*Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Its probably a spoiler to tell you at this point that the team doesnt end up solving Jinagas murder. than any other suspect (including Emanuel Fair), and when asked whether or not he had gone next-door to Arpana's apartment after making his two phone calls, C.J. This is a series whose internal universe pretty much stops at the very edges of its specific case. Instead, her life was brought to a violent and sudden end the morning after a Halloween party, and no one has been held to task for that. The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times. In terms of pure execution, it's probably the best narrative true-crime podcast I've heard all year. Missing from the scene entirely was Arpana's motorcycle, a Suzuki GS 500, which quickly became a highly-sought-after item for Redmond Police. When I started talking to Emanuel and then to Ben Goldsmith, his attorney, I was like, Wow, this case is sort of exactly what Ive been thinking about. It was DNA that drew us to it initially. Over the next few hours, police would begin arriving at the crime scene, closing it off to outsiders and attempting to gather statements from anyone they deemed pertinent. Police had already determined that Arpana's body had been covered in that type of motor oil, so whoever had handled it had likely been involved in her death. Cameron County officials did not respond to The Brownsville Herald for comment by press time. While Israel Keyes has become a boogeyman for numerous unsolved crimes - due to his habit of traveling the country and attempting to cover up any trace of himself - there is a compelling argument to be made in this case. Was there anything that surprised you in your reporting of this story? Several items found inside of the apartment had also been burned by the killer, including a green blanket that belonged to Arpana, the red cape she had been wearing to the Halloween party, other pieces of her costume, a black sheet, and portions of carpet. Arpana moved to Redmond, Washington in the early months of 2008. After all, not everything has to be about something bigger than itself, and theres something to be said about delivering the most polished version of a standard. DNA evidence was linked to three men and ultimately used to charge Emanuel Fair, a Black man from Seattle. Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys, on the other hand, didn't see it that way. For the next two years, investigators would struggle to make sense of this case. says that he went back to his apartment at around midnight to go to sleep, his phone records would show that he called Arpana twice a few hours later: once at 2:56, and a second time at 3:02 AM. She even participated in Taekwondo classes and dabbled in a couple of musical ventures (including singing in a band back east while attending university). According to an interview with Coats by Matt Shaer who retraced the steps of Coats' investigation in his podcast, Suspect, and whose interviews helped inform Fair's lawsuit he spotted . He said that he met her briefly that night, and seemed to get along well with her; she briefly showed him photos from her bedroom computer, but that was about the extent of their interaction. And still you have something that plays out like this did, where no one is currently arrested, indicted or in prison for this, and the investigation is nonexistent. Because the contents of "The Wretch" have not been cracked, investigators believe that it could hold proof of O'Leary committing more heinous crimes than he has been convicted of thus far, possibly even murder. They argue and fight. Each host brings a new, love gone wrong true story to mix. This included the nearly two years it took them to single out Emanuel Fair as a suspect; during which time, investigators had hired a psychic to help point them in the right direction, which highlighted how adrift the investigators had been up until that point. lived right next-door to Arpana Jinaga, and by his own admission, had a pretty close relationship with her. Privacy Policy and On October 31st, 2008, Israel Keyes flew from Anchorage to SeaTac and was in the Seattle area until November 2nd, when he then flew from SeaTac to Boston. "This unwritten policy of permissible use of excessive force has deep roots going back decades to Carrizales' opening. Even forensic analysis has its limits, as King County prosecutors and investigators in the Redmond area learned from this case. Emanuel Fair's second trial began just last year, in 2019, and again, tried to reach a jury consensus regarding his guilt. can also be characterized as an uncharged accomplice.". Together, they decided to enter Arpana's apartment to check in on her, but when they knocked on the apartment door, it swung open. Typically, when police recommend filing charges against someone, they don't follow that up with any investigation of their own and that's sadly what happened here. Suspect is an investigative series about mislaid justice and the kinds of weighty decisions that detectives, lawyers, and jurors make every day - decisions that, once made, are almost impossible to reverse. The podcast currently has over 1,000 followers on Instagram and has over . Unlike Emanuel Fair, he also had a prior relationship with Arpana, lived next-door to her, and had been noticeably resentful towards her in the weeks leading up to her death. After her death, the killer had scrubbed Arpana's body with bleach in an attempt to destroy evidence, and investigators would later note that Arpana's hands had been stained blue by a "highly-acidic" cleaning agent. After his release from prison in November of 2006, Fair would begin a three-year process of floating between prison and homelessness; this included the period in which Arpana Jinaga was murdered. A tech prodigy from an early age, Arpana seemed poised to achieve great things in life. But just a few days before the retrial was set to begin (September 11th, 2017), the trial was placed on hold pending a discretionary review by the Court of Appeals. Suspect is a lot more successful in the latter mode, if only because the series wraps up with yet another genre convention: the original mystery resolves inconclusively. and on their website: sarahneilsonwriter.com. Suspicious deaths, such as homicide, very rarely happen in Redmond: one of the wealthier suburbs on the outskirts of Seattle, which is known internationally for housing the U.S. headquarters for both Microsoft and Nintendo. Sure, it grapples with several important ideas discriminatory policing based on race, the limitations of DNA evidence, the thorny relationship between the judicial system and actual justice but it doesnt end up being particularly about any of those things, nor does it substantially advance the conversation on any front. However, the weekend after the party, Arpana would not answer any of their calls and would fail to call them back, which was very unlike her. As a teen, she participated in an IEEE Hardware Design Contest that earned her some attention from universities and potential employers, and seemed to cement her down the path of computing. Guest on Suspect. Just because it never happened doesnt mean they cant get back together. After being held in custody for nine years, he was found not guilty of Jinagas murder and released in 2019. Suspect Season 1 Episode 1. He was also a longtime friend of Omar Norman, a convicted killer that had received a 52-year sentence for murdering a man in October of 2005. Suspect premieres Aug. 17 on Wondery+ and Aug. 31 wherever podcasts are streamed. After leaving work, she would stop by a store to pick up some Halloween decorations, and began covering her apartment as other people began returning home and donning their costumes. However, the results obtained through TrueAllele pointed to Fair, in particular, as the killer; with the software saying that he was thousands of times more likely to have been Arpana's killer than other available suspects. Who knows how many lives she could have touched? We have a brutal murder with no suspect. Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan, Producers: Maggyjames, Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Peggy Belarde, Quil Carter, Victoria Reid, Laura Hannan, Gabriella Bromley, Amy Hampton, Steven Wilson, Scott Meesey, Damion Moore, Astrid Kneier, Marie Vanglund, Scott Patzold, Lori Rodriguez, Aimee McGregor, Sue Kirk, Sydney Scotton, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Seth Morgan, Alyssa Lawton, Marion Welsh, Jared Midwood, Patrick Laakso, Kelly Jo Hapgood, Meadow Landry, Rebecca Miller, Tatum Bautista, Travis Scsepko, Teunia Elzinga, Erin Pyles, Jo Wong, Jacinda B., Ryan Green, Consuelo Moreno, Kelly Harris, and Emi Coates, Music throughout the episode was composed by Jake Mooshian. In the weeks after Arpana's murder, Emanuel Fair was identified through photographs and eventually questioned. ", "It was a brutal scene. The crime scene itself was a maelstrom of forensic evidence because more than a dozen people had been inside of Arpana Jinaga's apartment just hours before her death, attending the Halloween party. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. One, that someone had broken into the third-floor apartment of the decedent by kicking in the front door, leaving behind the broken frame to be discovered by the 911 caller. Arpana Jinaga - Spreaker She had traveled the globe in pursuit of an exciting and adventurous life, made a name for herself in the notoriously-competitive tech sector by the age of 24, endeared herself to dozens of strangers and it had all ended with one senseless act of violence. was interviewed multiple times by investigators, and each time, was unable to remember certain details: including what he had been up to during the estimated time of the murder (3:00 - 8:00 AM). throughout this episode - who, it turns out, had been one of the investigation's main suspects early on. Lt. Brian Coats would later tell reporters about the crime scene: "It was a scene where the suspect or suspects spent a considerable amount of time covering the evidence of crime. What were the things that made that possible? She recalled one of these voicemails sounding like constant movement on the other end, but nothing verbally being said. Alanis Mejia is also accused of striking Galarza in the chest. In pretrial motions filed by Fair's attorneys, it was claimed that Emanuel Fair, a black man, had been treated very differently from other suspects or POIs (most of whom were white). Suspect is an investigative series about mislaid justice and the kinds of weighty decisions that detectives, lawyers, and jurors make every day - decisions that, once made, are almost impossible to reverse.Season 2: Vanished in the Snow chronicles the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews. This would ultimately lead to a long and drawn-out dispute through the court system, as Cybergenetics CEO Dr. Mark Perlin refused to divulge the source code of his program, believing that doing so would bring risk to his company's trade secrets. That is where her body was discovered, nude and bloody, lying face-down on the floor beside her bed. Emanuel Fair spent 9 years in jail for a crime he did not commit proclaiming his innocence through two trials, numerous motions, and drawn out judicial delays. Some of these individuals had not even attended the Halloween party, which made the discovery of their DNA at the crime scene that much more surprising. It was just gruesome. He said his surgery was a success, but he needs time to heal before he can tour again. And soon, she was able to build an entire social circle around herself, due to her bubbly personality and her willingness to try anything at least once. And when you get to talk to all these different people who are involved in the case at different times, you see how that power manifests itself or doesnt. She would begin working there in March of 2008, and a company spokesman would later say that during her brief six-month tenure at the company, she had cemented herself as a hardworking and bright employee, who was considered a "rising star" among the higher-ups at EMC. It gives me a little bit of hope, that something that is relatively complicated is being thought about and talked about in the way that it is. TrueAllele is a genotyping software developed by a company named Cybergenetics, which is utilized by law enforcement agencies all over the country. But a check of his online activity would reveal that at around 10:00, he had printed out maps for local pawn shops. This ultimately ended up impacting the jury, as they had not been informed about the details of Fair's prior mistrial, and the testimony of C.J. There has been no sign of activity in the case in some time, due to the prolonged trials of Emanuel Fair. It seemed more like a momentary argument to them than a sign of anything serious and didn't believe that it was linked to Arpana's death hours later. As if that wasn't bad enough, the killer had then sprayed motorcycle oil and other chemicals all over the 24-year-old's body, which they had then attempted to light on fire, not knowing that oil isn't flammable. Prosecutors made it clear that they were seeking more than the recommended sentence - 45 years - which they were allowed to pursue because of the aggravated circumstances of her death. She was 24-years-old when she was killed on November 1st, 2008, and would now be 35. Who knows what kind of things she might have accomplished by now? Speaking to the Times, this juror recalled: "I think that was the biggest reasonable doubt and no one could eliminate him [as the killer] We found [Fair] not guilty because of reasonable doubt, not because we thought he was completely innocent.". However, in that decade, we have learned about a couple of high-profile criminals that were active in the area at the time, who may or may not have committed this crime. Hes dangerous, hes terrifying, hes an extra in, How to Watch the 2023 Oscars Celebrate All 23 Categories Live Again. And the energy with which many of the people pursued this case it is tragic, what happened. could see that things were in disarray, and briefly scanned the apartment before locating the body of Arpana lying on her bedroom floor, already in the process of decomposing. According to this caller, the body had been found in an apartment just north of Marymoor Park, the scenic park and music venue east of Seattle, jutted up against Lake Sammamish. At that time, police didn't have anything incriminating linking Emanuel Fair to the murder. Can Anyone Predict Whos Going to Win Best Supporting Actress? Lets get this out of the way: Suspect is a very good listen. Follow Suspect Season 2: Vanished in the Snow on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. His reason for making this trip has never been uncovered, but it is believed that he might have committed crimes in the Seattle area over this three-day span in which Arpana Jinaga ended up dead. In October of 2008, a 24-year-old computer programmer living in the Seattle area would attend a Halloween party in her apartment complex. All that we know for sure is that Arpana had already lived a full life by the age of 24, and could have continued changing the world for the better. Investigators would continue to reach out to Arpana's family and friends over the next several weeks, hoping to learn more about the days and hours leading up to her death. In addition to the bleach, investigators would note that the apartment smelled faintly of motor oil, which had been dumped all around the crime scene; especially in the bedroom, on and around Arpana's body. In fact, Suspect is as straightforward as a true-crime podcast can get. Speaking to the press, King County's Sr. Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird claimed: "The defendant opened the locked door to Jinaga's apartment, attacked her, stripped off her clothing, gagged her, assaulted her and finally strangled her to death.". Thats where a lot of the drama is for us, and where we wanted to investigate what had happened. Those pleas would continue to amplify months after Arpana's murder, when it became evident that answers were not readily available. as a suspect which is why they ultimately presented a case that didn't do so. Both were seen together, and this would come up later - which is why I mention it - but both claim that their interaction lasted no more than 30 minutes or so, and they hadn't seen each other before or since. It's also a lot more complicated than TV shows and movies would have us believe. Season 2: Vanished in the Snow chronicles the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews.