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How discarded chewing gum helped convict a serial rapist of two cold case murders

Krdo · · 1814 words · By CNN Newssource
Victim Advocacy and Trauma Criminal Investigation Tactics Forensic Science and Justice
open_in_new Read the original article: https://krdo.com/news/2026/05/10/how-discarded-chewing-gum-helped-convict-a-seri…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Name Calling / Labeling 70% confidence
Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

11 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 8
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 1
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“Mitchell Gaff opened the door wearing pajama pants, welcomed the trio into his house and agreed to a taste test, sampling different sticks of gum”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (CNN, AOL, and another web result) confirm that undercover detectives posed as a gum company and conducted a taste test with Mitchell Gaff to obtain his DNA.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mitchell Gaff is pictured in 2017 after registering as a sex offender in 2018 in Tacoma, Washington. A taste of freedom wrecked by a taste of gum. In 2024, Mitchell Gaff was 66 years old, living on hi…
https://www.aol.com/articles/chewing-gum-leads-sexual-sadist…
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web search NEUTRAL — Gaff had unknowingly given three undercover detectives the DNA they needed to confirm his connection to a 1984 rape and murder, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in March. The “gum rus…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/us/mitchell-gaff-everett-wa-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — In an unusual turn of events, detectives in 2023 approached Mitchell Gaff, a convicted sex offender, posing as a gum company representative. Unaware of their true intentions, Gaff participated in a ta…
https://www.truecrimeavenue.com/2024/05/chewing-gum-dna-lead…
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“Gaff, 68, a convicted rapist, admitted April 16 to the killing of Judy Weaver and also of Susan Vesey four years earlier”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources confirm that Mitchell Gaff entered guilty pleas for the murders of Judy Weaver and Susan Vesey.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mitchell Gaff, a convicted serial rapist, now stands charged with two gruesome murders after DNA collected from his gum matched old crime scenes.Gaff was charged on March 13 with murder in Vesey's dea…
https://www.aol.com/articles/chewing-gum-leads-sexual-sadist…
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web search NEUTRAL — On June 2, 1984, Weaver was found murdered in her home on Rucker Ave after the Everett Fire Department responded to a report of fire there. On March 13 of this year, Gaff was additionally charged with…
https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2026/04/16/mitchell-gaff-murder/
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web search NEUTRAL — Mitchell Gaff entered guilty pleas Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court, admitting responsibility for the killings of Judith “Judy” Weaver and Susan Vesey.
https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/everett-man-mitchell-gaff…
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“Vesey was 21 and a married mother of two children, both less than 2 years old, when she was murdered in July 1980.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm Susan Vesey was 21 years old and was murdered on July 12, 1980.
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web search NEUTRAL — A man has been charged nearly 46 years after the killing of a 21-year-old Everett woman, authorities said.Mitchell Gaff, a man in his 60s, was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with ag…
https://komonews.com/news/local/man-charged-with-the-1980s-d…
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web search NEUTRAL — Susan Vesey was murdered inside her home in Everett, Wash., on July 12, 1980, according to authorities.Throughout the years, Gaff reportedly confessed to attempting to attack up to 30 women and girls …
https://www.foxnews.com/us/dna-chewing-gum-nails-longtime-se…
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web search NEUTRAL — On July 12, 1980, the morning after her 21st birthday, Susan Vesey was found murdered in her home on Casino Road. She was discovered by her husband, Ken Vesey, who had returned home after working a ni…
https://myeverettnews.com/2026/03/13/suspect-charged-in-1980…
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“Four years later, Gaff attacked Weaver, a 42-year-old mother, in her bedroom, which he then set fire to”
CORROBORATED
CNN and HeraldNet both report that Gaff attacked 42-year-old Judy Weaver in her bedroom and set it on fire to destroy evidence.
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web search NEUTRAL — Four years later, Gaff attacked Weaver, a 42-year-old mother, in her bedroom, which he then set fire to in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence, according to the statement.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/us/mitchell-gaff-everett-wa-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — Gaff set her bedroom on fire to destroy the evidence, the charges say.He is sentenced to probation for five years. June 1984: Judy Weaver is killed. New charges say Gaff sexually assaulted her and set…
https://www.heraldnet.com/2024/05/11/the-many-faces-of-mitch…
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web search NEUTRAL — Judy Weaver is pictured in two photos, including with her two children. How police connected Mitchell Gaff to the murders. Detectives zeroed in on Gaff in recent years when DNA collected from a wrist …
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/04/16/mitche…
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“forensic scientists found the DNA extracted from the gum was consistent with evidence found on her [Judy Weaver's] body”
CORROBORATED
Court documents cited by multiple sources confirm that DNA from the gum was consistent with evidence found on Judy Weaver's body, including vaginal swabs and ligatures.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mitchell Gaff, 68, entered the pleas Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court, where he admitted to the rapes and murders of Judith "Judy" Weaver and Susan Vesey, according to the Everett Police De…
https://www.aol.com/articles/dna-chewing-gum-nails-longtime-…
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web search NEUTRAL — DNA extracted from Gaff’s gum was consistent with that found in Weaver’s vaginal swabs, on the ties from her neck and wrists and clothing cut from her body, court documents said. To connect Gaff to Ve…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/discarded-chewing-gum-he…
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web search NEUTRAL — Police: DNA connects Mitchell Gaff to 2 cold case murders. Three months before they showed up at his home, detectives zeroed in on Gaff when DNA collected from a wrist ligature in the 1984 cold case k…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/04/14/mitche…
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“Knowlton then plugged that DNA profile into Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS... in November 2023 and found Gaff as a match”
CORROBORATED
CNN and HeraldNet both explicitly state that a DNA profile from the Weaver case was plugged into CODIS in November 2023 and matched Mitchell Gaff.
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web search NEUTRAL — Knowlton then plugged that DNA profile into Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS – a national database of convicted offender profiles across the country, among others – in November 2023 and found…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/us/mitchell-gaff-everett-wa-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — Three years later, in November 2023, police learned from the Washington State Patrol crime lab that a genetic profile recovered from the wrist ligatures revealed Gaff as an apparent match in the natio…
https://www.heraldnet.com/2024/05/11/the-many-faces-of-mitch…
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web search NEUTRAL — Police: DNA connects Mitchell Gaff to 2 cold case murders. Three months before they showed up at his home, detectives zeroed in on Gaff when DNA collected from a wrist ligature in the 1984 cold case k…
https://www.aol.com/articles/chewing-gum-leads-sexual-sadist…
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“Gaff was in the database for the violent rapes of two teenage sisters in their Everett, Washington, home, just under three months after Weaver’s murder”
CORROBORATED
HeraldNet and other reports confirm Gaff raped two teenage sisters in Everett shortly after the Weaver murder and was convicted in 1985, which placed him in the DNA database.
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web search NEUTRAL — Everett Police Department. Knowlton then plugged that DNA profile into Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS – a national database of convicted offender profiles across the country, among others –…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/us/mitchell-gaff-everett-wa-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — Two months after he allegedly killed Weaver, Gaff broke into the home of two teenage sisters in Everett and raped them. He was convicted and sentenced in 1985. After the Weaver case went cold, detecti…
https://www.heraldnet.com/2024/05/11/the-many-faces-of-mitch…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mitchell Gaff appears in Snohomish County Superior Court on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Gaff was arrested after DNA linked him to the 1984 murder of 42-year-old Judith "Judy" Weaver.
https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/sexually-violent-predator…
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“A piece of white cord cut from her [Susan Vesey's] body confirmed, the affidavit said: The DNA was Gaff’s.”
CORROBORATED
Reports indicate that DNA from a white cord used to bind Susan Vesey matched Mitchell Gaff.
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web search NEUTRAL — In April 2025, DNA from a white cord used to bind Vesey matched Gaff, court records say. In March of this year, another piece of white cord from the crime scene matched Gaff, court records say. Gaff w…
https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/regional/gum-dna-col…
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web search NEUTRAL — The man, Mitchell A. Gaff, 68, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Susan Vesey, who was found dead in her home on July 12, 1980, and Judy Weaver, whose ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/us/washington-gum-cold-ca…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mitchell Gaff, a man in his 60s, was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with aggravated murder and first-degree murder in the 1980 death of Susan Vesey.
https://komonews.com/news/local/man-charged-with-the-1980s-d…
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“In November 1979, Gaff attacked and attempted to rape 29-year-old Jacalyn O’Brien in her garage, an offense in which he was sentenced to five years of probation and one year of work release”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding an attack on Jacalyn O'Brien in November 1979.
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“He was convicted in the attacks [of the two teenage sisters] in February 1985, sentenced to 11.5 years, and released from custody in October 1994”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
While sources confirm he was convicted in 1985 for the rape of two sisters, the specific sentence length (11.5 years) and release date (October 1994) were not present in the provided evidence.
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“Gaff admitted to a mental health expert in 1994 he intended to rape O’Brien... diagnosed Gaff as a “sexual sadist,” according to the affidavit.”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.