Gerber said Mulryan and OKeefe hit Sather in the face and body, and OKeefe attempted to use a Taser on her, court records state. Testifying for the prosecution, is the woman who helped retrieve the DNA evidence that linked bass to the crime scene. He always called me "woman. Det. The friends determined Sather had been run over and was dead and left the scene because they were scared, according to court records. While police had to decline Wagners offer because they couldnt enlist a civilian in an investigation, they did tell her they could accept evidence brought to them, so Wagner watched Bass until one day he threw away a water cup at work in 2017. And wanted to make love to me. It was 30 years ago this past Thanksgiving weekend that Mandy Stavik, an 18-year-old college student, disappeared after going out for a jog in Acme, Washington. It was it was agonizing As hard as it was, I I knew I had to do it. Mulryan and OKeefe are suspected of being involved in the homicide of 21-year-old Darian D. Sather of Sedro Woolley. Molly named her daughter after her sister Mandy. He said, "I need a strong alibi or I'm going to prison." Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. (Washington, D.C.) - Today, U.S. The sheriffs office is asking anyone who may have information on the whereabouts of Mulryan or OKeefe, or about what happened at the park between 6 p.m. Friday, April 3 and 8 a.m. Saturday to call 911 or the tip line at 360-778-6663. And I said, "Well, yes." OKeefe is described as a white man who is 6 feet 2 inches tall, medium build with black hair and blue eyes, according to a press release, Wednesday night, April 8. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. The Washington State Attorney General's Homicide Investigation Tracking System (HITS) comprises investigators and the HITS databasea software application designed to store crime-related information voluntarily contributed by police and sheriffs' departments in the Pacific Northwest. Peter Van Sant: What happened in terms of the investigation? But Detective Kevin Bowhay, who attended the same high school as Mandy, had never given up. ", Det. It was more more kissin' and stuff. Kevin Bowhay: I'm questioning him on, like, "Well, did you have any relationship with her?" She was expecting her second child and was devoted to her three-year-old son, and her husband David was a respected football coach. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropria. Suddenly Backstrom blurted out that she knew who did it and Anderson said she did too. The case has captivated the community for more than a generation. The closest similar sized city with FBI crime data is the city of , . None matched. he'll spend enough years in jail, so if he ever does get out, his life will be practically over. Det. is 6.0%). Acme is also included in, and the source-name for, a larger census-designated place (CDP). When she failed to return home, her family began to panic. Det. The Whatcom County Sheriffs Office has identified another man wanted in a planned robbery that ended in the death of a woman in Acme over the weekend. Probably probably close to a hundred over the over the 30 years of workin' on the case. In August 2010, Basss wife reportedly filed a domestic violence protection order against her husband. Det. Capital Punishment Case Status Report published monthly by the Attorney General's . Jim Freeman [emotional reading card]: "For Mr. Freeman, the one person who has inspired and influenced me more than anyone. This week on Reasonable Doubt, the team takes on the Raul and Cathy Sarinana were sentenced to death for abusing Would love your thoughts, please comment. Mary Stavik: Definitely closure, I feel. Kevin Bowhay: Yeah, at that point, I thought, "This is why we do what we do.". I'm gonna wake up at any moment in time" I was just, like, "this is the biggest thing that's ever happened to me." The community could feel safe and be whole again. Kevin Bowhay: And at that point, he goes, "Well, I don't wanna give my DNA. After all, they've got the guy that did it. Kevin Bowhay, who was just a rookie deputy back then, has pieced together Mandy's route from the few people who briefly saw her that day. Now the focus is only on preparing for trial and showing that Mr. Bass had nothing to do with this case.. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. They exchanged stories and discovered they were talking about the same man, Timothy Bass. The case went cold, and the murder hung like a dark cloud over this community for the next two decades. "No. The database acts as a central repository for detailed information on violent crimes occurring The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office has arrested the third man it suspects was involved in a planned robbery that ended in the death of a woman in Acme . Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, The body of Mandy Stavik was discovered in a Washington river in 1989, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Something doesnt, No , the murder happened in Ohio . A home less than two miles from Mandy's house, right along her running route. Semen was found on her body and preserved. JIM FREEMAN EULOGY: You see her smiling back at you right at your soul with eyes that say, "I love life.". "I'm going to lie to the judge and get the kids taken away from you" anything with my kids, I'm just like, OK. And as the decades went by, the case became cold. This light went off in my head and I thought, Is that why the police were at my work? The unemployment rate in Acme is 6.7% (U.S. avg. The day after the big holiday meal at her house, Mandy set out on the last jog of her life with her German Shepard, Kyra. Ron Peterson: Big thorns. It was 30 years ago this past Thanksgiving weekend that Mandy Stavik, an 18-year-old college student, disappeared after going out for a jog in Acme, Washington. Acme is a tiny town located in the state of Washington. And to accuse someone of something that we don't know for sure, is a little scary. I really, really never dreamed I really never dreamed it. Tim had fired into the air. You're 15 years old. WEATHER & CLIMATE In his interrogation after his arrest, Tim Bass claimed he had been having a secret affair with Mandy: TIM BASS INTEROGATION: Everything I've said's the truth. Bass' father had died more than a decade earlier. I was like, Oh, my God. Mandy Stavik's killer Timothy Bass was caught in the most unusual way when police got some help from Bass' coworker Kim Wagner. Shoshana Paige: Even innocent people, when they're under that great weight of suspicion, can do things that can be interpreted as, "Well, only a guilty person would do this.". However, after hearing each other's stories, Anderson decided to talk to police. He had just recently been trained by the FBI on recovering DNA. Peter Van Sant: Any criminal record? Peter Van Sant: Do you sometimes think, "we're lucky to be alive?". The smallest thing would anger him. What do you say? Wendy Aughe was 29 when she went missing in 1987. It would now be at the heart of the jury's deliberation. But it wasnt a clean getaway, 20 pounds of meth sailed from Bellingham on a ferry, rolled into burritos, Defense attorneys seek dismissals in cases against Bellingham school administrators. The water quality index calculated by Dwellics team in Acme is 100 out of 100 (100 being the best) based on the number of acute health-based violations for every water utility in the last 5 years. Although no one testified to ever seeing Tim Bass and Mandy together, juror Ed Beaman says they had a lot to discuss. the age-adjusted homicide rate to no higher than 5.5 per 100,000. Timothy Forest Bass must never be allowed to walk the earth as a free person. Kevin Bowhay: They also looked at him just to rule him out. December 15, 2022 1:30 am. Investigators believed she had been sexually assaulted, knocked out and placed in the river to drown. Bowhay says her assailant had to be in a vehicle. Kevin Bowhay: We needed some answers. In fact, he was sentenced to around 27 years of imprisonment. The rape charge had been thrown out due to the statute of limitations expiring. Investigators believe the attacker had kicked the dog into a ditch before abducting Mandy, and then sexually assaulted her about 5 miles away from where she was jogging. And for the past 25 years, Tim had been living a quiet life in a nearby community, married with three children, and driving a delivery truck for a bakery. Authorities began searching. Deputies interviewed various persons of interest, including Mandy's boyfriend Rick Zender. Case closed? Det. Anderson contacted another Mount Baker High graduate Detective Ken Gates. Put simply, law enforcement officers cannot use private citizens to obtain evidence without a search warrant where a search warrant would otherwise be required, the defence wrote in one motion filed in August, the Herald reported. Malone testifies that she witnessed Tim ask his mother to lie for him to point the finger at his own dad. On August 10, 2017, the co-worker watched Bass toss out a plastic cup and a Coke can. Mulryan normally hangs out in Lynden, Everson and Bellingham, according to a previous sheriffs office press release. Kevin Bowhay: She always started from the house and then ran down westbound towards the west side of the Strand Road. Heather Backstrom: He would talk about my eyes and say that my eyes were beautiful. It was June 2013. Peter Van Sant: Why did you stay with him? Tom Bass: He was on the phone with her in his bedroom. STEPHEN JACKSON: There were no signs of a struggle. Mandy Stavik's family had come from Alaska. It's just she accomplished a lot in the short time that she was here. I'm going to do whatever I have to do to not lose my kids. And he asks if he can use the phone, because he had been hunting all day and wanted to use the phone to call his wife. Bowhay noticed that a local drug dealer named John Wisnewski had been questioned because he told people he might know who murdered Mandy. KING 5's Eric Wilkinson with the latest from the Whatcom County Courthouse. Gina Malone: I felt like his servant "Go get me a drink. TOM BASS [on witness stand]: He said that the cops are lying, everyone's out to get him. Peter Van Sant: If Tim Bass sitting in his home was lookin' out the window, could he have seen Mandy running by? Ron Peterson: We came around the corner and we got outta the main river and then into the little side channel and I could see pink. Gerber said he didnt know Sather or her friends, the records show. The suspected shooter of a double homicide in Tacoma, Washington, could be responsible for a third deadly shooting nearby, Fox13 reported . If it was her girl who had been viciously killed, she wondered, wouldn't she want someone to do whatever they could? Dave McEachran [emotional]: She was such a good kid it just shouldn't have happened. 30 years later, authorities arrested a. There's nothing like the smell of a brand new house, and in Acme, you'll find that a large proportion of houses were recently built. Information was received pertaining to literally hundreds of potential suspects, and leads were followed up locally, in other states, and foreign countries, including in Asia. One of the names now on the list was Bass. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Tim Bass' ex-wife Gina Malone testifies that she witnessed Tim ask his mother to lie for him to point the finger at his own dad. Like, you have to be careful about what you say. 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. The population was 246 at the 2010 census. This creek eventually dumps into the South Fork of . Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Woman." Brent Scott Gerber, 47, of Maple Falls was arrested Monday, April 6, by the sheriffs office on suspicion of first-degree murder. I'm just an ordinary person. Lastly, he refused to give the police a DNA sample to compare to the DNA found at the crime scene. When Mandy jogged with her dog, the route that she would take would take her past Timothy Basss residence.. That no one saw the two of them together. And a man who helped the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office with search and rescue, Allen Pratt, testified that he noticed Mandys dog, Kyra, who had gone with Mandy on her run and returned home without her, was cowering with her tail tucked when he got to the Stavik residence and that there was silt from the river on the dogs hindquarters. Det. He should never get out. Detectives are investigating after a deceased person was discovered in an abandoned building in First Hill on Wednesday night. They followed Tim Bass all night long on his bakery delivery route. Go get make me food.". Acme Map Acme is a census-designated place (CDP) in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. Were going back over some of the old leads and trying to weed out those that seem far-fetched.. Gerber said he, Mulryan and OKeefe, who was seated in the back, drove to the park just before dawn Saturday. But when investigators approached him about providing a voluntary DNA sample to exclude him from the crime, he refused, Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney David McEachran told a court at Basss initial appearance on December 13, 2017. The sheriffs office determined Gerbers truck matched the description of the vehicle that allegedly hit and killed Sather and that he told friends he was in the Acme area when something bad happened to a girl, the court records state. Eventually, after she threatened to call the police, Bass left. The community was repeatedly asked for assistance solving this case, Elfo said last December, according to a video. Peter Van Sant: What was lost for you and this community with the death of Mandy Stavik? ABC And that he had always been in love with me. Kyra, her German shepherd, bolted off with her. And she says, "I can get it for you. "No." "I don't know what it was about her. Please enter valid email address to continue. Were still tracing down 7,859 leads, a Whatcom County sheriffs detective told the local press. All the factors contributed to the polices interest in Bass as a suspect by 2013. Gerber said Mulryan asked him for a ride to the park in Acme so Mulryan could meet with a girl who had apparently done something to him in the past, court records state. The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office has identified another man wanted in a planned robbery that ended in the death of a woman in Acme over the weekend. Kevin Bowhay: So, when they did the autopsy, they were able to recover male DNA from Mandy. TIM BASS INTEROGATION: It was more of a friendship-type thing, we just talked. Heather Backstrom: Yeah, I was very nervous. Both Backstrom and Anderson who barely knew each other held long suspicions about the same man. July 18, 2020 / 11:04 PM Peter Van Sant: So, it's another dead end? By Denver Pratt. She returned to her hometown of Acme, Washington, for Thanksgiving break. Kevin Bowhay: I would say that wooded area ahead of us is where I believe she was abducted. DAVE MCEACHRAN | PROSECUTOR: She was raped and then was killed and deposited in the river and drowned in the river. Furthermore, I don't believe I received a fair trial. It's very difficult to review this case, as there, The FBi has been murdering people for years since their, Clearly its hard for some people to understand that although, What is taking so long? Det. Mary Stavik and daughter Molly Brighton were overwhelmed by the news that there was finally an arrest in Mandy's case. STARCK FOLLIS | DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's easy to make the assumption that this pretty young woman would never have anything to do with Mr. Bass Just because somebody hadn't seen them together doesn't mean that they hadn't been together at some point. The prosecution expert, the original medical examiner from 30 years ago, Dr. Gary Goldfogel, disagrees. Gina Malone: I was so nervous, and I was shaking I don't even want to see his face. Three days later, her nude body was found three miles away in the Nooksack River. Do you, This was definitely in IL because we are friends with, Hi. Tim Bass' trial was turning into a family reunion from hell. For Mary Stavik, who once thought she'd never see justice, Bass' sentence gave her some solace. Kim Wagner, part of that trio of women, credits Mandy's hometown of Acme. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless, Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican, A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California, A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho, Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open, Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally, A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. All that promise came to an abrupt end in 1989, when the college freshman came home from Central Washington University for Thanksgiving. Out of the blue, one of the other mothers brought up the name Mandy Stavik. Merrilee Anderson: So, then he walks through the kitchen and back to my bedroom. I didn't know what to say. Kevin Bowhay: So, he just looked up and was, like, "Mandy, Mandy, Mandy. They got some background from his younger brother Tom Bass. The investigation stalled yet again until police received an unexpected helping hand. The street map of Acme is the most basic version which provides you with a comprehensive outline of the city's essentials. By David Rasbach. What a birthday present.". Basss trial is scheduled to start in April. On May 24, 2019, a jury convicted Bass of murder in the first degree. COURT CLERK: We the jury find the defendant Timothy Forrest Bass guilty . But several years later, Wagner and her husband and some friends were talking about Bass and it came up that he used to live on the same street as the Stavik family. Crime is ranked on a scale of 1 (low crime) to 100 (high crime) Acme violent crime is 16.4. He couldn't get life because prosecutors did not charge him with premeditated murder they were not sure they could convict him of that charge. I was very weak but I shouldve gone with my gut instinct, said Malone. When the results came back from the state crime lab, Basss DNA from the soda and cup were a 1 in 11 quadrillion match to DNA recovered from the dead young woman, prosecutors say. And we went through everything just like the attorneys did. Then, in 2017, detectives returned to the bakery and encountered the woman who helped them land the case by providing the information about his 1989 deliveries and the Coke can. McEachran was 44 when Mandy Stavik was murdered. The police were again circling the Franz Bakery Outlet in the spring of 2017, hungry for information, and now she knew why. One of the friends said he saw the passenger door open and Sather fall to the ground before the truck drove away, the court records state. Then he took, like, a pen out of the cup holder and would like start rubbing it along my knees 'cause I was wearing cut off sweat pants. (The US average is 35.4) NOTE: The city of Acme, Washington does not have FBI Crime Statistics. When the results came back from the state crime lab, . Housing density: 6 houses/condos per square mile Median price asked for vacant for-sale houses and condos in 2019 in this county: $202,929. A lotta tears. When police questioned him, he claimed he couldnt remember who Stavik was, which police found suspicious because, in that small community, everybody knew about Staviks case. On May 24, 2019, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder, and the judge sentenced him to nearly 30-years in prison. When asked about Mandy, Bass pretended he didn't even remember her. Gerber said he accelerated to 30 mph and started swerving, but Sather was holding onto the truck. Population 220. Prosecutor Dave McEachran: The harm that this caused is incalculable. Acme Neighborhood Map. He's trying to cover himself. Kevin Bowhay: At this point, we decided, we need to get a surveillance team on him and follow him on his route. On November 24, 1989, Amanda Mandy Stavik was kidnapped, raped, and murdered as she went jogging near her home on Strand Road in Clipper, near Acme in Whatcom County, Washington State. Would your findings be consistent in all regards with that hypothetical? She was naked except for socks and her blue sneakers. What do you say to someone like that? She wanted to do well in everything she did. Kevin Bowhay: From there, it was you always look for that person that's strange or odd that doesn't quite fit into the community. I do know my son is not guilty of this crime. Det. Det. She says it was hardly a fairy-tale romance. STEPHEN JACKSON: Tim Bass is not guilty. 2013 of aggravated first-degree murder for the murder of Correctional Officer Jayme Biendl on Jan. 29, 2011 while she was on duty at the Washington State Reformatory Unit of the Monroe Correctional Complex in Snohomish County. If one person doesn't agree, you've got a hung jury and they have to start all over again. Peter Van Sant: It's a solemn place for you isn't it? But the defense is hoping science can support Bass' account. Heather Backstrom and Merrilee Anderson are proud of their roles in putting Tim Bass away. In 2013, investigators went to Bass workplace, a bakery outlet store, in the hopes of obtaining a DNA sample from his delivery truck. On the Friday after the holiday, Ms Stavik left for a jog around . Geographic Variation Among counties with 20 or more homicides in 2009- There was no contact between these people.