FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Kevin Coe, known as the South Hill Rapist, is dead.
Ben Willer, communications manager with the Mayor’s Office, first shared the news with NonStop Local on December 3, saying that the Federal Way Police Department confirmed that Coe died that morning.
The news was confirmed later in the afternoon by the police department itself in a press release.
The department said officers responded to a reported medical emergency at an adult family home. Firefighters were already on scene performing CPR on an unresponsive male and, despite lifesaving efforts, the man died, the department said.
The department said the dead man was identified as Level III sex offender Kevin Coe. It believed he died of natural causes.
In his time in Spokane, Coe was accused of raping possibly 37 women near Spokane’s South Hill from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. While several charges against Coe were brought to court, .
He was convicted of first degree rape on February 2, 1981. The other charges were dismissed after courts judged their evidence inadmissible.
Coe served the maximum 25-year sentence and returned to court in 2006 for civil proceedings. Around this time, he was committed to McNeil Island for sexually violent predators.
In October 2025, Coe was released from McNeil Island after his failing health qualified his removal from sexually violent predator designation.
After a court proceeding that included victim impact statements, .
Coe was first placed in Auburn, but was moved to Federal Way after the Auburn Mayor and Muckleshoot Indian Tribe .
“Mr. Coe’s passing was as unimpressive as his life,” Spokane County Prosecutor Preston McCollam said in a statement. “I pray that those who endured his crimes find some level of solace in that he no longer shares the same state of existence as the rest of us. As he now faces his ultimate judge, I am hopeful we can take steps to reform the broken system that let him see freedom in the first place.”
“My heart and mind are with the survivors today,” McCollam said. “May they find peace.”
This article was updated on Dec. 3 at 1:03 p.m. with comment from the Spokane County Prosecutor and again at 2:29 p.m. with comments from the Federal Way Police Department.
