truck with a little girl there. He would tell his mom he was taking Susan to get ice cream and then take her to pick up hitchhikers. Once the girls were in the truck, he would lock Susan in the back. Many hitchhikers would disappear during this time. We may never know all his victims and which ones were Bundy’s. I apologize for not finding any names of the hitchhiker victims, it makes me wonder how many girls are in unmarked graves all over because of men like Cosden. I wonder if these families ever knew what happened to their daughters. My heart goes out to these families. I hope they found some kind of closure.

Beverly Pearson: On November 30th, 1975, 24-year-old Beverly Pearson stopped to get gas. As she was filling up, she encountered Willian Cosden Jr. She recognized him, but finished getting gas and drove away. On her way home, she lost control of her truck and pulled over. She noticed that Cosden pulled over right behind her. She told him she was fine, but when she went to get back in her truck, he hit her with a rubber mallet. He then forced her into his truck and kept threatening her and she kept saying to not hit her again.
He pulled over at a wooded area and sexually assaulted her. She remembers thinking to try to get him to talk. Her step father was a police commissioner and taught her to try and get anyone who attacks you to talk. She asked him personal questions and told him if he let her go, he could come visit her at home. It worked and he took her back to her truck. She immediately called the police and Cosden was picked up Cosden was found guilty and was sentence to serve a 49-year sentence. Because of her bravery, he was off the streets.

Kathy Devine: I got most of Kathy’s story from Jessica because she wrote it better than any article I read. According to Jessica, Katherine Devine was born to Sally and William L. Devine in Seattle in King County, Washington, on December 25, 1958. She was a Christmas baby. Her family remembered how the kind-hearted teen thought she was destined to become a Minister after being born on Christmas Day. Kathy regularly brought home stray animals and homeless children living on the streets to take care of them. She had a big heart and always sought to help the less fortunate and helpless individuals.
Witnesses last saw the 14-year-old teen hitchhiking in Seattle near North 91st Street and Aurora Avenue North. Her mother stared Kathy had just broken up with her boyfriend and was headed south to visit relatives in Rockaway, Oregon. Her family had reported her to the authorities as a runaway. Little did they know that was the last time their daughter would be seen alive. On December 6, 1973, a young couple stumbled across the remains of the 14-year-old girl in Margaret McKenny Campground in Thurston County.
The victim’s throat had been slashed, and she was lying face down. An examination further revealed she had been brutally sodomized and strangled to death. According to police reports, the officers found the victim’s pants were deliberately torn. Authorities figured that since the place was deserted and it would take a local to know their way around the campground, the killer must be local. The decomposed remains were not immediately identified until Kathy’s sister Sherrie Devine, then 16, saw a television news program in Seattle of the discovery and recognized an embroidered patch on the pair of jeans the victim was reported wearing.
Witnesses saw Cosden come in the night of the murder with stains on his clothing. The witnesses called police. After leaving the truck stop, Cosden’s truck caught fire and was destroyed three miles from the truck stop. During initial interviews with police, Cosden denied ever seeing Kathy Devine.”
Kathy was first thought to be a victim of Ted Bundy. When Ms. Devine disappeared in 1973 Ted was attending the University of Puget Sound Law School and lived within two miles from where she was last seen. Everyone knows he drove the yellow, cream-colored Beetle for years before his arrest, but supposedly his brother owned a white pickup truck. During his death row confessions before his execution in 1989, Bundy told law enforcement that he picked up a hitchhiker in 1973, killed her then left her body close to where Kathy’s remains were found in Olympia, however he couldn’t remember the exact location. He denied having any involvement with Devine’s murder. But this makes me wonder if he did indeed kill Kathy. Cosden was surprised to be convicted and Bundy admitted to killing a hitchhiker and they only found Kathy at that site.
Kathy’s ex-boyfriend was a suspect but passed the polygraph. Another man said he saw the whole thing but was very uncooperative with police. While searching his house, a lot of newspaper articles about Kathy were found along with a blood-stained knife. When they brought him in, he denied all charges and said he could explain. He said the knife was for hunting and after testing, the knife did indeed have animal blood on it. He was cleared of the charges.
An anonymous man called detectives and suggested they investigate Cosden. The man said he looked in the back of Cosden’s truck and found a blood-soaked sleeping bag along with a single shoe. He was looking in Cosden’s truck because he claimed he was a co-worker and Cosden was stealing from him. Before the police had a chance to investigate Cosden’s truck “mysteriously” caught in fire. Remember, Kathy was found missing a shoe. The shoe found on Kathy matched what the man described but they never got the evidence since it burned.
The police went to the jail to confront Cosden and he denied it even though they have DNA proof found on Kathy. Luckily, they had enough to convince a jury and his sister, Susan helped, and he was convicted.
He lived in the area at the time of Kathy’s disappearance and murder. According to witnesses, William was seen wearing bloodstained clothes at the Truck Stop on November 26, 1973. He worked at the truck shop owned by his father and was reportedly working an early morning shift. After leaving the truck stop, Cosden’s truck caught fire and was destroyed three miles from the truck stop.
Additionally, witnesses claimed to find what appeared to be bloodstains inside William’s truck late on November 25, the very day Kathy was last seen alive.

William Cosden was already in prison for sexually assaulting Beverly Pearson when he was convicted of Kathy’s death. it was be the oldest open murder case in the state to have been solved by DNA “fingerprinting,” authorities said.
After Cosden was finally convicted of his daughter’s murder, Mr. Devine said: ‘It’s finished. There’s a justice system, and it works.″ ‘It doesn’t bring Kathy back, but it sure does help. “It was very creepy,” Sherrie Devine, the victim’s older sister, said of the court appearance. Devine’s mother, Sally, said she was nervous about seeing Cosden for the first time. “It would have been worse if we would have had to look directly at him,” I cannot help thinking that if the justice system kept this monster behind bars after his first murder and rape in 1967, Kathy would still be alive. And why weren’t his sisters protected from this monster? They were just little girls.

Conclusion: It took many years to finally catch her killer, but finally the family has answers and hopefully a little bit of peace. Such an unnecessary waste of her and of  the beautiful souls who left this world too soon. My heart goes out to everyone whose life was touched by William Cosden Jr. I want to thank Jessica for not letting these girls be forgotten and reminding us they did live and not only die. And Charlene and Sherrie, you should have never had to endure this kind of horror in your family. My heart goes out to you and much respect for coming out the other side of this tragedy. A long as Jessica and I are here, we will not let her be forgotten.

Cites:

Katherine Devine Murder: Where is William Cosden Jr Today? Update (thecinemaholic.com)
Life term for man whom DNA linked to murder (seattlepi.com)
Closing ceremony, tour of McNeil Island prison (seattlepi.com)
Evil Lives Here, Sisters in Silence. Season 13, Episode 10.
Katherine Devine Murder: Where is William Cosden Jr Today? Update (thecinemaholic.com)
Katherine Merry “Kathy” Devine. | Another Bundy Blog. (wordpress.com)
Most pictures were taken from Another Bundy Blog: Kathy Devine
Facebook page Cowards ad Killers
Man sentenced to life in prison for 1973 murder | The Seattle Times
Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s – Newspapers.com
On the case with Paul Zahn, Season 12, Ep 4, Waving Goodbye.
Other info, Another Bundy Blog. (wordpress.com)
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/rapist-charged-in-1973-killing/