Dossier
CODIS
Coverage of CODIS in the Nexus archive.
- Cold case killer who chewed cops’ undercover DNA bait faces survivor, families in courtroom showdown
Mitchell Gaff, a 74-year-old Washington man, was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for admitting to two decades-old cold-case killings. He pleaded guilty to the murders of Susan Vesey and Judith Weaver in Everett. The cases were solved using DNA from a piece of gum.
- DNA from chewing gum nails longtime sexual predator decades after reign of terror: report
Mitchell Gaff, a 68-year-old self-proclaimed rapist, pleaded guilty to two decades-old cold case murders after investigators matched DNA from his discarded chewing gum to crime scenes. Police used a ruse, posing as gum researchers, to collect the DNA sample that linked him to the 1980 and 1984 murders of Susan Vesey and Judith 'Judy' Weaver.