Sexual offender's trial gets underway

Keith W. Elmore, 52, makes his way to Clark County Superior Court Judge Roger Bennett’s courtroom for trial Monday. Bennett will decide whether to release Elmore, a Vancouver man with cannibalistic fantasies, from civil custody. (TROY WAYRYNEN/The Columbian)

Trial began Monday to determine whether a former Vancouver man once described as having cannibalistic fantasies about women should be released from prison.

Clark County Superior Court Judge Roger Bennett will decide whether Keith W. Elmore, 52, should be released from the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island near Tacoma or continue to be confined.

At issue is whether Elmore is still a “sexually violent predator.”

Elmore has been at the corrections center since 1999, after he finished a four-year sentence for luring a co-worker’s wife to his apartment in 1994, tying a rope around her neck and ordering her to strip.

Just as Elmore was about to be released in 1999, the state filed a petition to keep him in custody as a sexually violent predator.

On Monday, Assistant Attorney General Kristie Barham opened the trial by calling to the stand an expert witness who interviewed Elmore several times in 1999 about his fantasies, which the expert described as “sadistic” and as a way for Elmore to feel power over his victim.

Forensic psychologist Robert Wheeler said Elmore had increasingly graphic cannibalistic fantasies that started in his teen years and worsened during his marriage. He told his wife about his fantasies to kill and then eat her. They divorced in 1994.

“He took pleasure in her fearful response to his continued verbalizations,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler also said Elmore wanted to become a woman, a fantasy he had held since age 5. He thought if he ingested enough female hormones he’d become one, Wheeler said.

“Did you ask Mr. Elmore if he thought he had a sexual deviancy problem?” Barham asked.

Wheeler said Elmore did know it was deviant.

“After he was jailed, he continued to have the consuming fantasy,” Wheeler said.

During cross-examination, Elmore’s attorney, Gerry Wear, questioned whether Elmore may have fabricated some of his statements to Wheeler in an effort to be sensational. The attorney also said Elmore might have simply wanted to be agree with the line of questioning.

Wear cited an instance in which Elmore told others fabricated fantasies during sex offender treatment.

“He was characterizing himself in a worse way,” Wear said. “He was making up rape fantasies that didn’t occur.”

Wear also questioned whether Elmore was as brutal as Wheeler made him out to be. The attorney cited an instance in which Elmore recalls telling his victim in the 1994 case, “This is wrong.” She ended up struggling with Elmore and getting away.

In 2004, Elmore believed he was well enough to be released and petitioned for review. According to court documents, he claimed he only had fleeting violent fantasies and knew how to shut them off.

Bennett granted Elmore’s request for a commitment trial. While the state appealed and won, the Supreme Court in October 2007 reversed the Court of Appeals and said Bennett was correct to order a trial.

Trial is expected to conclude Thursday. Attorneys waived a jury.

If released, Elmore must first serve 16 months community supervision stemming from his 1995 conviction.

Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.