A Washington man has pleaded guilty in connection with two decades-old cold cases after investigators allegedly used a clever trick and a piece of gum to link him to both crimes.
Mitchell Gaff, 68, entered a plea Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court, where he admitted to the rape and murder of Judith “Judy” Weaver and Susan Vesey. According to Everett Police Department.
Gaff – a diagnosed “sexually depressed” and self-proclaimed rapist – was linked to the two murders after investigators matched a DNA sample found on a piece of Gaff’s chewing gum at both crime scenes. According to USA Today.
The revelation allegedly came after detectives from the Everett Police Department claimed to be researchers working in the gum industry and invited them to try a free sample wearing shorts and T-shirts to make the story believable.
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Mitchell Gaff pleaded guilty to the rape and cold case murders of Judith Weaver and Susan Vesey in Everett, Wash., according to the Everett Police Department.
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Gaff agreed, and eventually sampled some of the flavors while discarding each piece of gum into a small cup with a lid, the outlet reported. The pieces were then sent through the federal database CODIS, where investigators eventually linked Gaff to both murders.
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Everett was originally taken into custody in connection with Weaver’s death in May 2024, police said.
According to authorities, Weaver’s body was found inside her home on Rooker Avenue on June 2, 1984, after first responders were called to the scene.
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Once in custody, authorities linked her to Vesey’s murder, in which her husband discovered her murdered inside their home on July 21, 1980, the day after her 21st birthday, authorities said.
Gaff’s admission came after a lifetime of terrorizing his local Washington community, during which he was jailed on several occasions and eventually required to register as a sex offender.
In 1979, Gaff approached then-29-year-old Jackie Brown while she was mowing the lawn outside her home, brandished an air gun and ordered her to her knees, USA Today reported.
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Gaff proceeded to launch a brutal physical attack against Brown, in which he allegedly began beating her over the head with the weapon and slamming her head into the concrete floor.
To save his life, Brown allegedly waited until Gaff put his gun down to try to escape.
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“I threw my body against him and caught him off guard, and he hit the wall,” Brown told USA Today. [expletive].’ And I knew I was dead.”
Brown managed to escape, and Gaff was later convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and burglary, according to the outlet.
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Four years later, while Gaff was on probation, he was arrested again on August 28, 1984, after assaulting a pair of girls, aged 14 and 16, as they slept at their mother’s home.
In that case, court documents allege he allegedly tied both girls up with electrical cords, cut their clothes, beat them and repeatedly raped the sisters.
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A girl managed to escape and Gough fled the scene after running for help.
He later pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and theft, according to USA Today.
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Over the years, Gaff allegedly admitted to trying to attack 30 women and girls in one day in the 1980s and raping at least eight of them.
“I am proud of our Everett Police Department for solving this homicide case using advances in DNA analysis technology,” Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin said in a previous statement. “We honor Susan’s memory as we bring this suspect to justice.”
Gough is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13.
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The Everett Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Jesse Watson of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Original article source: DNA from sex predator chewing gum nails long after decade of reign of terror: report
