Mitchell Gaff admits killing Judy Weaver and Susan Vesey
Updated
Updated · CNN · May 10
Mitchell Gaff admits killing Judy Weaver and Susan Vesey
6 articles · Updated · CNN · May 10
The 68-year-old Washington man pleaded guilty on 16 April after detectives used a 2024 chewing-gum sting to obtain DNA, and he is due to be sentenced on Wednesday.
Court documents say he raped and murdered Vesey in 1980 and killed Weaver in 1984, later setting fire to her bed, with modern DNA software and CODIS linking him to both cases.
The admissions solved two long-unprosecuted Washington cold cases, cleared families long shadowed by suspicion and renewed focus on Gaff's earlier violent attacks and the role of genetic forensics.
A gum taste-test caught a killer after 40 years. How many more cold cases could this breakthrough technology finally solve?
As a killer's sentencing nears, does his case expose a flaw in the human brain or a failure in the justice system?