A convicted rapist has been sentenced to 50 years in prison after the decades-long cold case murders of two women were solved using a piece of discarded chewing gum.
Mitchell Gaff was apprehended after three undercover investigators posed as gum salespeople and entered his Washington home, according to court documents obtained by CNN. The 68-year-old unwittingly provided them with DNA samples through his saliva on the used gum pieces.
Gaff was sentenced to a minimum of 50 years in prison Wednesday for the murders of Susan Vesey, 21, and Judith Weaver, 42, which occurred in the 1980s, according to the Everett Police Department
He was arrested and charged in May 2024 over the murder of Weaver, who was found dead in her home on June 2, 1984. Her body was found after Everett Fire Department responded to a fire – later determined to have been lit by Gaff.
On March 13 of this year, Gaff was also charged with the murder of Vesey, who was found dead in her home by her husband on July 12, 1980.
Court documents obtained by CNN detailed the so-called “gum ruse.”
In January 2024 three investigators from Everett Police Department pretended to represent a gum company that was conducting research into the public’s favorite flavors. Gaff invited them into his home, according to Susan Logothetti, one of the officers.
Logothetti told CNN that one of her colleagues had offered Gaff a dish to put his discarded gum in. “I remember watching him spit the first piece of gum into the ramekin and seeing the saliva, and it was very hard for me to contain my excitement,” she said.
Gaff had been identified as a possible suspect after he was matched to DNA evidence from Weaver’s murder through the national Combined DNA System Index. His DNA was entered into the system after he was convicted over the rape of two teenage sisters in 1984, according to the court documents.
Gaff pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder on April 16 in the deaths of Weaver and Vesey.
Gaff ultimately provided statements in both homicides, admitting to his crimes in open court, and the details he provided were consistent with the determinations of the police investigations, according to EPD.
In his plea statement, reported by CNN, Gaff said he was “trying random doors and found the victim’s door unlocked” and went on to beat, rape and strangle Vesey to death. Four years later he attacked Weaver in her bedroom, then set a fire in an attempt to destroy evidence, according to the statement.
“Before leaving I wrapped cords around her neck and lit the corner of the bedspread in an attempt to cover up my crime and with the intention of killing her,” Gaff said, per CNN. “Ms. Weaver died because of my actions.”
Gaff said in his statement he did not know either woman prior to each attack, the outlet reported.
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