Loading summary
Transcript33 lines
- [00:01]
Jessica Bettencourt
We've all been there. The unexpected hosting panic. Like when the big Game party finally makes it out of the group chat. But you volunteered to host host the big game and suddenly you need snacks, drinks, dips, cups, and all the other game day essentials no one else planned for. With Instacart, you can get all those groceries delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. No extra errands for you. One quick order for everyone. That way everything shows up right on time, making hosting easy and making it look like you had it planned all along. Download the Instacart app and get game day deals.
- [00:34]
Capella University Announcer
There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still. Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we're here to help you keep going Further Capella University what can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more.
- [00:49]
Jessica Bettencourt
In August of 2019, Detective Decker made arrangements to transfer the SNP profile Parabon had used for the phenotype to Dr. Fitzpatrick at IdentiFinders International and requested that her team perform an IGG analysis. The upload to GEDmatch took place on August 8, 2019. There, the genealogists found the top match shared 141 centimorgans with Sarah's killer. A second good match shared 82 centimorgans of DNA with the suspect. These matches had last names Cockerel and Applegate, but the most common name in the family tree was Campbell Spoiler. The suspect's last name was none of those. Identifinder's genealogists, Gretchen Stack and Holly Turk, started building family trees using the top two matches and lower level matches. Things were complicated because they came to believe the top match's father was the result of an npe, a non paternity event, meaning that the father he had in his family tree was not consistent with the DNA matches. They had to conduct an adoption search to identify the bio dad. It turned out the connection to the killer was on this top match's maternal side, so the unknown father was irrelevant. But of course, until the genealogists built out the trees for the top two matches and lower matches and figured out where they all intersected, they had no idea what the relationships were. Once they built out all the trees, the genealogists focused on two brothers who fit the bill. They were second cousins to the top match along their maternal line, sharing great grandparents and fourth cousins to the second top match along their paternal line, sharing great great great grandparents. The genealogists were able to identify three sets of grandparents of these brothers. The fourth grandfather was believed to be adopted, his biological father's name unknown. On September 26, 2019, Identifinders provided the names of these two brothers to Detective Becker. The brothers were equally viable suspects. They both lived in the area. Both brothers had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, and neither was ever mentioned in the case file. The older brother was a registered sex offender with a conviction for first degree rape. This was Edward P. Nicholas. Edward had a significant criminal record, including this rape conviction, so he looked promising. His brother Patrick also had a number of sex crimes on his record. But it appeared that in multiple arrests, Edward had apparently used the name of his brother Patrick. This use of interchangeable names and the fact that the two looked very much alike threatened to complicate matters greatly. But ruling out Edward proved to be easy. His DNA was in the CODIS database because of the rape conviction. Sarah Yarbrough's killer's DNA had been searched in CODIS on a regular basis for years. If Edward had been her killer, a hit would have occurred. All signs were pointing to 55 year old Patrick Leon Nicholas. Investigators dug into Patrick and learned that he had been living in the area in 1991. He was now living in one of several dwellings and trailers on a large parcel of land in Covington. The land had been owned by his parents, and the other properties on the land were occupied by Patrick's brother Edward and a sister whom I'm calling Patricia. Investigators commenced surveillance of the property and noted that with all those family members living in the compound, a surreptitious trash pull might be difficult. So they decided to take a different approach. On September 30, 2019, surveillance team members Todd Smith, Sergeant Tom Calabrese, Sam Spait, and Jason Jones began to surveil Nicholas as he left his home and walked to a Kent bus stop. Detective Todd approached Patrick Nicholas at the bus stop and asked him for directions. Nicholas gave them. Detective Todd thanked him and Nicholas volunteered that his name was Leon. The bus came and they both boarded it, the other officers following in their cars. Nicholas got off the bus at the Lake Meridian Cleaners, a laundromat. Detective Sergeant Calabresi pretended to do his laundry as he videoed and photographed Nicholas at the laundromat. At one point, Nicholas went outside and smoked a cigarette, dropping the butt on the sidewalk. Detective Speight grabbed it when he went back inside. After a while, Nicholas came back out and smoked and dropped another butt. He also reached into his pocket, and when he pulled it out, a napkin fell to the ground and he failed to notice. Detective Speight quickly grabbed the second butt and the napkin. Detective Decker delivered those items to the Washington State Patrol crime lab. An October 2, 2019 lab report from Jen Benedetto to Detective Decker stated comparisons were performed between the male DNA profile obtained from Sarah Yarborough's jacket and the consistent DNA profiles obtained from the cigarette butts. The profiles matched at all 13 str loci. As detective Decker wrote on an arrest warrant affidavit, quote, the unknown male profile at the scene of Sarah Yarborough's death has now been identified as the DNA of Patrick Leon Nicholas. End quote. Further, she wrote, Nicholas matches the physical description of the suspect provided by witnesses at the scene. Detective Decker and Assistant District Attorney Aaron Ellard met with Judge Spector, who signed the warrants authorizing the arrest of Patrick Leon Nicholas and the collection of buckle swabs from his person. On that very day, October 2nd, at 5:20pm Detective Decker and Detective Free, along with accompanying members of the King County Sheriff's Office, drove to Nicholas's home at 25409 180th street in Covington. Armed with an arrest warrant, they found no one home when they arrived at the blue house, where they knew from address records and surveillance that Nicholas lived. SWAT cleared the house. No one was there. Detectives Jim Belford and Andrew Scar made contact with the man living in the adjacent house, who was Patrick's brother, Edward. They asked where his brother was and Edward responded, you'll find him at the bar. He didn't know the name of the bar, but said it was near the Kent Transit station. Edward was very cooperative and chatty. He admitted he'd been living in Federal Way in 1991, the year Sarah Yarborough was killed. The investigators asked him about crimes he'd committed and he said he'd been convicted after a jury trial of a rape he hadn't committed. It had happened across the street from his parents house in burien in the 1980s, and he told the detectives he always wondered whether his brother Patrick had done this one. The men looked quite alike. Anyway. He was wrongly convicted and sentenced to four years at the Shelton Correctional Facility. His brother Patrick happened to be in the same prison at the same time, and after being convicted of a rape, he believed his brother had committed two or three rapes, but said Patrick never talked about his crimes with him. Edward agreed to give a DNA swab and allowed detectives to take a photograph of him and the Small tattoo on his chest. Meanwhile, other detectives scoured the bars in the area and spotted Patrick Nicholas at the Nashville Sports Bar on Railroad Avenue North. Detectives Aaron Thompson and Matt Olmstead were the ones who found him and they arrested him without incident. Detectives Free and Decker placed Nicholas in handcuffs in the front seat of their unmarked car. Detective Decker read him his rights and then they told him his name had come up as part of an investigation into an assault. He asked if he was in custody and they said yes. Detective Free drove Nicholas to the police station with Detective Decker sitting in the back. During the drive, they made idle conversation. Nicholas said he had inherited the house he lived in from his parents and and had been living there for 25 years. The house had no power, so he used a generator. Nicholas said he was involved in athletics in high school and was particularly interested in wrestling. He had graduated high school and obtained a two year degree from a local college. He said he'd worked at restaurants as a cook for most of his life. He liked coaching kiddie wrestling at various local schools and his hobby was lapidary. He described himself as a rockhound. He also said he didn't get along with his brother Edward and claimed that that Edward had used his name when he was arrested. At various times throughout their life, the detectives said they were aware that his brother often used his name and that they wanted to be 100% sure that they had the right person with regard to this specific investigation. They were setting things up so that Nicholas would have a reason to talk to them. Remember, he still had no idea what he was actually being arrested for. When they got to the station, they put Nicholas in an interview room and offered him something to eat and drink, which he declined. Then they read him his rights and he waived them and agreed to talk. They said they wanted a rough timeline of his life, back to the 1980s. So Nicholas started talking. He said he lived in Des Moines, Washington as a child. He went to elementary school there and was very good at sports. He had a lifelong rivalry with his brother, whom he said he had never gotten along with. They and their sister Patricia all resided on the same property left to them by their parents. Nicholas said that for most of his life he worked as a cook at Denny's, Merchants Cafe and Sherry's Diner. He worked at Denny's in Kent from 1987-88 and Merchants Cafe in Seattle from 88 to 90. When asked about his criminal history, he said he'd gone to prison in 1980, but added, quote, I don't want to talk about that. He did say that he shared a cell with his brother who was serving time at the same prison. That seems like it shouldn't be allowed anyway. He. He was paroled in 1987 and went to live with his mother. His father lived in a different dwelling on the property. Nicholas said he did not drive because he had bad vision. After a 1988 accident in which he was struck by a dump truck, he mostly got around on buses. The lazy eye he had was from an accident when he was much younger. He confirmed that he was left handed. Remember that the witness Mustafa had stated very specifically that he saw the man's left hand on on Sarah Yarborough's leg. By the way, Nicholas's family later backed up that he didn't really drive and did not own a vehicle. All those hours detectives spent looking for suspect vehicles had been wasted time. Nicholas said he got married on June 22, 1988 and moved with his wife and her children to Burien. But they moved to Kansas in early 1991 because of a child custody issue relating to his wife's children. He stayed in the Hugoton, Kansas area for a year before moving back to Washington State. Quote. According to Nicholas, he returned to Washington in December 1991. His wife and her children didn't immediately follow. End quote. Of course, since Sarah Yarborough was killed in mid December 1991, this point in Nicholas chronology was very important to the investigators. Once he moved back to Washington state, he worked at Denny's in North Auburn until 1994. Then he worked at Sherry's in Lake Meridian before returning to work at Denny's from 98 to 2001. He currently worked at Reliable Auto Parts.
- [11:26]
Capella University Announcer
You've never been one to settle, stand down or stand still. You're a lifelong learner, energized by excellence. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. You've got competition to outrun, momentum to build on, and your own high standards to meet. Stop now. Not a chance. At Capella University, we help you catch what you're chasing because you've always had the drive. Now go earn the degree. Capella University. What can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more. Hey, this is U.S. olympic gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhull.
- [12:00]
Jessica Bettencourt
And I'm U.S. paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.
- [12:02]
Capella University Announcer
As athletes, our lives are about having.
- [12:04]
Jessica Bettencourt
A clean, clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.
- [12:07]
Capella University Announcer
So when it came to getting the.
- [12:09]
Jessica Bettencourt
Best mortgage, we chose PennyMac.
- [12:10]
Capella University Announcer
PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.
- [12:15]
Podcast Advertiser
Learn more at pennymac.com PennyMac Loan Services LLC, Equal Housing Lender and MLS ID 35953 licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
- [13:30]
Jessica Bettencourt
Because Nicholas had issues with his eyesight, he relied on public transportation to get to and from work. He had divorced from his wife, whom I'm calling Wendy, in 1994 when he moved into his current house after work, he typically frequented bars near the Kent Transit station, which is where detectives had found him. Then Nicholas asked for a smoke, so they took him to the precinct's designated smoking area, then back in the interview room. After giving Nicholas a cup of water, the detectives changed their tactics. They showed him a 1994 booking photo of himself where he looked like the Yarborough suspect, complete with mullet. He said, that's me. They then said they had confirmed that he was indeed the right person for the crime they were investigating. According to Detective Free's notes, at that point, Nicholas's body language changed immediately. He sat up and pushed himself back against the chair he was sitting in. They explained that science placed him at the scene of their investigation. He asked if it was correct to assume that he would not be leaving, and they said he he would not be. Detective Decker said, do you know why we're here? I have no idea. He gestures with his hands. We're investigating the death of a young girl. Her name was Sarah Yarborough. What year? Note his response. It was not what, I didn't kill anyone or I don't know her. It was what year? A quote from Detective Decker. I told Nicholas that the mystery was over, that we knew he had committed the murder of Sarah Yarborough. I asked Nicholas what happened, what it had been about the circumstances with Sarah that caused him to lose control and murder her. He looked blankly at me and said nothing. End quote. Nicholas asked what he was being charged with and was told murder. He then said he didn't want to talk further and invoked his right to counsel. He also asked for a cigarette and they denied that request. At no time during the interview, even when he was told he was being charged with both first and second degree murder, did he ever deny his involvement. He was led to the holding cell and within minutes of being placed in the cell, he had laid down on the cell slab and fallen asleep. The next day, on October 3rd, Detective Decker executed the search warrant for the buccal swabs, collecting DNA samples from Patrick Nicholas in his cell and sending them to the crime lab for comparison against the suspect DNA. She also collected his pair of black work boots that he'd been wearing when he was arrested. They wanted to compare them against the footprint on Sarah Yarborough's thigh. This is a quote from the detective's report. The tread pattern consisted of rectangular shaped lugs in the ball of the shoe. I noted. The tread impressed upon the victim's body also showed to be from a lug style boot. I submitted a request to the crime lab for the image on the victim's body to be compared to the boot tread of Patrick Nicholas boots. Then they went and searched his house, which was more like a shack with no running water and no electricity. A hoarder is not exactly the right word to describe Patrick Nicholas, but very close, it was more like a dump. He was a hoarder of garbage. Things were piled and stacked everywhere. Junk filled every drawer. Rodent feces was scattered on every surface. According to the officers who searched the home, a desiccated dead mouse lay in the washing machine drum. I guess that's why he'd gone to the laundromat where his cigarette butt was snagged by watchful members of law enforcement. But it wasn't all garbage. In Nicholas's house, some items of evidence were found. One of these was a newspaper, the a section from 1994, with a photo of Sarah Yarborough on the front page and the headline, tests to find a killer. He had kept it for 25 years. There was plenty of other stuff collected by the CSIs as well. Some of the more incriminating items included a notebook that contained notes about rape and forcible rape as well as child molestation. Several pornographic images of women were found, and plenty more in which women were scantily dressed and in provocative poses. Drawing after drawing was pinned to an easel depicting a cartoon woman in heels and a bikini bottom with a very large nude bust and a lion or cat's head. Almost all of them had long, flowing red hair. Several of the images were totally naked with comically large breasts and plentiful red pubic hair. A note pinned to the board reads, a bimbo by day, a fantasy by night. Oh, what a fantasy. I don't have words. For some reason, this guy's creepy cartoon lion head boob drawings give me chills way more than if the pictures were just regular pornographic images. The drawings were a glimpse into this guy's head, and I want no part of that. The most significant item found by the searchers was a magazine picture of a pretty young woman dressed in a cheerleader's uniform. She wasn't Sarah, and she didn't have red hair. But the picture would later be used at trial to imply that Patrick Nicholas was still living off the fantasy of the teenage cheerleader he had killed years earlier. On October 31, lab analyst Jennifer Benedetto's report about the comparison of the buccal swab DNA to the crime scene DNA on the jacket stated that there was a match. The estimated probability of this DNA belonging to to an unrelated individual at random in the US population was 1 in 120quadrillion. The DNA came from no one other than Patrick Leon Nicholas. A press conference was held announcing the arrest the community had been anticipating for nearly 30 years. Sheriff Mitzi Johannecht said, quote, few things in law enforcement are more rewarding than informing a parent that that you believe you have solved the murder of their child. Last night, our detectives were able to tell Sarah Yarborough's parents the news they've been waiting to hear for 28 years. Laura Yarborough, Sarah's mother, addressed the crowd at the press conference and thanked the King county sheriff's office detectives and deputies. They have never given up, Laura said. Even when I had given up, they still didn't give up. I wondered if the person was even alive. But the detectives were extremely dogged and kept going even when I was ready to throw in the towel. Kir07 did an interview with either Drew or Adam, the two boys who had seen Patrick Nicholas emerging from the bush covered hillside where Sarah lay dead back in 1991. Here is an excerpt now that a suspect has been arrested, one of those now grown witnesses sat down only with KIR07's Amy Chancey to share his experience. Quote seeing evil face to face like that and knowing that it's real and it's there, that's a very scary thing to come to grips with, said the man, who asked Kir07 not to identify him because his own children still don't know about the trauma he experienced. In December 1991, he got a good look at the suspect. He was probably 30, maybe 25 yards away from us, the man said. Me and my friend, we stopped, he's staring at us and then we're looking and what the hell is going on with this guy? That's an amazing amount of peace given to me, the man said. He went to Nicholas's bail hearing because I had to see that man in handcuffs in custody with my own two eyes. Was that the man he saw in 1991? Absolutely, he said. No doubt about it.
- [20:36]
Podcast Advertiser
This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace.
- [20:39]
Jessica Bettencourt
Last year I went through many different life changes. I needed to take a pause and examine how I was feeling in the inside to better show up for the ones who need me to be my best version of myself. When you're navigating life's changes, Talkspace can help. Talkspace is the number one rated online therapy, bringing you professional support from licensed.
- [20:59]
Podcast Advertiser
Therapists and psychiatry providers that you can access anytime, anywhere.
- [21:04]
Jessica Bettencourt
Living a busy life, navigating a long distance relationship, becoming a first stepfather, Talkspace made all of those journeys possible. I could speak with my therapist in the office. I could speak with my therapist in the comfort of my home. I was never alone. I Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay.
- [21:23]
Podcast Advertiser
No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to talkspace.com Match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com Save $80 with code.
- [21:34]
Jessica Bettencourt
SPACE80@talkspace.com youm've never been one to settle.
- [21:39]
Capella University Announcer
Stand down or stand still. You're a lifelong learner, energized by excellence. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. You've got competition to outrun, momentum to build on, and your own high standards to meet. Stop now. Not a chance. At Capella University we help you catch what you're chasing because you've always had the drive. Now go earn the degree. Capella University. What can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more.
- [22:07]
Podcast Advertiser
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, opt crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc, SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com Disclosures.
- [23:10]
Jessica Bettencourt
Patrick Nicholas was arraigned in King County's Superior Court on October 17th on charges of first and second degree murder. He was held on $5 million bail. The first count accused him of killing Sarah with premeditated intent, the second that he was attempting to rape her and killed her in the course of that attempt and the third that he was trying to commit, quote, indecent liberties, sexual contact by force against her and in the course of doing so caused her death. Nicholas pleaded not guilty. Detective Decker retired in January 2020, having accomplished what Detectives Doyon and Allen before her had not. Although not for lack of trying, Sarah Yarborough's killer was finally behind Baris and would go to trial for her murder. That nine day trial began on April 17, 2023. Deputy Prosecutor Celia Lee gave an opening statement telling the jury all about who Sarah was, how she was intelligent, responsible, beloved. She explained her parents had not left her home alone before, but she had plans. She was going to the basketball game, her friend was sleeping over, she was going to a drill team competition and she was attending the Nutcracker. Her friend Shannon was to stay with her that weekend. That Saturday morning in 1991, she got up thinking she was late for her drill team bus. She threw on her uniform, grabbed her purse and bag and drove to the school. Then the unthinkable happened. Ms. Lee told the jury that Sarah fought for her life on that embankment, but she lost. She said that contemporary mug shots showed that the defendant, Patrick Nicholas, looked just like the suspect described by Drew, Adam and Mustafa. Several witnesses were called to the stand to talk about Sarah, her mom, Laura, Shannon, other friends. Laura testified about being summoned home from the soccer tournament and being told they had found her daughter's body. Drew Miller testified about seeing the man stand up on the hillside and then finding Sarah's body. He also testified about the accuracy of the suspect sketch he and Adam contributed to. A mug shot of Nicholas with a mullet was shown in court. Retired detective Michael Hatch, who originally worked the case, testified about finding Sarah's clothing items in a stained pile and recovering the curlers that were in her hair. Major John Mattson told the jury I was the first officer on the scene and talked about the horrors of that day. Retired detective Susan Peters was the lead detective on the case and told the jury how many resources had been dedicated to solving it. Then there was the DNA. The prosecution presented new to US DNA evidence that was damning. A Washington State Patrol crime lab report by Jennifer Vendetto dated November 18, 2022 stated that a mixed DNA profile was obtained from Sarah's left hand fingernail clippings. One of the contributors was consistent with Sarah, but there was another male DNA profile as well. It is 590 billion times more likely to observe this DNA profile if it originated from Sarah Yarborough and Patrick Leon Nicholas than if it originated from Sarah Yarborough and an unrelated individual selected at random from the US population. Sarah had gotten a piece of him. Theories that she was unconscious might have been correct, but at some point Sarah woke up. Washington State crime lab analyst Jody Sass testified about the implications of these results. The defense attorney, David Montes, put up a really good fight. He claimed the police had embraced unconventional and unreliable methodologies out of desperation such as hypnosis, polygraphs and IgG. He went after DNA analyst Sass, cross examining her about the reliability of genealogy testing. She couldn't speak to it as that was not her field. But Montes told the jury, quote, beyond the DNA, there is nothing and so the DNA has to be right beyond a reasonable doubt, end quote. He set out to prove that that was not the case. Montes tried to undermine The IGG analysis telling the jury that Dr. Fitzpatrick was a hobbyist with no formal training in forensic science. He quizzed her on the stand about her training and tried to imply that her expertise was made up, calling IGG wacky. Montes, of course, had also been provided all the information about the Fuller Y DNA rabbit hole, and he told the jury all about that, saying the police were certain the killer was named Fuller. Dr. Fitzpatrick told them he had to be a Fuller and he said, there is no evidence that Patrick Nicholas is related to any of these people. This next bit's from the Federal Way Mirror. Quote. Defense attorney Montes argued in court that the police investigation relied on the use of unreliable genealogy technology to identify Nicholas, and he sought to discredit Fitzpatrick in his cross examination of her on April 24. We were talking about the possibility of false matches, montez said. You acknowledge that could happen? I acknowledge it happens on rare occasions, Dr. Fitzpatrick said, end quote. Montes was trying to plant the notion that his client could have been wrongly accused thanks to some false match in one of the open source databases. Of course, we all know that genealogists can very quickly tell if they have a so called false match from the fact that the match does not align with other matches to their sample. The idea that a suspect would be named as a result of a false match is absurd, but the jury didn't know that. Montes hoped more from the Mirror. Quote. But prosecutors pointed to the fact that a male DNA sample from the crime scene matched the sample from Nicholas and that the odds that it would match a random individual from the US population was 1 in 120quadrillion. Montes argued that the math used to calculate those odds was all wrong because researchers were comparing the likelihood against the wrong population sets. Plus, he argued, Fitzpatrick had confidently given the names of other suspects whose DNA closely matched the evidence until those matches turned out to be inaccurate. Prosecutors pointed out that Fitzpatrick provided the lead on Nicholas, but further, police were corroborated that lead and found more extreme odds connecting him to the case. The state crime lab determined for another DNA sample that it was 590 billion times more likely that it matched Yarborough and Nicholas than if it matched Yarborough and a random unrelated person from the US population according to their case. Plus, Nicholas lived in the area at the time of the killing, had a copy of a 1994 newspaper in his home with an article about Sarah, and kept a picture of a cheerleader in a drawer in his kitchen at the time of his arrest. Taken together the evidence was compelling that Nicholas was the murderer, prosecutors said. Montes said those were cherry picked details from Nicholas's life that didn't amount to proof that he committed the killing. He said it was not surprising they found the cheerleader picture and and the newspaper, given the state of the house, referring to it being basically a garbage pile. Montez also told the jury the suspect sketch that the prosecution had shown them, comparing it positively to Nicholas's mugshot, actually didn't look like him at all. His client didn't have acne. He said an eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable anyway. Well, prosecutor Mary Barbosa had an answer for that one. She told the jury that the fingernail DNA evidence could point to Nicholas having had scratches on his face from Sarah's nails. Adam and Drew saw him from more than 10 yards away and reported that his face had red marks on it. Montes had more tricks up his sleeve. He suggested that Sarah's boyfriend Matt had motive to kill her. He showed the old suspect Dion T's mugshot to the jurors, pointing out the similarities to the suspect's sketch. He also brought up Joel Courtney, a man convicted of murdering Portland student brooke Wilburger in 2004. In 2006, the FBI stated that Courtney was a suspected serial killer with four victims in Oregon and possibly many others throughout the U.S. the Yarbo investigators had obtained DNA from Joel Courtney and tested it against Sarah's killer's genetic profile. Apparently, it contained some similarities, enough that the investigators thought they might be on the right track with the Courtney family. In 2011, they had seized and tested a Mountain Dew bottle thrown away by Joel Courtney's brother C in Grace Harbor. This went nowhere, but the defense brought it up to try to imply that there was reasonable doubt about whether their client had committed the murder or a serial killer of young white females had done so instead. Finally, Montes argued that the prosecution had not connected his client in any way to Federal Way High School. He wasn't a student there and had never been one. He didn't live nearby and and he didn't have a car and took the bus to get around. There was nothing putting him on the Federal Way High School campus that day. Montes told the jury the state had shown that the high school was on Nicholas bus route that he took between his home and the shopping mall he frequented. In one poignant moment, the prosecution showed Sarah's actual drill team uniform in the courtroom. I'm sure it was a very real reminder that this trial was about the murder of A very real, very innocent girl cut down in the prime of her life simply to satisfy the depraved urges of Patrick Leon Nicholas. The jury deliberated for two days. They had three counts to consider based on what they believed about Nicholas's intent, premeditation and so on. This is from the Federal Way mirror. Quote, Nicholas, 59, faced three charges, two counts of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder for the killing of the 16 year old federal Way high school student. The charges concerned the same killing, but differed on why Nicholas did it. Jurors found him not guilty of the first charge which accused Nicholas of killing Sarah with premeditated intent. They did find him guilty of the second charge which accused Nicholas of killing Sarah in the course of attempting to commit rape against her. And jurors also found him guilty of the third charge, second degree murder, which accused Nicholas of killing Sarah in the course of attempting the crime of indecent liberties against her. He was also charged in each count with a special verdict of sexual motivation. Jurors affirmed that special verdict in both of these charges for which they found him guilty, end quote. So the jury was not convinced that Nicholas planned to kill Sarah, but they found that he killed her in the course of attempting to commit sexually motivated crimes against her. At Nicholas's sentencing hearing two weeks later, the prosecutors requested that his prior crimes be taken into account. They weren't allowed to introduce them at trial, but the judge was permitted to consider them in sentencing Nicholas. Laura Yarborough asked the judge for the stiffest possible sentence, saying, quote, if he had still been in prison, he wouldn't have been around to kill our daughter. He should never have a chance to harm another vulnerable young woman. He's had 28 years of freedom that Sarah never got, end quote. Andrew, Sarah's youngest brother, said, quote, he does not belong in free society with the rest of the people in this room. Other friends of Sarah and the two men who as young boys found her body were all permitted to make statements. Finally, Ann C. A survivor of an attempted rape perpetuated by Nicholas, asked the court why was a repeat offender allowed to be released after serving less than half his sentence. Judge Josephine Wiggs was incensed. She said, this poor child, what she experienced fighting for her life, this outrageous sexual assault on a child culminating in her murder is a basis for an exceptional sentence. She sentenced Nicholas to 548 months in prison, about 45⅔ years. According to reporters from the Federal Way Mirror who were in the courtroom. He showed no emotion or remorse during the trial or sentencing.
- [34:45]
Capella University Announcer
You've never been one to settle, stand down or stand still. You're a lifelong learner, energized by excellence. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. You've got competition to outrun, momentum to build on, and your own high standards to meet. Stop now. Not a chance. At Capella University, we help you catch what you're chasing because you've always had the drive. Now go earn the degree. Capella University. What can't you do? Visit Capella. Edu to learn. Hey, this is US Olympic gold medalist.
- [35:17]
Jessica Bettencourt
Tara Davis Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.
- [35:21]
Capella University Announcer
As athletes, our lives are about having.
- [35:23]
Jessica Bettencourt
A clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.
- [35:26]
Capella University Announcer
So when it came to getting the.
- [35:27]
Jessica Bettencourt
Best mortgage, we chose PennyMac.
- [35:29]
Capella University Announcer
PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.
- [35:34]
Podcast Advertiser
Learn more at pennymac.com pennymac loan services, llc/housing lender nmlsid 35953 licensed by the.
- [35:40]
Jessica Bettencourt
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under.
- [35:42]
Podcast Advertiser
The California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures.
- [36:48]
Jessica Bettencourt
Okay, so let's talk about Nicholas. He was born on March 10, 1964 to Edward and Shirley. Nicholas, according to his brother Edward, Patrick went to Maywood Elementary School and Highline High School. He liked rock music, particularly the band Dr. Hook, and he liked to draw he had medium length hair and normally dressed in blue jeans or flannels and T shirts and wore black safety sole boots. He worked in restaurants most of his life, but when arrested he was working at a warehouse in Tukwila. Nicholas had married his wife Wendy in King county in 1988. As he told the detectives in his interview, he and Wendy and her kids were in Kansas for a period of time until he left and returned to Washington. In December 1991, he moved to Des Moines. He was 27 when he killed Sarah. At some point, Wendy and the girls joined Nicholas in Washington and the family lived in SeaTac. Wendy obtained an order of protection against him and filed for divorce. This was granted on April 14, 1994. Detective John Free interviewed Wendy on December 5, 2022. She had been married to Nicholas when Sarah Yarborough was murdered. But Wendy was living in Kansas at the time. Nicholas had returned to the Seattle area and the two were separated geographically for a period of about seven months. Wendy stated that she recalled Nicholas being somehow different upon her return from Kansas shortly after Christmas 1991. She said he seemed distant. When she asked him what was bothering him, he said he didn't want to talk about it. Quote, she also recalled that Patrick had started to drink heavily at around that time. She mentioned a specific incident where Patrick told her he had consumed so much alcohol he passed out on a bus and woke up not knowing where he was. Wendy recalled that Patrick was working for Merchants Cafe in Pioneer Square around that time. Next, Detectives Free and Decker interviewed Wanda's daughters, whom I'm calling Chandra and Danielle. When they were very little, before their mother ever met Nicholas, the three of them were living with Wendy's boyfriend at the time in Alaska. He was physically abusive to the girls to the point that they were removed by Child Services from their mother's care. They spent some time in foster care and ended up with a family in Kansas. During this time, Wanda moved to the Seattle area and met Patrick Nicholas, who helped her regain custody of her children. She and he came to Kansas and were able to get the girls back. No doubt Nicholas had ulterior motives to help Wendy get the girls back. In 1993, Nicholas was arrested in King county, accused of molestation of his six year old stepdaughter Denise. I'll bet you saw that coming. I don't know how this happened, but apparently Nicholas was allowed to plead to 4th degree assault for child molestation. Both girls recalled that after this incident, their mother Wendy kicked Nicholas out of the house. That was the end of their relationship. Denise said she always wondered what happened with that case and was never really told about the outcome. She assumed it was her fault that the case didn't go forward. Neither woman recalled anything specific or different happening around Christmas time, 1991. Nicholas behavior didn't change in any notable way. But of course the girls were really little. Who knows whether they would have picked up on any behavioral changes. Detective Free obtained employment records for Nicholas that confirmed his employment in December 1991 at Merchants Cafe on Yesler White in Seattle. Then it was time to map out his routes between his apartment, his workplace and the place he said he hung out on weekends. Back in 91, the Sea Tech Commons mall. Detective Freed drove between the Merchant's Cafe on Yesler Way to Nicholas's then residence at 20013 13th Avenue south in Des Moines. It was a distance of 13.1 miles. Then he drove from the apartment to Federal Way High School, clocking the distance at 7.8 miles. Finally, he drove from the high school to the commons at Federal way, formerly the SeaTac Mall, just one mile away. Then he checked the King County Metro Transit bus routes and schedules from December 91st and verified that the bus Nicholas would have taken from Des Moines to the mall, which he frequented on Saturdays, went right past Federal Way High School. Detective Free came to believe that Nicholas took the bus from his home to the mall as usual that Saturday morning. But he got off at Federal Way High School and wandered around looking for a victim. And as we all know, he found one. Sarah was not Nicholas's first victim. He had a criminal history that included several Vusca charges, which stands for violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance act, in essence drug charges. But more importantly, Nicholas was convicted in 1983 of attempted first degree rape in Benton County, Washington. The survivor in this case was Ann C. Who spoke at trial. At the time of the attack in June 1983, 21 year old Ann was parked in a parking lot of Howard Ammon park in Richland, Washington. She was leaned up against her car smoking a cigarette when a young man whom Ann described as a decent looking young kid, Nicholas was 19 at the time, appeared out of nowhere and asked her for a cigarette. He was nervous and his hands were shaking. He engaged her in conversation and he said he he was from Richland and his name was Patrick. She asked if he water skied and he said he didn't know how to swim. She mentioned that she was a lifeguard. After a few minutes she said she had to go and she went to get in her car. But he grabbed a knife and put it to her throat and ordered her to undress. She stripped off all her clothing except her tennis shoes, and he told her not to scream, but she did. This made him angry, and he pressed the knife against her throat. He grabbed a sweatshirt and put it around her neck, using it as a leash to control her, and he kept it around her throat while walking her toward an embankment along the river. He was looking for someplace more private so he could sexually assault her is what Ann thought. But she was able to duck her way out of the sweatshirt and dive into the river and swim out to the middle. Knowing that he couldn't swim, she swam to a nearby dock and screamed for help, and people in the park ran to her. She filed a police report, and police were able to identify Patrick Nicholas. The this is a quote from the charging documents. Quote, law enforcement learned that the defendant withdrew money from his bank and left the area by plane on the same day. He was later found and ultimately pled guilty as charged to attempted rape in the first degree, end quote. While in custody for the attack on Ann, Nicholas wrote on a prisoner intake form, quote, I realize I have a problem concerning raping girls. I was going to force the girl to have sex with me that day in the park and. And I realized that is not right. I want help for my problem, end quote. I should probably explain here that Anne was also not the first woman or girl Nicholas victimized. He had juvenile convictions for two rapes and one attempted rape. Since these took place in the juvenile system, no records are available, but it is clear that Patrick Nicholas was a dangerous sexual predator from a very young age. Ann testified at Nicholas's sentencing hearing in her case. The judge gave him ten years, but he served only three and a half. Ann was not notified when he was released in 1987. She heard no more about him until detectives contacted her in 2019 telling her that he had been arrested for the murder of Sarah Yarborough. It was lost on no one that if Patrick Nicholas had served his entire sentence of 10 years, you, he would not have been free to murder Sarah in 1991. This from CBS News, quote, 48 hours reviewed copies of his file and it was noted he did not have any major infractions while in prison and did not have a drug or alcohol problem. In one evaluation, it was written that he would be safe to be at large given an ongoing therapeutic relationship and parole supervision, end quote. Well, that was wrong. The 1983 conviction for the kidnapping and attempted rape of Ann took place before CODIS was launched in the 90s. So it made sense that his DNA was not in the database when the Yarborough investigators initiated their searches. But why was his profile not entered after the 1993 child molestation case, the one where he victimized one and possibly both of Wendy's daughters? If he had been convicted of the initial charges, his DNA would have been eligible for CODIS entry. But Wendy apparently refused to testify against Nicholas, and so he was allowed to plead down to assault in the fourth degree, a gross misdemeanor that did not require DNA collection. Did the prosecutors in that case just fail to check his record and see that he had an attempted rape conviction as an adult and three more sex crimes as a juvenile? The arrest record for Nicholas in 1993 reflects that he was living 6.4 miles from Federal Way High School on South 208th street in SeaTac. He was listed as 5 foot 10, 150 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. You'll recall that I mentioned earlier that Nicholas brother Edward was eliminated as being the Yarborough suspect because police quickly discovered his DNA was in CODIS for first degree rape and he was a registered sex offender. It's worth noting that if Washington were a familial cert state, Patrick Nicholas would have been identified by the fact that his brother Edward's DNA was in the system. He would have been caught 20 years earlier. Let's talk a little bit about the Y DNA and the fact that Patrick Nicholas was not named Fuller, even though his Y DNA aligned with that surname. Dr. Fitzpatrick wrote, quote, the Nicholas surname was unexpected, but it was discovered that Patrick's paternal grandfather had been adopted by a Nicholas family. His birth name remains unknown. Although the adoption has prevented us from directly validating the Y DNA connection to to the Fuller family, it has since been confirmed through other genetic genealogy matches that the Fuller surname appears among Patrick Nicholas ancestors. So the working but unprovable theory is that Patrick Nicholas paternal grandfather was a Fuller. Based on Fuller's in his pedigree. Because he was adopted out, his surname was changed to one that did not align with his Y DNA. So what happened between Sarah Yarborough and the serial sexual predator Patrick Nicholas that day in December 1991? Of course, we'll never know the details. Most likely when Sarah arrived at school 45 minutes early for her drill team competition, she decided to sit in her car and drink her OJ and wait for others to show up. For some reason, she chose to park her car further away than usual, over near the path between the tennis courts and the practice field, where she was a little bit removed from the school building. And at the very same time, Patrick Nicholas got off the bus at the high school and started walking around the grounds, trying the doors, looking for a girl or woman who was alone. At Nicholas's trial, Celia Lee, the deputy prosecuting attorney, told the jury that Nicholas's M.O. was to approach women at their cars and use a knife to threaten them and then rape them, just like he had with Ann C. Sarah's face showed signs of a beating, and investigators believe that her car door was pulled open or she was punched in the face through a lowered window. And then she was dragged from the car, probably at knife point, to where she was sexually assaulted and strangled. The fact that Nicholas, clearly a very disordered and spontaneous offender, managed to avoid detection despite so many witnesses seeing him and leaving his DNA at the crime scene is simply terrible bad luck. It's hard to believe no one saw those sketches and thought of him, given what he looked like back then. I'll post some photos. I'm going to close with a letter that Laura Yarborough wrote to Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick after the case was solved. Thanks to Identifinder's genealogists, it says to Colleen and whom it may concern. For nearly 28 years, Sarah's family and friends lived with the fact that Sarah's killer had not been identified. It remained a constant unknown. Although we went on with our lives, it was always in the back of our minds as unfinished business. In a way, it was a Damocles sword hanging over us. We never knew when or if the news would come, but we knew when. And if it did, all the emotions would come roiling back and we'd be thrown into 1991 again. To live with that for 28 years is exhausting. If it had never been solved, it would have been a shadow over us the rest of our lives. Having your darling daughter, the light of your life murdered is hard enough. Never knowing who did it makes it worse. For all those years, I've had nightmares about a faceless boogeyman trying to hurt me and my family, hurting Sarah again and again. In the meantime, most of Sarah's friends have gone on to college, advanced degrees, marriage, and families. One woman, though she now holds a doctorate, has her own family and did a postdoctorate at Cambridge, has never been able to return to the Seattle and Federal Way area. Especially for her. She told me not knowing who it was and that he had never been found was the basis of her fears. She, like me, was relieved at the arraignment to see the killer is only a man, an ordinary man, a man with a face I can cope with. I'm not sure I can adequately explain what it is like. The fear, the not knowing, the relief of knowing is also hard to explain, but very real. I think it's a bit like knowing there is a malignancy growing in your body. You know you need surgery and you dread it, but relief washes through you when the surgery is over and the cancer gone. This case unsolved, was like that cancerous growth. True, the trial remains, but is a process with a known end. I honestly didn't think this case would ever be solved. Various law enforcement persons told me that the chances lessened as time went on. We watched as detectives took over the case, working hard but inevitably ending without results when they retired and handed the case off to yet another detective. My father, Sarah's grandpa, used to meet with Detective Doyon once a week for years, hoping for a lead, a clue, something that would be the key to solving the case. I'm so glad my dad, now 95, lived to see the case closed. Sadly, Detective Doyon did not live to see it. He told us it was a case he wanted to solve before he retired. Without the science of genealogical DNA, familial DNA, and Dr. Fitzpatrick's expertise, I fear this case would never have been solved. I'm so thankful the King County Police Department never gave up and that they were willing to use the Tips Science and Dr. Fitzpatrick's team were able to unearth in making an arrest. We still miss Sarah every day. Her murder left such a hole in our lives. Knowing Sarah's killer is locked up and hopefully will stay that way has brought a measure of peace. I wish I were more eloquent and could adequately explain what it's like for our family. I hope the words I do have will give you some idea. We with great gratitude, Laura Yarborough, Sarah's mom After 31 years, Sarah Yarborough's case is closed thanks to IGG and if you are one of the bad guys, they are coming for you. Recently, I let listeners know about a new benefit available to them called an ABJAC Insider Subscription that's available through Apple Podcasts. An ABJAC Insider subscription will give listeners ad free access to every bit of DNAID content published both past episodes and future episodes. It will also give you benefits like early access and bonus content. Head over to Apple Podcasts and click on the DNAID show page or the ABJAC Entertainment Channel to start a free trial. Thanks for listening to this episode of dnaid. If you'd like to listen to the show ad free and help support the show in the process, please head over to patreon.com dnaid and if you're interested in some fun DNA ID merch, visit the store at customizedgirl.coms dnaidpodcast to contact the show, please email us at dnaidpodcastmail.com Follow us on social media @dnaid podcast on Instagram Naid Podcast on Twitter or on facebook@facebook.com DNAIDpodcast finally, if you want to visit our website, go to DNAIDpodcast.com you'll be able to get all the episodes of the show, leave comments on episodes that I can respond to, and you can even leave voicemails. You'll get all the latest news about the show and important updates, find links to our social media merch and a lot more. It's really your one stop shop. Shop for everything. DNA ID DNAID is written, researched and hosted by me, Jessica Bettencourt. It's produced by me and Mike Morford of abjack Entertainment Music by Connor Bettencourt. Check out our other collaborative podcasts, Scene of the Crime, Missing Persons and Beyond Bizarre. True crime.
- [53:35]
Podcast Advertiser
Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements, or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.