Mitchell Gaff faces sentencing after pleading guilty to killing two women in Snohomish County cold cases in the 1980s.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Man pleads guilty to killing two women in county Separate cold case in Snohomish County The man from the 1980s is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Mitchell Gaff pleaded guilty in April to the murders of Judith “Judy” Weaver and Susan Vesey.
Gaff was first charged in May 2024 in connection with Weaver’s death. The 42-year-old woman was found dead in her home on Rock Avenue in Everett in June 1984 after authorities responded to a reported house fire.
Investigators reopened the case in July 2020. Court records show DNA recovered from the ligature used to bind Weaver was eventually linked to Gaff through the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Detectives also provided him with biological evidence collected from the victim, restraints used during the killing and clothing cut from her body.
Police subsequently sought direct DNA samples to verify the findings.
According to investigators, on January 17, 2024, undercover police officers posing as workers approached Gaff while conducting a gum flavor investigation. Detectives collected pieces of gum that Gaff discarded during the encounter and submitted them for forensic testing.
A forensic scientist later concluded that the DNA obtained from the gum was consistent with a DNA profile based on evidence from Weaver’s killing.
The investigation into Weaver’s death also led detectives to link Gaff to the 1980 slaying of 21-year-old Susan Vesey. Prosecutors filed charges March 13 in Vesey’s death. Investigators said Vesey was killed in her home while her two children were asleep nearby.
Authorities said Gaff had previously been diagnosed as a sexual sadist and was found guilty of being a sexually violent predator by two separate juries. He previously served 21 years in prison for breaking into a home and raping two teenage sisters and was later incarcerated at McNeil Island, which houses the state’s highest-risk sex offenders.
Gaff admitted to both killings during court proceedings in April.
