00:00:00
[Music] [Music] 16-year-old Sarah y always being remembered as talented creative and kind
00:00:34
Sarah was an a student at the high school whenever you saw Sarah she always had a
00:00:41
smile this case is about a 16-year-old girl who had the right to grow up this case is about Sarah and
00:00:52
everything that she should have been allowed to become was Friday the 13th of December
00:01:01
of 1991 her parents were out of town for her brother's soccer game she stayed home I was reluctant to leave Sarah she
00:01:13
didn't want to come of course cuz she had her whole weekend planned out so she had a friend come over and stay with her
00:01:20
that [Music] weekend we went to a basketball game went and got junk food at the grocery
00:01:27
store a little bit of fast food you know we're 16 we were Carefree there was absolutely nothing that would make any
00:01:36
of us think that the next morning everything would change so Saturday morning Sarah woke up
00:01:46
kind of in a panic she woke up and said I'm late for practice she put on her drill team
00:01:53
uniform and ran out the door she went to the school and discovered that she was early
00:02:00
so she parked in her car and waited for the rest of her team to show [Music] up shortly after the phone call started
00:02:12
where Sarah do you know where she is Sarah was found within an hour where was her body discovered so
00:02:25
her car was still in the parking lot her body was approximately 100 yards away still on the school property part of her
00:02:33
clothing was removed she had nylon stockings tied in a lature around her her neck I just remember just saying not
00:02:45
Sarah not Sarah not Sarah over and over again the suspect is a white male 6 feet
00:02:54
tall with a medium build they had D evidence they had everything they had Witnesses in that first week or so it
00:03:01
sounded like they had so much evidence for at least a short while it felt like of course they're going to catch him and
00:03:09
then when they didn't and they didn't your expectations change you don't know if it's your nextd
00:03:15
door neighbor you don't know if it's some random stranger there was that constant
00:03:19
fear of is this going to happen again we literally had a monster in the community and we just we didn't know who
00:03:29
it was is [Music] [Music] how often do you think about December 14th 1991 and what happened on that
00:04:27
day quite a bit it's a very traumatic thing to go through it's been over 30 years but the
00:04:38
details of that day have never faded for Drew Miller I had my friend spent the night at my house we woke up that
00:04:45
morning watch cartoons ate cereal left to go skateboarding Drew who was just 13 at the time lived down the street from
00:04:53
Federal Way High School near Seattle Washington the school grounds have changed quite a bit right drastically
00:04:59
yes the tennis Court's the only thing that's still here Drew often took shortcuts through the school to go
00:05:04
skateboarding as he and his friend did that day we used to hop the fence right here and cut through
00:05:11
here it was freezing cold that day I mean there was ice in all of the mud puddles we just you know started
00:05:19
smashing them cuz it's fun you know it sounds like breaking glass that's when Drew says they noticed
00:05:24
a man in the bushes right where you see the edge of this Dugout right here that was all
00:05:33
bushes that were probably this tall so we couldn't see him until he stood up he's just staring at us from the
00:05:41
bushes that was pretty jarring but then he just walked out of the bushes so then
00:05:46
we just assumed he's just smoking weed or something the mysterious man kept to himself and walked ahead of the boys
00:05:52
Drew says they didn't think much of it until they came across a horrendous scene
00:06:00
there in the bushes where the man had just been was the body of a young woman it was horrible absolutely
00:06:11
horrible the way that he left her body she clearly fought for her life Drew says his shock turned to fear
00:06:21
when he realized the man who was still just feet in front of them was now staring directly back at him does that
00:06:29
looks still haunt you oh yeah yeah it's frozen in my mind the boogeyman then legitimate Boogeyman the boys raced to
00:06:37
Drew's house and police were called to the scene when we approached the victim on
00:06:46
one of the pieces of clothing we saw the name Sarah detective Scott stay with the
00:06:52
King County Sheriff's Office was one of the first officers on the scene and of course later we found out that that was
00:07:00
Sarah yarboro even for experienced investigators this scene was really hard to deal
00:07:17
with just the innocent nature of this young woman in her school drill team uniform with her hot curlers still in
00:07:30
her hair this was just pure unadulterated evil investigators believed this was a
00:07:42
sexually motivated Murder She was partially clothed her jacket her undergarments her bra had been removed
00:07:51
and placed next to her body police discovered that the car Sarah had driven that morning was parked in the school
00:07:58
parking lot a about 300 ft from where her body was found there didn't really appear to be any sort of a struggle in
00:08:05
the car itself detective John free with the King County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes unit would later join the
00:08:12
investigation she had a container of orange juice that she had made that morning it was just sitting in the front
00:08:17
seat nothing was tipped over so the question was how did she get from her car to this hill what led her there
00:08:27
Sarah was one of these people that would help anyone with anything at any time and part of our working theory was was
00:08:37
she coaxed into following you know the suspect did he say something like I'm looking for my lost dog or I can't find
00:08:48
my car keys perhaps Sarah in an attempt to assist this person may have followed him
00:08:56
to that area tell tell me about this one that was less than a week I think before she died I said could I take your
00:09:06
picture cuz your great grandma really wants a picture of you and your drill team out she goes
00:09:13
okay it was just too incredible to believe that it could even happen Sarah's parents Laura and Tom yarboro I
00:09:21
mean who thinks that your daughter's going to be murdered Tom and Laura had the excruciating task of having to tell
00:09:28
their two son Sons the tragic news Sarah's youngest brother Andrew was just 11 years old at the time at that age you
00:09:37
probably never seen or heard your parents cry much but that that pain in the voice is very very Vivid Sarah who
00:09:45
had just started her junior year in high school had big plans for her future starting with college she didn't want to
00:09:52
go to a state school she wanted to go to a school far away she loved to travel I
00:09:59
actually would hear her say I can't decide if I want to be a museum curator or an engineer like my father yep and I
00:10:05
was always rooting for the museum curator Liberty Barnes Christy gutieres Amy pero and Mary Beth Tomy were some of
00:10:13
Sarah's closest friends so this was after the last day of 10th grade and we're just kind of goofing around
00:10:19
afterwards and that totally I mean you can see there's Sarah right in the middle of it being
00:10:25
goofy the fiery red hair was that her Personality yeah she was artistic she was creative she was smart she was
00:10:35
feisty imaginative all of those things she would be the last one to wait for someone always be there with a
00:10:45
smile she would help with [Music] homework it was her ultimate kindness after Sarah was ripped from
00:10:54
their lives they say their sense of safety was gone forever you grow up getting all the safety
00:11:02
conversations with your parents and bad things can happen and it's all this sort
00:11:06
of like vague possibility out there and then all of a sudden it was like no no no no no it can really happen it really
00:11:13
did just happen it was all hands on deck the Sheriff's Office put everything they had
00:11:25
into solving this case as as soon as they could and the killer Left Behind important
00:11:32
evidence Sarah had not been raped but the Killer's DNA was found on pieces of her
00:11:39
clothing there was seen found on her underwear and on her jacket we had a full male DNA
00:11:46
profile DNA technology was new back in 1991 but investigators hop that DNA would someday lead them to Sarah's
00:11:55
killer in the meantime they had eyewitnesses I thought for sure somebody would know him Drew and his friend who
00:12:04
was with him the morning they found Sarah's body worked with police and a sketch of the man they saw in the bushes
00:12:10
was released to the public police would later release a more elaborate sketch I very vividly remember going through
00:12:17
yearbooks going okay who looks like the sketch everyone it felt like at one point was was a suspect but as days went
00:12:26
by and as leads dried up police kept coming back to Drew and his friend they just made me feel like I was the only
00:12:35
person that could help them solve this I know that wasn't the intent like you know the officers are just doing
00:12:42
their best how much pressure were you feeling it's unimaginable pressure and despite everyone's best
00:12:51
efforts it would take years to find Sarah's killer this case was never forgotten
00:13:01
[Music] in early June of 1993 one and a half years after Sarah yarbro's murder local media were there
00:13:22
as students gathered in the courtyard of Federal Way High School to honor her bill Fuller a family friend who helped
00:13:29
spearhead the move for a memorial to remember Sarah unveiled it with help from Sarah's younger brother Andrew it
00:13:35
was quite a day a lot of Tears as they looked at it and could could see Sarah in that
00:13:42
bench Bill Fuller has known the Y Bros for years and his daughter was in Sarah's class Sarah was fun to be around
00:13:51
that was probably what we missed the most is she was fun to be around the bench reads carpedm sees the
00:14:01
day a mantra Sarah lived by encased in bronze are some of her favorite possessions ballet shoes a replica of
00:14:09
Sarah's beloved dog Gibby and books nice that people cared about for so much Andrew yarro now an adult admits that he
00:14:19
struggled as a young teenager it was especially difficult to see those sketches around town of the man police
00:14:26
believed murdered his sister yeah there was drawings of the person's face all over in businesses in town you know I do
00:14:33
recall that quite a bit just having that kind of a constant reminder looking back
00:14:38
I feel like we didn't do a very good job with the boys I think that we were so consumed by our own grief that we didn't
00:14:46
take time to help them I think we didn't really know how to help them I mean it wasn't something we had experience with
00:14:53
we didn't know anything about grieving ourselves or how to help them through it and they weren't alone in their
00:15:02
grief Shannon Grant the last friend to see Sarah alive says she lived with constant regret I wish we could go back
00:15:10
and do it all over again that I would have asked the other D te members what time practice was you know maybe dropped
00:15:19
her off I mean there's a lot of the wh ifs the Milestones were especially painful there was Survivor guilt like
00:15:28
why am I filling out my college applications when Sarah wanted to go to college y this isn't fair every joyful
00:15:36
occasion had this yes sorrow that went with it that was there's one missing from the crowd
00:15:44
[Music] here graduation day June 12th 1993 was an emotional day but even more so since
00:15:54
it fell on what would have been Sarah's 18th birthday laori y bro came to support her daughter's friends I do not
00:16:02
know where she found the strength to do that she loved that green dress right yeah she wore green quite a bit with her
00:16:09
hair Lori yarro says Sarah's friends helped ease her grief somewhat and she thinks she filled the void for them as
00:16:17
well sometimes they would say well I'm going to date this person and I just wanted to let you know because I wasn't
00:16:22
sure if Sarah would approve of this person so they would seek approval through you you became sort of their
00:16:28
surrogate yes as life slowly moved forward investigators kept working the case I describe it as like a relay race
00:16:41
where the Baton was handed off from one detective to the next over the years and
00:16:45
decades I kind of refer to myself as the fifth beetle in this investigation by the early 2000s investigators had
00:16:53
received over 3,000 leads and advances in technology made them hopeful they entered the DNA from the crime scene
00:17:00
into the recently established Koda system a national DNA database that includes profiles of convicted offenders
00:17:08
the strategy was to continually try to see if there would ever be a match while also investigating leads but over time
00:17:17
there appeared to be no match for us to have DNA evidence from the suspect but not have that linked to anybody it just
00:17:26
didn't make sense it it seemed hard to believe that this suspect hadn't committed any other prior
00:17:33
crimes where his DNA wouldn't be in the system that's when he says detectives realize they had to go in a different
00:17:46
direction my name is Colleen Fitzpatrick and I'm one of the pioneers of forensic
00:17:51
genetic genealogy in 2011 investigators reached out to Fitzpatrick to inquire about
00:17:58
about using forensic genetic genealogy the practice of using software to compare unknown DNA profiles to
00:18:06
information from public DNA databases and searching family trees to identify suspects genetic genealogy is well known
00:18:15
now and has been used to solve numerous cold cases but at that time it was in its infancy when I started in this field
00:18:23
it didn't exist Fitzpatrick says most police agencies had been skeptical of this new investigative tool the police
00:18:31
thought I was crazy you know this little old lady with a crazy idea and I was actually almost laughed out the room but
00:18:39
the King County Sheriff's Office took a chance on Fitzpatrick it was for free I just wanted to see if it worked what are
00:18:45
you going to lose if you try something the AR Bros were encouraged I think it wasn't until we
00:18:52
met Colleen Fitzpatrick that I really began to think you know they're going to find this person
00:18:59
and it didn't take long before Fitzpatrick came up with the name of a possible suspect that surprised just
00:19:06
about everyone everyone went no way from the beginning it was very promising and the story took some really
00:19:35
bizarre twists in 2011 20 years after Sarah's murder when forensic genetic genealogist
00:19:43
Colleen Fitzpatrick started working the yarboro case she traced Sarah's Killer's
00:19:48
family tree back to a man named Robert Fuller whose family had come to America on the Mayflower I found numerous
00:19:57
matches to the name Fuller when Fitzpatrick gave the name Fuller to the King County Sheriff's
00:20:03
Office they immediately knew of one person with that last name Bill Fuller the Yo's close family friend who helped
00:20:13
get that Memorial bench built for Sarah naturally that PE our interest from the beginning Sarah's
00:20:21
family and friends believe Bill Fuller had nothing to do with Sarah's murder he didn't look at all like the aspect the
00:20:29
wrong hair color he's short he's not tall he just didn't fit the profile at all Fuller's age didn't match the
00:20:37
profile either he's 79 years old now but was 48 years old at the time of Sarah's
00:20:44
murder at least two decades older than the man Drew Miller described there was no way that I could be even remotely
00:20:53
connected to the case he fully cooperated with police and volunt arily gave them a DNA sample it
00:21:01
didn't match the DNA found at Sarah's crime scene yet Fitzpatrick remained optimistic the good news is that we came
00:21:09
up with a possible last name to investigate and this was the first break in the case in 20
00:21:16
years Fitzpatrick knew that Sarah's killer was in the Fuller family tree somewhere so she and her team went back
00:21:23
to work and as the years went by she knew she was only getting closer especially after 2018 when forensic
00:21:30
genetic genealogy was used to identify the Golden State killer Golden State Killer really started the big revolution
00:21:39
things had evolved that we had the data to work with the technology was in place
00:21:44
that we could go for it then in September of 2019 Fitzpatrick's team made a breakthrough
00:21:51
they came up with two new possible suspects Brothers Edward and Patrick Nicholas who as the DNA showed were
00:21:59
distant cousins of Bill Fuller you know this is eight years of on and off and looking at it never giving up this is it
00:22:08
this is exciting Edward Nicholas was a registered sex offender his DNA was in the system it was in
00:22:17
cotus but Edward's DNA wasn't a match so they zeroed in on his brother Patrick who in 2019 was a divorced loner who
00:22:26
lived a couple of towns away from Federal Way we learned that he was working at a at a auto part store lived
00:22:33
alone uh no children no friends or acquaintances that would even visit him everything that he did was mostly by
00:22:41
bus he wasn't driving detective re says he discovered that when Sarah was murdered the bus
00:22:49
route Nicholas often took happened to go past Federal Way High School back then Nicholas was just 27
00:22:57
years old and around that time looked very much like the description of the sketch it looked promising at that point
00:23:05
but we still needed to get a DNA sample from him to match up to the DNA evidence
00:23:11
that we had so in late September 2019 investigators came up with a plan we assigned a team of undercover
00:23:22
detectives to start doing surveillance on Patrick Nicholas in the hopes of obtaining a surreptitious DNA sample
00:23:31
eventually undercover detectives followed Nicholas to a laundromat they saw him go outside and smoke a cigarette
00:23:37
and Patrick Nicholas was seen throwing the cigarette butt on the ground that was collected by our detectives that's
00:23:43
what you needed yes right there that cigarette butt Yes actually he dropped two cigarette butts and a napkin that
00:23:50
fell out of his pocket and all three items were collected the DNA samples were rushed to
00:23:57
the crime lab and with within days detectives received the call they had been waiting for the DNA match this was
00:24:04
our suspect perfect match yes Patrick Nicholas was arrested there were so many suspects over the years was Patrick Leon
00:24:14
Nicholas ever named as a suspect out of 4,000 tips he was never named and I was I was pretty in shock
00:24:27
the news was a release for Sarah's family and friends who had never given up hope that they would get answers one
00:24:34
thing the detectives kept telling us was eventually technolog is going to solve this case I trusted that and they turned
00:24:43
out that they were right and I remember going out to my car and balling just balling finally finally they got
00:24:55
him when Drew Miller who had seen killer back in 1991 saw Patrick Nicholas's face he says
00:25:04
he knew they had the right person what did he look like the same guy just older just the same evil eyes those evil eyes
00:25:13
that stayed the same all these years later yeah but it was not over yet what do you
00:25:22
think you're here I have no clue during his interrogation Church when detectives specifically asked him
00:25:31
about Sarah's murder he gave an alarming response what were meeting is is the death of a young girl name
00:25:41
s interestingly he asked what year this was and that really sent up a flag why why would you ask that he's being told
00:25:50
this is a murder case we wondering at this point are there other victims this is it I'm not saying after one and a
00:25:57
half hours n has asked for an attorney and stop talking but his criminal record would speak
00:26:04
volumes I am the one that got away on a quiet morning in June 1983 8 years before Sarah's murder
00:26:32
21-year-old Anne crony was sitting by her car along the Columbia River in Richland Washington when a man
00:26:39
approached her he seemed normal kind of friendly actually just friendly I had asked him if he'd
00:26:47
done any water skiing yet cuz he said he had just moved to town and he said he couldn't swim and he said my name is Pat
00:26:54
Nicholas after a few minutes of small talk she became UNC comfortable I noticed his voice was getting
00:27:01
shaky and I told him I had to go I went to close the door and he put a knife to my
00:27:12
throat everything kind of stopped at that moment he told me to take my clothes off
00:27:21
nicholis stuffed Ann's underwear into her mouth to prevent her from screaming forced her out of the car
00:27:28
and led her to the river bank we got about halfway down the bank and he told me to stop I ran and dove in the river
00:27:36
cuz I was thinking he couldn't swim swam as hard as I could swam for your life I
00:27:40
swam for My Life passers by found Ann at a dock nearby and called police as it turns out
00:27:48
19-year-old Patrick Nicholas was no stranger to law enforcement and had a record he had raped two women and
00:27:56
attempted to rape a third he'd been convicted of rape as a juvenile and had actually only just been
00:28:05
out for a few months when he attacked me days after an's attack he was tracked down arrested and pled guilty to
00:28:14
attempted rape he told authorities I realize that I have a problem concerning raping
00:28:22
girls at his sentencing hearing an spoke out I was actually very angry and asked
00:28:29
the judge for the maximum sentence and the judge did agree and sentenced him to 10 years so I thought it was over I
00:28:37
thought that Justice had been served but Patrick Nicholas did not serve the full 10 years in prison he was
00:28:47
released after just three and A2 years and was never notified she barely thought of him again until October
00:28:55
2019 the police knocked on my door and said that there were detectives in Seattle that wanted to talk to me about
00:29:03
a cold case they informed an that Patrick Nicholas had been arrested again this time for the murder of Sarah yarro
00:29:12
they told me that there was similarities in the cases and I was crushed it had never occurred to me that
00:29:24
what I escaped from was a murder what's more if Nicholas had served his full prison sentence he would have still
00:29:33
been behind bars that December morning in 1991 unable to murder Sarah yarbo how angry are you to hear that he was
00:29:42
released that early and very it brought up a lot of the old anger and even more anger because the system
00:29:49
failed King County Deputy Prosecuting attorneys Celia Lee and Mary Barbosa describe him as a serial predator with a
00:29:58
clear pattern all of the women were approached at or near their car he would strike up
00:30:05
conversation and then pull a knife and tell them that they needed to walk where he would order them to take off their
00:30:12
clothes and then rap them Nicholas had also been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor in
00:30:19
1994 3 years after Sarah's murder five sexual assaults that investigators knew of none of which had required him to
00:30:29
submit his DNA so there was no record of him in the codus database but in pre-trial hearings the judge ruled that
00:30:37
Nicholas's criminal history could not be entered in as evidence she found that it
00:30:43
would be unfairly prejudicial to the defendant but the prosecutors were hopeful their case was strong
00:30:51
enough for the jury in early 2023 more than 30 years after Sarah yar's murder her accused killer now 59 years old went
00:31:01
on trial Sarah's childhood friends were there I so clearly remember the morning before the trial started just going I
00:31:09
don't know if I can do this like you know I had so many different emotions flowing through and it was like no we
00:31:15
need to be there there was this absolute love for Sarah and the Y Bros that was so strong did you feel like there were a
00:31:24
Lifeline for you yeah be seated you weren't in it alone you were all in it together as the trial got underway the
00:31:32
focus was on the DNA what was your strategy then in trying this case well we needed them to trust the science
00:31:41
there was a field that was emerging called forensic genetic genealogy Patrick Nicholas's public defender David
00:31:47
Montes challenged how forensic genetic genealogy was used to First identify Nicholas I want to dig into the science
00:31:55
because the first time that kind of Defense had been used in Washington state they use technology that is not
00:32:01
only unen but just whack really he's not person that killed the police needed an answer more
00:32:10
than they need the right answer and so they turn to new Nova untested technology genetic genealogy is
00:32:19
a new field it really hasn't been tested out should we be making important decisions based on something that is not
00:32:27
well or deeply understood but the prosecutors said that argument was moot because Patrick Nicholas's DNA matched
00:32:35
the DNA found at the yarro crime scene and detective free says the numbers were astronomical the odds were one in 120
00:32:44
quadrillion that quadrillion yeah right that it was somebody else if the numbers pointed to
00:32:52
Nicholas's guilt law enforcement says so did evidence found at his house near the
00:32:58
time of his arrest in 2019 it was almost like a lirer there was no working electricity at this house
00:33:05
stacks of pornography all throughout the the place we also found a newspaper from
00:33:12
1994 that had on his front page an article about the Seri Aras and going through one of the kitchen drawers we
00:33:19
found a torn photograph taken from a magazine a woman in a cheerleading outfit when the
00:33:28
prosecutors showed that photo in the courtroom the oxygen left the room yeah Montes downplayed their significance I
00:33:38
think both of those pieces of evidence were not especially strange given the General State of his house there were
00:33:45
Stacks and stacks of newspapers all over his house this is evidence tape Patrick
00:33:51
Nicholas didn't Flinch as the evidence was shown showing no emotion throughout the trial but Sarah yarbro's presence
00:33:59
was felt especially when now retired Captain Scott strathy carefully unpackaged and displayed Sarah's
00:34:06
clothing that had been in storage for over 30 years her drill team jacket shoes sweater even her nylon stockings
00:34:18
this was like a opening a a time capsule all of a sudden they were real things they weren't even photographs they were
00:34:26
the things she had on her body when she died you just you S Felt yourself crumble after nine long days of
00:34:36
testimony the case went to the jury all with the jury it took them just over a day to reach a verdict I was shaking and
00:34:46
like just that like there was so much adrenaline and so much anticipation we the jury finally defend it Patrick Leon
00:34:53
n everything just dropped and it's like what [Music] why do you think it took law enforcement
00:35:00
so long to identify Patrick Nicholas as a suspect take a look at a timeline of the case at 48
00:35:13
hours.com this is the state of Washington versus Patrick Leon Nicholas Sarah yarbro's loved ones had waited
00:35:19
over 30 years for this moment we the jury find the defendant pck not guilty of the crime of murder in the first
00:35:28
degree premeditated Patrick Nicholas was found not guilty of the first charge premeditated first-degree murder I
00:35:38
remember dropping my head to my hands I was angry I was in disbelief when that first one came in not guilty I closed my
00:35:47
eyes but there were other charges and there was still hope of a conviction guilty of the crime of Murder in the
00:35:54
First Degree guilty in the second degree Patrick Nicholas was found guilty of first-degree murder and second degree
00:36:01
murder the jury ruled both had been committed with a sexual motivation I remember hearing the family behind me
00:36:10
cry and I made eye contact with the jurors and noded at them you know they got it they got it right I feel so
00:36:18
grateful for those detectives for the boys for the previous victims for every witness who took the stand so grateful
00:36:27
that all these people came together two weeks after Nicholas's conviction dozens of people who had been
00:36:34
involved in every part of Sarah's case gathered back at the courthouse for his sentencing hearing prosecutors asked the
00:36:41
judge to impose extra time to take into account all of Nicholas's crimes the sentencing hearing was exhilarating in a
00:36:51
way that I never expected it was probably the most raw human courage I have ever seen in my
00:37:05
life Sarah's death left our family broken and we've never been the same the pain in my father's
00:37:13
voice over the phone telling me Sarah was dead person after person took to the podium to say all that Patrick Nicholas
00:37:22
had taken from them coming face to face with pure evil that day has de deeply impacted my entire life he took her life
00:37:31
and what was sure to be a brilliant future from her in taking Sarah he took the innocence of every one of us to face
00:37:39
Patrick Nicholas and to say what they had been wanting to say to his face for 30 years Patrick Nicholas is pure
00:37:48
evil there was so much power in the room it was electric and then an crony who wasn't allowed to testify at Sarah's TR
00:37:58
started speaking he just did like a double take and shuddered when an stood up like he saw a ghost yes I'm sure he
00:38:06
didn't expect to ever see my face or hear my name ever again we rely on a system of justice that is designed to
00:38:14
protect us from predators like Nicholas and this system failed me it failed Sarah her family friends and countless
00:38:22
others I asked the court to please not make the same mistake after everyone spoke J Josephine wigs addressed the
00:38:29
court when I think about this poor child this poor child what she experienced fighting for her life judge
00:38:44
wigs put her fist on the thing and said this was a child she kept saying that and all I could think was oh my gosh
00:38:52
that's right we were children y Nicholas received a sentence of almost 46 years for Sarah's family and friends
00:39:03
the sentence brought mixed emotions I don't know that this is Justice it is a verdict and it is putting someone away
00:39:11
for something that they did but he got 30 years that she didn't get it makes me mad that he was free for so many years
00:39:21
and who knows however many other people were hurt during that time I I don't know that we'll ever know
00:39:28
and that could have been avoided forensic genetic genealogy helped solve Sarah's case but prosecutors say similar
00:39:36
technology could have identified Patrick Nicholas years earlier if only familial
00:39:42
DNA searches were allowed in Washington state in a familial DNA search an unknown DNA sample is compared against
00:39:50
profiles already in codus to search for possible family members remember Patrick
00:39:56
Nicholas brother's DNA had been in codus for years the legislation just doesn't exist in the state to allow that search
00:40:06
California uses it the UK as I understand New York New York Wisconsin Minnesota Colorado Florida do you think
00:40:15
it's time to get that law changed we do we do the Y burough agree and hope that Sarah's case can make a difference I
00:40:24
would like to know that other parents don't have to wait 30 years what do you hope her Legacy is I
00:40:33
think her Legacy is she was always someone who brought people together she's brought all the people together
00:40:40
that attended the trial that's the kind of person she was for Drew Miller who at
00:40:46
13 found Sarah's body the connections made at trial finally brought him some peace knowing he's in prison is
00:40:55
fantastic but knowing her family and friends is way more important to me cuz that's what's given me the actual
00:41:04
healing that I needed this is probably the beginning of our junior year Sarah's friends will always remain bonded by the
00:41:12
past and Sarah's stolen future Not only was she beautiful her soul was beautiful
00:41:18
and the grace and the beauty that she carried and left with all of us we won't forget her we will never forget her
00:41:29
[Music] after the murall murders a new lead heats up this cold case the mysterious
00:41:47
unsolved death of Steven Smith do you believe Steven was murdered I do investigating another tragedy in murdog
00:41:54
country what really happened to Steven Smith 48 hours Saturday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus