Case 301: Michella Welch & Jennifer Bastian
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I don't know if it's because Neem and I finished high school in the same year or we shared a similar taste in music, but I felt instinctively drawn to her story. As I learned more about Neem's story, the revelations that unfolded left me in shock. The result is Missing Neem, the latest 12-part series from Casefile Presents."

Researched and hosted by me, the series features exclusive interviews with key players who help us dive into the details of Niamh's case as we go back to Batlow to try and make sense of what really happened. The entire 12-part series is available now. Stay tuned to the end of today's episode to hear the trailer.

For more information, please visit our website.

At around 10am on Wednesday March 26 1986, 12-year-old Michelle Welch and her two younger sisters left their home in Tacoma, Washington and headed north. Michelle and 11-year-old Angela were both on their bicycles, while 9-year-old Nicole was pulled along behind her older sister wearing roller skates and holding onto a skipping rope they'd tied to Michelle's bike.

It was a bright sunny day in the middle of spring break and Michelle was in charge of her younger sisters while their mother was at work. Their destination was Puget Park, a pretty public space with a playground, grassy knolls, and more heavily wooded areas popular with walkers. The 1.2 acre park was less than two miles from the Welch sisters' home and only took them a little over ten minutes to get to.

The three girls played at the park for over an hour before they started to get hungry. They'd made sandwiches at home so they could have a picnic lunch, but had forgotten to pack them. Michelle, who was a caring and protective big sister, said she'd cycle back home. Angela and Nicole could keep playing, and she would be back with their lunch very soon. Michelle hopped on her bike, leaving Angela and Nicole at the park.

The minutes ticked by. The two girls noticed that their sister was taking a long time to come back, longer than they would have expected. By around 12:30pm, more than an hour had passed since Michelle left. Angela and Nicole needed to go to the toilet and couldn't wait any longer, so they left the park to use a restroom at a nearby business. While there, they also used the phone to call their sister at home.

No one picked up. Angela and Nicole headed back to the park but still saw no sign of their sister. They played for a little while at a nearby cave before returning to the playground at around 2pm. There they noticed something. Michelle's bike was back and secured to a rack close by. On a picnic table was a lunch bag that had been ripped open. Inside was the food Michelle had gone home to get.

There were some sandwiches, including one that was partially eaten, and a bag of easter eggs Michelle had packed as a special treat. But there was no sign of Michelle. Something about the scene didn't look right.

Angela and Nicole called out to their big sister using what the Welchers had dubbed their family call, a loud, distinctive yelp designed to catch each other's attention. Michelle didn't return the call. At that moment, Angela and Nicole knew that something was wrong. They continued looking for their big sister.

Their hopes momentarily soared when they heard someone calling their names. But it turned out to be their babysitter who'd arrived to help. They had phoned her earlier when they'd gone to the restroom and explained how Michelle wasn't with them. The babysitter helped look for Michelle and phoned the girl's mother, Barbara. Barbara was at work when she received the call. She was shocked to learn of Michelle's unexplained disappearance.

Michelle had called Barbara just a few hours earlier when she'd returned home to fetch the girls' lunches. She was asking permission for the three of them to go to Puget Park and then stay there until Michelle's piano lesson later that day. Barbara had said no, as Michelle's lesson wasn't for another five hours, and that seemed too long for her daughters to remain at the park unsupervised.

Michelle hadn't told her mother that they had already gone to the park, or that Angela and Nicole were still there waiting for her return. Barbara would later surmise that Michelle, who was a responsible and thoughtful girl, must not have wanted her to worry. She'd likely assumed that going to the park would have been fine, hence why she'd taken her sisters there first without seeking permission.

When Barbara returned home later that day, she found that the house was spotless. It seemed as though Michelle had cleaned it before returning to the park, perhaps as a way to soften any anger Barbara might have felt if she'd discovered what her daughters had been up to. Terrified, Barbara rushed to Puget Park and called the police.

Initially, they told her she had to wait 24 hours before reporting her daughter missing, but Barbara was adamant that she needed their help immediately. By 3:10pm, police officers had descended on Puget Park, along with family and friends of the Welchers. Over the following hours, police searched the park extensively, accompanied by eight canine officers. Dusk arrived and darkness fell, and still the search continued.

At 11pm, Michelle's mother Barbara sat waiting in a nearby police car as one of the police dogs honed in on an isolated location about a quarter of a mile from the playground. A long wooded area dotted with walking trails abutted the eastern side of Puget Park. This area was half a mile long and known as the "Gulch".

The dog had been focused on the gulch when it headed off a trail and indicated at a spot about 60 yards into the woods where a makeshift fire pit had been crafted. Hidden amongst the grassy vegetation was the body of 12-year-old Michelle Walsh. She lay on her back with her arms outstretched either side, her hands muddy and tightly clenched.

She wore a white shirt and a tan jumper which had been pulled up to expose her upper abdomen. There was blood on the clothing. Michelle was naked from the waist down, though she still wore her socks pulled up to her knees. Her left sneaker had been pulled off. Michelle's pink trousers and her underpants had been pulled down her body and were tangled inside out around one ankle.

There was no sign of the pink framed eyeglasses she had been wearing earlier. The right side of Michelle's head had been fatally struck with a blunt object. Her throat was also slit and she had a defensive wound to one hand. The suspect's semen and pubic hair were recovered from the scene, confirming that Michelle had been sexually assaulted.

As police lifted her body, they found a folding pocket knife with a sheath under her right leg. A small length of cord was discovered hanging from a nearby branch. Michelle's coat had also been draped from a bush. It was covered in blood, indicating the killer removed it after the murder. When Barbara Leonard was informed that Michelle's body had been found, she went into a state of shock and had to be taken to the hospital.

Without the police saying anything else, she knew that her daughter had been murdered. As she recalled years later in an interview with the television program Dateline, quote: "You know when you say 'found a body' it's not a person. It's terrible." Investigators suspected that Michelle had become worried after returning to Puget Park to find her sisters gone.

She might have headed along the gulch trail in search of them and had been attacked by someone there. Another possibility was that her killer had seen her looking for the girls and opportunistically told her that he knew where they were. He had then lured Michelle into the highly isolated fire pit location within the gulch. Michelle had been found with a small cut to her cheek which could have been made with a knife.

Her killer might have held the knife to Michelle's face as a threat while forcing her through the gulch. Michelle's family could think of no one who would want to harm her. Detectives took possession of some notebooks that had belonged to the 12-year-old and scoured Michelle's writings and drawings for clues. They found nothing of significance. Detectives appealed to the public for information.

Although no one had witnessed Michelle's abduction, a 15-year-old skateboarder had almost certainly seen the moments right before it. He'd spotted Michelle at about 1:30pm walking around as though looking for someone. She then headed back to the picnic table where she'd placed her sister's lunches. The 15-year-old left to use the bathroom and when he returned just a couple of minutes later, Michelle was gone.

A number of sightings of suspicious men trickled in. One of Michelle's classmates who'd been at the park that day noticed a man watching the three Welch sisters. The man appeared to be in his mid-twenties, was short, and wore dirty, ripped clothing. A teacher who knew Michelle from school saw the 12-year-old talking to a young man with olive skin and dark hair. He was pointing down towards the gulch.

A short while later, a boy heard what sounded like a girl screaming. He'd thought nothing of it, as children often screamed while playing at the park. A woman reported seeing a shifty-looking man exiting the gulch that afternoon. The man moved quickly and appeared to be in a rush to leave the park. He was white, tall and lean, and between 35 and 40 years old, with short, dark blonde hair.

A composite sketch of this individual was made and shared with the media. Some local teenagers said they knew of several men who lived in the Gulch and often sat and smoked beneath the nearby Proctor Street Bridge. On one occasion, one of the men had chased a teen while brandishing an air pistol.

An employee of the Metropolitan Park District also came forward to report that she'd seen a strange man lurking around the Gulch Trail two weeks before Michelle's murder. The man had been walking along the trail, but each time he saw the employee, he ducked away into the heavy brush that grew next to the path. After reaching the end of the trail, he turned around and walked back again.

Another composite sketch was made from this sighting, depicting a white man in his 30s or 40s with dark hair parted to the right and a bushy moustache. In the weeks that followed, investigators received numerous calls and reports from people who recognised the suspect sketches.

One tip-off came from a jogger who said he had seen the suspect hanging around another Tacoma park called Point Defiance Park, located about 3.5 miles northwest of Puget Park. Police interrogated every known sex offender who lived in the area, but all were eliminated from the investigation. The brutal killing had terrified Tacoma residents.

Some members of the public began calling for lighting to be installed in Puget Park, along with a fence to separate the Gulch from the rest of the space. A community group called Friends of Tacoma Parks also launched a watch program at Puget Park to improve public safety. Many of Michelle's classmates were among the 200 mourners who attended her funeral and were driven there in a yellow school bus.

Michelle was remembered as a girl who loved art, music, and writing. She was a quieter child who was almost always seen reading a book. Michelle's aunt told Those Assembled: "She lived in her stories and drawings. Now, she'll live on in the dreams of magic and light." One of Michelle's friends performed a piano melody that the two had previously played together as a duet.

In the weeks following Michelle's murder, the police investigation stalled as each tip-off led to another dead end. A $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Michelle's killer went unclaimed. Weeks turned to months and the case began to go cold. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.

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On Monday August 4 1986, a 13-year-old Tacoma resident named Jennifer Bastian decided to go for a ride on her brand new champagne-coloured 18-speed Schwinn bicycle. Jennifer, who was on her summer break from school, was a keen cyclist and was set to participate in an upcoming long-distance ride on the San Juan Islands.

As part of her training for this ride, she often cycled the three-mile journey from her home to Point Defiance Park, a 760-acre space with a zoo, a beach, an off-leash dog park, and roughly 400 acres of old-growth forest. The park sits at the north end of Tacoma on the point of the Kitsap Peninsula, and its five-mile drive bike trail was ideal for cycling.

Normally, Jennifer trained with a riding buddy, but on that particular day, her cycling partner was unavailable. Jennifer got permission to go for a solo ride instead and left a note for her parents letting them know she'd be home by 6:30pm. It was 2:30pm when she departed. Four hours later, Jennifer's father Ralph noticed that she wasn't yet home as promised.

He went out with some neighbors to search the surrounding streets, but there was no sign of his daughter. Ralph traveled the route that Jennifer was known to ride to Point Defiance Park and found no trace of her there either. He alerted his wife, Patty, who raced home from work to help. At 8:30 pm, the Bastions reported their 13-year-old daughter missing. Police immediately took the call seriously.

It had only been a little over four months since 12-year-old Michelle Welch was murdered. Now, another young girl had vanished after heading to different Tacoma Park lands that was only three miles away from Puget Park. Officers immediately set out to look for Jennifer, and by 1am, two sniffer dogs and their handlers had also joined in.

The dogs were given articles of Jennifer's clothing to smell and tracked her from her home to Point Defiance Park. They continued to pick up her scent on the park's five-mile drive trail, but didn't find Jennifer.

Witness sightings allowed investigators to pinpoint Jennifer's last known locations and movements, as well as confirm what she had been wearing: a blue or purple one-piece swimsuit, shorts, and a white bike helmet with red stripes. Between 2:30 and 3:00pm that day, a park employee had seen Jennifer bike riding near the Point Defiance Park entrance.

At 4:10pm, three boys who knew Jennifer passed by her on Five Mile Drive. They noticed she was being closely followed by another cyclist, a white man who wore mirrored sunglasses. He seemed to echo Jennifer's movements, speeding up and slowing down whenever she did so. Jennifer appeared unaware of the man's strange behaviour.

Several more witnesses had spotted Jennifer over the next couple of hours, with the final sighting taking place at 6pm. A woman had seen her riding near what was known as the bowl area of the park. Over the next three days, police officers scoured the area in search of the missing 13-year-old. Roughly 230 searchers from numerous counties assisted.

Meanwhile, the Bastion family and their friends stood at the park's entrance, handing out missing persons flyers to passers-by. Patty Bastion worked for a telecommunications company, which provided four cell phones to be used by the command center, facilitating easier communication during the search. But no trace of Jennifer, or the new bike she was so proud of, was found.

Almost immediately, police, the public, and the media began drawing comparisons to the Michelle Welch case. Both girls had disappeared after riding their bikes to a Tacoma park. They were just one year apart in age and even looked similar, both with blonde hair and blue eyes, though Michelle had long hair while Jennifer wore hers short.

A key difference was that Michelle was found in the park she had been visiting just hours after disappearing, while officers had scoured Point Defiance Park for days with no trace of Jennifer. Days turned to weeks and there was still no sign of the missing 13-year-old. Posters alerting people to Jennifer's disappearance were displayed all along the route from her home to Point Defiance Park, asking anyone who knew anything to report it.

Psychics and members of the public called in to report possible tip-offs. None of these led anywhere. Still, Jennifer's family held out hope. Shortly after Jennifer went missing, the Bastions were visited at home by Michelle Welch's mother, Barbara, and her sister.

Barbara was all too aware of the pain the Bastions were enduring and wanted to share her sympathy as well as her hope that Jennifer would be returned to them unharmed. Patty Bastion was touched by Barbara's kind gesture and found her to be very nice. However, she struggled to understand why Barbara had visited, because she believed Jennifer's case was very different to Michelle's.

After Barbara left, Patty turned to a friend who was sitting beside her and said, "'I'm not sure why she came. Jennifer's not dead.'" On Tuesday August 26, just over three weeks since Jennifer went missing, police received a tip-off from a man who'd been out jogging in Point Defiance Park with a running club. Their route had taken them along Five Mile Drive and the man had noticed a foul odour.

Park Police and members of the Tacoma Police Department were dispatched to the location along with the sniffer dog, but couldn't find the source of the smell. Still, they continued to focus on the general location. Two days later, on Thursday August 28, a German Shepherd search dog honed in on a wooded area off Five Mile Drive.

It was about 150 feet from the path and positioned between the road and the peninsula's cliffs. The dog led searchers to a spot that was difficult to reach due to the dense vegetation. On closer inspection, the location was a kind of hollowed-out cave in the ground, hidden from view by the trees and brush.

It looked as though it had been prepared ahead of time by someone who knew the park's woods and trails extremely well. Officers had to climb down into the cave-like space in order to see inside. There lay the body of a young girl. It was Jennifer Bastian. She was lying on her back with her legs apart and arms outstretched. Her swimsuit and shorts had been pulled down around her right ankle.

She still wore her socks, shoes and bicycle gloves. Her state of undress and the way her body had been posed implied that she had been sexually assaulted, but her remains were too decomposed to confirm whether or not she had been raped. A ligature made from a thin rope was found around her neck.

Her state of decomposition prevented investigators from conclusively determining whether there were other injuries, but it appeared her throat may have been cut as well. She was missing a tooth, suggesting her killer might have inflicted blunt force trauma. Jennifer's cause of death was determined to be asphyxia, secondary to strangulation. Her bicycle was discovered lying on its side in some brush further towards the cliffs.

It had been covered with fern fronds that had since died and turned brown. Jennifer's blue bike saddle bag was still attached, with her white and red striped bike helmet inside. Other contents included a water bottle, some clothing, a bike manual, and Jennifer's pink and black velcro wallet with three dollars and some loose change inside. Detectives faced the difficult task of informing the Bastions that their daughter had been found.

Patty Bastian was at home painting the living room's walls when there was a knock on the front door. She would later tell Dateline journalist Keith Morrison that she could not bear to think of what had happened to her daughter, stating: "I have my fairy tale, I think, and I'll just live with it. She was riding her bike. The monster came out of the woods and grabbed her and killed her. More than that. I can't wrap my brain around.

Right away, the public began to speculate that Michelle Welch and Jennifer Bastian had been killed by the same man. Child abductions and murders were rare in Tacoma, and now there had been two under disturbingly similar circumstances within mere months of each other. Fear spread that there was a serial killer stalking Tacoma's parks and preying on girls.

When asked whether this was the case, law enforcement officers were cagey, merely stating that at this point in time, they had no physical evidence linking the two cases. But behind closed doors, it was a different story. Almost immediately, investigators drew the conclusion that the two girls were victims of the same perpetrator.

In addition to the similarities of their age, appearance, and the circumstances of their disappearances, their bodies had been found posed in almost the same way, on their backs with their legs apart and arms outstretched. Both were exposed, with articles of clothing left in disarray around their ankles. Their remains had been hidden in wooded, isolated areas.

Jennifer had a rope ligature around her neck while a cord was found, though not used, at Michelle's scene. Michelle had definitely had her neck cut and it was possible Jennifer had as well. Initially, it was wondered whether the two murders could have been committed by an as-yet unidentified serial killer who'd been dubbed the Green River Killer.

The Green River Killer had been operating around the Tacoma and Seattle areas since four years earlier in 1982. By 1984, he had already killed five women and girls, and a special task force was formed to handle the case. Investigators consulted renowned FBI profiler John Douglas and even spoke with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy in an attempt to build a picture of their suspect.

Following Michelle and Jennifer's murders, the Green River Killer Task Force took a look at their cases, but they were deemed to have been committed by somebody else. A new task force was formed to coordinate the Welch and Bastion cases. Thousands of tips poured in from the public and detectives interviewed hundreds of persons of interest, collecting their hair, blood, and saliva as well.

One man soon came under scrutiny as their prime suspect. Multiple people had reported him as a creeper who was known to sunbathe nude at Point Defiance Park. He drove a van and possessed strange drawings of young girls. Hair and blood samples subsequently ruled him out. Despite the abundance of calls from the public, none of the tips resulted in an arrest.

Numerous suspects were identified, interviewed, and deemed plausible before later being cleared. If a suspect seemed likely for one of the cases but had an alibi for the other, he was ruled out. Several times a prime suspect came into focus, only to ultimately be eliminated for one reason or another.

Months continued to pass and soon the first anniversary of Michelle Welch's murder arrived, closely followed by that of Jennifer Bastian. By this time, the task force had been disbanded, but two detectives still regularly checked in on the case and evidence from the crime scenes was still being processed.

When speaking to the media, law enforcement spokespeople were adamant that the investigation was still very much active and ongoing. In 1989, three years after the murders, investigators sent the semen sample from Michelle's murder to a private laboratory in California for testing.

DNA profiling was still in its infancy when it came to use in criminal investigations, with the first conviction based on DNA evidence having taken place in 1987. The California lab sent back the killer's profile, though there was no database for investigators to compare it to. Instead, they used it to rule out any potential suspects that emerged.

By the mid-naughties, a more sophisticated DNA profile of the killer was created. By this time, there were state and federal databases that detectives could check the profile against. Yet, they couldn't find a match. Whoever the killer was, he seemingly didn't have a serious criminal history. Investigators wondered if the killer had been in the military and was now living far away elsewhere.

Or perhaps he'd died before he could commit any more murders. Without any arrests in their daughter's cases, the victims' families did their best to continue living. Michelle's mother Barbara took solace in her Christian faith and staunch belief that she would one day be reunited with her daughter.

Jennifer's mother, Patty, likewise found comfort in religion and began coordinating a child safety fair that was held in Tacoma every year. In an interview with the News Tribune, she stated: "I can always calm myself down with the knowledge that whether we as human beings solve the crime or not, it is solved. And whether justice happens in the criminal courts or the heavenly courts, it doesn't matter.

It will happen. In the summer of 1986, 11-year-old Lindsay Wade had her innocence shattered by the murders of Michelle Welch and Jennifer Bastian. Prior to learning about the two crimes, she'd been a carefree child, growing up in Tacoma oblivious to the dangers that might exist. After she found out what had happened to Michelle and Jennifer, Lindsay became scared, like much of the broader community.

The two girls were close to her in age and had been killed while out riding their bikes in local parks, something Lindsay also loved to do. All over Tacoma, everyone was asking how such a thing could have happened and who was responsible. Alarmist headlines and news stories added to Lindsay's fear and she no longer felt safe playing in the woods as she had before. This newfound fear persisted over the following years.

As a junior high student, Lindsay sometimes had to walk past a wooded gulch on her way to school and doing so always made her heart race. She couldn't help imagining a dangerous predator lurking nearby, waiting to snatch her. Looking back as an adult, it would later seem to Lindsay as though her entire childhood and adolescence was coloured by the two unsolved murders that devastated Tacoma in 1986.

During high school, Lindsay developed an interest in criminal investigations after reading author Ann Rule's book about serial killer Ted Bundy, who was also from Tacoma. After graduating, Lindsay ultimately decided that she wanted to become a police officer and then a detective. She achieved both ambitions by 2003 when she was promoted to the role of detective at the Tacoma Police Department.

The now detective Lindsay Wade spent time investigating auto thefts and was then assigned to the Sex Crimes Department. In 2008, she was transferred to the Homicide Squad. In 2009, Detective Wade had her first child and took five months off for maternity leave. That same year, Tacoma Police Department established a cold case unit, which would be dedicated to investigating old, unsolved cases.

They had more than 250 unsolved homicides and missing persons cases on their books, but the inspiration for the unit's formation was the 1986 murders of Michelle Welch and Jennifer Bastian. 23 years had passed since the two young girls were murdered and both cases still remained unsolved, due in part to the police department not having the resources to dedicate to older cases.

With a dedicated unit, detectives could finally take a closer look at the case files. When Detective Lindsay Wade returned from maternity leave, she began reviewing a number of the cold cases alongside the head of the unit, Detective Jean Miller. One of the cases Detective Wade began poring over was that of Jennifer Bastian and Michelle Welch.

The crimes that had haunted her since she was a little girl were even more disturbing up close and with access to all of the details. Over the next few years, Detective Wade returned to the case whenever she had the time. Motivated by the memory of the fear she had felt as a child and the desire to help get justice for the girls, she painstakingly combed through the case file.

In 2013, Detective Waite met Jennifer Bastian's parents for the first time during a visit to their home with Detective Miller. As the two investigators were leaving, Jennifer's father Ralph begged them to solve the case, adding that he didn't have much time left. He had been 59 when his daughter was murdered and was now 86 years old. He desperately wanted to see justice for Jennifer before he died.

Seeking additional expert opinions, the detectives took the case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Virginia. There, they spoke about the case with a panel of 20 experts, including current and former FBI agents, consultants specializing in crimes against children, and two forensic scientists. This trip helped galvanize the two detectives, and they came up with some new ideas as to where they could take the investigation.

Subsequently, Detective Miller submitted Jennifer Bastian's swimsuit away for testing. The swimsuit had been worn by Jennifer on the day of her murder and was found around her ankle at the crime scene. Over the ensuing two and a half decades, it was preserved in evidence.

DNA testing had advanced in leaps and bounds since then, and the detectives hoped that forensic scientists might be able to obtain a DNA profile for Jennifer from the swimsuit. This profile would then be used as a reference sample. In November 2013, the detectives received a phone call from a scientist at the laboratory.

He asked whether they were also interested in a profile for the male DNA found in Jennifer's swimsuit. He explained that recovered in the crotch of the swimsuit was a semen sample, which had been tested and was found to belong to one man. The detectives were shocked. This evidence had been completely missed by the case's original investigators.

Perhaps because the swimsuit had been removed from Jennifer's body, they had assumed the perpetrator's DNA wouldn't be on it. There was another shock to follow. Since the early 1990s, investigators had had a DNA profile for the killer of Michelle Welch and Jennifer Bastian. This had been built from semen recovered from Michelle Welch's remains.

When the new sample from Jennifer's swimsuit was compared to that taken from Michelle's crime scene, investigators were stunned to find that it wasn't a match. They weren't looking for one killer, they were looking for two. This revelation totally upended the investigation. Almost from the start, detectives had believed the cases must have been connected.

Stranger abductions, assaults and murders were rare, and Tacoma was seen as a safe, upper-middle class city. The similarities between the two crimes were overwhelming, right down to the victim profiles, the manner of the attacks, and the locations they had taken place in. What were the odds that the two girls had been killed by two different men within just four months of each other?

Yet, now the DNA made clear that two separate individuals bore responsibility. Perhaps Jennifer's murder had been a copycat crime with Michelle's providing the inspiration, but that was as far as the connection went.

Over the past decade, investigators had run the DNA from Michelle's case through the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the United States National Police DNA Database. They'd never found a match. Now, they checked the profile from Jennifer's killer. It wasn't a match to anyone in the CODIS system either. That meant neither killer had a criminal record.

Detectives had also used the DNA from Michelle's case to eliminate more than 100 possible suspects from both cases. Now, it was possible that those individuals could still be suspects in Jennifer's murder. Similarly, other persons of interest had been ruled out because they'd been incarcerated or had alibis for one of the murders.

The fact investigators were now looking for two killers would mean those individuals would need to be looked at again. Detective Jean Miller began compiling a list of suspects who hadn't been eliminated via DNA. The goal was now to obtain voluntary samples from them so they could be checked against the evidence. Roughly two dozen individuals willingly provided their DNA to detectives and were gradually ruled out as suspects.

Detective Lindsay Wade trawled through the police department's old records, searching for any cases with similarities to Jennifer Bastian's. Any time she came across the name of a suspect or person of interest, she would look them up and run a background check. When they couldn't be eliminated through DNA in CODIS, she would often add them to the list for voluntary sample collection. This work was slow.

In January of 2015, Detective Miller retired and Detective Wade replaced him as the lead investigator. Months later, Detective Wade utilised the innovative technique of phenotyping to gain a clearer picture of her suspects. Phenotyping involves identifying a person's physical characteristics based on the DNA. The results indicated that Jennifer's murderer was white with light eyes and blonde or red hair.

Michela's killer was predominantly of European heritage but had 9% Native American ancestry. He had fair skin, a round face, brown or hazel eyes, and brown hair. Composite sketches of both men were created and shared with the public. That same year, Detective Wade learnt of a cutting-edge technique that might help in the case.

Investigators were now using Y chromosome DNA to hone in on potential suspects. As Y chromosome DNA is passed down from father to son, men who share the same YSTR DNA profile typically have the same surname. The exceptions are when a son has been given his mother's last name, is adopted, or is unaware of his true biological father's identity.

Some genealogists involved in forensic investigations were now using YSTR DNA profiles to come up with possible surnames for male suspects. Detective Wade wasn't sure about this new technique but figured it was worth a shot. She reached out to Dr Colleen Fitzpatrick, a genealogist who had founded a forensic genealogy organisation called Identifiers International.

The detective sent the profile of Jennifer's killer to Dr Fitzpatrick, asking for any possible surnames that might be associated with it. Three names were sent back: Smith, Holbrook and Washburn. Wondering if anyone with those names might be mentioned in the case file, Detective Wade scoured it for the name Holbrook, but found nothing. Given how common Smith was as a surname, the detective didn't think she'd have any luck there.

She turned her attention to the final name on the list: Washburn. One result came back. In May 1986, several months before Jennifer was murdered, a man named Robert Washburn called the police with a tip-off for the Michelle Welch case. He said that he'd seen the suspect sketch of Michelle's killer and realised that he'd recognised it.

Washburn said he'd been out jogging when he saw a man who resembled the sketch loitering in a park. But he hadn't seen the man in Puget Park, where Michelle was killed. He said the man had been at Point Defiance Park, the location where Jennifer would be attacked and killed three months later. In December of that year, detectives had paid Robert Washburn a visit at home to follow up on his tip-off.

He'd repeated his story about seeing a man who resembled the sketch in Point Defiance Park, lurking near the Rhododendron Garden. Washburn explained that he jogged in the park up to twice a day, always along the trails off Five Mile Drive. He had lost his job, so had plenty of time to do so. He'd added that he'd been in the park after Jennifer Bastian went missing and saw police searching.

He'd also noticed a foul smell emanating from Five Mile Drive in the subsequent weeks, but hadn't known what it was. The 1986 detectives had found nothing suspicious in Robert Washburn's conduct or demeanour. They noted his name in the case file and left it at that.

Detective Lindsay Wade was somewhat dubious about the YSTR surname selection, but she added Robert Washburn to her list of persons of interest to be approached for a voluntary DNA sample. She'd been painstakingly creating a record of every male mentioned in Jennifer's case file, along with whether or not their DNA was on file. There were more than 2,300 names on the list.

It was ordered from most to least suspicious, and individuals were only eliminated from the list if their DNA failed to match or if they'd been incarcerated at the time of the murder. Detective Wade was assisted by a special agent from the FBI, and together they were able to track down and obtain DNA samples from a number of suspects.

After a few months, Detective Wade's department had chased down 121 suspect samples from Washington to be tested. The FBI focused on interstate persons of interest, tracking down an additional 40 samples. Testing all of these took a long time. During 2017, Detective Wade submitted more than 100 to be tested. None were a match.

A second batch was also submitted with no positive results. In January 2018, Detective Wade sent a final batch of 18 samples away for testing. Given so many promising suspects had already been ruled out after having their DNA tested, her hopes were low. Several months later in April, Detective Wade retired from the Tacoma Police Department.

She'd been there for 14 years and the job had left her burnt out. Less than one month after her last day, Lindsay Wade was at home when she received a phone call from the detective who had taken over her role. After she answered, he immediately asked if she was sitting down, then stated: "There's a match on Jennifer Bastian." In shock and unable to speak, it took Lindsay a minute before she asked for the man's name.

Robert Washburn, the detective replied.

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Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. In 1986, Robert Washburn was 28 years old. He lived about two miles from Point Defiance Park and was divorced. He and his wife had split the year before after six years of marriage.

1985 hadn't been great for Washburn overall, as he was also arrested that year on suspicion of vehicle prowling and criminal trespass. However, he ultimately wasn't charged and consequently had no criminal record. The next time he'd come to police attention was in May 1986, when he'd reported seeing the suspect in the Michelle Welch case hanging around at Point Defiance Park.

Given the timing of this call and the fact it took place before Jennifer Bastian's murder, investigators would later wonder if Washburn was already scheming to kill a girl and frame the other murderer for it. Another theory was that he'd become fixated by the Michelle Welch case and got a thrill out of inserting himself into the investigation. Maybe his fixation had grown to the point where he'd decided to commit a copycat crime.

In the years that followed, Washburn began working for an airplane and aerospace company as a mechanic. He remarried in 1990 and he and his second wife had a daughter. During the late 1990s, they relocated to the Washington city of Burlington. Robert Washburn filed for bankruptcy in 2000 and about a decade later, he relocated to the state of Illinois.

He was found there by the FBI in March 2017 after Detective Lindsay Wade added his name to her suspect list. By then, Washburn was 60 years old and living in the city of Eureka with his now 25-year-old daughter. She had cerebral palsy and required a feeding tube, and Washburn was her full-time caregiver. When the FBI asked Washburn for a DNA sample, he obliged.

It would take more than a year for the results to come back, yet Washburn made no attempt to relocate or flee during that time. When FBI agents returned to his home to arrest him in May 2018, he went willingly and didn't fight extradition to Washington. His cooperation only went so far though, as he refused to speak with detectives. When told that his DNA matched that of a murder suspect, he stated,

I did not kill that little girl." Up until that point, detectives hadn't disclosed that the case was related to a young girl. Washburn explained the presence of his DNA as being due to his frequent visits to Point Defiance Park, saying: "My DNA was all over that park." Robert Washburn was returned to Tacoma and arraigned in court after being charged with the Jennifers murder.

Many of those who knew him were shocked. Neighbours described him as a kind but quiet man who kept to himself and was devoted to his daughter. Disturbingly though, he was known to be very friendly with a 12-year-old girl who lived in his apartment building. The girl often visited Washburn at his home and he was seen giving her chocolate and gifts.

This girl was later interviewed and said Washburn had never abused her, but he had taken photos of her doing gymnastics. Robert Washburn's computer and technological devices were seized. Child sexual abuse material was recovered from these, and it was revealed that Washburn had also kept tabs on unsolved murders and missing persons cases in the state of Washington.

Shortly after Washburn's arrest, an inmate who'd met Washburn on remand in the county jail contacted authorities to say that Washburn had confessed to the crime. Washburn said that on the day Jennifer Bastian went missing, he'd been jogging in Point Defiance Park and simultaneously looking for someone to have sex with. He said he did this often, describing himself as a, quote, "'sick kinky fuck'".

Washburn told the inmate that while hanging around Five Mile Drive, he'd found Jennifer's abandoned bike and hid it in the bushes. Later that night, he saw on the news that the bike had belonged to a missing girl named Jennifer Bastian. Washburn said that he'd subsequently gone back to where he'd hidden the bike and wiped it down. After doing so, he decided to look for Jennifer and discovered her deceased body nearby.

Washburn told the other inmate that he'd stood over Jennifer's remains and masturbated. That was how his DNA had ended up on her swimsuit. Washburn had accurately described the way Jennifer was posed and her state of undress. Subsequently, Washburn changed his story. He said he'd noticed Jennifer Bastian riding her bike and said he couldn't help himself as she was so, quote, "exquisite".

He had raped and strangled her. He didn't say whether this crime was spontaneous or premeditated, but investigators suspected the latter. The cave-like space where Jennifer's body was left had been prepared well in advance. Although he claimed he jogged daily at the park, those who knew him said Washburn never jogged at all, meaning he more likely went there looking for victims.

Perhaps Washburn had seen Jennifer riding her bike around the park on other occasions and planned to attack her in the wake of Michelle Welch's murder. Or maybe his choice of victim was opportunistic. But detectives had no doubt that Washburn had gone to Point Defiance Park on August 4 1986 with the intention of raping and murdering a girl.

According to the inmate, Washburn also admitted that he'd been keeping tabs on the Bastion family in the years after the murder. He said he didn't want his family to know what he'd done, while claiming he also wanted to receive the death penalty. Despite this, Robert Washburn continued to maintain his innocence for another nine months while the prosecution began to put their case against him together.

Then, he abruptly changed his mind and decided to enter a guilty plea. This news was a huge relief to the Bastian family, who would be spared the pain of a trial. Tragically, Jennifer's father Ralph had passed away two and a half years prior to Washburn's arrest and hadn't lived to see her case solved. Jennifer's mother Patty and her big sister Teresa attended Robert Washburn's sentencing in January 2019.

Both read victim impact statements to the court. Teresa said that she had been so devastated by Jennifer's murder that she'd never ridden a bike again or taught her own daughter how to do so due to the terrible association. Addressing Washburn directly, she stated, "'You made me an only child.'"

Patty Bastion described the ongoing suffering their family had been left with, saying that even on beautiful summer days, there was always a cloud of fear and foreboding. Robert Washburn did not address the court, but a statement he had written earlier was read aloud. Despite the presence of his semen at the crime scene and Jennifer's state of undress, he maintained that he hadn't sexually assaulted her.

Instead, he claimed he had grabbed her by the arm, led her into the woods, and strangled her. He said he was admitting to this to spare the Bastions and his own family the trauma of a trial, adding that he was sorry for what he'd done and how many people he'd hurt. He looked it down as the judge sentenced him to 27 years in prison. Now aged 61, this made it unlikely that he would ever experience freedom again.

Outside court, Patty Bastian told the media there had been a sense of relief in the courtroom that day. Referencing the way Washburn had stared down the entire time, refusing to meet her eyes, she stated: "I guess that's the picture of a guilty man." After Robert Washburn's arrest, media reports celebrated the long-awaited resolution in the decades-old cold case.

They simultaneously noted that the murder of Michelle Welch, long thought to be related to Jennifer's case, remained unsolved. Yet, behind the scenes, it was a different story. Lindsay Wade and other detectives had been reinvestigating Michelle's case in parallel to Jennifer's, applying the same breakthroughs in DNA, but they were not able to find the killer.

In 2017, Detective Wade sent the suspect's DNA from Michelle's body to genealogy consultant Dr. Barbara Rae Venter. Genetic genealogy was starting to be used as a way to solve cold cases, with the genealogists examining online family trees to identify unknown suspects whose DNA hadn't been uploaded to police databases.

Using the website's Family Tree DNA and GEDmatch, Dr Ray Venter was able to identify two individuals who were the suspect's second cousins or first cousins once removed. She requested the assistance of DNA technology company Parabon Nanolabs in studying the genealogy. The company's genetic genealogy unit had made a name for itself by solving a number of cold cases.

Headed by renowned genealogist C.C. Moore, the unit employed four genealogists in total who examined online family trees to identify unknown suspects. The DNA from Michelle's case was sent to Parabon NanoLabs in May 2018. The Parabon team quickly calculated that the suspect was mostly white with 9% Native American heritage.

They also identified the same two cousins as Dr. Ray Venter. The cousins were not directly related to each other, meaning they were related to the unknown suspect on different branches of the same family tree. When Cece Moore examined the built-out family trees of the suspect's two cousins, she noticed that one of them, known as Clyde S, had two first cousins who looked interesting.

They were brothers with ties to Tacoma, who both shared the surname Hartman. Their names were Gary and RJ. On their paternal side, Gary and RJ Hartman had two second great grandmothers who were Native American. This was consistent with the amount of Native American ancestry found in the suspect's DNA.

Furthermore, in 1986, Gary and RJ had both lived in the Tacoma area, residing in the North End neighborhood. This was less than a mile from where Michelle was attacked in Puget Park. RJ had been in his late 20s and Gary in his mid 30s when Michelle was killed, making them both old enough to be the killer. Neither of the Hartman brothers were named in the Michelle World Shore Jennifer Bastian case files.

They had never come under any suspicions for the murders at all. But based on the recommendation of C.C. Moore at Parabon Nano Labs, detectives decided that they needed to obtain DNA samples from both Gary and RJ to compare to the suspect's profile. They would do so surreptitiously, given they had no way of getting a voluntary sample without alerting the brothers to their suspect status. RJ seemed the more likely suspect,

His wife had alleged that he was abusive when she had filed for a divorce in 1993 and obtained a restraining order against him. The couple had later reconciled, but this still seemed like a red flag. In contrast, RJ's older brother Gary was a family man with no allegations against him and a long career as a nurse at a mental health facility.

On Saturday June 2 2018, a detective from Tacoma Police Department tailed RJ as he visited a state park. When RJ threw away a coke can, the detective pounced and took it into evidence. A week later, detectives again followed RJ as he dined at a restaurant with his family. He drank three cocktails, sipping each of the drinks through a straw.

When staff at the restaurant cleared the table, detectives approached them and collected the straws, as well as a glass RJ had drunk water from. DNA profiles were constructed from these items. RJ Hartman wasn't a match. In 1986, Gary Hartman was 35 years old and lived a short distance from Puget Park.

In fact, he'd lived on the same street as Robert Washburn, though their homes were about ten blocks apart. Now, more than three decades later, Hartman was 66 and still resided in Washington, about ten miles southwest of Tacoma in the city of Lakewood.

On Tuesday June 5 2018, detectives surveilled Hartman's home and followed him as he drove in his turquoise Chevy pickup to Western State Hospital, the psychiatric facility where he was employed. Hartman went inside the hospital before soon returning to the parking lot with a female colleague. The pair got into a work vehicle and made their way to a nearby McDonald's restaurant. Once again, the detectives followed.

Hartman and his colleague went inside the McDonald's and sat down at a table after ordering some breakfast. Two detectives did the same, choosing a table about 10 feet from Hartman. They watched as Hartman drank his coffee, which he'd poured into a mug he'd brought with him. As Hartman ate his breakfast, he used a brown paper napkin to wipe his mouth several times.

When he was done, he crumpled up the napkin and tossed it into the McDonald's bag his food had been served in, along with his receipt and empty wrappers. Hartman then crumpled up the bag and set it to one side while continuing to chat with his colleague and sip his coffee. One of the detectives approached a McDonald's employee who was cleaning the area and explained who he was.

He asked if she would collect Hartman's bag from him under the guise of doing her job so they could take it into evidence. The employee agreed and went up to Hartman asking if she could remove his rubbish for him. He agreed, waving at the bag to indicate she should take it. The employee collected it and it was subtly handed over to the detectives. The napkin was processed for a DNA analysis.

The profile obtained from it was a perfect match to the DNA recovered from 12-year-old Michelle Welch's body. Two weeks later at 5:30am on Wednesday June 20, police officers arrived at Hartman's home and waited quietly for him to leave. He emerged five hours later at 10:30 and drove away in an SUV. He was followed by his adult daughter in another car.

Officers pursued the father and daughter, and when Hartman braked at a stop sign, they pulled in alongside and in front of him. A detective approached Hartman's window, which Hartman rolled down. "'You're under arrest. Turn off the car and step out,' the detective said." Hartman did as he was told, asking why he was being arrested as he was handcuffed. He was informed that he would be told the reason later.

Hartman was subsequently charged with the rape and murder of Michelle Welch. Officers accompanied Hartman's daughter home and executed a search of the property. This was no easy task as the house was in poor condition. Detectives would describe it as a "near-hoarder house" with cardboard boxes full of various items stacked from floor to ceiling in multiple rooms. Heavy layers of dust covered the furniture.

There were dog faeces on the kitchen floor and a neglected pet dog found outside. Officers were looking for any evidence relating to Michelle's murder. They recovered multiple folding knives, two handguns, and lots of ammunition. They had been hoping to find Michelle's pink eyeglasses, which weren't found with her body. Unfortunately, the glasses were never recovered.

Gary Hartman denied killing Michelle Welch and said he wanted to speak with an attorney when he was told what he was being charged with. Bucal swabs taken by detectives confirmed that he was a match to the killer. Prior to becoming a mental health technician in 1992, Gary Hartman had been in the Navy and then had a series of menial jobs.

He seemed to find his niche in mental health care, later getting a job as a registered nurse in 1998. He had been married four different times to three different women. He was divorced twice and married to his second wife at the time of Michelle's murder. Hartman's marriages with his first two wives broke down due to his infidelity. He wed his third wife in 1996 and they were still together at the time of his arrest.

The couple had two adopted daughters. Hartman's family said he was a functioning alcoholic, but his attorney claimed he had found sobriety in 1989 at the age of 38. RJ Hartman told police his older brother had been abusive when RJ was a child, hitting him with a baseball bat, choking him to the point of unconsciousness, and tying RJ up in the garage when Hartman was supposed to be babysitting.

RJ also accused his brother of raping him and said he'd tortured and killed animals. According to RJ, Hartman loathed women, a result of his hatred for his mother. She suffered from alcoholism and was an abusive parent. RJ claimed that when his mother had female friends over and they passed out from drinking, Hartman would rape them. RJ said that Hartman had long been fascinated by little girls.

He'd made inappropriate remarks about RJ's daughter when she was 8 years old. It would turn out that one year after Michelle's murder, Gary Hartman was arrested for public indecency after he exposed himself to a young girl at a store. He was arrested for this crime but for some reason was never convicted and had no criminal record. However, he was ordered to see a psychiatrist.

In a disturbing twist of fate, it would turn out that RJ's daughter had been school friends with Jennifer Bastian. Gary Hartman had been fascinated by Jennifer's case and frequently spoke of it to his family. He claimed he was friends with the detective working on the case and so he knew things about it that others didn't. He never spoke of Michelle Welch's murder.

But RJ had often considered reporting his brother as a suspect for the murders of the two girls. The crimes seemed like something he was capable of. RJ couldn't remember exactly when, but around the time of Michelle's murder, Hartman had shown up panicking on his front door in the middle of the night.

He asked RJ to tell anyone who asked that he'd been there all night, claiming he'd been cheating on his wife and didn't want to get caught. Gary Hartman refused to plead guilty, but his attorney did strike another kind of deal with the prosecution. Hartman would waive his right to a jury trial and have a bench trial instead.

This meant the verdict would be decided by a judge, assuring a guilty conviction while still allowing Hartman to plead not guilty. As a consequence of this deal, the prosecution and defence negotiated a sentence of 26 years and 6 months and agreed to certain stipulated facts surrounding Michelle's murder.

One of these facts was that Hartman's semen had been found on Mischella's body, though the first-degree rape charge against him was dropped. Hartman did not provide any details as to why or how he had approached and attacked Mischella. In May 2022, Gary Hartman was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Mischella Welch.

Although Hartman's sentence had already been agreed upon, his attorney argued there were mitigating factors that should be taken into consideration, such as the childhood abuse Hartman had been subjected to by both his parents. The judge dismissed this, stating that nothing Hartman had experienced prior to 1986 could excuse or minimise his brutal murder of a child.

He was sentenced to the agreed-upon 26 years and 6 months in prison. Now aged in his late 60s, Gary Hartman will most likely die during his incarceration. Hartman sobbed loudly and repeatedly apologised as Michelle Welch's loved ones shared their victim impact statements. One of Michelle's aunts told the court that the murder hadn't just impacted their family, it had traumatised an entire community.

Adding, "30 years is a long time to agonise over who did this to Michelle and why is he still living a free life?" Michelle's sister Nicole spoke of how the crime had ended her childhood, given her repeated nightmares and impacted her other relationships. She stated, "Forgiveness is the only way to keep me from being infected by the continual pain and keep furthering it on."

I do not wish any harm to come to him because I would be of the same spirit as him. Though our lives are linked together because of this tragedy, I do not want to be of the same mindset in harming others." Michela's mother Barbara spoke of how she had often wished she could trade places with Michela. Quote: "Michela was a happy child. She was also trusting, too trusting.

In 2023, former detective Lindsay Wade published a memoir titled "In My DNA" about her life and her time in the Tacoma Police Department, focusing heavily on the impact Michelle and Jennifer's murders had on her life.

As Gary Hartman's case was still before the courts at the time of publication, Lindsay couldn't go into detail about Michelle's investigation. However, she did write in detail about her work on Jennifer Bastian's case and how it was finally solved. Over the years, Lindsay had formed a strong bond with Jennifer's mother Patty and the two were close.

Although Robert Washburn's arrest came after Lindsay had retired as a detective, she was still permitted to be the one to break the news to the Bastian family. In her book, Lindsay describes how she knocked on Patty's front door and informed her, "...we got him." The two women hugged and cried as the news they had waited so long for began to sink in.

One month after Jennifer's mother finally received answers, Michelle's mother Barbara got the news she had been waiting three decades for as well. She would later say that upon learning her daughter's killer had been apprehended, she got shivers up her spine. In 2019, Washington passed a new law inspired by the cases of the two girls.

Jennifer and Michelle's law has expanded the state's DNA databases by requiring those convicted of indecent exposure to provide a DNA sample to CODIS. The legislation also allows detectives to obtain DNA samples from deceased sex offenders. Patty Bastian worked on the law alongside Lindsay Wade and told reporters that "Knowing the good it's going to do is just amazing."

When 18-year-old Neem May went missing in 2002, her family did everything they could to help the police find her.

But, like so many missing persons cases, there comes a time when the leads dry up and there's nowhere left to look. At no point have we just got on with our lives. I heard something recently that really resonated. It was a woman from America who said that you never get over grief, you learn to move forward with it. And I was like, that's the best anyone's ever described it. Niamh's sister, Fanula, realised that a podcast might help find the answers the family was looking for.

So, for the past four years, I've been working with Niamh's family to take a closer look at the case. And what we found took us to places we never anticipated. Here's everything we've done. We've obviously got serious concerns about her welfare. I've just spoken to the last person to see her alive that we knew about. And he's giving me a bullshit story. When I first started looking into this case in 2020, it was originally intended to be a single case file episode.

But the more I looked, the more I found. So Steve, he is adamant that she never made it to Go Cup Road. Stan is adamant that there's a credible sighting there. Niamh set out for a gap year after finishing high school to test her independence, but she never made it home. What happened in those final days? And when the black hearse arrived, these two men got out and as soon as I saw them and I saw that black hearse, I thought...

They're baddies. Stay away from them. Mum called me and she said, look, the police are investigating now and somebody claims that he dropped her off and she was hitchhiking. What started out as a potential case file episode turned into a 12-part series that took over four years to research. He didn't smile or anything. He just kind of looked empty and just, like, get in the car.

It was just kind of like aggressively like getting in the car. Join me as we uncover what happened in Missing Niamh, the new 12-part podcast series from CaseVile Presents. Something had obviously worked in me suddenly because I was disorientated.

That's when I realised that there was just a cold, rough hand holding my hand because I had my hand over the edge of the bed and I could see the outline of somebody leaning over the bed. Evil, I guess, has to be somewhat attractive, doesn't it? Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sneak into every corner. So I whispered to my sister, asked her if she was awake and she said yes. I said, there's someone in the room and she said, I know. Missing Niamh is available now.

Be sure to download and follow MissingNiamh wherever you get your podcasts.