Detective: Medlock Confessed Says Suspect Admitted Killing, Then Robbing Hedman

In his eagerness to confess to the murder of a 13-year-old prostitute, John Medlock repeatedly told police he helped himself to a refund after clubbing her to death.

Medlock admitted grabbing the money from Rebecca Hedman’s left sock, Spokane Police Detective Don Giese testified Monday.

Giese said the accused killer made the money-grabbing statement three times during the hourlong confession.

The testimony bolsters the prosecution’s case against Medlock, a 35-year-old Spokane warehouseman.

He is charged with first-degree murder for killing Hedman in the course of a robbery.

Defense attorney John Muenster contends there is little proof a robbery took place, other than the statement by his then-depressed and suicidal client.

Detectives Giese and Jim Peterson, however, could not be shaken on cross-examination Monday.

Each witness said Medlock admitted stealing $50 from Hedman after beating her six times in the back of the head with a wood baseball bat on Oct. 17, 1993.

The detectives said Medlock demanded a refund after having sex that night, but he couldn’t explain why.

“He didn’t know why he felt he needed to get the money back,” Peterson said.

The defense claims Medlock didn’t need the money because he won $33 on a horse race at Playfair earlier that day and had about $90 in his pocket.

In other testimony, forensic scientist William Schneck said blonde hairs removed from Medlock’s car after his arrest are similar in color and microscopic structure to samples collected from Hedman’s body.

The day after the murder, Medlock called in sick at work, then checked in and out of a downtown storage locker he was renting, according to testimony.

When detectives searched the locker, they found the “Jet Power” baseball bat hidden in the back.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Kinn is expected to call Dr. George Lindholm, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, as his final witness this morning.

Detectives had no leads in the murder case until Medlock suddenly stepped forward to claim responsibility.

It happened in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, on Dec. 28, 1993. Port Moody Police officers arrested Medlock that night after he threatened to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge.

When the officers asked him what was wrong, he blurted out his first confession to murder.

Spokane Police believe Medlock spent most of the morning and afternoon of Oct. 17, 1993, at Playfair, betting on horses and drinking wine coolers, before picking up Hedman at the corner of 2nd and Madison.

He paid for sex and drove her to his cabin at the Ranch Motel on South Lewis.

After beating her to death, Medlock told detectives he dragged her body into the bathtub to wash away the blood. Hours later, he rolled her naked body in a wool blanket and dumped it along the Spokane River near Downriver Golf Course.

Medlock grew up in Spokane, graduating from Lewis and Clark High School. He has no criminal record.

Hedman ran away from her Tacoma home and became “Misty,” a crack-smoking prostitute. Her tragic story spurred the Legislature to pass the “Becca Bill,” giving parents and authorities more control over runaways.