Washington man sentenced after gum trick cracks cold cases
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A Washington man was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison after confessing to decades of unsolved murders that investigators attributed to him using a piece of gum.
Mitchell Gaff, 74, was sentenced last week after previously pleading guilty to the murders of 21-year-old Susan Vesey and 42-year-old Judith “Judy” Weaver in Everett. accordingly FOX 13.
Investigators linked Gaff to the 1984 murder of Weaver after detectives from the Everett Police Department, claiming to be researchers working in the chewing gum industry, visited his home and invited him to try a free sample, USA Today reports reported.
Gaff reportedly obliged by providing undercover detectives with a sample, which was then sent through the federal CODIS database; where investigators ultimately linked him to Weaver’s murder.
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According to the Everett Police Department, Mitchell Gaff pleaded guilty to the rape and unsolved murders of Judith Weaver and Susan Vesey in Everett, Washington. (KCPQ)
The man was arrested in May 2024 and later charged with killing Vesey while behind bars, authorities said, with investigators finding that Vesey was killed at his home on July 12, 1980, the day after his 21st birthday.
Speaking in court Wednesday, Gaff apologized to the families of both victims sitting in the courtroom and pointed to drugs and alcohol as contributing factors to his violent history.
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According to authorities, Susan Vesey was murdered at her home in Everett, Washington, on July 12, 1980. (Everett Police Department)
“I’m sorry not because I got caught, but because of the consequences,” Gaff said. accordingly NBC News. “No one has done anything to deserve me coming into their lives.”
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The court also heard from Jacqueline O’Brien, a former law enforcement officer who survived Gaff’s violent attack in the garage of her Everett home in 1979.
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Authorities found Judy Weaver’s body at her home on Rucker Avenue in Everett, Washington, after first responders were called to the fire on June 2, 1984. (Everett Police Department)
“I knew he was going to kill me,” O’Brien said, according to FOX 13.
O’Brien managed to escape the attack and was instrumental in helping authorities identify Gaff, who was arrested several times in the following years and spent time behind bars for the 1984 rape of two teenage sisters.
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“My nightmare came true 47 years ago but it seems like yesterday,” O’Brien added.
Vesey’s son, Joshua Vesey, told the court that he was just 3 months old and was in the apartment when his mother was killed by Gaff, FOX 13 reported.
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“What the defendant took from me and my sister was not just a life, but the unconditional love of a mother,” Joshua Vesey said in court. “It could have stopped the confusion, doubt, and pain that was spreading through my family at any point.”
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Weaver’s brother, Leon Gregory, also emphasized how the case haunted his family for years, as they grappled with the possibility it might never be closed.
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“Your Honor, it’s been a long 42 years, as we all know,” Gregory said, according to FOX 13. “My mother, father, brother and two other sisters passed away years ago, never knowing who killed Judy.”
Before determining Gaff’s fate, the judge noted his history of violence and his attempts to cover up his crimes over the years as the deciding factor in rejecting the defense’s request for a minimum sentence.
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According to FOX 13, the judge said, “The defendant’s history consists of sexually motivated, extremely violent crimes against women.” “The minimum of an appropriate sentence is the number of years families have to wait.”
The Snohomish County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
