Man sentenced in 1980s cold case murders solved with chewing gum
A man has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison in the cold case murders of two Washington women after investigators put together a "gum ruse" to obtain his DNA, according to court documents.
Mitchell Gaff, 68, was sentenced Wednesday in the 1980 murder of Susan Vesey and the 1984 murder of Judith Weaver.
Gaff was identified as a possible suspect after the national Combined DNA Index System identified him as a possible match to DNA evidence from Weaver's murder. Gaff was in the system for the 1984 rape of two teenage sisters, according to court documents.
In January 2024, investigators pretended to represent a gum company conducting research into flavors participants prefer. Investigators offered participants a dish to throw away their chewed gum as part of the ruse, according to court documents.
Investigators successfully obtained Gaff's chewed gum, and it was used for DNA extraction, according to court documents.
Gaff's DNA was found to be consistent with DNA evidence from Weaver's assault and murder, according to court documents.
Gaff was arrested by the Everett Police Department in May 2024 for the murder of Weaver. In March, he was additionally charged with the murder of Vesey after DNA evidence connected him to that case, according to police and court documents.
Weaver was found killed in her home after the Everett Fire Department responded to the report of a fire there, according to police.
Gaff was charged with raping, robbing and murdering Weaver, according to court documents.
Gaff allegedly entered Weaver's apartment and attacked her, beating her in the face and ultimately binding her around her throat, wrists and ankles. The bindings around her throat deprived her of oxygen, and along with smoke she inhaled from a fire started by Gaff, she ultimately died, according to court documents.
Gaff at some point removed the fire alarm from the ceiling and set the apartment on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence, prosecutors alleged.
Gaff allegedly sexually assaulted Weaver at some point during the attack, according to court documents. DNA evidence was gathered from Weaver's body at the time, and later was used to connect Gaff to her assault and murder, according to court documents.
Gaff had also been previously convicted of second-degree assault for two violent rapes months after Weaver's murder. He admitted to committing multiple uncharged rapes during those trials, according to charging documents.
Gaff was also charged with the murder of Vesey in March of this year, nearly 46 years after her killing. Vesey's husband discovered her dead after returning home from a night shift. Her two-year-old daughter and an infant son were found in the home, unharmed, according to police.
Gaff allegedly assaulted and raped Vesey before fatally strangling her. Vesey was found the next morning by her husband, according to court documents.
Ken Vesey, the victim's husband, contacted the Everett Police Department in January 2025 to inform them his brother, a one-time suspect in the case, had recently died. He also told a detective about his dissatisfaction with the work the police department had done over the years. The detective then reviewed the case and noticed similarities with the murder of Weaver, which she was actively working on, according to court documents.
The detective contacted the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab and submitted a number of items from the Vesey murder for DNA testing, according to court documents.
DNA evidence was recovered from the items and found to be a match for Gaff, according to court documents.
On April 16, Gaff pled guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree, according to police. Gaff ultimately admitted to his crimes in open court and provided details consistent with the determinations of police investigations, according to police.
