A detective from Everett, Washington, linked two cold case killings to a known predator. Needing fresh DNA to charge him, she helped devise a clever undercover sting using chewing gum to crack the case.
Detective Susan Logothetti lives her professional life deep in the past, investigating cold cases at the Everett Police Department, north of Seattle.
Det. Susan Logothetti: I love that people who thought they could get away with it 40 years ago are looking over their shoulder now, wondering what they left behind.
One case in particular from 1984 came to consume her: the killing of Judy Weaver, 42, a divorced mother and a manager of a bar and cafe.
Det. Susan Logothetti: It was called the Bel-Nes Cafe. … one of the roughest bars on Hewitt Avenue, if not the roughest.
Judy Weaver was beloved by her rowdy regulars for her generous shots of hard liquor and for being a little rough around the edges herself.
Det. Susan Logothetti: She could stand up to anybody.
The former local beauty queen could turn ugly when it came to dealing with intoxicated patrons, says her daughter, Cathy Myers.
Peter Van Sant: What, grab them by the collar and you're out of here?
Cathy Myers: … by the back of the neck, back of the pants.
Peter Van Sant (looking at family photos): This is the beauty queen? …
Cathy Myers: This is our mom when she was the Salmon Derby Queen …
Colleen Kayser: She worked hard to make sure us girls had what … we needed.
For years, it was just the three of them — Colleen, Cathy, and their mom. But all that changed when Judy started dating the owner of the bar, Bill Richards.
Cathy Myers (pointing at photo): This is Bill Richards, my mom's boyfriend.
They eventually got engaged. Judy's daughters didn't like him very much.
Colleen Kayser: He didn't treat my mom very well. … Well, he was mean to her. He'd yell at her. He hit her a few times.
Colleen Kayser: I never witnessed it, but I've seen the bruises.
Wanting a fresh start, on the evening of June 1, 1984, Bill and Judy popped some champagne.
Det. Susan Logothetti: They were celebrating the sale of the Bel-Nes. … they were there with friends, and they were partying. … Judy, she got pretty tipsy that night.
Too tipsy to drive and too tired to wait for a cab, Judy decided to walk home leaving Bill at the bar. Their apartment was about a half mile away. At some point, along the darkened streets, Judy was spotted and followed.
Det. Susan Logothetti: … this is where Judy Weaver would have walked to, to come home. That last door you see down here …
Det. Susan Logothetti: Judy likely left the back door unlocked when she came home.
Peter Van Sant: She goes inside. What do you believe happens next?
Det. Susan Logothetti: He … comes, finds the door unlocked and enters and attacks Judy.
About an hour later, says Logothetti, a neighbor saw smoke billowing out of Judy Weaver's apartment.
Peter Van Sant: When firefighters enter that apartment, what did they find? …
Det. Susan Logothetti: The bedroom door was closed. When they opened it, it was filled with black smoke.
Inside the smoldering bedroom was Judy Weaver, tied up and motionless.
Det. Susan Logothetti: … she was obviously deceased.
Peter Van Sant: Why do you suppose the suspect set this fire?
Det. Susan Logothetti: To cover up the evidence and destroy the scene.
Logothetti spent hours examining the physical evidence: the silent witnesses to murder.
Det. Susan Logothetti: This was a pillowcase found next to Judy Weaver's body, and it's believed that it was covering her head. There's blood on it …
Det. Susan Logothetti: … her clothes had been cut with a knife …
Det. Susan Logothetti: It just looks like he did one straight shot …
Peter Van Sant: … cutting all along this line you can see.
Det. Susan Logothetti: In one straightened line.
Det. Susan Logothetti: Because she didn't have cuts on her body, I feel like he took his time doing this …
Peter Van Sant: Drawing out the terror, right.
Peter Van Sant: And what did that suggest about the assailant, someone who somehow took pleasure in inflicting this kind of pain and ultimately, death?
Det. Susan Logothetti: He's a monster. And I didn't believe that he hadn't done it before.
Judy Weaver was bound, sexually assaulted, and strangled.
Cathy Myers: I was told that her hands were tied and at that moment was when I, you know, took a second for that to sink in what that meant … and I instantly thought of Bill. And out loud I said, "Oh, my God, he killed her this time."
Other men were questioned, but it was Judy Weaver's fiancé, Bill Richards, who emerged as the prime suspect.
But there was not enough evidence to charge him or to clear him. Bill Richards died in 1994 still a suspected murderer.
Det. Susan Logothetti: He was the prime suspect for 40 years …
In January 2023, this coldest of cold cases got another look. Logothetti says her boss back then believed recent advances in DNA technology might finally identify Judy Weaver's killer.
Det. Susan Logothetti: He … told me that it was likely Bill Richards, but he sent in evidence just to confirm it.
Months later, the DNA results landed on Logothetti's desk revealing a match and a name. To her surprise, that name was not Bill Richards.
Detective Logothetti hoped a four-decade-long mystery was about to be solved. In the Judy Weaver cold case there was a DNA hit.
Peter Van Sant: And with that hit comes a name.
Det. Susan Logothetti: I immediately did a routine name check and the first thing I see is Mitchell Allen Gaff is a Level 3 registered sex offender and a sexually violent predator.
Peter Van Sant: What does a Level 3 offender mean?
Det. Susan Logothetti: They are the most likely to reoffend.
Detective Logothetti pored over Mitchell Gaff's case file. He was a free man after decades of incarceration for ultraviolent sexual assaults. His first known target: Jackie Brown.
Det. Susan Logothetti: She was a young police officer … beautiful woman, mowing her lawn and … caught Gaff's eye.
Peter Van Sant: He was just out walking in her neighborhood, right?
Peter Van Sant: You were in this very spot. Where are we right now?
Jackie Brown: We're in the backyard of my house …
Jackie Brown: I had just finished mowing the backyard …
Peter Van Sant: You're in your garage putting the lawnmower away. What happens?
Jackie Brown (standing inside her garage): I heard someone yell, "Get down on your knees and don't turn around."
Peter Van Sant: And is he standing right about where I am?
Jackie Brown: He's standing right about here.
A young man, she says, was pointing a gun just inches from her head.
Jackie Brown: He took the gun and slammed it across the side of my head. …
Jackie Brown: And I thought, "He's going to rape me." And … I just kept talking. I said —
Talking, pleading and plotting. Jackie tried and failed to coax him out of the garage and into her bedroom.
Jackie Brown: Because I slept with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson under my pillow. … and I knew … I'd blow his brains out. And I would have. …
Jackie Brown: And then he said, "put your hands behind your back."
In that whirlwind of fear, a childhood memory came rushing back, says Jackie. A lesson from her father: if attacked, fight like hell.
Jackie Brown: And he would say, "Well, fight, fight. Kick me. What are you doing to do? … fight dirty if you have to."
When the assailant put down the gun to handcuff Jackie, she turned her father's advice into action.
Jackie Brown: And I just threw my weight into him … caught him off guard and he fell against the wall. …
Jackie Brown: And he said, "I'm gonna kill you, you f****** bitch."
Jackie Brown: … all of a sudden he pulled out a hunting knife … And he slashed me …
Jackie Brown: … and again, I shoved him, and I just ran out of the garage.
Jackie Brown: … and I sprint down the alley …
Peter Van Sant: … are you thinking he's right behind you?
Jackie Brown: Absolutely, yes. … I was screaming for help.
Jackie Brown: So, I'm flying down the middle of the road …
A neighbor heard the commotion and called police. It wasn't long before Everett P.D. officers detained a man down by the railroad tracks, not far away. They needed Jackie to identify him.
Jackie Brown: … when we pulled up, I looked and … we were this far away. And I said, "That's not him." … he wasn't wearing anything that I described.
Peter Van Sant: So, you're thinking they got the wrong guy.
She started to leave, but something inside Jackie caused her to turn around.
Jackie Brown: And I – I said, "Say something to me." And I said it again really loud and he turned and he said, 'What the f*** do you want me to say?" And as soon as he said that I knew it was him.
Her attacker – then 21-year-old Mitchell Gaff – was arrested. Police later found his duffle bag, which contained the clothes he had worn during the attack. Gaff was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. But, as a first-time offender, he was sentenced to one year of work release and five years of probation.
Peter Van Sant: What was that like for you to know he was out on the street?
Jackie Brown: Awful, awful. He got to carry on with his life, and it changed mine forever.
Combing through the case file, Logothetti began connecting the dots. She realized that Mitchell Gaff was still on probation for the Jackie Brown assault when Judy Weaver was murdered in June 1984. By the end of August, Gaff struck again.