Decades after the murders of Judith Weaver and Susan Vesey, Mitchell Gaff has been convicted and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. The breakthrough came when DNA from a piece of chewing gum, collected through a ruse, linked Gaff to the 1984 slayings. Gaff pleaded guilty in April 2026 to the murders.
Authorities found Weaver bound, sexually assaulted, and strangled in her Everett, Washington, apartment in June 1984. Investigators initially suspected her fiancé, but he died in 1994. The case remained cold until November 2023, when Everett Police Department Detective Susan Logothetti submitted evidence for modern DNA testing.
DNA evidence later linked Gaff to Vesey’s murder. She was found beaten and bound in her Everett home on the morning of her 21st birthday, June 2, 1984. Gaff’s statements about the murders, made during psychological evaluations, align with the evidence gathered by investigators.
Court records reveal a history of sexual violence predating the murders. In 1979, Gaff was convicted of burglary and assault after attacking a woman who managed to escape. While on probation in 1984, he broke into an Everett home and raped two teenage sisters at knifepoint. He received an exceptional prison sentence and had his probation revoked.
Before his scheduled release from prison, Washington authorities petitioned to commit Gaff as a sexually violent predator. During psychological evaluations, he admitted to six rapes and other sexual assaults. A jury found he met the criteria for civil commitment, a decision upheld by the Washington Court of Appeals in 1998. A psychologist testified that Gaff posed a risk of reoffending.
By 2005, evaluators deemed Gaff no longer required maximum confinement. In 2006, he was transferred to a secure halfway house in Seattle, subject to GPS monitoring. He remained under the civil commitment system until September 2018, when a court dismissed his petition, releasing him unconditionally.
Detective Logothetti believes there may be more victims and is reviewing other unsolved homicides and cold cases for potential links to Gaff. Gaff had reportedly told evaluators he would alter his stories about his admissions, which his treatment team did not detect. While investigators have compared details from Gaff's disclosures with unsolved cases across Washington and other states, no additional victims or crimes have been identified since his 2024 arrest and 2026 guilty pleas. Anyone with information about potential victims linked to Gaff is encouraged to contact the Everett Police Department tip line at 425-257-8450.