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every Wednesday mafia dives into the larger than life stories of mobsters and introduces us to the key figures who
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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
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anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website all that's been and all that's being
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said it's not to my regret you got to face the edge of yourself and do they say if you go humor through it all
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you'll find the will will to survive what seems like he'll take me to the water launch me out to bloody sea
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because all you're going to do is release through these obstacles you've got to be take us to the water launch us
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out to sea and may the drunken mad ones follow me [Music] [Music] born on August 25th 1965 Mia Zapata
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lived with her brother sister and parents in Louisville Kentucky her father Richard Zapata took up a
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manager's job with a local TV station and her nut McDonald worked as a manager at a radio station with two parents in
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corporate TV and radio the family lived a comfortable life in Douglas Hills where the children had a free-spirited
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in the carefree upbringing Mia was independent and even has a toddler it was common for her to wander off and do
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her own thing she also liked to sing her voice was strong and husky for a kid and
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people would often turn around in surprise to hear such a tone coming from someone so small a voice many thought
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was destined for big things and Mayer destined to show the world what she was made of at school Mayer swam in Douglass
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Hill swim team and was good enough to be nicknamed the bullet she had a lot of potential but she wasn't really into
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sports she wanted to forge her own style and as her mother described it find her
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own Avenue while her brother was a cool popular kid and her sister preppy may have found her groove by being
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constantly creative she had a love of painting which she carried with her into adulthood her favorite was expressionist
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portraits she also liked to alter her clothes and was often in trouble for messing with her school uniform high
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school saw me as individuality grow her love of music expanded and along with it
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her passion for poetry into writing me and her friends were known to write poems and passed them as notes in the
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back of the classroom the grasp of words and expressing her feelings and thoughts
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into poetry was an asset many saw from an early age she had a passion for sixties rock and idolized the Janis
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Joplin who had a husky and strong voice like me she also loved her David Bowie and to
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the pretenders Mia and her friends spent countless hours hanging out and singing
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along to their favorite tracks and Mia could sing her journal became her songbook where she wrote lyrics
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throughout her teenage years a small tight-knit group of friends got her creativity they weren't interested in
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the fashion laws or pop music they were the nonconformist who gathered at the park or by the tracks and talked
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about creative stuff but Mia never got herself into trouble she wasn't like that when her sister described her she
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said quote you know when you meet people and they remind you of other people when
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you met Mia she never reminded you of anybody else Mia's parents eventually separated her
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father Richard moved to Yakima two hours from Seattle and her mother Donna moved
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to New York Mia went off to Antioch University in Ohio known for its experimental curriculum and study
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programs antiox less than traditional approach suited me oh and she thrived in the free-spirited environment it was
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that Antioch uni that may have found her music family and her band the gits one night at a coffee shop open mic night
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where Mia was singing a fellow student and that Dresner sat listening to her he felt her voice coming from somewhere
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deep down and it moved him in a way that he'd never experienced before he knew immediately that he wanted to
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start a band with her in 1986 the band was formed they called themselves the sniveling little rat-faced the kids mia
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was the main lyricist frontwoman and spokesperson for the band matt dresden played bass joseline the guitar
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and Steve Moriarty the drums there was also at Antioch that me and met Valerie Agnew
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Valerie was a drummer in the college punk scene and with so much in common her Annamayya forged a strong friendship
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Mia's love of the blues shined through not just in her lyrics but in her passion for the music
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she was husky and unreserved like a punk musician with the soulful and intense spirit of Janis Joplin to me his friends
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she was an intense thinker favoring her journal when moments alone in between a busy social life
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she was Street tough while at the same time possessing a worldly compassion people rarely saw in others she held no
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judgments on anyone her friends affectionately called her chicken woman she was double-jointed tall and skinny
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with long legs in school she was teased and called chicken but as she grew older
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and became a term of endearment anemia even wore a t-shirt with the words scrawled across a hand-drawn picture of
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a chicken me is being shortened to their name to the kids and to they forged the
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passionate relationship with their music from those early college days they didn't care about money or fame into
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their punk roots cemented them as progressive but they weren't content with being labeled a punk band yet
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lyrics and melodies were more soulful than that and too they carved to their own style with the influences of blues
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and punk rock it was in 1989 that Mayer into the rest of the members of the gits
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decided to move to San Francisco and a short time after that on to Seattle they wanted to get away from the Midwest to
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somewhere with passion and where their alternative music and non-conforming style would fit in when mayor endo band
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moved to Seattle in 1989 the city already had a huge underground abuzz alternative music had been a longtime
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staple of Seattle possibly it was Seattle's isolation from the big commercial music scene of Los Angeles
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leaving the city's artists performing individualistic and free-spirited scene of their own counterculture thrived in a
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city like Seattle where a small clubs and intimate venues brought with it tight community values
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artists felt no need to look outside their community for inspiration as they formed their own musical purpose they
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had no interest in the big wide world of popular music the alternative scene was
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about the music into their message in the early eighties hardcore punk and metal were amongst the most popular
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genres in Seattle but the two scenes didn't get along fights often broke out between fans and venues would rarely put
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on a hardcore band and a metal band on the same night for fear of an uproar but then a club opened up in Seattle that
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brought the two genres together emerging of fans but also emerging of sound and so with the help of the venue guerilla
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gardens the early influences of grunge began an old to screen movie theater was converted to a music venue where two
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different and sometimes opposing acts were able to play on the same night patrons paid one fee which covered
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admission for both bands and so that were really paying to support both genres as the nights went on the fans
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who once didn't say eye to eye began listening to each other's music and hanging out together this mashing of
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music became one of the major starting points for grunge influenced by rock punk and metal the
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grunge sound was muddy unsettled and distorted lyrics were angst-ridden and vocals were raw songs shifted from quiet
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emotive verses to lay out angry choruses the focus wasn't on technical prowess but on the message they were delivering
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grunge was anti-establishment supporting blue-collar workers and community housing over Fame and money the gits
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moved into the Capitol Hill district of Seattle where they spent a lot of time at a house nicknamed - the rat house it
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became like a band and artist headquarters serving as an artistic space recording studio and occasional
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place to crash the gits played local gigs around Seattle with the same passion and force of punk but they had
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their own sound with the husky soulful and deep feeling voice of mayors of harder the summer of 1993 was a good
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time to be a musician in Seattle the major music labels who had previously left the Seattle music scene alone
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allowing the band's the shy away from mainstream popularity all descended on Seattle Alice in Chains Soundgarden
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Pearl Jam The Melvins and Mudhoney were all local staples at the time who put Seattle on the map but the mainstream
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interest was mainly due to the success of one band Nirvana nirvana had found a local fame in the mid to late 80s and by
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1989 when the gets moved to Seattle Nirvana were touring internationally with 37 back-to-back shows across Europe
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grunge was well and truly honest way to becoming a worldwide musical phenomenon and by 1993 it had completely exploded
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the gits were part of this explosion their own style of punk blending perfectly into Seattle's grunge scene
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they were on their way up and to that year 1993 they were set for national and international tours themselves and were
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planning a new album after their Californian tour in June 93 the gates arrived the back to Seattle
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over the fourth of July weekend the Californian tour had been a huge success in Damir was even invited to perform two
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solo shows in LA the gates were only going to be home in Seattle for a few days before beginning a cross-country
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tour across America following in the footsteps of some of the big Seattle bands before them they had also recently
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had a lunch meeting with two executives from Atlantic Records the major label were keen to sign the gits and they
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weren't the only ones they were also being scouted by MCA but the band was torn if they signed to a major label
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they would be shedding some of their old values they were grappling with wanting
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to succeed and gain recognition and worrying that fame and money would compromise what they hurt the passion
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the authenticity would it disappear if they went with one of the majors they were nervous apprehensive and excited
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all at the same time although they all lived apart me and her family were still close Mia and her father Richard caught
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up a couple of times a month as he only lived a few hours from Seattle Mia's month owner visited Seattle and went to
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one of the gits gigs when Mia told the crowd she was there every one yard out hi mum it was that sort of environment
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Donna was proud of me oh they had always encouraged her creativity and her music
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never believing me it should have been doing anything else but they did still worry about her and her lifestyle
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Mia's siblings were also very supportive of her and they tried to catch up as much as possible
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it was the Tuesday morning after the July 4th weekend 1993 the gets cross-country tour was due to kick off
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in a few days by 11:00 a.m. Mia had rolled out of bed to meet her dad for lunch they went to a local Thai
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restaurant where they talked about her tour and the officer in the band were considering from Atlantic Records after
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lunch they browsed the racks at Tower Records before going to the Seattle Art Museum Richard dropped me off at her
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Rainier Valley shared rental apartment around 3 p.m. that afternoon he said goodbye to her at the bottom of the
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steps and then headed home himself Mia was planning on heading to the production studio later on to rehearse
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so she used the afternoon to do her laundry and to walk the dog at around 6:30 p.m.
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dressed in her cut-off denim jean shorts her black gets hooded sweatshirt socks and short black boots
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Mia arrived at the 11th Avenue Winston apartments the production studio was out the back in a run-down three-story
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wooden building the studio itself was dingy and dark with various rooms used by different bands and independent film
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makers Mia spent the next two hours rehearsing with her ex-boyfriends bent it was a tense session her ex-boyfriend
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David not his real name had only broken up with Mia recently and she was still upset about it they had once spoken
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about marriage but near David was seeing someone else and me it wasn't ready for
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it Mia sang backup vocals in David's band which is why she was rehearsing with him
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after a hurtle Mia was looking forward to her first night out back in Seattle since arriving home from the Californian
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tour at 8:30 p.m. she walked a block down the road to the comet Tavern in Capital Hill the neighborhood bar she
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and her friends always hung out in the place where she had engraved her name in one of the wooden booths
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she met up with some of her crew including her friend Valerie Agnew who she had met at Antioch University
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Valerie had also moved to Seattle and she played in a band called seven-year [ __ ] Valerie and her band were out that
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night marking the one-year anniversary of the death of their bent mate Stephanie Sargent who had died from
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asphyxiation after a night of drinking and drugs Mia spoke about drawing on the good
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memories they had of Stephanie as she consoled her friends while they drank at the bar Mia was good like that a
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constant support for others even though she had her own [ __ ] to deal with Mia was still shaken up about the breakup
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with David she wasn't over it and she decided to drown her sorrows that night she had been a big drinker for a while
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she smoked pot and occasionally dabbled in some harder stuff - but generally her
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voice was alcohol that had caused some issues with her bandmates internet recently asked her to ease up a
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little so Mia had been off the booze for two weeks but that night she was drinking hard it was the night mixed
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with nervous excitement for the future sorrow over her friend's anniversary and to anger over her recent breakup Mia and
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a couple of mates then left the comet and walked a few blocks to pakoras pizza where Nia worked as a part-time waitress
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they downed a few shots there and - then went back to the comet where she was seen making a call from the pay phone
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according to court documents at 1:00 a.m. when the comet closed Mia went to the nearby apartment of a female friend
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Jemma not her real name Jemma was the singer in David's band who Mia had rehearsed
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with earlier that night Jenna's apartment was actually in front and above the rehearsal studio before going
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up to the apartment Mia checked out the back in the studio to see if David was still there she wanted to talk and
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thought he might have still been rehearsing but he wasn't a neighbor then saw mayor walking up a
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wooden ramp to Jimmy's apartment Mia and Gemma talked for a while about the breakup and about other things me it was
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really upset after spending an hour at Gemma's mayor left she told Gemma she was going to head two blocks west to a
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gas station and get a cab home from there Gemma wanted me to crash at her place but Mia was adamant she would get
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a cab home Mia left Gemma's apartment and walked down the central staircase towards the
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exit doors there was 2 a.m. weather mayor really intended to get a cab or not is unknown
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she loved walking and she had put her Walkman on which meant she may have been planning to walk south towards home
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maybe intending to get a cab after sobering up a little she may have also gone to look for David again who didn't
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live far away maybe she went to find another drink somewhere the reality is after Mia left to Jenna's apartment no
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one knows where she went one hour and 20 minutes later at 3:20 a.m. a woman was walking along 24th Avenue South 1.6
00:20:06
miles southeast of Gemma's apartment at the time it was a small and isolated dead-end street between a church and
00:20:13
church community center and was a known location for sex workers and late-night drug deals the woman who was working
00:20:22
that street notice what she thought was a garbage bag on the footpath near the curb but as she walked closer the street
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lamp lighting up her path she realized there was a body face up leg straight and crossed at the ankles
00:20:40
and arms stretched out to the sides the body formed across the woman ran to a nearby fire station for help when the
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fire department arrived they found the body of a young woman still warm but lifeless she was declared dead at the
00:21:01
scene around 3:30 5:00 a.m. there was no ID on her body so they had no idea who she was the only identifiable feature
00:21:11
was a tattoo on her calf of a chicken she was partially dressed her black gets hoodie had been pulled up under her arms
00:21:18
in the hood pulled down over her face the cord removed and tied tightly around her neck there were fresh scuff marks on
00:21:27
the toes of her black boots and other scuff marks on her left hip and on her belt just below it there were some small
00:21:34
metal fragments on the ground by her body and around one foot from her head there was a tire residue mark that
00:21:40
appeared or been caused by a vehicle speeding away there were no signs of a struggle
00:21:46
it appeared that she was killed elsewhere and dumped at the scene her wallet underwear and bra had been shoved
00:21:53
into her shorts pocket the bra was ripped and one of the cups was missing her body was taken to the King County
00:22:04
Medical Examiner he recognized her the moment he saw her he often went to local venues to hear bands perform he knew it
00:22:14
was me as a Potter although initially held back from the public it was determined that Mayor had been raped
00:22:22
however no semen was found with ligature marks present on her neck it was confirmed she had been strangled with
00:22:30
the cord of her hoodie she had also received blows to her abdomen and body that badly injured her
00:22:36
internal organs so even if she wasn't strangled she likely would have died anyway there were fresh red marks and
00:22:45
what appeared to be bite marks on her right breast with evidence of Tate's ravings but the indentations were not
00:22:51
deep enough to obtain tooth impressions swabs were taken from the bite marks in the hope that then may have been
00:22:58
evidence of saliva when those results came back it showed they did contain saliva but the sample was too small to
00:23:06
use for DNA testing the medical examiner filed the evidence and put it into long-term storage in the hope that
00:23:14
future advances in forensic science would one day be enough to retrieve a DNA profile of the killer initially
00:23:26
police suspected the murder was drug related or connected to the area Mia was found in being a hotspot for sex work
00:23:33
but with the realization of who Mia was and her rising fame they began to look down other avenues when police went
00:23:42
public about her murder they held back the fact she had been sexually assaulted as well as the information about half of
00:23:48
her bra being torn off and missing like many police investigations they deliberately withhold information if a
00:23:56
suspect was later identified and questioned and denied possessed information that hadn't been released to
00:24:01
the public it could go a long way to closing the case it also helped identifying false confessions police
00:24:10
were also worried that if they mentioned the missing bra cup the offender might dispose of it
00:24:16
but Mia's friends weren't happy that not all the information was being made public they felt that as much as
00:24:22
possible should be shared in order to find out who was responsible the level of violence and the extent to which
00:24:30
Mayor was injured showed a desire to cause her great physical pain the police had to try and establish who would want
00:24:37
to do that and why they were adamant that she didn't die at the location she was found she could have been killed in
00:24:45
a vehicle or even in a house but without knowing exactly what mayor's plans were
00:24:50
asked a leaving Gemma's apartment and made it difficult to trace her steps not one person saw her or heard from her
00:24:59
after she left the apartment during the one hour and twenty minutes that were missing from the timeline she could have
00:25:06
been anywhere but the fact that her body was located southeast of Jenna's apartment did insinuate that she may
00:25:12
have begun walking towards home and not to the gas station why she said everyone
00:25:19
who knew Mia knew full well she wouldn't get in a car with anyone unless she knew
00:25:23
them and two there was a chance that if someone had stopped to offer her a lift she may have mouthed off and angered
00:25:29
them Mia could yell better than most and she was tough and able to stand up for herself so the lack of witnesses hearing
00:25:38
anything made her murder so much more perplexing police started to wonder if she accepted a lift from someone she
00:25:44
knew they interviewed all of her friends and acquaintances and many felt like they were suspects as police began
00:25:54
piecing together the timeline and colliding the information on all friends and acquaintances they realized just how
00:26:00
wide the net was it seemed like everyone knew mia somehow as a result of being famous and having lots of fans in a
00:26:09
small community wading through the personal histories of everyone was a huge task many of the people in the
00:26:15
music scene also had criminal histories some lengthy not necessarily for violent
00:26:21
crimes more often it was theft or drugs but the list was large had in the people who didn't know mayor
00:26:29
but lived in the vicinity of where she was last seen or where she was found and a list went into the hundreds with so
00:26:36
many people in the area having previously been in trouble with the law it came as no surprise that there was a
00:26:42
lack of witnesses coming forward me as ex David was one of the first to be called in for questioning Mia had
00:26:55
already tried to find him once that night what if she tried again after leaving Gemma's and was successful the
00:27:04
rehearsal studio when they had looked for him was fairly isolated at the back of the building and it was soundproof if
00:27:10
she was killed there no one would have heard a thing the studio was examined no forensic evidence was found but police
00:27:20
did locate Mia's microphone according to friends she always carried it around with her but no one could remember her
00:27:27
having it when she was out drinking so it's possible she just left it there after rehearsal
00:27:32
[Music] David was asked to provide a semen sample blood sample hair sample and he
00:27:40
participated in two polygraph tests many people in Mia's extended sofel weren't that forthcoming but David supported the
00:27:49
police without question and wanted to help any way he could he was devastated by Mia's death and he believed the
00:27:56
sooner police cleared him the more chance they had of finding the real killer not only did David cooperate fully he
00:28:04
also had a strong alibi for the entire night he had spent the evening with friends and his new girlfriend police
00:28:13
continued questioning everyone they could eventually all of me as male friends were asked to give DNA samples
00:28:20
but no matter how many people they spoke to they couldn't account for the missing
00:28:25
hour and 20 minutes Mia regularly caught cabs in to many of the local cab drivers
00:28:32
knew her but none of them picked her up that night maybe she had accepted a ride
00:28:38
from someone passing by after all the police had no leads and they still had no idea where Mia was actually murdered
00:28:50
after the initial shock fear said in to the local community the murderer was out
00:28:56
there was at one of their own someone who knew Mia a crazed fan a random act a serial killer
00:29:07
Mia's body being left what appeared to be deliberately in a religious pose and of the location between the church and
00:29:14
church Community Center created the suspicion that there was a religious motive police looked at the possibility
00:29:22
that there was a hidden message for them they even started to consider whether the Green River serial killer had been
00:29:28
responsible the then on-court Green River Killer was known for raping and strangling his victims and sometimes he
00:29:36
left them in poses he was believed to be a religious fanatic and he was known to
00:29:40
leave his victims in areas away from where he killed them but the Green River Killer also had many differences and one
00:29:48
of those differences was the fact that Mia's body was dumped with the intention of it being found
00:29:52
she wasn't hidden from sight her possible connection was closely looked at but after much consideration police
00:30:02
moved away from the Green River Killer theory instead they concentrated on Mia's fan base as well as her peers in
00:30:10
the music industry the fact that the gits were succeeding did raise the question whether someone may have been
00:30:16
envious of me a success but that would suggest the person who had likely never killed before someone in her group or in
00:30:24
the industry that just had a grudge this type of murder didn't really fit with that theory according to the profile of
00:30:33
Mia's attacker the brutality and a level of violence she endured indicated that the person was likely to have had a
00:30:39
history of violence possibly someone who had assaulted females in the past not someone who had just decided to kill
00:30:47
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friends of mayors arranged an all-night vigil that was attended by over 1,000 people her murder shocked everyone those
00:33:59
in the Grunch scene were distraught and they were scared her friends spoke about
00:34:05
looking over their shoulders worried that they may be next on Saturday July 10 a few days after her murder
00:34:14
Mia's family and friends hold a private memorial service in Seattle before her body was taken back to Louisville for
00:34:20
burial she was remembered not just for her music but for her painting her writing
00:34:25
her friendship and for who she was as a person at one point Mia's father looked out the window and
00:34:34
watched the line of people grow all coming to pay their respects and remember Mia friends acquaintances
00:34:41
and fans gathered and the line began sneaking around the block a lot of them were carrying yellow roses Mia's
00:34:48
favorite flower Mia's parents Richard and Donna were completely overwhelmed by the amount of
00:34:55
kids as they called them they came to pay their respects a table was filled with the yellow roses they had brought
00:35:02
there was incense burning and poetry and photos of Mia were pinned to the wall some of her friends told me his parents
00:35:10
stories of our things Mia had done to help them away she had made a difference in their lives
00:35:16
Richard and Donna were surprised by how many people Mia had touched in her short
00:35:20
27 years they learned that she had helped people when they were homeless and helped friends recover from drug
00:35:27
addictions she was a rock for a lot of people as time went on many of Mia's friends kept the suspicious or wondering
00:35:38
if the killer was among them that were told by the police that although it could have been anyone there
00:35:45
was a good chance it was someone they knew many worried that it was going to happen again no one felt safe while the
00:35:52
killer was still out there everyone in the scene felt a dark cloud was hanging over them
00:35:58
Mia's friend Valerie Agnew said quote it's just surreal to see next to somebody you've been drinking with or
00:36:06
going to shows with for so many years and wonder did they do it friends put up posters all over Seattle hoping that
00:36:18
someone might have seen something handwritten in marker pen the posters read did you see Mia Tuesday night July
00:36:27
6 2 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. she was walking between 11th Avenue and Broadway at 2:00 a.m. she was found strangled to death on
00:36:36
25th Avenue between Yesler and Washington did you see her catch a ride talking to someone walking if you have
00:36:45
any info please call CrimeStoppers posted a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest police
00:36:55
started getting numerous calls from people with tips who wanted to help but also from people who just wanted to
00:37:02
insert themselves in the investigation by this stage me as celebrity status meant that there were people who wanted
00:37:09
to be involved purely on the basis that other famous people were offering their help despite the publicity of the case
00:37:17
nothing was moving the investigation along at all it had come to a standstill Mia's friends didn't rest though they
00:37:26
understood there were no leads but they weren't the type to just sit on their hands and do nothing after a couple of
00:37:34
weeks Steve Moriarty that gets drummer and a few friends became so frustrated that
00:37:39
they got together and hired a private investigator Leigh Hearon Leigh focused on the community and those close to me
00:37:47
she wanted to piece everyone together which she found hard initially as after her death just about everyone had
00:37:55
suddenly become Mia's friend Leigh interviewed women who worked the streets where Mia was found as well as every
00:38:03
person who lived in that area she also visited the clubs and hung out in the grand sing to try and get all the
00:38:09
information she could she quickly realized that the majority of people in Seattle's music scene lived nomadic
00:38:16
lifestyles it was normal not to have a phone or a steady job so pinning people down proved almost
00:38:22
impossible also people were paranoid still wondering if the killer was out there stalking his next victim so many
00:38:30
people were too scared to talk they discovered that the kids had a group of dedicated fans who followed
00:38:38
their band around Seattle and went to every show they performed she set her sights on this small group hoping bigger
00:38:45
the lead but nothing came up then Mia's roommates told Lee that Mia had made a new friend in the lead up to her murder
00:38:54
and a few days after she died the new friend was heard shouting the [ __ ] is dead why did I do it after looking into
00:39:06
this person Lee managed to obtain DNA samples from his car she also convinced the police to look
00:39:12
into him the police asked him to come in for questioning during which he agreed to take a
00:39:18
polygraph test he passed a woman then came forward to police describing a man she had encountered a
00:39:27
few weeks after Mia's murder this woman was walking along the street near the comet tavern when she could sense a car
00:39:34
was coming up slowly behind her she thought the driver was about to offer her a ride but when she looked over she
00:39:41
saw the male driver was masturbating the woman got away and took note of the number plate but when she reported it to
00:39:49
police they said it wasn't something they could pursue in order to keep Lee Harun's private investigation going
00:39:59
people rallied to raise funds joan jett agreed to join the gits for a small tour
00:40:04
of benefit geeks as she had been personally touched on Mia's murder Mia's music friends got Warner Brothers
00:40:11
to front up the money for a benefit concert in Seattle with Nirvana toejam Courtney Love and Soundgarden involved
00:40:18
it gained enough publicity to keep made his case in the minds of the public as well as the police me his friends also
00:40:26
felt a sense that if Mia had some form of self-defense training she may have been able to get away from her killer
00:40:32
they decided to set up an organization called home alive which provided self-defense training and a gun classes
00:40:39
to women the publicity around the home alive organization also had the added benefit of keeping Mia's case in the
00:40:46
news the remaining members of the Gittes did what they could to keep the fires burning for the band but the reality was
00:40:55
they had lost their essence Mia their front woman was what made them their gits without her they were lost
00:41:04
when going through what they had from recording sessions for their second album they discovered that Mia had saved
00:41:10
some vocal tracks that they thought she had never recorded one of these songs was called sine of the crap it was a
00:41:17
song Mia had written only two months before her death the lyrics were eerily prophetic the song describes being
00:41:26
murdered at the hands of a stranger a section of lyrics reads quote anything to get me in and then get me killed
00:41:35
go ahead and slash me up spread me all across this town because you know you're the one who won't be found with what
00:41:47
they had already recorded the gits were able to release their second album in 1994 it's titled enter the conquering
00:41:56
chicken by mid 94 Seattle's music scene was reeling from further deaths of young and
00:42:07
beloved musicians that had started before mass murder in 1990 with the fatal heroin overdose of Andrew would
00:42:15
lead singer of Mother Love Bone two members of that band would go on to form Pearl Jam that was followed in 92 by the
00:42:24
asphyxiation death of Stephanie Sargent the guitarist from seven-year [ __ ] Mia's murder came a year after that
00:42:31
a year after Mia's death in 1994 Nirvana's Kurt Cobain died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound
00:42:39
two months later Kristin faff bassist for the band hole died of a drug overdose hole was the band fronted by
00:42:47
Kurt Cobain's wife Courtney Love it led to the media labeling grunge as the deadliest music genre but in 1995 the
00:43:00
remaining members of the gits had worked with numerous artists to produce albums
00:43:04
and play benefit gigs to continue raising money to keep the private investigator Leigh Hearon
00:43:09
going following three benefit shows where they had worked with rocker Joan Jett as their front woman they
00:43:15
collaboratively released an album titled evil Stieg the name is actually gets live spelled backwards
00:43:22
they had Joan Jett sing vocals and play with the band's releasing the album as a
00:43:27
cross-promotion between Warner Brothers and Jets black heart records Joan Jett had found fame as a teenager leading the
00:43:34
all-female group The Runaways and she was living in Seattle at the time of Mia's murder also known for her
00:43:42
feisty raspy and energetic voice she brought exactly what the gits felt was a very mayor style to their music the gits
00:43:51
then held the opening music slot for an AIDS benefit concert as well as contributing a new song to another album
00:43:57
this time a compilation also being used to raise funds this one was called home alive the art of self-defense and it was
00:44:06
dedicated to the organization that Mia's friends had set up to help provide self-defense classes to women
00:44:13
so many beings wanted to contribute to the home alive album it ended up becoming a 2-cd set all publishers
00:44:21
record companies and artists agreed to donate all royalties for use of the songs the home alive organization is
00:44:29
still in operation today three years after Mia's murder the white body outline on the pavement remained
00:44:38
faded after time but still there as a reminder of that night and a reminder to the community that a murderer was still
00:44:45
out there the police investigation had stalled but the private investigation by Leigh Hearon continued a woman contacted
00:44:56
Lee and told her she had met a man on an internet site and had recently begun a romance with him during an argument this
00:45:04
man told the woman that he would do to her what he had done to me as a partner when Lee looked into him she discovered
00:45:11
that he was known to watch young schoolgirls from his car Lee turned at the information over to Seattle police
00:45:19
and when they questioned him he said that he was staying with a friend in Olympia the night Mayor was murdered but
00:45:26
after digging further they discovered he was actually working as a taxi driver in
00:45:30
Capitol Hill that night so not only had he lied about his whereabouts he was working in the area where Mayor was
00:45:38
killed when confronted by police he broke down and confessed to having drug problems he
00:45:48
said he would never hurt me Oh though there was not enough evidence to make an arrest or press charges so the
00:45:55
investigation into the cab driver didn't go any further but Lee felt convinced he
00:46:00
had something to do with it by now the money had run dry and to me his friends weren't able to keep paying Lee
00:46:08
but she had become so invested in the case she agreed to work pro bono when this latest lead fizzled out the case
00:46:17
went cold and to the gets dissolved by 2001 detectives great Mixel and Richard Gagnon had been allocated cold cases at
00:46:30
the Seattle Police Department their job involved going through the enormous backlog of unsolved cases and
00:46:36
identifying those that had a chance of moving forward with new technologies in forensic testing when they went through
00:46:43
Mia's file they saw that a swab of saliva had been stored in 1993 it wasn't tested at the time because the sample
00:46:51
was too more nude for the technology available but by 2001 there had been enough advances in DNA technology in the
00:46:59
cold case detectives thought that although saliva had a very slim chance of producing a DNA profile it was worth
00:47:05
a shot at the time this possible DNA evidence police hat was not public knowledge
00:47:12
only the investigators knew about it Washington State Patrol crime lab technician Jody SAS performed the DNA
00:47:22
analysis on the swab using polymerase chain reaction and short tandem repeat methodology also known as PCR a new
00:47:31
technology and one that had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry the discovery made it possible for DNA
00:47:38
to be extracted from very small biological samples and to then amplify it to allow them to obtain the DNA
00:47:45
information because of the sample taken from Mia's body was so small the crime lab was worried it would be destroyed so
00:47:54
they had to wait for the PCR process to be perfectly refined before they sent the sample for testing
00:48:02
when the swab was finally tested they were able to amplify it enter lab technician Jodi sass was able
00:48:10
to obtain two separate DNA profiles in equal concentrations from that she was able to extract a Mia's DNA profile
00:48:19
which then isolated a complete profile belonging to an unknown male it had worked they had the killer's DNA no
00:48:33
other DNA profile was obtained on any of the other material tested only the tiny
00:48:39
saliva swabs detectives Mixel and Gagnon immediately ran the DNA profile through the
00:48:45
Washington state database to find a match but the search came up with nothing as disappointing as that was it
00:48:54
did officially rule out everyone that was close to Mia who had provided a DNA sample during the investigation in June
00:49:02
2002 they were able to submit the DNA profile to the CODIS database maintained by the
00:49:07
FBI a national database containing the DNA profile of everyone who has committed a felony across the country
00:49:14
but they got no match there either the killer continued to evade them every week the system was automatically
00:49:23
rechecked in the hope that they would get a match from a new entry but week after week they came up empty the case
00:49:32
had stalled again six months later in December 2002 lab technician JD sass got a phone call from
00:49:42
authorities in Florida a new law had passed in Florida only months earlier and burglary was now
00:49:48
considered a felony as a result there was an influx of new DNA profiles hitting the system in Florida someone
00:49:57
had just entered the system who was at the time on probation following a recent conviction for possession of burglary
00:50:02
tools as a condition of his probation he was required to submit to cheek swab samples those cheek swabs had come back
00:50:12
as a match to the DNA found on Mia Zapatas body the chance of it being from anywhere else in the United States was 1
00:50:21
in 1.5 trillion they had their head forty eight-year-old hey-zeus mezquia was a cuban exile living in florida he
00:50:35
had convictions for aggravated battery of a pregnant woman in 1997 as well as kidnapping false imprisonment robbery
00:50:42
and indecent exposure in the early eighties in florida in california he had convictions in the late 80s and early
00:50:49
90s for battery of a spouse and assault to commit rape it was discovered that mezquia lived in Seattle between 92 and
00:50:59
94 during the time of Mia's murder he shared a home with a woman three blocks from where Mia's body was found and he
00:51:07
had a record for a speeding ticket in the same area on the night Mayer was murdered the woman he lived with was out
00:51:14
of town looking back through Mayer's police file that was discovered that Miss Kay's number plate was a match for
00:51:22
a car that had been reported during the investigation the incident where a woman
00:51:27
saw a man masturbating in his car not long after Mia was murdered the incident where the police said they
00:51:33
weren't able to investigate any further in Florida the u.s. marshals were informed in today placed hey-zeus
00:51:42
mezquia is home under surveillance until detectives Mixel and the Gagnon arrived from seattle but after a day
00:51:49
surveillance they weren't sure if he was home there hadn't been one sighting of him
00:51:56
none right County sheriff's deputies who were assisting with the case questioned
00:52:01
miss Kay's wife while she was at work she told them that mezquia had left town from Miami where he had a temporary job
00:52:08
on a fishing boat police moved quickly to track mezquia down in Miami going to an address provided by his wife when
00:52:17
they arrived they found his white van parked out the front and a few hours later hey Zeus mezquia was in custody
00:52:26
Miz Kia didn't resist or run he thought the police were just checking up on his probation he got the shock of his life
00:52:34
when he found out the real reason they wanted to speak to him late on January 10 2003 just shy of 10 years after Mia
00:52:45
Zapata was murdered 48 year old hey Zeus mezquia was arrested and charged with first-degree murder
00:52:52
miss kiya denied ever meeting knowing or killing me as a partner when the trial began may his family who gets being bait
00:53:03
into many of her friends attended court every day when mezquia walked into the courtroom they were instantly hit by the
00:53:10
enormous size of him 6 foot 4 and 240 pounds they realized that there was no way Mia would have
00:53:18
been able to defend herself against him overpowering him would have been impossible senior prosecuting attorney
00:53:26
Tim Bradshaw told the jury that the DNA taken from saliva on Mia's body matched a Zeus peskier
00:53:33
and that was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed her quote the evidence that was previously left in
00:53:41
darkness has been illuminated and exposed to the light of the laboratory and will be exposed for your
00:53:47
consideration in the light of this courtroom the medical examiner testified that there was no doubt in his mind that
00:53:55
the saliva was from the accused and in addition there was no doubt that the saliva was left on Mia's body during the
00:54:03
attack the prosecution's case was that in the early hours of July 7 1993 hey-zeus
00:54:11
mezquia was cruising the streets in his car he drove past mayor who was unable to hear him pull up because she had her
00:54:18
headphones on he abducted her pulling her into his car she was bashed and sexually assaulted in
00:54:27
his vehicle had a deserted location and later dumped just a few blocks from Miss
00:54:32
Kay's home although at the time police questioned their religious significance that Mayor had been dumped next to the
00:54:40
church and in a religious pose they now believed that this was nothing but a coincidence that her pose wasn't
00:54:47
deliberate but it was just how she happened to end up after mezquia dragged her from the car and to left her in the
00:54:53
street they believed he had never met mayor before that night it was a random attack
00:55:01
during the trial after the state had rested its case a woman came forward and alleged that mezquia had assaulted her
00:55:09
about six months after Mia's murder while out on a jog in downtown Seattle at 4:30 a.m. mezquia knocked her to the
00:55:16
ground and she felt pain in her throat but she managed to get to her fate and run away she returned to her apartment
00:55:25
building and found mezquia standing at the corner of her building staring at her and masturbating
00:55:32
if it wasn't for two people sitting in a nearby car she may not have escaped following a two-week trial a jury took
00:55:45
over two days to reach their verdict they found hey Zeus mezquia guilty because of the extreme injury suffered
00:55:55
by Mia and based on the aggravating circumstance of deliberate cruelty the judge made the decision that although
00:56:02
the standard sentence ranged from 18 to 28 years there was legal justification for a 36 year sentence over and above
00:56:11
the standard mezquia appealed both his conviction and his sentence in 2005 when it went to appellate court the judge
00:56:22
overturned the sentence based on a US Supreme Court ruling known as the Blakely decision a decision that meant
00:56:29
that any factor that extended a sentence beyond its standard range must itself be
00:56:34
proven and approved by a jury but then something unusual happened something mezquia zone lawyers didn't
00:56:42
understand his reasoning for in 2009 when facing resentencing mezquia waived his right to have a jury determine
00:56:52
whether aggravating circumstances would justify the longer sentence allowing the
00:56:57
King County Superior Court judge to uphold his conviction and sentence had mezquia not a waive these right his
00:57:05
lawyers believed he would have received a reduced sentence instead he returned to prison to continue his 36 year
00:57:13
sentence his lawyer stated they had no idea why he had chosen to waive his rights during the initial trial a video
00:57:25
was played to the judge the jury and everyone in the courtroom in the video made his father Richard says the
00:57:32
following what I know of my daughter she was very quiet very reserved ultra ultra
00:57:40
shy the last person in the world who would call attention to herself and yet put a microphone in her hand
00:57:48
March her up on a stage and she was just magnetic after closing Mia's case cold-case
00:57:58
detective Gagnon spoke about the pall of cold cases they still had waiting for them and to the killer's they were yet
00:58:04
to catch quote the clocks always ticking you're not a free man maybe someday on the road they'll be a knock on the door
00:58:16
if you're having trouble sleeping at night I think we've done our job [Music] [Music]
00:58:46
[Applause] [Music] we can and instead it's not my own the only thing I was waiting on my car
00:59:11
[Music] many [Music] - waiting for my temple man to come well maybe they can't hear
00:59:37
[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's a mistake I can show you there
01:00:14
[Music] the show [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
01:01:18
[Applause] [Music]