about 2,300 names. could cutting-edge technology crack an ice-cold case? i was like, no way. i believe in the devil, and people that don t believe in the devil, i think, they re in for a big surprise. hello and welcome to dateline. michella and jenni were just like most kids their age. they loved riding bikes, and playing outdoors. the fun-loving girls didn t know each other. but they would be forever connected, through tragedy. decades later, a detective would leave no stone unturned, on a quest for justice. and in the process, uncovered a twist that left investigators speechless. here is keith morrison with evil was watching.
full of just tips. and it was everything from i saw a strange person in the park, that day. to my neighbor has got issues. police released another sketch of a possible suspect. a man, in his 20s, wearing mirrored sunglasses. that tip led to the man who drove this van. he was familiar with point defiance. he was familiar with the five-mile drive. they took a good, hard look at him. but dead end. dead end. there were many dead ends, that year. and in the years that followed. the police collected all the evidence they could. but really, there was only so much they could do. the science of dna was in its infancy. and eventually, the murders of jenni and michella went cold. it changed the way people thought of other people. when the bad guy s still out there, and when you don t know who the bad guy is.
horrific crimes that shook the city to its core and yet jenni and michella s case files passed through three generations of detectives before forensics gave them their first big break. now jenni s suspected killer was behind bars and investigators were determined that michella s would be next. here s keith morrison with the conclusion of evil was watching. it s a hole, big hole that nothing else can fill, no amount of comfort. the loss of her daughter michella hit barbara leonard and the grief there s never an end to it and there won t be, i don t think, until i see her and i have that hope and promise. the bible is true. the bible says the dead are sleeping. they will be resurrected. that s where you find your comfort? of course it is. that s how i ve been able to maintain a relationship and understand other people s pain.
reads in part, the defense is pursuing various investigative means. i ask the public accord mr. hartman the presumption of innocence to which he is entight zblld robert washburn was back in court. this was the final step of a plea deal. how do you plead? guilty. washburn pleaded guilty to first degree murder. he was sentenced to 27 years in prison. i had prayed that he would not go to trial. i just want it to be over. as part of the plea agreement washburn had to tell the court about the murder. in a statement read by the judge he said he grabbed jenni by the arm, brought her into the woods and strangled her and that was it. which that was not enough at all. i will always have the question in my head, so you woke up on august 4th. it was a beautiful sunday. you went to
michella s killer. but even more confusing, dr. fitzpatrick s genealogy research had linked the name washburn to the dna in jenni s murder. which detective wade new happened months after washburn phoned in that tip about michella. so, it was all just a fluke, probably. and so, it was something that i kept in the back of my mind, as we continued on with the investigation. she also went to a company called parabon, that turned dna profiles into computer generated images. showing what the suspects probably looked like. in 2016, armed with those snapshots. these two are solvable. the tacoma police department told the public they were searching for two killers, and needed help to find them. jenni s sister theresa was hopeful. i didn t know, exactly, where it was going to end up. but i knew it was a big step in the case. we had a tip line open. and