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[Music]
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warnings please see the show notes for
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this episode on your app or on our
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website at around 10:00 a.m. on
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Wednesday March 26th 1986 12-year-old
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michella Welch and her two younger
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sisters left their home in Tacoma
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Washington and headed north michella and
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11-year-old Angela were both on their
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bicycles while 9-year-old Nicole was
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pulled along behind her elder sister
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wearing roller skates and holding onto a
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skipping rope they tied to Michelle's
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bike it was a bright sunny day in the
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middle of spring break and michella was
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in charge of her younger sisters while
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their mother was at
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work their destination was Puget Park a
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pretty public space with a playground
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grassy nulls and more heavily wooded
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areas popular with
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Walkers the 1.2 acre Park was less than
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2 mi from the Welch sisters home and
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only took them a little over 10 minutes
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to get
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to the three girls played at the park
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for over an hour before they started to
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get
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hungry they'd made sandwiches at home so
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they could have a picnic lunch but had
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forgotten to pack
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them michella who was a caring and
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protective big sister said she'd cycle
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back home Angela and Nicole could keep
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playing and she would be back with their
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lunch very soon
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michella hopped on her bike leaving
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Angela and Nicole at the
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park the minutes ticked
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by the two girls noticed that their
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sister was taking a long time to come
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back longer than they would have
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expected by around 12:30 p.m. more than
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an hour had passed since michella
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left Angela and Nicole needed to go to
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the toilet and couldn't wait any longer
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so they left the park to use a restroom
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at a nearby
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business while there they also used the
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phone to call their sister at home no
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one picked
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up Angela and Nicole headed back to the
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park but still saw no sign of their
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sister they played for a little while at
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a nearby cave before returning to the
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playground at around 2:
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p.m. there they noticed
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something Michelle's bike was back and
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secured to a rack close by on a picnic
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table was a lunch bag that had been
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ripped
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open inside was the food michella had
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gone home to
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get there were some sandwiches including
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one that was partially eaten and a bag
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of Easter eggs michella had packed as a
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special
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treat but there was no sign of michella
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[Music]
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something about the scene didn't look
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right Angela and Nicole called out to
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their big sister using what the Welches
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had dubbed their family call
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a loud distinctive Yelp designed to
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catch each other's
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attention michella didn't return the
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call at that moment Angela and Nicole
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knew that something was
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wrong they continued looking for their
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big sister their hopes momentarily
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soared when they heard someone calling
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their names but it turned out to be
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their babysitter who'd arrived to
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help they had phoned her early when
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they'd gone to the restroom and
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explained how michella wasn't with
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them the babysitter helped look for
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michella and phoned the girl's mother
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Barbara Barbara was at work when she
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received the call she was shocked to
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learn of Michelle's unexplained
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disappearance michella had called
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Barbara just a few hours earlier when
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she'd returned home to fetch the girls
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lunches she was asking permission for
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the three of the to go to puug park and
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then stay there until Michelle's piano
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lesson later that
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day Barbara had said no as Michelle's
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lesson wasn't for another 5 hours and
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that seemed too long for her daughters
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to remain at the park
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unsupervised michella hadn't told her
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mother that they had already gone to the
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park or that Angela and Nicole was still
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there waiting for her
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return Barbara would have later surmise
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that Michelle
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who was a responsible and thoughtful
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girl must not have wanted her to
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worry she'd likely assumed that going to
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the park would have been fine hence why
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she'd taken her sisters there first
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without seeking
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permission when Barbara returned home
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later that day she found that the house
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was
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spotless it seemed as though michella
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had cleaned it before returning to the
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park perhaps as a way to soften any
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anger Barbara might have felt if she'd
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discovered what her daughters had been
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up
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to terrified Barbara rushed to pujet
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park and called the
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police initially they told her she had
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to wait 24 hours before reporting her
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daughter missing but Barbara was adamant
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that she needed their help
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immediately by 3:10 p.m. police officers
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had descended on puug Park along with
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family and friends of the
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Welches over the following hours police
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searched the park extensively
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accompanied by8 K9
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officers dusk arrived and darkness fell
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and still the search
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continued at 11:00 p.m. Michelle's
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Mother Barbara sat waiting in a nearby
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police car as one of the police dogs
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honed in on an isolated location about a
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quarter of a mile from the
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playground a long wooded area dotted
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with walking trail are buttered the
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Eastern side of Puget
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Park this area was half a mile long and
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known as The
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Gulch the dog had been focused on The
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Gulch when it headed off a trail and
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indicated at a spot about 60 yard into
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the woods where a makeshift fire pit had
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been
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crafted hidden amongst the grassy
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vegetation was the body of 12-year-old
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michella
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Walch she lay on her back with her arms
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out stretched either side her hands
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muddy and tightly clenched she wore a
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white shirt and a tan jumper which had
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been pulled up to expose her upper
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abdomen there was blood on the
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clothing michella was naked from the
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waist down though she still wore her
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socks pulled up to her
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knees her left sneaker had been pulled
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off Michelle's pink trousers and her
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Underpants had been pulled down her body
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and were Tangled inside out around one
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ankle there was no sign of the pink
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framed ey glasses she had been wearing
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earlier the right side of Michelle's
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head had been fatally struck with the
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blunt
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object her throat was also slit and she
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had a defensive wound to one
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hand the suspect's Seaman and pubic hair
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were recovered from the scene confirming
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that michella had been sexually
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assaulted
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as police lifted her body they found a
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folding pocket knife with a sheath under
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her right
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leg a small length of cord was
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discovered hanging from a nearby
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Branch Michelle's coat had also been
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draped from a
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bush it was covered in blood indicating
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the killer removed it after the
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murder when Barbara Leonard was informed
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that Michelle's body had been found she
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went into a State of Shock and had to be
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taken to the
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hospital without the police saying
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anything else she knew that her daughter
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had been
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murdered as she recalled years later in
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an interview with the television program
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dat Line quote you know when you say
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found a body it's not a person it's
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terrible investigators suspected that
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Michelle had become worried after
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returning to Puget Park to find her
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sisters
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gone she might have headed Along The
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Gulch Trail in search of them and had
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been attacked by someone
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there another possibility was that her
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killer had seen her looking for the
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girls and opportunistically told her
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that he knew where they
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were he had then lured michella into the
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highly isolated fire pit location within
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the
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Gulch michella had been found with a
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small cut to her cheek which could have
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been made with a knife her killer might
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have held the knife to Michelle's face
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as a threat while forcing her through
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The
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Gulch Michelle's family could think of
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no one who would want to harm
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her detectives took possession of some
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notebooks that had belonged to the
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12-year-old and scoured Michelle's
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writings and drawings for
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Clues they found nothing of
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significance detec Ives appealed to the
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public for
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information although no one had
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witnessed Michelle's abduction a
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15-year-old skateboarder had almost
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certainly seen the moments right before
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it he'd spotted michella at about 1:30
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p.m. walking around as though looking
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for someone she then headed back to the
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picnic table where she'd placed her
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sister's
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lunches the 15-year-old left to use the
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bathroom and when he returned just just
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a couple of minutes later michella was
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gone a number of sightings of suspicious
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men trickled
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in one of Michelle's classmates who'd
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been at the park that day noticed a man
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watching the three Welch
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sisters the man appeared to be in his
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mid-20s was short and wore dirty ripped
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clothing a teacher who knew michella
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from school saw the 12-year-old talking
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to a young man with olive skin and a
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dark
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hair he was pointing down towards The
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Gulch a short while later a boy heard
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what sounded like a girl
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screaming he'd thought nothing of it as
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children often screamed while playing at
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the
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park a woman reported seeing a Shifty
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looking man exiting The Gulch that
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afternoon the man moved quickly and
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appeared to be in a rush to leave the
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park he was white tall and lean and
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between 35 and 40 years old with short
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dark blonde
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hair a composite sketch of this
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individual was made and shared with the
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media some local teenagers said they
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knew of several men who lived in The
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Gulch and often sat and smoked beneath
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the nearby Proctor Street
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bridge on one occasion one of the men
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had chased a teen while brandishing an
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air pistol
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an employee of the Metropolitan Park
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District also came forward to report
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that she'd seen a strange man lurking
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around The Gulch Trail 2 weeks before
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Michelle's
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murder the man had been walking along
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the trail but each time he saw the
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employee he ducked away into the heavy
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brush that grew next to the
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path after reaching the end of the trail
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he turned around and walked back again
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another composite sketch was made from
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this sighting depicting a white man in
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his 30s or 40s with dark hair parted to
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the right and a bushy
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mustache in the weeks that followed
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investigators received a numerous calls
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and reports from people who recognized
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the suspect
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sketches one tip off came from a jogger
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who said he had seen the suspect hanging
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around another Tacoma Park called Point
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Defiance Park located about 3.5 Mi
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Northwest of Puget
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Park police interrogated every known sex
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offender who lived in the area but all
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were eliminated from the
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investigation the brutal killing had
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terrified Tacoma
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residents some members of the public
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began calling for lighting to be
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installed in puug park along with a
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fence to separate The Gulch from the
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rest of the space
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a community group called friends of
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Tacoma Parks also launched a watch
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program at Puget Park to improve Public
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Safety many of Michelle's classmates
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were among the 200 mourners who attended
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her funeral and were driven there in a
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yellow school
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bus michella was remembered as a girl
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who loved art music and writing she was
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a quiet a child who was almost always
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seen reading a
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book Michelle's aunt told those
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assembled she lived in her stories and
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drawings now she'll live on in the
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dreams of magic and
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light one of Michelle's friends
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performed a piano Melody that the two
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had previously played together as a
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jwet in the weeks following Michelle's
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murder the police investigation stalled
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as each tip off led to another dead an
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a $5,000 reward for information leading
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to the arrest of Michelle's killer went
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unclaimed weeks turned to months and the
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case began to go
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[Music]
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cold on Monday August 4 1986 a
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13-year-old Tacoma resident named
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Jennifer Bastion decided to go for a
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ride on her brand new champagne colored
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18-speed Schwin
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bicycle Jennifer who was on her summer
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break from school was a keen cyclist and
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was set to participate in an upcoming
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long-distance ride on the San Juan
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Islands as part of her training for this
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ride she often cycled the 3em journey
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from her home to Point Defiance Park a
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760 acre space with a zoo a beach an
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offleash dog park and roughly 400 Acres
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of old growth
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forest the park sits at the North End of
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Tacoma on the point of the Kida
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Peninsular and its 5m drive bike trail
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was ideal for
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cycling normally Jennifer trained with a
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riding buddy but on that particular day
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her cycling partner was
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unavailable Jennifer got permission to
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go for a solo ride instead and left a
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note for her parents letting them know
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she'd be home by 6:30
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p.m. it was 2:30 p.m. when she
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departed 4 hours later Jennifer's father
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Ralph noticed that she wasn't yet home
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as
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promised he went out with some neighbors
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to search the surrounding streets but
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there was no sign of his
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daughter Ralph traveled the route that
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Jennifer was known to ride to Point
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Defiance Park and found no trace of her
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there
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either he alerted his wife Patty who
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raced home from work to
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help at 8:30 p.m. the Bastion reported
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their 13-year-old daughter
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missing police immediately took the call
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seriously it had only been a little over
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4 months since 12-year-old michella
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Welch was
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murdered now another young girl had
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vanished after heading to different
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Tacoma Parklands that was only 3 mil
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away from Puget Park
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officers immediately set out to look for
00:17:31
Jennifer and by 1:00 a.m. two sniffer
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dogs and their handlers had also joined
00:17:37
in the dogs were given articles of
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Jennifer's clothing to smell and tracked
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her from her home to Point Defiance
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Park they continued to pick up her scent
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on the Park 5m Drive Trail but didn't
00:17:53
find
00:17:54
Jennifer witness sightings allowed
00:17:57
investigators to pinpoint Jennifer's
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last known locations and movements as
00:18:01
well as confirm what she had been
00:18:03
wearing a blue or purple onepiece
00:18:06
swimsuit shorts and a white bike helmet
00:18:09
with red
00:18:11
stripes between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. that
00:18:14
day a Park employee had seen Jennifer
00:18:17
bike riding near The Point Defiance Park
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entrance at 4:10 p.m. three boys who
00:18:24
knew Jennifer passed by her on 5em
00:18:27
Drive they noticed she was being closely
00:18:30
followed by another cyclist a white man
00:18:33
who wore mirrored
00:18:35
sunglasses he seemed to Echo Jennifer's
00:18:38
movements speeding up and slowing down
00:18:41
whenever she did
00:18:43
so Jenifer appeared unaware of the man's
00:18:47
strange
00:18:49
Behavior several more witnesses had
00:18:51
spotted Jennifer over the next couple of
00:18:54
hours with the final sighting taking
00:18:56
place at 6:00 p.m.
00:18:59
a woman had seen her riding near what
00:19:02
was known as the bowl area of the
00:19:05
park over the next 3 days police
00:19:08
officers scoured the area in search of
00:19:11
the missing
00:19:12
13-year-old roughly 230 Searchers from
00:19:16
numerous counties
00:19:18
assisted meanwhile the Bastian family
00:19:21
and their friends stood at the park
00:19:22
entrance handing out missing persons
00:19:24
Flyers to passes
00:19:26
by Patty Bastion work worked for a
00:19:29
telecommunications company which
00:19:31
provided four cell phones to be used by
00:19:33
the command center facilitating easier
00:19:36
communication during the
00:19:39
search but no trace of Jennifer or the
00:19:42
new bike she was so proud of was
00:19:45
[Music]
00:19:48
found almost immediately police the
00:19:52
public and the media began drawing
00:19:54
comparisons to the michella Welch
00:19:57
case both girls had disappeared after
00:20:00
riding their bikes to a Tacoma
00:20:03
Park they were just one year apart in
00:20:05
age and even looked similar both with
00:20:08
blonde hair and blue eyes though
00:20:10
michella had long hair while Jennifer
00:20:13
wore hers
00:20:15
short a key difference was that michella
00:20:18
was found in the park she had been
00:20:20
visiting just hours after disappearing
00:20:23
while officers had scoured Point
00:20:25
Defiance park for days with no trace of
00:20:28
Jennifer
00:20:30
days turned to weeks and there was still
00:20:32
no sign of the missing
00:20:35
13-year-old posters alerting people to
00:20:38
Jennifer's disappearance were displayed
00:20:40
all along the route from her home to
00:20:42
Point Defiance Park asking anyone who
00:20:45
knew anything to report it psychics and
00:20:49
members of the public called in to
00:20:51
report possible tip
00:20:52
offs none of these led
00:20:56
anywhere still Jennifer's family held
00:20:59
out hope shortly after Jennifer went
00:21:02
missing the bastions were visited at
00:21:05
home by michella Welch's mother Barbara
00:21:08
and her
00:21:09
sister Barbara was all too aware of the
00:21:12
pain the bastions were enduring and
00:21:14
wanted to share her sympathy as well as
00:21:17
her hope that Jennifer would be returned
00:21:19
to them
00:21:20
unharmed Patty basan was touched by
00:21:23
Barbara's kind gesture and found her to
00:21:26
be very nice however she struggled to
00:21:30
understand why Barbara had visited
00:21:32
because she believed Jennifer's case was
00:21:35
very different to
00:21:37
Michelle's after Barbara left Patty
00:21:40
turned to a friend who was sitting
00:21:41
beside her and said I'm not sure why she
00:21:46
came Jennifer's Not
00:21:50
Dead on Tuesday August 26 just over 3
00:21:55
weeks since Jennifer went missing police
00:21:58
received a tip off from a man who'd been
00:22:00
out jogging in Point Defiance park with
00:22:03
a running
00:22:04
club their route had taken them a 5em
00:22:07
drive and the man had noticed a foul
00:22:11
odor Park police and members of the
00:22:14
Tacoma Police Department were dispatched
00:22:16
to the location along with the sniffer
00:22:18
dog but couldn't find the source of the
00:22:22
smell still they continued to focus on
00:22:25
the general
00:22:27
location 2 days later on Thursday August
00:22:31
28th a German shepherd search dog honed
00:22:34
in on a wooded area off 5 Mile
00:22:37
Drive it was about 150 ft From the Path
00:22:41
and positioned between the road and the
00:22:43
peninsula's
00:22:45
cliffs the Dog Led Searchers to a spot
00:22:48
that was difficult to reach due to the
00:22:50
dense
00:22:52
vegetation on closer inspection the
00:22:55
location was a kind of hollowed out cave
00:22:58
in the ground ground hidden from view by
00:23:00
the trees and
00:23:01
brush it looked as though it had been
00:23:04
prepared ahead of time by someone who
00:23:06
knew the park woods and trails extremely
00:23:10
well officers had to climb down into the
00:23:13
cave like space in order to see
00:23:17
inside there laid the body of a young
00:23:20
girl it was Jennifer
00:23:23
Bastion she was lying on her back with
00:23:26
her legs apart and arms out
00:23:29
stretched her swimsuit and shorts had
00:23:31
been pulled down around her right
00:23:33
ankle she still wore her socks shoes and
00:23:37
bicycle
00:23:38
gloves her state of undress and the way
00:23:41
her body had been posed implied that she
00:23:44
had been sexually assaulted but her
00:23:47
remains were too decomposed to confirm
00:23:49
whether or not she had been
00:23:51
raped a ligature made from a thin rope
00:23:55
was found around her
00:23:57
neck her her state of decomposition
00:24:00
prevented investigators from
00:24:01
conclusively determining whether there
00:24:03
were other injuries but it appeared her
00:24:06
throat may have been cut as
00:24:08
well she was missing a tooth suggesting
00:24:11
her killer might have inflicted blunt
00:24:13
force
00:24:14
trauma Jennifer's cause of death was
00:24:17
determined to be aixia secondary to
00:24:22
strangulation her bicycle was discovered
00:24:25
lying on its side in some brush further
00:24:27
towards the
00:24:29
Cliffs it had been covered with Fern
00:24:31
fronts that had since died and turned
00:24:34
brown Jennifer's blue bike sadle bag was
00:24:38
still attached with her white and red
00:24:40
striped bike helmet
00:24:42
inside other contents included a water
00:24:45
bottle some clothing a bike manual and
00:24:48
Jennifer's pink and black velcro wallet
00:24:50
with $3 and some loose change
00:24:55
inside detectives faced the difficult
00:24:57
task of informing the bastions that
00:24:59
their daughter had been
00:25:01
found Patty Bastion was at home painting
00:25:04
the living room's walls when there was a
00:25:06
knock on the front
00:25:08
door she would later tell dine
00:25:11
journalist Keith Morrison that she could
00:25:13
not bear to think of what had happened
00:25:15
to her daughter
00:25:17
stating I have my fairy tale I think and
00:25:21
I'll just live with it she was riding
00:25:24
her bike the monster came out of the
00:25:26
woods and grabbed her and killed her
00:25:29
more than that I can't wrap my brain
00:25:38
around right away the public began to
00:25:41
speculate that Michelle Welch and
00:25:43
Jennifer Bastion had been killed by the
00:25:46
same
00:25:46
man child abductions and murders were
00:25:49
rare in Tacoma and now there had been
00:25:52
two under disturbingly similar
00:25:54
circumstances within mere months of each
00:25:57
other
00:25:59
fear spread that there was a serial
00:26:01
killer stalking to koma's parks and
00:26:03
praying on
00:26:05
girls when asked whether this was the
00:26:08
case law enforcement officers were Ki
00:26:11
merely stating that at this point in
00:26:13
time they had no physical evidence
00:26:15
linking the two
00:26:17
cases but behind closed doors it was a
00:26:21
different
00:26:22
story almost immediately investigators
00:26:25
drew the conclusion that the two girls
00:26:27
were victims of the same
00:26:29
perpetrator in addition to the
00:26:31
similarities of their age appearance and
00:26:34
the circumstances of their
00:26:36
disappearances their bodies had been
00:26:38
found posed in almost the same way on
00:26:41
their backs with their legs apart and
00:26:43
arms out
00:26:45
stretched both were exposed with
00:26:47
articles of clothing left in disarray
00:26:50
around their
00:26:51
ankles their remains had been hidden in
00:26:54
wooded isolated
00:26:56
areas in general Jer had a rope ligature
00:26:59
around her neck while a cord was found
00:27:02
though not used at Michelle's
00:27:05
scene michella had definitely had her
00:27:08
neck cut and it was possible Jennifer
00:27:11
had as
00:27:13
well initially it was wondered whether
00:27:15
the two murders could have been
00:27:17
committed by an as yet unidentified
00:27:19
serial killer who'd been dubbed the
00:27:21
Green River
00:27:23
Killer the Green River Killer had been
00:27:25
operating around the Tacoma and Seattle
00:27:28
areas since 4 years earlier in
00:27:32
1982 by 1984 he had already killed five
00:27:35
women and girls and a special task force
00:27:38
was formed to handle the
00:27:41
case investigators consulted renowned
00:27:44
FBI profiler John Douglas and even spoke
00:27:47
with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy
00:27:50
in an attempt to build a picture of
00:27:52
their
00:27:53
suspect following michella and
00:27:55
Jennifer's murders the Green River
00:27:57
Killer task force took a look at their
00:28:00
cases but they were deemed to have been
00:28:02
committed by somebody
00:28:04
else a new task force was formed to
00:28:07
coordinate the Welch and de Bastion
00:28:11
cases thousands of tips poured in from
00:28:14
the public and detectives interviewed
00:28:16
hundreds of Persons of Interest
00:28:18
collecting their hair blood and saliva
00:28:21
as
00:28:22
well one man soon came under scrutiny as
00:28:25
their Prime Suspect
00:28:28
multiple people had reported him as a
00:28:30
creeper who was known to sunbath nude at
00:28:33
Point Defiance Park he drove a van and
00:28:36
possessed strange drawings of young
00:28:39
girls hair and blood samples
00:28:42
subsequently ruled him
00:28:46
out despite the abundance of calls from
00:28:49
the public none of the tips resulted in
00:28:51
an
00:28:52
arrest numerous suspects were identified
00:28:55
interviewed and deemed plausible before
00:28:58
later being
00:29:00
cleared if a suspect seemed likely for
00:29:03
one of the cases but had an alibi for
00:29:05
the other he was ruled
00:29:08
out several times a prime suspect came
00:29:11
into Focus only to ultimately be
00:29:14
eliminated for one reason or
00:29:17
another months continued to pass and as
00:29:20
soon the first anniversary of Michelle
00:29:22
Welch's murder arrived closely followed
00:29:25
by that of Jennifer Bastion
00:29:28
by this time the task force had been
00:29:30
disbanded but two detectives still
00:29:33
regularly checked in on the case and
00:29:36
evidence from the crime scenes was still
00:29:38
being
00:29:39
processed when speaking to the media law
00:29:42
enforcement spokespeople were adment
00:29:44
that the investigation was still very
00:29:46
much active and
00:29:49
ongoing in 1989 3 years after the
00:29:53
murders investigators sent the Seaman
00:29:55
sample from Michelle's murder to a
00:29:58
private laboratory in California for
00:30:00
testing DNA profiling was still in its
00:30:04
infancy when it came to use in criminal
00:30:06
investigations with the first conviction
00:30:09
based on DNA evidence having taken place
00:30:11
in
00:30:13
1987 the California Lab sent back the
00:30:16
Killer's profile though there was no
00:30:19
database for investigators to compare it
00:30:22
to instead they used it to rule out any
00:30:26
potential suspects that emerged
00:30:28
emerged by the mid naughties a more
00:30:31
sophisticated DNA profile of the killer
00:30:34
was
00:30:35
created by this time there were state
00:30:39
and federal databases that detectives
00:30:41
could check the profile
00:30:43
against yet they couldn't find a match
00:30:47
whoever the killer was he seemingly
00:30:49
didn't have a serious criminal
00:30:53
history investigators wondered if the
00:30:56
killer had been in the military and was
00:30:58
now living far away
00:31:00
elsewhere or perhaps he'd died before he
00:31:03
could commit any more
00:31:05
murders without any arrests in their
00:31:08
daughter's cases the victim's families
00:31:10
did their best to continue
00:31:13
living Michelle's Mother Barbara took
00:31:16
solace in her Christian faith and
00:31:18
staunch belief that she would one day be
00:31:21
reunited with her
00:31:23
daughter Jennifer's mother Patty
00:31:25
likewise found comfort in religion and
00:31:28
began coordinating a child safety fair
00:31:31
that was held in Tacoma every year in an
00:31:34
interview with the News Tribune she
00:31:37
stated I can always calm myself down
00:31:40
with the knowledge that whether we as
00:31:42
human beings solve the crime or not it
00:31:45
is solved and whether Justice happens in
00:31:49
the criminal courts or the Heavenly
00:31:51
courts it doesn't matter it will happen
00:32:00
in the summer of 1986 11-year-old
00:32:03
Lindsay Wade had her innocence Shattered
00:32:06
by the murders of michella Welch and
00:32:08
Jennifer
00:32:09
Bastion prior to learning about the two
00:32:12
crimes she'd been a Carefree child
00:32:14
growing up in Tacoma oblivious to the
00:32:16
dangers that might
00:32:18
exist after she found out what had
00:32:21
happened to michella and Jennifer
00:32:23
Lindsay became scared like much of the
00:32:25
broader community
00:32:28
the two girls were close to her in age
00:32:30
and had been killed while out riding
00:32:32
their bikes in local parks something
00:32:35
Lindsay also loved to
00:32:37
do all over Tacoma everyone was asking
00:32:41
how such a thing could have happened and
00:32:43
who was
00:32:45
responsible alarmist headlines and news
00:32:48
stories added to Lindsay's fear and she
00:32:50
no longer felt safe playing in the woods
00:32:53
as she had
00:32:55
before this newfound fear persisted over
00:32:58
the following
00:32:59
years as a Junior High student Lindsay
00:33:02
sometimes had to walk past a wooded
00:33:04
Gulch on her way to school and doing so
00:33:07
always made her heart
00:33:09
race she couldn't help imagining a
00:33:11
dangerous predator lurking nearby
00:33:14
waiting to snatch
00:33:16
her looking back as an adult it would
00:33:19
later seem to Lindy as though her entire
00:33:21
childhood and Adolescence was colored by
00:33:24
the two unsolved murders that devastated
00:33:26
Tacoma in
00:33:29
1986 during High School Lindsay
00:33:31
developed an interest in criminal
00:33:33
investigations after reading author Ian
00:33:36
rues book about serial killer Ted Bundy
00:33:39
who was also from
00:33:41
Tacoma after graduating Lindsay
00:33:44
ultimately decided that she wanted to
00:33:46
become a police officer and then a
00:33:49
detective she achieved both Ambitions by
00:33:52
2003 when she was promoted to the role
00:33:54
of detective at the Tacoma Police
00:33:57
Department
00:33:59
the now detective Lindsay Wade spent
00:34:02
time investigating Auto thefts and was
00:34:04
then assigned to the sex crimes
00:34:06
Department in 2008 She was transferred
00:34:10
to the homicide
00:34:11
Squad in 2009 detective Wade had her
00:34:15
first child and took 5 months off for
00:34:17
maternity
00:34:19
leave that same year Tacoma Police
00:34:22
Department established a Cold Case unit
00:34:25
which would be dedicated to
00:34:26
investigating old unsolved
00:34:31
cases they had more than 250 unsolved
00:34:35
homicides and missing persons cases on
00:34:37
their books but the inspiration for the
00:34:40
unit's formation was the 1986 murders of
00:34:43
michellea Welch and Jennifer
00:34:46
Bastion 23 years had passed since the
00:34:49
two young girls were murdered and both
00:34:51
cases still remained unsolved due in
00:34:54
part to the police department not having
00:34:56
the resources to dedicate to older
00:34:59
cases with a dedicated unit detectives
00:35:03
could finally take a closer look at the
00:35:05
Case
00:35:07
Files when detective Lindsay Wade
00:35:10
returned from maternity leave she began
00:35:12
reviewing a number of the cold cases
00:35:14
alongside the head of the unit detective
00:35:17
Jean
00:35:18
Miller one of the cases detective Wade
00:35:21
began pouring over was that of Jennifer
00:35:23
Bastion and Michelle
00:35:25
Walch the crimes that had haunted her
00:35:28
since she was a little girl were even
00:35:30
more disturbing up close and with access
00:35:33
to all of the
00:35:35
details over the next few years
00:35:38
detective Wade returned to the case
00:35:40
whenever she had the time motivated by
00:35:44
the memory of the fear she had felt as a
00:35:46
child and the desire to help get Justice
00:35:49
for the girls she painstakingly combed
00:35:52
through the case
00:35:54
File in 2013 Detective Wade met Jennifer
00:35:58
bastion's parents for the first time
00:36:00
during a visit to their home with
00:36:02
Detective
00:36:04
Miller as the two investigators were
00:36:06
leaving Jennifer's father Ralph begged
00:36:09
them to solve the case adding that he
00:36:11
didn't have much time
00:36:14
left he had been 59 when his daughter
00:36:17
was murdered and was now 86 years old he
00:36:22
desperately wanted to see Justice for
00:36:24
Jennifer before he died
00:36:30
seeking additional expert opinions the
00:36:32
detectives took the case to the National
00:36:34
Center for missing and exploited
00:36:36
children in
00:36:38
Virginia there they spoke about the case
00:36:40
with a panel of 20 experts including
00:36:43
current and former FBI agents
00:36:46
Consultants specializing in crimes
00:36:48
against children and two forensic
00:36:51
scientists this trip helped to Galvanize
00:36:54
the two detectives and they came up with
00:36:56
some new ideas as to where they could
00:36:58
take the
00:37:00
investigation subsequently detective
00:37:03
Miller submitted Jennifer bastion's
00:37:05
swimsuit away for
00:37:07
testing the swimsuit had been warned by
00:37:09
Jennifer on the day of her murder and
00:37:11
was found around her ankle at the crime
00:37:14
scene over the ensuing 2 and a half
00:37:17
decades it was preserved in
00:37:20
evidence DNA testing had advanced in
00:37:23
Leaps and Bounds since then and the
00:37:25
detectives hoped that forensic
00:37:27
scientists might be able to obtain a DNA
00:37:30
profile for Jennifer from the
00:37:33
swimsuit this profile would then be used
00:37:35
as a reference
00:37:38
sample in November 2013 the detectives
00:37:42
received a phone call from a scientist
00:37:44
at the
00:37:45
laboratory he asked whether they were
00:37:48
also interested in a profile for the
00:37:50
male DNA found in Jennifer's
00:37:53
swimsuit he explained that recovered in
00:37:56
the crotch of the swimsuit was a seen
00:37:58
sample which had been tested and was
00:38:01
found to belong to one
00:38:04
man the detectives were
00:38:06
shocked this evidence had been
00:38:08
completely missed by the case's original
00:38:11
investigators perhaps because the
00:38:13
swimsuit had been removed from
00:38:15
Jennifer's Body they had assumed the
00:38:18
perpetrator's DNA wouldn't be on
00:38:21
it there was another shock to
00:38:25
follow since the early 1990s
00:38:28
investigators had had a DNA profile for
00:38:31
the killer of michella Welch and
00:38:33
Jennifer
00:38:34
Bastion this had been built from Seaman
00:38:37
recovered from michella Welcher's
00:38:40
remains when the new sample from
00:38:42
Jennifer swimsuit was compared to that
00:38:44
taken from Michelle's crime scene
00:38:47
investigators were stunned to find that
00:38:50
it wasn't a
00:38:52
match they weren't looking for one
00:38:55
killer they were looking for two
00:39:01
this Revelation totally upended the
00:39:05
investigation almost from the start
00:39:07
detectives had believed the cases must
00:39:10
have been
00:39:11
connected stranger abductions assaults
00:39:14
and murders were rare and Tacoma was
00:39:16
seen as a safe upper middle class
00:39:19
City the similarities between the two
00:39:22
crimes were overwhelming right down to
00:39:25
the victim profiles the manner of the
00:39:27
attack
00:39:28
and the locations they had taken place
00:39:31
in what were the odds that the two girls
00:39:34
had been killed by two different men
00:39:36
within Just 4 months of each
00:39:39
other yet now the DNA made clear that
00:39:43
two separate individuals bore
00:39:47
responsibility perhaps Jennifer's murder
00:39:49
had been a copycat crime with Michel's
00:39:52
providing the inspiration but that was
00:39:55
as far as the connection went
00:39:59
over the past decade investigators had
00:40:01
run the DNA from Michelle's case through
00:40:04
the combined DNA index system or codus
00:40:08
the United States national police DNA
00:40:12
database they did never found a
00:40:15
match now they checked the profile from
00:40:18
Jennifer's
00:40:19
killer it wasn't a match to anyone in
00:40:22
the Koda system
00:40:24
either that meant neither killer had had
00:40:27
a criminal
00:40:29
record detectives had also used the DNA
00:40:33
from Michelle's case to eliminate more
00:40:35
than 100 possible suspects from both
00:40:39
cases now it was possible that those
00:40:42
individuals could still be suspects in
00:40:45
Jennifer's
00:40:47
murder similarly other Persons of
00:40:50
Interest had been ruled out because
00:40:51
they'd been incarcerated or had Alibis
00:40:54
for one of the
00:40:56
murders the the fact investigators were
00:40:58
now looking for two killers would mean
00:41:01
those individuals would need to be
00:41:03
looked at
00:41:04
[Music]
00:41:06
again detective Jean Miller began
00:41:09
compiling a list of suspects who hadn't
00:41:11
been eliminated via
00:41:13
DNA the goal was now to obtain voluntary
00:41:17
samples from them so they could be
00:41:18
checked against the
00:41:20
evidence roughly two dozen individuals
00:41:23
willingly provided their DNA to
00:41:25
detectives and were gradually ruled out
00:41:28
as
00:41:29
suspects detective Lindsay Wade trolled
00:41:32
through the police department's old
00:41:34
records searching for any cases with
00:41:36
similarities to Jennifer
00:41:38
Bastion anytime she came across the name
00:41:41
of a suspect or Person of Interest she
00:41:44
would look them up and run a background
00:41:46
check when they couldn't be eliminated
00:41:49
through DNA in codus she would often add
00:41:52
them to the list for voluntary sample
00:41:55
collection this work was
00:41:58
slow in January of 2015 detective Miller
00:42:02
retired and detective Wade replaced him
00:42:05
as the lead
00:42:07
investigator months later detective Wade
00:42:10
utilized the Innovative technique of
00:42:12
phenotyping to gain a clearer picture of
00:42:15
her
00:42:16
suspects phenotyping involves
00:42:18
identifying a person's physical
00:42:20
characteristics based on the
00:42:23
DNA the results indicated that
00:42:25
Jennifer's murderer was w with light
00:42:28
eyes and blonde or red
00:42:30
hair Michelle's killer was predominantly
00:42:33
of European Heritage but had 9% Native
00:42:36
American
00:42:38
ancestry he had fair skin a round face
00:42:41
brown or hazel eyes and brown
00:42:44
hair composite sketches of both men were
00:42:47
created and shared with the
00:42:51
public that same year detective Wade
00:42:54
learned of a cuttingedge technique that
00:42:56
might help in the
00:42:58
case investigators were Now using Y
00:43:01
chromosome DNA to hone in on potential
00:43:05
suspects as Y chromosome DNA is passed
00:43:08
down from father to son men who share
00:43:11
the same yst DNA profile typically have
00:43:15
the same
00:43:17
surname the exceptions are when a son
00:43:20
has been given his mother's last name is
00:43:22
adopted or is unaware of his true
00:43:25
biological father's identity
00:43:28
some genealogists involved in forensic
00:43:30
investigations were Now using yst DNA
00:43:34
profiles to come up with possible
00:43:36
surnames for male
00:43:39
suspects detective Wade wasn't sure
00:43:41
about this new technique but figured it
00:43:44
was worth a
00:43:45
shot she reached out to Dr Colleen
00:43:48
Fitzpatrick a genealogist who had
00:43:51
founded a forensic genealogy
00:43:53
organization called identifiers
00:43:55
International
00:43:57
the detectiv sent the profile of
00:43:59
Jennifer's killer to Dr Fitzpatrick
00:44:01
asking for any possible surnames that
00:44:03
might be associated with
00:44:05
it three names were sent back Smith
00:44:09
Holbrook and
00:44:12
wasburn wondering if anyone with those
00:44:14
names might be mentioned in the case
00:44:16
File detective Wade scoured it for the
00:44:19
name Holbrook but found
00:44:21
nothing given how common Smith was as a
00:44:24
surname the detective didn't think she'd
00:44:26
have any luck
00:44:28
there she turned her attention to the
00:44:31
final name on the list
00:44:33
Washburn one result came
00:44:37
back in May 1986 several months before
00:44:41
Jennifer was murdered a man named Robert
00:44:44
wasburn called the police with a tip off
00:44:46
for the michella Welch
00:44:48
case he said that he'd seen the suspect
00:44:51
sketch of Michelle's killer and realized
00:44:54
that he'd recognized it
00:44:57
wasburn said he'd been out jogging when
00:44:59
he saw a man who resembled the sketch
00:45:01
loitering in a park but he hadn't seen
00:45:05
the man in Puget Park where michella was
00:45:08
killed he said the man had been at Point
00:45:11
Defiance Park the location where
00:45:13
Jennifer would be attacked and killed 3
00:45:16
months
00:45:18
later in December of that year
00:45:20
detectives had paid Robert wasburn a
00:45:22
visit at home to follow up on his tip
00:45:25
off he' repeated his story about seeing
00:45:28
a man who resembled the sketch in Point
00:45:30
Defiance Park lurking near the rodo
00:45:33
Dandan
00:45:34
Garden wasburn explained that he jogged
00:45:37
in the park up to twice a day always
00:45:40
along the trails off 5m
00:45:43
drive he had lost his job so had plenty
00:45:46
of time to do
00:45:47
so he' added that he'd been in the Park
00:45:50
after Jennifer Bastion went missing and
00:45:53
saw police
00:45:54
searching he'd also noticed the foul
00:45:57
smell emanating from 5em Drive in the
00:46:00
subsequent weeks but hadn't known what
00:46:02
it
00:46:03
was the 1986 detectives had found
00:46:07
nothing suspicious in Robert washburn's
00:46:09
conduct or
00:46:10
demeanor they noted his name in the case
00:46:13
File and left it at
00:46:19
that detective Lindsay Wade was somewhat
00:46:22
dubious about the yst surname selection
00:46:25
but she added Robert Washburn to her
00:46:27
list of Persons of Interest to be
00:46:29
approached for a voluntary DNA
00:46:32
sample she'd been painstakingly creating
00:46:35
a record of every maale mentioned in
00:46:37
Jennifer's case File along with whether
00:46:39
or not their DNA was on
00:46:42
file there were more than 2,300 names on
00:46:46
the
00:46:47
list it was ordered from most to least
00:46:50
suspicious and individuals were only
00:46:53
eliminated from the list if their DNA
00:46:55
failed to match or if they'd been
00:46:58
incarcerated at the time of the
00:47:01
murder detective Wade was assisted by a
00:47:04
special agent from the FBI and together
00:47:07
they were able to track down and obtain
00:47:09
DNA samples from a number of
00:47:12
suspects after a few months detective
00:47:15
Wade's Department had chased down 121
00:47:18
suspect samples from Washington to be
00:47:22
tested the FBI focused on Interstate
00:47:25
Persons of Interest tracking down an
00:47:27
additional 40
00:47:29
samples testing all of these took a long
00:47:32
time during 2017 detective Wade
00:47:36
submitted more than 100 to be
00:47:39
tested none were a
00:47:42
match a second batch was also submitted
00:47:45
with no positive
00:47:47
results in January 2018 detective Wade
00:47:51
sent a final batch of 18 samples away
00:47:54
for
00:47:55
testing given so many promising suspects
00:47:58
had already been ruled out after having
00:48:00
their DNA tested her hopes were
00:48:03
low several months later in April
00:48:06
detective Wade retired from the Tacoma
00:48:08
Police
00:48:09
Department she'd been there for 14 years
00:48:13
and the job had left her burnt
00:48:17
out less than 1 month after her last day
00:48:21
Lindsay Wade was at home when she
00:48:23
received a phone call from the detective
00:48:24
who had taken over her role
00:48:28
after she answered he immediately asked
00:48:30
if she was sitting down then
00:48:34
stated there's a match on Jennifer
00:48:37
Bastion in shock and unable to speak it
00:48:41
took Lindsay a minute before she asked
00:48:43
for the man's
00:48:45
name Robert wasburn the detective
00:48:49
[Music]
00:48:54
replied in 1986 Robert Washburn was 28
00:48:58
years old he lived about 2 miles from
00:49:01
Point Defiance Park and was
00:49:03
divorced he and his wife had split the
00:49:06
year before after 6 years of
00:49:09
marriage 1985 hadn't been great for
00:49:12
Washburn overall as he was also arrested
00:49:15
that year on suspicion of vehicle
00:49:16
prowling and Criminal
00:49:19
Trespass however he ultimately wasn't
00:49:21
charged and consequently had no criminal
00:49:24
record
00:49:27
the next time he'd come to police
00:49:28
attention was in May 1986 when he'd
00:49:32
reported seeing the suspect in the
00:49:33
michella Welch case hanging around at
00:49:36
Point Defiance
00:49:38
Park given the timing of this call and
00:49:41
the fact it took place before Jennifer
00:49:43
bastion's murder investigators would
00:49:45
later wonder if Washburn was already
00:49:47
scheming to kill a girl and frame the
00:49:50
other murderer for
00:49:51
it another theory was that he'd become
00:49:54
fixated by the michella Welch case and
00:49:57
got a thrill out of inserting himself
00:49:59
into the
00:50:00
investigation maybe his fixation had
00:50:03
grown to the point where he' decided to
00:50:05
commit a copycat
00:50:08
crime in the years that followed
00:50:11
Washburn began working for an airplane
00:50:13
and Aerospace company as a
00:50:15
mechanic he remarried in 1990 and he and
00:50:19
his second wife had a
00:50:21
daughter during the late 1990s they
00:50:24
relocated to the Washington city of
00:50:26
Berlin
00:50:28
Robert wasburn filed for bankruptcy in
00:50:30
2000 and about a decade later he
00:50:33
relocated to the state of
00:50:36
Illinois he was found there by the FBI
00:50:39
in March
00:50:41
2017 after detective Lindsay Wade added
00:50:44
his name to her suspect
00:50:46
list by then wasburn was 60 years old
00:50:50
and living in the city of Eureka with
00:50:52
his now 25-year-old
00:50:55
daughter she had cerebral pausy and
00:50:58
required a feeding tube and Washburn was
00:51:00
her full-time
00:51:02
caregiver when the FBI asked Washburn
00:51:05
for a DNA sample he
00:51:08
obliged it would take more than a year
00:51:10
for the results to come back yet
00:51:12
Washburn made no attempt to relocate or
00:51:15
flee during that
00:51:18
time when FBI agents returned to his
00:51:21
home to arrest him in May 2018 he went
00:51:24
willingly and didn't fight ex tradition
00:51:27
to
00:51:28
Washington his cooperation only went so
00:51:31
far though as he refused to speak with
00:51:35
detectives when told that his DNA
00:51:37
matched that of a murder suspect he
00:51:40
stated I did not kill that little
00:51:44
girl up until that point detectives
00:51:47
hadn't disclosed that the case was
00:51:49
related to a young
00:51:51
girl wasburn explained the presence of
00:51:54
his DNA as being du to his frequent
00:51:57
visits to Point Defiance Park saying my
00:52:01
DNA was all over that
00:52:07
Park Robert wasburn was returned to
00:52:09
Tacoma and arraigned in court after
00:52:12
being charged with the Jennifer's
00:52:14
murder many of those who knew him were
00:52:18
shocked neighbors described him as a
00:52:20
kind but quiet man who kept to himself
00:52:23
and was devoted to his daughter
00:52:26
disturbingly though he was known to be
00:52:29
very friendly with a 12-year-old girl
00:52:31
who lived in his apartment
00:52:33
building the girl often visited Washburn
00:52:36
at his home and he was seen giving her
00:52:39
chocolate and
00:52:40
gifts this girl was later interviewed
00:52:43
and said Washburn had never abused her
00:52:46
but he had taken photos of her doing
00:52:51
gymnastics Robert washburn's computer
00:52:53
and technological devices were seized
00:52:57
child sexual abuse material was
00:52:59
recovered from these and it was revealed
00:53:01
that Washburn had also kept tabs on
00:53:04
unsolved murders and missing persons
00:53:06
cases in the state of
00:53:09
Washington shortly after washburn's
00:53:11
arrest an inmate who' met wasburn on
00:53:14
remand in the county jail contacted
00:53:16
authorities to say that wasburn had
00:53:19
confessed to the
00:53:20
crime Washburn said that on the day
00:53:23
Jennifer Bastion went missing he'd been
00:53:26
jogging in Point Defiance Park and
00:53:28
simultaneously looking for someone to
00:53:30
have sex
00:53:31
with he said he did this often
00:53:34
describing himself as a quote sick kinky
00:53:39
Washburn told the inmate that while
00:53:42
hanging around 5em Drive he'd found
00:53:45
Jennifer's abandoned bike and hid it in
00:53:48
the
00:53:49
bushes later that night he saw on the
00:53:52
news that the bike had belonged to a
00:53:54
missing girl named Jennifer Bastion
00:53:57
Washburn said that he'd subsequently
00:54:00
gone back to where he'd hidden the bike
00:54:02
and wiped it
00:54:03
down after doing so he decided to look
00:54:07
for Jennifer and discovered her deceased
00:54:09
body
00:54:11
nearby Washburn told the other inmate
00:54:14
that he'd stood over Jennifer's remains
00:54:17
and
00:54:18
masturbated that was how his DNA had
00:54:20
ended up on her
00:54:22
swimsuit Washburn had accurately
00:54:25
described the way way Jennifer was posed
00:54:27
and her state of
00:54:30
undress subsequently Washburn changed
00:54:33
his story he said he'd noticed to
00:54:36
Jennifer Bastion riding her bike and
00:54:39
said he couldn't help himself as she was
00:54:41
so quote
00:54:44
Exquisite he had raped and strangled
00:54:47
her he didn't say whether this crime was
00:54:50
spontaneous or premeditated but
00:54:53
investigators suspected the latter
00:54:56
the cave likee space where Jennifer's
00:54:58
Body was left had been prepared well in
00:55:02
advance although he claimed he jogged a
00:55:05
daily at the park those who knew him
00:55:07
said Washburn never jogged at all
00:55:10
meaning he more likely went there
00:55:12
looking for
00:55:13
victims perhaps wasburn had seen
00:55:16
Jennifer riding her bike around the park
00:55:18
on other occasions and planned to attack
00:55:21
her in the wake of michella Welcher's
00:55:24
murder or maybe he his choice of victim
00:55:27
was
00:55:28
opportunistic but detectives had no
00:55:31
doubt that wasburn had gone to Point
00:55:33
Defiance Park on August 4
00:55:35
1986 with the intention of raping and
00:55:38
murdering a
00:55:40
girl according to the inmate wasburn
00:55:43
also admitted that he'd been keeping
00:55:45
tabs on the Bastion family in the years
00:55:48
after the
00:55:49
murder he said he didn't want his family
00:55:52
to know what he'd done while claiming he
00:55:54
also wanted to receive the death
00:55:58
penalty despite this Robert wasburn
00:56:01
continued to maintain his innocence for
00:56:04
another 9 months while the prosecution
00:56:06
began to put their case against him
00:56:09
together then he abruptly changed his
00:56:12
mind and decided to enter a guilty
00:56:15
plea this news was a huge relief to the
00:56:18
basan family who would be spared the
00:56:21
pain of a
00:56:23
trial tragically Jennifer's father Ralph
00:56:26
had passed away 2 and A2 years prior to
00:56:28
washburn's arrest and hadn't lived to
00:56:31
see her case
00:56:32
solved Jennifer's mother Patty and her
00:56:35
big sister Teresa attended Robert
00:56:37
washburn's sentencing in January
00:56:41
2019 both read Victim Impact statements
00:56:44
to the
00:56:46
court Teresa said that she had been so
00:56:49
devastated by Jennifer's murder that
00:56:51
she'd never ridden a bike again or
00:56:53
taught her own daughter how to do so due
00:56:56
to the terrible
00:56:58
Association addressing Washburn directly
00:57:01
she
00:57:02
stated you made me an only
00:57:06
child Patty Bastion described the
00:57:09
ongoing suffering their family had been
00:57:11
left with saying that even on beautiful
00:57:14
summer days there was always a cloud of
00:57:17
fear and for
00:57:20
boing Robert wasburn did not address the
00:57:23
court but a statement he had written
00:57:25
earlier was read
00:57:27
L despite the presence of his seen at
00:57:30
the crime scene and Jennifer's state of
00:57:32
undress he maintained that he hadn't
00:57:35
sexually assaulted
00:57:36
her instead he claimed he had grabbed
00:57:39
her by the arm led her into the woods
00:57:42
and strangled
00:57:44
her he said he was admitting to this to
00:57:47
spare the bastions and his own family
00:57:49
the trauma of a trial adding that he was
00:57:52
sorry for what he'd done and how many
00:57:54
people he'd hurt
00:57:57
he looked it down as the judge sentenced
00:57:59
him to 27 years in
00:58:02
prison now aged 61 this made it unlikely
00:58:06
that he would ever experience Freedom
00:58:10
again outside Court Patty Bastion told
00:58:13
the media there had been a sense of
00:58:15
relief in the courtroom that
00:58:17
day referencing the way wasburn had
00:58:20
stared down the entire time refusing to
00:58:23
meet her eyes she stated
00:58:27
I guess that's the picture of a guilty
00:58:33
man after Robert washburn's arrest media
00:58:37
reports celebrated the long awaited
00:58:39
resolution in the decades old cold
00:58:42
case they simultaneously noted that the
00:58:45
murder of michella Welch long thought to
00:58:47
be related to Jennifer's case remained
00:58:52
unsolved yet behind the scenes it was a
00:58:55
different story
00:58:57
Lindsay Wade and other detectives had
00:58:59
been reinvestigating Michelle's case in
00:59:01
parallel to Jennifer's applying the same
00:59:04
breakthroughs in
00:59:06
DNA in 2017 detective Wade sent the
00:59:10
suspect's DNA from Michelle's body to
00:59:13
genealogy consultant Dr Barbara Ray
00:59:16
Venter genetic genealogy was starting to
00:59:19
be used as a way to solve cold cases
00:59:22
with the genealogists examining online
00:59:25
family trees to identify unknown
00:59:27
suspects whose DNA hadn't been uploaded
00:59:30
to police
00:59:32
databases using the websites family tree
00:59:35
DNA and Jed match Dr Ray Venta was able
00:59:39
to identify two individuals who were the
00:59:41
suspects second cousins or first cousins
00:59:44
once
00:59:46
removed she requested the assistance of
00:59:48
DNA technology company parabon nanolabs
00:59:52
in studying the
00:59:54
genealogy the company's genetic
00:59:56
genealogy unit had made a name for
00:59:58
itself by solving a number of Cal
01:00:01
cases headed by renowned genealogist CC
01:00:05
Moore the unit employed four
01:00:07
genealogists in total who examined
01:00:09
online family trees to identify unknown
01:00:13
suspects the DNA from Michelle's case
01:00:16
was sent to parabon nanolabs in May
01:00:20
2018 the parabon team quickly calculated
01:00:23
that the suspect was mostly White with
01:00:26
9% Native American
01:00:29
Heritage they also identified the same
01:00:31
two cousins as Dr Ray
01:00:34
Venta the cousins were not directly
01:00:37
related to each other meaning they were
01:00:39
related to the unknown suspect on
01:00:42
different branches of the same family
01:00:45
tree when CC Moore examined the built
01:00:48
out family trees of the suspect's two
01:00:50
cousins she noticed that one of them
01:00:53
known as Clyde s had two first cousins
01:00:56
who looked
01:00:58
interesting they were brothers with
01:01:00
tires to Tacoma who both shared the
01:01:02
surname
01:01:08
Hartman their names were Gary and
01:01:11
arj on their paternal side Gary and RJ
01:01:15
Hartman had two second
01:01:17
great-grandmothers who were Native
01:01:20
American this was consistent with the
01:01:22
amount of Native American ancestry found
01:01:25
in the suspect
01:01:27
DNA furthermore in 1986 Gary and RJ had
01:01:32
both lived in the Tacoma area residing
01:01:35
in the North End
01:01:37
Neighborhood this was less than a mile
01:01:39
from where michella was attacked in
01:01:41
Puget
01:01:43
Park RJ had been in his late 20s and
01:01:46
Gary in his mid-30s when michella was
01:01:49
killed making them both old enough to be
01:01:52
the
01:01:54
killer neither of Hartman brothers were
01:01:57
named in the michella world Shore
01:01:58
Jennifer Bastion Case
01:02:00
Files they had never come under any
01:02:03
suspicions for the murders at
01:02:05
all but based on the recommendation of
01:02:08
CC Moore at parabon nanolabs detectives
01:02:12
decided that they needed to obtain DNA
01:02:14
samples from both Gary and RJ to compare
01:02:17
to the suspects
01:02:19
profile they would do so surreptitiously
01:02:22
given they had no way of getting a
01:02:24
voluntary sample with without alerting
01:02:26
the brothers to their suspect
01:02:30
status RJ seemed the more likely
01:02:33
suspect his wife had alleged that he was
01:02:36
abusive when she had filed for a divorce
01:02:38
in 1993 and obtained a restraining order
01:02:42
against
01:02:43
him the couple had later reconciled but
01:02:46
this still seemed like a red
01:02:48
flag in contrast RJ's elder brother Gary
01:02:52
was a family man with no allegations
01:02:54
against him and a long career as a nurse
01:02:57
at a mental health
01:03:00
facility on Saturday June 2 2018 a
01:03:04
detective from Tacoma Police Department
01:03:06
tailed RJ as he visited a state
01:03:09
park when RJ threw away a Coke can the
01:03:13
detective pounced and took it into
01:03:16
evidence a week later detectives again
01:03:19
followed RJ as he dined at a restaurant
01:03:22
with his
01:03:23
family he drank three cocktails sipping
01:03:26
each of the drinks through a
01:03:29
straw when staff at the restaurant
01:03:31
cleared the table detectives approached
01:03:33
them and collected the straws as well as
01:03:36
a glass RJ had drunk water
01:03:39
from DNA profiles were constructed from
01:03:43
these
01:03:44
items RJ Hartman wasn't a
01:03:50
match in
01:03:52
1986 Gary Hartman was 35 years old and
01:03:56
lived a short distance from Puget
01:03:59
Park in fact he'd lived on the same
01:04:02
street as Robert wasburn though their
01:04:04
homes were about 10 blocks
01:04:06
apart now more than three decades later
01:04:10
Hartman was 66 and still resided in
01:04:13
Washington about 10 Mi Southwest of
01:04:15
Tacoma in the City of
01:04:18
Lakewood on Tuesday June 5 2018
01:04:22
detectives surveilled harman's home and
01:04:24
followed him as he drove in his
01:04:26
turquoise Chevy pickup to Western State
01:04:29
Hospital the psychiatric facility where
01:04:31
he was
01:04:33
employed Hartman went inside the
01:04:35
hospital before soon returning to the
01:04:37
parking lot with a female
01:04:40
colleague the pair got into a work
01:04:42
vehicle and made their way to a nearby
01:04:44
McDonald's
01:04:45
restaurant once again the detectives
01:04:50
followed Hartman and his colleague went
01:04:52
inside the McDonald's and sat down at a
01:04:55
table after ordering some
01:04:58
breakfast two detectives did the same
01:05:01
choosing a table about 10 ft from
01:05:04
Harman they watched as Hartman drank his
01:05:07
coffee which he'd poured into a mug he'd
01:05:09
brought with
01:05:10
him as Hartman ate his breakfast he used
01:05:14
a brown paper napkin to wipe his mouth
01:05:17
several
01:05:18
times when he was done he crumpled up
01:05:21
the napkin and tossed it into the
01:05:23
McDonald's bag his food had been served
01:05:25
in
01:05:26
along with his receipt and empty
01:05:28
rappers hutman then crumpled up the bag
01:05:31
and set it to one side while continuing
01:05:34
to chat with his colleague and sip his
01:05:37
coffee one of the detectives approached
01:05:40
a McDonald's employee who was cleaning
01:05:42
the area and explained who he
01:05:45
was he asked if she would collect
01:05:47
harman's bag from him under the guise of
01:05:49
doing her job so they could take it into
01:05:53
evidence the employee agreed and went up
01:05:56
to Hartman asking if she could remove
01:05:58
his rubbish for him he agreed waving at
01:06:02
the bag to indicate she should take
01:06:05
it the employee collected it and it was
01:06:08
subtly handed over to the
01:06:11
detectives the napkin was processed for
01:06:14
a DNA
01:06:16
analysis the profile obtained from it
01:06:18
was a perfect match to the DNA recovered
01:06:21
from 12-year-old michella Welcher's body
01:06:29
2 weeks later at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday
01:06:32
June 20 police officers arrived at
01:06:35
Hartman's home and waited quietly for
01:06:37
him to
01:06:38
leave he emerged 5 hours later at 10:30
01:06:42
and drove away in an
01:06:44
SUV he was followed by his adult
01:06:47
daughter in another
01:06:49
car officers pursued the father and
01:06:52
daughter and when Hartman break at a
01:06:54
stop sign they pulled in alongside and
01:06:57
in front of
01:06:58
him a detective approached Hartman's
01:07:01
window which Hartman rolled
01:07:04
down you're under arrest turn off the
01:07:07
car and step out the detective
01:07:11
said Harman did as he was told asking
01:07:14
why he was being arrested as he was
01:07:17
handcuffed he was informed that he would
01:07:20
be told the reason
01:07:22
later Hartman was subsequently charged
01:07:25
with the rape and murder of michella
01:07:28
Welch officers accompanied harman's
01:07:31
daughter home and executed a search of
01:07:33
the
01:07:34
property this was no easy task as the
01:07:37
house was in poor
01:07:39
condition detectives would describe it
01:07:42
as a near hoarder house with cardboard
01:07:45
boxes full of various items stacked from
01:07:47
florid to ceiling in multiple
01:07:50
rooms heavy layers of dust covered the
01:07:54
furniture there were dog faces on the
01:07:57
kitchen floor and a neglected pet dog
01:07:59
found
01:08:01
outside officers were looking for any
01:08:04
evidence relating to Michelle's murder
01:08:07
they recovered multiple folding knives
01:08:10
two handguns and lots of
01:08:12
ammunition they had been hoping to find
01:08:15
Michelle's pink eyeglasses which weren't
01:08:17
found with her
01:08:19
body unfortunately the glasses were
01:08:22
never recovered
01:08:25
Gary Hartman denied killing Michelle
01:08:28
Welch and said he wanted to speak with
01:08:30
an attorney when he was told what he was
01:08:32
being charged with bual swabs taken by
01:08:36
detectives confirmed that he was a match
01:08:39
to the
01:08:41
killer prior to becoming a mental health
01:08:43
technician in 1992 Gary Hartman had been
01:08:47
in the Navy and then had a series of
01:08:49
menial
01:08:50
jobs he seemed to find his niche in
01:08:53
mental health care later getting a job
01:08:55
as a registered nurse in
01:08:58
1998 he had been married four different
01:09:01
times to three different women he was
01:09:04
divorced twice and married to his second
01:09:06
wife at the time of Michelle's
01:09:09
murder harman's marriages with his first
01:09:12
two wives broke down due to his
01:09:15
infidelity he wed his third wife in 1996
01:09:19
and they were still together at the time
01:09:21
of his
01:09:22
arrest the couple had two adopted
01:09:24
daughters
01:09:26
[Music]
01:09:27
harman's family said he was a
01:09:29
functioning alcoholic but his attorney
01:09:32
claimed he had found sobriety in 1989 at
01:09:35
the age of
01:09:37
38 RJ Hartman told police his older
01:09:40
brother had been abusive when RJ was a
01:09:43
child hitting him with a baseball bat
01:09:45
choking him to the point of
01:09:47
unconsciousness and tying RJ up in the
01:09:50
garage when Hartman was supposed to be
01:09:53
babysitting RJ also accused his brother
01:09:56
of raping him and said he tortured and
01:09:59
killed
01:10:01
animals according to RJ Hartman loathed
01:10:05
women a result of his hatred for his
01:10:08
mother she suffered from alcoholism and
01:10:11
was an abusive
01:10:12
parent RJ claimed that when his mother
01:10:15
had female friends over and they passed
01:10:18
out from drinking Harman would rape
01:10:21
them RJ said that Harman had long been
01:10:25
fascinated by little
01:10:27
girls he'd made inappropriate remarks
01:10:30
about RJ's daughter when she was 8 years
01:10:33
old it would turn out that one year
01:10:36
after Michelle's murder Gary Hartman was
01:10:39
arrested for public indecency after he
01:10:41
exposed himself to a young girl at a
01:10:44
store he was arrested for this crime but
01:10:48
for some reason was never convicted and
01:10:50
had no criminal
01:10:52
record however he was ordered to see a
01:10:57
psychiatrist in a disturbing twist of
01:10:59
fate it would turn out that RJ's
01:11:01
daughter had been school friends with
01:11:03
the Jennifer
01:11:05
Bastion Gary Hartman had been fascinated
01:11:08
by Jennifer's case and frequently spoke
01:11:10
of it to his
01:11:12
family he claimed he was friends with a
01:11:15
detective working on the case and so he
01:11:17
knew things about it that others
01:11:20
didn't he never spoke of Michelle
01:11:23
Welch's murder
01:11:25
but RJ had often considered reporting
01:11:27
his brother as a suspect for the murders
01:11:29
of the two
01:11:31
girls the crimes seemed like something
01:11:33
he was capable
01:11:35
of RJ couldn't remember exactly when but
01:11:39
around the time of Michelle's murder
01:11:41
Harman had shown up panicking on his
01:11:43
front door in the middle of the
01:11:46
night he asked RJ to tell anyone who
01:11:49
asked that he'd been there all night
01:11:52
claiming he'd been cheating on his wife
01:11:54
and did don't want to get
01:12:01
caught Gary Harman refused to plead
01:12:05
guilty but his attorney did strike
01:12:07
another kind of deal with the
01:12:10
prosecution Harman would wave his right
01:12:12
to a jury trial and have a bench trial
01:12:16
instead this meant the verdict would be
01:12:19
decided by a judge assuring a guilty
01:12:22
conviction while still allowing Harman
01:12:24
to play not
01:12:26
guilty as a consequence of this deal the
01:12:29
prosecution and defense negotiated a
01:12:32
sentence of 26 years and 6 months and
01:12:36
agreed to certain stipulated facts
01:12:38
surrounding Michelle's
01:12:40
murder one of these facts was that
01:12:42
Hartman Seaman had been found on
01:12:44
Michelle's body though the first-degree
01:12:47
rape charge against him was
01:12:50
dropped Harman did not provide any
01:12:53
details as to why or how he had
01:12:55
approached and attacked
01:12:58
michella in May 2022 Gary Hartman was
01:13:02
found to guilty of the first-degree
01:13:04
murder of Michelle
01:13:06
Walch although Hartman's sentence had
01:13:09
already been agreed upon his attorney
01:13:11
argued there were mitigating factors
01:13:14
that should be taken into consideration
01:13:16
such as the childhood abuse Harman had
01:13:18
been subjected to by both his
01:13:22
parents the judge dismissed this St
01:13:25
stating that nothing Hartman had
01:13:26
experienced prior to 1986 could excuse
01:13:30
or minimize his brutal murder of a
01:13:33
child he was sentenced to the agreed
01:13:36
upon 26 years and 6 months in
01:13:40
prison now aged in his late 60s Gary
01:13:44
Hartman will most likely die during his
01:13:49
incarceration Harman sobbed loudly and
01:13:52
repeatedly apologized as Michelle
01:13:54
Welch's loved ones shared their Victim
01:13:56
Impact
01:13:58
statements one of Michelle's aunts told
01:14:01
the court that the murder hadn't just
01:14:03
impacted their family it had traumatized
01:14:05
an entire
01:14:07
Community adding 30 years is a long time
01:14:11
to agonize over who did this to michella
01:14:15
and why is he still living a free
01:14:18
life Michelle's sister Nicole spoke of
01:14:21
how the crime had ended her childhood
01:14:24
given her repeated nightmares and
01:14:26
impacted her other
01:14:28
relationships she
01:14:30
stated forgiveness is the only way to
01:14:33
keep me from being infected by the
01:14:35
continual pain and keep furthering it on
01:14:39
I do not wish any harm to come to him
01:14:42
because I would be of The Same Spirit as
01:14:44
him though our lives are linked together
01:14:47
because of this tragedy I do not want to
01:14:50
be of the same mindset in harming others
01:14:55
Michelle's Mother Barbara spoke of how
01:14:58
she had often wished she could trade
01:15:00
places with
01:15:01
michella quote michella was a happy
01:15:05
child she was also trusting too
01:15:09
trusting this is the day Harman faces
01:15:12
the
01:15:13
judge I say lock him up and throw away
01:15:16
the key it won't bring her back but
01:15:20
Justice will have been served
01:15:22
[Music]
01:15:25
in 2023 former detective Lindsay Wade
01:15:29
published a memoir titled in My DNA
01:15:32
about her life and her time in the
01:15:34
Tacoma Police Department focusing
01:15:36
heavily on the impact michella and
01:15:38
Jennifer's murders had on her
01:15:41
life as Gary Hartman's case was still
01:15:44
before the courts at the time of
01:15:45
publication Lindsay couldn't go into
01:15:47
detail about Michelle's
01:15:50
investigation however she did write in
01:15:52
detail about her work on Jennifer B 's
01:15:55
case and how it was finally
01:15:58
solved over the years Lindsay had formed
01:16:01
a strong bond with the jenifer's mother
01:16:03
Patty and the two were
01:16:06
close although Robert washburn's arrest
01:16:08
came after Lindsay had retired as a
01:16:10
detective she was still permitted to be
01:16:13
the one to break the news to the Bastion
01:16:16
family in her book Lindsay describes how
01:16:19
she knocked on Patty's front door and
01:16:21
informed her we got him
01:16:25
the two women hugged and cried as the
01:16:27
news they had waited so long for began
01:16:30
to sink
01:16:32
in one month after Jennifer's mother
01:16:34
finally received answers Michelle's
01:16:37
Mother Barbara got the news she had been
01:16:39
waiting three decades for as
01:16:42
well she would later say that upon
01:16:45
learning her daughter's killer had been
01:16:47
apprehended she got Shivers up her
01:16:51
spine in 2019 Washington passed a new
01:16:55
law inspired by the cases of the two
01:16:58
girls Jennifer and Michelle's law has
01:17:01
expanded the state's DNA databases by
01:17:04
requiring those convicted of indecent
01:17:06
exposure to provide a DNA sample to
01:17:10
codus the legislation also allows
01:17:13
detectives to obtain DNA samples from
01:17:16
deceased sex
01:17:18
offenders Patty Bastion worked on the
01:17:20
law alongside Lindsay Wade and told
01:17:23
reporters that
01:17:25
knowing the good it's going to do is
01:17:28
just
01:17:29
[Music]
01:17:43
[Music]
01:17:53
amazing e