However, without charging C.J. Several suspects and persons-of-interest would be probed during that time, but for almost all of them, there was either something ruling them out entirely or not enough evidence to move forward with the case. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. Her younger sister, Pavitra, would begin to follow in these footsteps as well, and later pursue a career in computer engineering after Arpana. I think one surprise for me was, we talked to three jurors. We didnt know that the King County prosecutors office was going to be willing to participate in the show. Suspect is an investigative series about mislaid justice and the kinds of weighty decisions that detectives, lawyers, and jurors make every day - decisions that, once made, are almost impossible to reverse. I hope we did something to draw attention to that. This would ultimately lead to a long and drawn-out dispute through the court system, as Cybergenetics CEO Dr. Mark Perlin refused to divulge the source code of his program, believing that doing so would bring risk to his company's trade secrets. These were the last calls or texts Arpana would receive that night, and when questioned about these phone calls, C.J. While those at the party remember Arpana going home alone at around 3:00 AM, neighbors that lived on both sides of her unit would recall hearing what sounded like muffled moaning sounds shortly thereafter, which they assumed at the time was consensual sex (but, knowing what we know now, undoubtedly wasn't). Prosecutors made it clear that they were seeking more than the recommended sentence - 45 years - which they were allowed to pursue because of the aggravated circumstances of her death. Now inside, Jay and C.J. And the energy with which many of the people pursued this case it is tragic, what happened. lived right next-door to Arpana Jinaga, and by his own admission, had a pretty close relationship with her. For Arpana's parents, they had to grieve not only the loss of their oldest daughter, but an inspiring and bright young soul that had managed to accomplish so much in such little time, and seemed poised to accomplish great things in the future - not only professionally, but personally. In that sense, the end of Suspect could very well be the start of the rest of the story. Travis Barkers Finger Is Now the Enema of Blink-182 Fans. Suspect is a lot more successful in the latter mode, if only because the series wraps up with yet another genre convention: the original mystery resolves inconclusively. She would begin working there in March of 2008, and a company spokesman would later say that during her brief six-month tenure at the company, she had cemented herself as a hardworking and bright employee, who was considered a "rising star" among the higher-ups at EMC. "Galarza and Solis intentionally escalated the interaction by commenting in a derogatory fashion about Alanis' mother.". can also be characterized as an uncharged accomplice.". A lot of stuff has not been analyzed yet. While Emanuel Fair was acquitted of the charges levied against him, the jurors that decided his fate claim that it had little to do with his innocence; but, rather, the level of reasonable doubt that his attorneys were able to raise. However, the results obtained through TrueAllele pointed to Fair, in particular, as the killer; with the software saying that he was thousands of times more likely to have been Arpana's killer than other available suspects. Its probably a spoiler to tell you at this point that the team doesnt end up solving Jinagas murder. He is also seeking a jury trial. Roughly two months after the trial began, after weeks of gridlock, the trial would end with a hung jury. Shaer: This is a story that found me rather than the other way around. This is when police learned about the argument Arpana had gotten in with another partygoer, which was described as being "race-related." Of course, for [Arpanas] family, its crushing. Even though he claimed to have gone home to his friend's apartment at around 1:00 AM to sleep, cell phone records indicated that Fair made dozens of phone calls to numerous women between 2:00 and 5:00 AM; including several calls to Leslie, the woman whose apartment he claimed to have been sleeping at. In a new Wondery podcast series called "Suspect," career journalists Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson investigate the story of Jinaga's murder, Fair's conviction and the spiderweb of details . After nine years of awaiting his fate, 35-year-old Emanuel Fair was released from custody just hours after being acquitted in the death of Arpana Jinaga. Those pleas would continue to amplify months after Arpana's murder, when it became evident that answers were not readily available. In the weeks after Arpana's murder, Emanuel Fair was identified through photographs and eventually questioned. Alanis was "left in that state for two hours, until he was taken to the Valley Regional Medical Center," according to the lawsuit. This was paired with several inconsistencies in Emanuel Fair's story; which included - but was not limited to - calls he had made during the time of Arpana's murder. The best musical instrument is a love triangle. According to this caller, the body had been found in an apartment just north of Marymoor Park, the scenic park and music venue east of Seattle, jutted up against Lake Sammamish. Can Anyone Predict Whos Going to Win Best Supporting Actress? Now, nearly two years later, Emanuel Fair was being charged with 1st-degree murder and was transferred to the King County jail to await trial. The big issue the show pursues is that Cameron was a viable suspect and the cops seemed to want to find ways to let him off the hook and make him a witness against Emmanuel. would admit that during this time, he had stopped taking his psychiatric medication. How did that happen? Inside of Arpana's bathroom, investigators would find a white comforter from her bed, which had also been stained with blood. throughout this episode - who, it turns out, had been one of the investigation's main suspects early on. Prior to that, she had attended Rutgers University on the east coast, but had grown up in the Indian city of Hyderabad as the oldest of two daughters. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. However, the notion of a robbery taking place did not end there.
Washington needs more than 1 million homes in the next 20 years Arpana moved to Redmond, Washington in the early months of 2008. Since its release on Aug. 31,Suspecthas vaulted to the top spot on Chartables U.S. rankings of most listened to Apple podcasts. In the apartment complex's dumpster, investigators would find a bottle of Castrol motorcycle oil, which the offender had likely found inside of Arpana's apartment and then sprayed all over the crime scene and her body. Later on, during Emanuel Fair's first trial, prosecutors even alleged that this neighbor had been an accomplice in the murder. The case is described to us as a true whodunit, one that relies purely on circumstantial and DNA evidence because there werent any witnesses to the killing. The world is a sadder place without her but the people she touched while she was here will remember her for an eternity.". When residents of the Valley View Apartments in Redmond, Wash . Through clever investigating, O'Leary was later captured and ultimately linked to at least five violent rapes between Washington and Colorado: all of which he had photographed and documented, keeping mementos of the victims (such as their cell phones and cameras).
While O'Leary never killed any of his known victims, there are certain details about his crime spree that remain unknown to investigators: including the contents of an encrypted file on his hard drive, which has been nicknamed "The Wretch" by certain investigators. Shortly thereafter, Fair would be arraigned on murder charges and entered a plea of not guilty. When I started talking to Emanuel and then to Ben Goldsmith, his attorney, I was like, Wow, this case is sort of exactly what Ive been thinking about. It was DNA that drew us to it initially. There is no apparent reason why someone would want to take this person from the prime of her life.". Its got a lot wrapped up in it and I am just grateful that people are engaging with it. Alanis-Mejia was allegedly beaten by jailers Raul Galarza and Mark Solis while Alanis-Mejia was incarcerated at the Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito in September 2014, the lawsuit reads. Specifically, it is a software that uses thousands of algorithms to read DNA and translate it, essentially, into evidence that investigators and prosecutors can then use. It would later be found that other items were missing from the crime scene, including at least one of Arpana's ID cards, her Blackberry (cell phone), and her digital camera; none of which would ever be recovered. This included the nearly two years it took them to single out Emanuel Fair as a suspect; during which time, investigators had hired a psychic to help point them in the right direction, which highlighted how adrift the investigators had been up until that point. had even shown Fair a music editing software on his home computer. "There have been multiple reports between 2012 and 2020 of Carrizales guards provoking inmates in order to get reaction from the inmate and then beat the inmate," the lawsuit stated. If the state wanted to pursue charges against Emanuel Fair, then they were well within their right to do so, but attempting to convict both him and an uncharged accomplice for crimes that they might have committed together was unconstitutional. They can be found on Instagram @readrunsea;
"We still consider it early in the investigation. The oil would contribute to the odd smell throughout the apartment, and was reportedly found all over the carpet of the bedroom. Sheriff Conrado Cantu took office as sheriff in 2001 and oversaw Carrizales when it first opened in 2004," a portion of the federal lawsuit stated. Regardless, more than a decade has passed since the mysterious death of Arpana Jinaga, and no one has been held responsible for it. The state was attempting to build a case around the possibility of Emanuel Fair acting alongside an accomplice; who, they had alleged in the first trial, had acted alongside Fair to commit the crime but was not charged with anything for the time being. After his release from prison in November of 2006, Fair would begin a three-year process of floating between prison and homelessness; this included the period in which Arpana Jinaga was murdered. Most of this reasonable doubt revolves around C.J., Arpana's neighbor, who also remains a very valid suspect (hence me not wanting to say his name throughout this podcast). Suspect premieres Aug. 17 on Wondery+ and Aug. 31 wherever podcasts are streamed. Despite not even knowing how to ride a motorcycle at the time, she purchased a Suzuki and began attending classes to learn how to safely ride it. The jailers "violently slammed Alanis into a wall and then tackled him to the ground with both officers leaping on top of him," the lawsuit stated. However, these phone calls indicate that this was a lie, and he was already awake at the time this happened (and, at the very least, subconsciously thinking about Arpana). Season 2: Vanished in the Snow chronicles the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews. One of the more intriguing aspects of Suspect, a new nine-part investigative true-crime podcast, is the extent to which many of the people interviewed seem to express outward awareness about the fact theyre on a true-crime podcast and what that can mean. Prosecutors implied that Fair had been lying about where he was during these vital hours, which remained unexplained nearly two years later. Despite her not having any experience riding a motorcycle, she planned on using one as her primary mode of transportation. Police had already determined that Arpana's body had been covered in that type of motor oil, so whoever had handled it had likely been involved in her death. Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix have broken up after he allegedly cheated on her with Raquel Leviss. He couldn't recall whether or not he had kicked in Arpana's front door, and was unable to explain why he had printed out a map of pawnshop locations the morning afterward. Together, they decided to enter Arpana's apartment to check in on her, but when they knocked on the apartment door, it swung open. Oh, you like podcasts? Fair's attorneys claim that he had been treated negatively during interviews, while other suspects with more incriminating evidence pointing to their guilty were treated with metaphorical kid's gloves. Later, police would figure out that Fair attended that same Halloween party as Arpana because of photographs that other partygoers had taken, some of which had been posted online to social media sites. Suspicious deaths, such as homicide, very rarely happen in Redmond: one of the wealthier suburbs on the outskirts of Seattle, which is known internationally for housing the U.S. headquarters for both Microsoft and Nintendo. Police would arrive at the apartment complex a short time later, and immediately noticed two things that stood out about this crime. Typically, when police recommend filing charges against someone, they don't follow that up with any investigation of their own and that's sadly what happened here. The damage left behind made it evident that the killer had entered through brute force, and from there, had proceeded to struggle with Arpana. The crime scene itself was a maelstrom of forensic evidence because more than a dozen people had been inside of Arpana Jinaga's apartment just hours before her death, attending the Halloween party. Id written anarticle about DNA forensic science for The Atlantic, and I was like everybody else I thought that DNA worked like it did on Law & Order, where its a green light. While C.J. More than a decade later, no one has been held accountable for her murder. They argued against the analysis performed by TrueAllele; at least, until they were able to look through the source code of the software to determine just how, exactly, the program had come to this consensus. However, over the next several days, they would eventually bring themselves to a consensus, and delivered their findings the following Tuesday, June 11th: not guilty. During his career, the prolific actor inhabited an array of troubled characters. Phil Skelton, a member of the PNW Riders, spoke to the Redmond Reporter and said about Arpana: "When you met her, she would have you smiling within 15 seconds.". Among thousands of contestants, she was singled out as a top-20 performer and was the only participant from Asia to be featured in the subsequent awards. But over the next few years, Emanuel Fair would fail to abide by the terms of his release and was later jailed on probation violations. In that sense, Suspect is a little bit like the true-crime podcast version of a Gerard Butler movie or a really good episode of Law and Order: an exemplar of its genre, but not a revolutionary, which I sincerely mean as praise. His DNA had been found on a bottle of motor oil and on a bloody robe, both of which had been found inside of a plastic bag thrown into the apartment complex's dumpster. Alanis-Mejia was allegedly beaten by jailers Raul Galarza and Mark Solis while . Benson: I think no one feels satisfied with the outcome. Alanis Mejia is also accused of striking Galarza in the chest. says that he went back to his apartment at around midnight to go to sleep, his phone records would show that he called Arpana twice a few hours later: once at 2:56, and a second time at 3:02 AM. and on their website: sarahneilsonwriter.com. Its the best we can do forensically, but it still requires human beings to translate. The Wagner opera returns to the Met for the first time in 17 years. If they did, youd probably see a news cycle about it by now. Investigators would never ask him what this medication was, or what mental illness it was treating (one of the many missteps that Emanuel Fair's attorneys referred to in their pretrial motions). By January of 2009, it was reported that work on the case had started to stall, but investigators were still optimistic, due to the aforementioned physical evidence, which they were still awaiting the results of. Terms of Service apply. Investigators would later retrieve the cell phone's information from Arpana's provider, but its disappearance - as well as the absence of Arpana's camera - pointed to the likelihood of her killer being someone that she knew. I hadn't seen her for months, I'd never thought about her like that [prior to the night of the Halloween party]". By October of that year, she had already scored a promotion to lead programmer and seemed destined for greater things. While Cybergenetics would later win the appeals to keep the TrueAllele source code a secret, several years would pass during the drawn-out legal battle during which time, Emanuel Fair continued to sit in jail, awaiting trial for charges that were nearly a decade old. That said, the meta value of podcasts like this along with magazine features, documentaries, and other media formats more generally tends to be clustered in how it can drum up more real-world interest in the case to a point where it can maybe produce a chance of shaking up more meaningful leads. The Washington State Department of Commerce on March 2 released its final housing needs projections, which suggest the state needs to add 1.1 million homes over the next 20 years and more than half of those homes need to be affordable for residents at the lowest income levels. The following Monday, her body would be discovered inside of her apartment, the victim of an apparent homicide. Strangers come together. It would soon become clear to them that someone had attempted to scrub the apartment of their presence, wiping bleach onto several pieces of furniture, as well as a table in the living room (from which, fluid had spilled down onto the carpet, permanently staining it). Inside the apartment, it became clear to investigators that a struggle had taken place. They were able to follow the trail of maelstrom throughout the apartment down the hallway, towards the decedent's bedroom, where they discovered her body: that of a 24-year-old from India, who had come to America a few years prior to pursue her "American dream". Instead of trying to solve Jinagas murder, Shaer and Benson use extensive interviews to weave a complex narrative around race, injustice, the place of forensic DNA evidence in the common perception of guilt and innocence and, ultimately, a tragic story with no real closure. would attend a party at a friend's house in Everett, and while there, attempted to wrestle them. Fair was held in jail for nine years and was twice tried but was never convicted. According to one of the jurors, who later spoke to the Seattle Times, the state's inability to reconcile the charges against Emanuel Fair with the evidence implicating C.J. All that we know for sure is that Arpana had already lived a full life by the age of 24, and could have continued changing the world for the better. The power of that for potentially solving a crime, but also the potential shortcomings of DNA, was something everyone we talked to for this series has been really honest about. The Seattle Timesrecently spoke with Shaer and Benson over Zoom about the impetus for this podcast, what surprised them in their reporting and what their take-aways are from investigating this story. However, when police revealed that they had obtained a log of his text messages and calls directly from his cell provider, he audibly responded "oh crap" and then claimed ignorance. This sort of thing doesn't happen in Redmond. Meanwhile, Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys Benjamin Goldsmith and Katharine Edwards emphasized creating reasonable doubt; mostly, by pointing the blame at Arpana's neighbor, C.J., whom, they believed made a more convincing suspect. By Monday, Arpana had not yet surfaced and she would fail to show up for work that morning. Investigators and prosecutors feel the same way about this individual because he was interviewed on more than four occasions in the weeks after Arpana's murder - more than any other suspect or POI - and at one point, investigators even wrote up probable cause paperwork to apply for this suspect's arrest. But because of his prior criminal record, he would remain at the top of their suspect list for some time until the results from the forensic analysis came back from the Washington state crime lab, which seemed to implicate his involvement in the murder. In that case, police learned everything they needed to know from the crime scene itself. She had traveled the globe in pursuit of an exciting and adventurous life, made a name for herself in the notoriously-competitive tech sector by the age of 24, endeared herself to dozens of strangers and it had all ended with one senseless act of violence.