Tacoma Murders: Serial Killer Connection? | Det. Lindsey Pt. 3

In 1986 Tacoma, Washington was a beautiful, quiet, and safe community. Or so all the residents thought.

In May 1986, 12-year-old Michelle Welch was riding her bike in a city park. She never came home. Search dogs found her body that night. She had been sexually assaulted and murdered.

Just a few months later another young girl, Jennifer Bastian, was riding her bike in a park just a mile or so away from where Michelle was killed. When she failed to come home at the time she had told her father they began to search for her. After tracing her typical bike route with no trace of her, they called the police, and a massive search was launched. Her body was not discovered until a jogger noticed a foul smell in the park two weeks later.

Detectives thought the two crimes were most likely committed by the same perpetrator because of the similarities between the two cases. Both young girls, riding a bike in a park, both in the North end of Tacoma, both sexually assaulted and murdered.

DNA was obtained from Michella's case but there was no profile in CODIS to compare it to. Jennifer's case was much more difficult. Because her body was so decomposed when they found her and DNA technology being what it was in the 80s, separating any suspect DNA from her DNA was impossible.

Fortunately, law enforcement is some of the most dedicated, persistent, and relentless individuals in all of society, and the Tacoma PD never gave up on their cases. In time DNA technology improved. A male profile from Jennifer's swimsuit was able to be collected and when compared to the DNA from Michella's killer, the two did NOT match!

This threw the entire investigation into a different realm as now the cases had to be examined as two completely separate and unrelated crimes. Suspects previously discounted had to now be reexamined. Witnesses re-questioned. The cold case unit had their work cut out for them!

All Things Crime is a new, comprehensive video series that will explore every aspect of crime and the ensuing investigation, one video interview at a time. The host, Jared Bradley, is the President of M-Vac Systems, which is a wet-vacuum-based forensic DNA collection system and has experience traveling the world training all levels of law enforcement and crime lab DNA analysts in using the M-Vac to help solve crime. Along the way he has met people from all walks of life and experience in investigating crimes, so is putting that knowledge to use in another way by sharing it in these videos.

If you are interested in more videos about the M-Vac, DNA, and investigations, also check out the M-Vac's channel @https://www.youtube.com/c/MVacSystems...

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