adopt her. before she left, wade sent one last, small batch of samples to the dna lab. no point, really, in waiting for the results. we are down to the last 18. i m doubtful that we re going to get a match. so, she said good-bye and went on with her life. and 25 days later. my phone buzzed, and i looked down. it was her replacement on the cold-case unit. i answer the phone, and he said, there s a match on jennifer bastian. i asked, who who is it? what s the name? and he said, robert washburn? and i was like, no way. i knew exactly who it was. but i just couldn t believe it. robert washburn. he was the guy who phoned in a tip about michella s murder. he was never a suspect. on her short list, only because of that genealogy
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
able to collect it and get that submitted to the lab. and it was a match. surreal because after all of this time, how could you find somebody? how could somebody still be out there? michella s alleged killer was a nurse of all things in a psychiatric hospital. a working class guy with no history of violent crime just like robert washburn. i believe in the devil, i believe fully in the devil. people that don t believe in the devil, i think they re in for a big surprise. barbara leonard and her daughters were in court the day he was charged with her murder. i was looking at him and i thought, who is this person? how could someone that looks so normal do something like this? he pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and his trial is still pending. his attorney sent us a letter which
analysis. why did washburn s name end up on the list to be tested for dna? because of his last name. just the last name? yes. because he was in that list that was sent to you? correct. at the time, it seemed like a coincidence. a fluke. but now, here it was. no doubt. robert washburn s dna on jenni bastian s swimsuit. it was head spinning. zblfr and the funny thing is he was not a high-priority suspect. he certainly hadn t abouted like one. they learned in the years after the murder/rape of jenni bastian, robert washburn blended into middle america. literally. stayed out of trouble. in fact, when investigators came knocking at his door? he voluntarily gave them a dna sample. now, more than three decade after that terrible day in the park. washburn was arrested, at