The First Signs
Despite a normal childhood, during Junior high school, Woodfield repeatedly exposed himself in public. Among his teammates and friends, he was known as “the guy who couldn’t keep it in his pants.” Once, he did it to a group of teenage girls on Yaquina Bay Bridge, which led to his first arrest. His football coaches tried to cover the incident to prevent any damage and consequence to his career. His parents even sent him to therapy, but they weren’t really concerned about him. His misbehavior was accounted for as a teenager exploring his sexuality. It’s fair to say that Woodfield had every help to find his way back on the right path. However, that’s not what happened when he started college at Portland University.
“He was the nicest, most gentlemanly kid I ever knew.” — Gary Hamblet, PSU receivers coach from 1972 to ’73, Sports Illustrated
Although his criminal record was expunged, once he began college, he kept committing petty crimes; vandalism, and public indecency on multiple occasions.
At one point, Woodfield has decided to drop out of college, and in 1974, he was selected by the Green Bay Packers as a wide receiver. He tried to establish himself in the team, but he was cut during training camp in the same year. After that, he went on to play for the Manitowoc Chiefs and worked on the side, however, due to a previous incident and many other “flashings”, he was officially cut from the NFL.
Failing to maintain a football career became a turning point in his life, and that’s when his cruel and vicious amok started escalating. In 1975, several Portland women were accosted by a knife-wielding man, forced to perform oral sex, and then robbed of their handbags. The local police used female officers to act as decoys in order to capture the perpetrator.
On March 3, 1975, Woodfield was arrested after being caught with marked money from one of the undercover officers. During interrogation, he confessed and blamed his poor sexual impulse control on account of the steroids he was taking at the time. In April, he pled guilty to reduce charges of second-degree robbery and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was freed on parole after having served four years.
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