1 00:00:01,034 --> 00:00:04,517 [THEME MUSIC] 2 00:00:28,379 --> 00:00:30,482 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough's is 3 00:00:30,517 --> 00:00:33,896 being remembered as talented, creative, and kind. 4 00:00:33,931 --> 00:00:36,551 Sarah was an A student at the high school. 5 00:00:36,586 --> 00:00:39,206 Whenever you saw Sarah, she always had a smile. 6 00:00:42,310 --> 00:00:45,517 This case is about a 16-year-old girl 7 00:00:45,551 --> 00:00:50,241 who had the right to grow up. 8 00:00:50,275 --> 00:00:52,896 This case is about Sarah and everything 9 00:00:52,931 --> 00:00:55,000 that she should have been allowed to become. 10 00:00:59,827 --> 00:01:03,310 It was Friday the 13th in December of 1991. 11 00:01:03,344 --> 00:01:06,689 Her parents were out of town for her brother's soccer game. 12 00:01:06,724 --> 00:01:07,965 She stayed home. 13 00:01:10,448 --> 00:01:12,793 I was reluctant to leave Sarah. 14 00:01:12,827 --> 00:01:15,206 She didn't want to come, of course, because she had 15 00:01:15,241 --> 00:01:17,620 her whole weekend planned out. 16 00:01:17,655 --> 00:01:21,033 So she had a friend come over and stay with her that weekend. 17 00:01:23,620 --> 00:01:26,551 We went to a basketball game, went and got junk food 18 00:01:26,586 --> 00:01:29,793 at the grocery store, a little bit of fast food. 19 00:01:29,827 --> 00:01:30,896 We're 16. 20 00:01:30,931 --> 00:01:32,793 We were carefree. 21 00:01:32,827 --> 00:01:36,827 There was absolutely nothing that would make any of us 22 00:01:36,862 --> 00:01:40,275 think that the next morning, everything would change. 23 00:01:44,137 --> 00:01:48,206 So Saturday Morning, Sarah woke up in a panic. 24 00:01:48,241 --> 00:01:50,896 She woke up and said, I'm late for practice. 25 00:01:50,931 --> 00:01:56,413 She put on her drill team uniform and ran out the door. 26 00:01:56,448 --> 00:02:00,206 She went to the school and discovered that she was early. 27 00:02:00,241 --> 00:02:05,034 So she parked in her car and waited for the rest of her team 28 00:02:05,068 --> 00:02:05,689 to show up. 29 00:02:10,413 --> 00:02:12,034 Shortly after, the phone calls started. 30 00:02:12,068 --> 00:02:13,000 Where's Sarah? 31 00:02:13,034 --> 00:02:14,068 Do you know where she is? 32 00:02:18,620 --> 00:02:23,482 Sarah was found within an hour. 33 00:02:23,517 --> 00:02:25,275 Where was her body discovered? 34 00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:27,068 So her car was still in the parking lot. 35 00:02:27,103 --> 00:02:30,965 Her body was approximately 100 yards away, 36 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,067 still on the school property. 37 00:02:33,103 --> 00:02:35,930 Part of her clothing was removed. 38 00:02:35,965 --> 00:02:41,413 She had nylon stockings tied in a ligature around her neck. 39 00:02:44,067 --> 00:02:48,620 I just remember saying, "not Sarah, not Sarah, not Sarah," 40 00:02:48,655 --> 00:02:49,689 over and over again. 41 00:02:52,206 --> 00:02:55,965 The suspect is a white male, 6 feet tall with a medium build-- 42 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:56,896 They had DNA evidence. 43 00:02:56,930 --> 00:02:57,724 They had everything. 44 00:02:57,758 --> 00:02:58,896 They had witnesses. 45 00:02:58,930 --> 00:03:02,034 In that first week or so, it sounded 46 00:03:02,068 --> 00:03:04,068 like they had so much evidence. 47 00:03:04,103 --> 00:03:05,931 For at least a short while, it felt like-- 48 00:03:05,965 --> 00:03:06,862 but you said-- 49 00:03:06,896 --> 00:03:07,827 Of course they're going to catch him. 50 00:03:07,862 --> 00:03:09,137 --of course they're going to catch him. 51 00:03:09,172 --> 00:03:12,034 And then when they didn't and they didn't, your expectations 52 00:03:12,068 --> 00:03:13,620 change. 53 00:03:13,655 --> 00:03:15,586 You don't know if it's your next-door neighbor. 54 00:03:15,620 --> 00:03:17,862 You don't know if it's some random stranger. 55 00:03:17,896 --> 00:03:23,655 There was that constant fear of, is this going to happen again? 56 00:03:23,689 --> 00:03:28,103 We literally had a monster in the community, and we just-- 57 00:03:28,137 --> 00:03:29,793 we didn't know who it was. 58 00:03:32,586 --> 00:03:36,034 [THEME MUSIC] 59 00:04:14,172 --> 00:04:17,654 [SOMBER MUSIC] 60 00:04:21,103 --> 00:04:23,758 How often do you think about December 14 61 00:04:23,793 --> 00:04:28,310 1991 and what happened on that day? 62 00:04:28,344 --> 00:04:30,034 Quite a bit. 63 00:04:30,068 --> 00:04:36,137 It's a very traumatic thing to go through. 64 00:04:36,172 --> 00:04:40,172 It's been over 30 years, but the details of that day 65 00:04:40,206 --> 00:04:43,000 have never faded for Drew Miller. 66 00:04:43,034 --> 00:04:44,586 My friend spent the night at my house. 67 00:04:44,620 --> 00:04:46,724 We woke up that morning, watched cartoons, 68 00:04:46,758 --> 00:04:49,103 ate cereal, left to go skateboarding. 69 00:04:49,137 --> 00:04:51,793 Drew, who was just 13 at the time, 70 00:04:51,827 --> 00:04:54,103 lived down the street from Federal Way High School 71 00:04:54,137 --> 00:04:55,862 near Seattle, Washington. 72 00:04:55,896 --> 00:04:58,379 The school grounds have changed quite a bit, right? 73 00:04:58,413 --> 00:04:59,586 Drastically, yes. 74 00:04:59,620 --> 00:05:02,068 The tennis court's the only thing that's still here. 75 00:05:02,103 --> 00:05:04,172 Drew often took shortcuts through the school 76 00:05:04,206 --> 00:05:07,586 to go skateboarding, as he and his friend did that day. 77 00:05:07,620 --> 00:05:12,862 We used to hop the fence right here and cut through here. 78 00:05:12,896 --> 00:05:15,517 It was freezing cold that day, and there was 79 00:05:15,551 --> 00:05:18,034 ice in all of the mud puddles. 80 00:05:18,068 --> 00:05:20,620 We just started smashing them because it's fun. 81 00:05:20,655 --> 00:05:23,000 It sounds like breaking glass. 82 00:05:23,034 --> 00:05:28,172 That's when Drew says they noticed a man in the bushes. 83 00:05:28,206 --> 00:05:32,206 Right where you see the edge of this dugout right here, 84 00:05:32,241 --> 00:05:36,000 that was all bushes that were probably this tall. 85 00:05:36,034 --> 00:05:39,758 So we couldn't see him until he stood up. 86 00:05:39,793 --> 00:05:41,862 He's just staring at us from the bushes. 87 00:05:41,896 --> 00:05:43,689 That was pretty jarring. 88 00:05:43,724 --> 00:05:45,448 But then he just walked out of the bushes. 89 00:05:45,482 --> 00:05:48,931 So then we just assumed he was just smoking weed or something. 90 00:05:48,965 --> 00:05:50,862 The mysterious man kept to himself 91 00:05:50,896 --> 00:05:52,482 and walked ahead of the boys. 92 00:05:52,517 --> 00:05:54,724 Drew says they didn't think much of it 93 00:05:54,758 --> 00:05:57,482 until they came across a horrendous scene. 94 00:06:00,137 --> 00:06:03,793 There in the bushes where the man had just been 95 00:06:03,827 --> 00:06:05,827 was the body of a young woman. 96 00:06:08,517 --> 00:06:12,551 It was horrible, absolutely horrible. 97 00:06:12,586 --> 00:06:16,206 The way that he left her body, she clearly 98 00:06:16,241 --> 00:06:19,000 fought for her life. 99 00:06:19,034 --> 00:06:21,172 Drew says his shock turned to fear 100 00:06:21,206 --> 00:06:23,965 when he realized the man who was still 101 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,482 just feet in front of them was now 102 00:06:26,517 --> 00:06:29,137 staring directly back at him. 103 00:06:29,172 --> 00:06:30,689 Does that look still haunt you? 104 00:06:30,724 --> 00:06:31,482 Oh, yeah, yeah. 105 00:06:31,517 --> 00:06:33,310 It's frozen in my mind. 106 00:06:33,344 --> 00:06:34,551 The boogeyman then? 107 00:06:34,586 --> 00:06:36,724 Legitimate boogeyman. 108 00:06:36,758 --> 00:06:39,137 The boys raced to Drew's house, and police 109 00:06:39,172 --> 00:06:40,275 were called to the scene. 110 00:06:43,310 --> 00:06:46,448 When we approached the victim, on one 111 00:06:46,482 --> 00:06:51,034 of the pieces of clothing, we saw the name Sarah. 112 00:06:51,068 --> 00:06:54,172 Detective Scott Strathy with the King County Sheriff's Office 113 00:06:54,206 --> 00:06:57,172 was one of the first officers on the scene. 114 00:06:57,206 --> 00:07:01,827 And of course, later we found out that was Sarah Yarborough. 115 00:07:08,689 --> 00:07:13,413 Even for experienced investigators, 116 00:07:13,448 --> 00:07:18,517 this scene was really hard to deal with. 117 00:07:18,551 --> 00:07:25,344 Just the innocent nature of this young woman in her school drill 118 00:07:25,379 --> 00:07:32,275 team uniform, with her hot curlers still in her hair, 119 00:07:32,310 --> 00:07:35,689 this was just pure, unadulterated evil. 120 00:07:40,379 --> 00:07:44,413 Investigators believed this was a sexually motivated murder. 121 00:07:44,448 --> 00:07:46,344 She was partially clothed. 122 00:07:46,379 --> 00:07:49,724 Her jacket, her undergarments, her bra 123 00:07:49,758 --> 00:07:53,862 had been removed and placed next to her body. 124 00:07:53,896 --> 00:07:55,931 Police discovered that the car Sarah 125 00:07:55,965 --> 00:07:58,551 had driven that morning was parked in the school parking 126 00:07:58,586 --> 00:08:02,896 lot, about 300 from where her body was found. 127 00:08:02,931 --> 00:08:05,517 There didn't really appear to be any sort of a struggle 128 00:08:05,551 --> 00:08:06,758 in the car itself. 129 00:08:06,793 --> 00:08:09,482 Detective John Free with the King County Sheriff's Office 130 00:08:09,517 --> 00:08:13,379 Major Crimes Unit would later join the investigation. 131 00:08:13,413 --> 00:08:15,000 She had a container of orange juice 132 00:08:15,034 --> 00:08:16,275 that she had made that morning. 133 00:08:16,310 --> 00:08:18,275 It was just sitting in the front seat. 134 00:08:18,310 --> 00:08:19,586 Nothing was tipped over. 135 00:08:19,620 --> 00:08:24,517 So the question was, how did she get from her car to this hill? 136 00:08:24,551 --> 00:08:26,517 What led her there? 137 00:08:26,551 --> 00:08:31,413 Sarah was one of these people that would help anyone 138 00:08:31,448 --> 00:08:33,758 with anything at any time. 139 00:08:33,793 --> 00:08:39,068 And part of our working theory was, was she coaxed 140 00:08:39,102 --> 00:08:43,793 into following the suspect? 141 00:08:43,827 --> 00:08:47,310 Did he say something like, "I'm looking for my lost dog," 142 00:08:47,344 --> 00:08:51,034 or "I can't find my car keys"? 143 00:08:51,068 --> 00:08:55,103 Perhaps Sarah, in an attempt to assist this person, 144 00:08:55,137 --> 00:08:59,241 may have followed him to that area. 145 00:08:59,275 --> 00:09:01,413 Tell me about this one. 146 00:09:01,448 --> 00:09:05,344 That was less than a week, I think, before she died, I said, 147 00:09:05,379 --> 00:09:06,586 could I take your picture? 148 00:09:06,620 --> 00:09:08,793 Because your great grandma really wants a picture of you 149 00:09:08,827 --> 00:09:10,413 in your drill team. 150 00:09:10,448 --> 00:09:11,551 And she goes, OK. 151 00:09:14,310 --> 00:09:16,379 It was just too incredible to believe 152 00:09:16,413 --> 00:09:18,206 that it could even happen. 153 00:09:18,241 --> 00:09:21,206 Sarah's parents, Laura and Tom Yarborough. 154 00:09:21,241 --> 00:09:22,758 I mean, who thinks that your daughter 155 00:09:22,793 --> 00:09:25,103 is going to be murdered? 156 00:09:25,137 --> 00:09:27,724 Tom and Laura had the excruciating task 157 00:09:27,758 --> 00:09:31,724 of having to tell their two sons the tragic news. 158 00:09:31,758 --> 00:09:34,517 Sarah's youngest brother Andrew was just 159 00:09:34,551 --> 00:09:36,896 11 years old at the time. 160 00:09:36,931 --> 00:09:38,517 At that age, you've probably never seen 161 00:09:38,551 --> 00:09:40,551 or heard your parents cry much. 162 00:09:40,586 --> 00:09:44,827 But that pain in the voice is very vivid. 163 00:09:44,862 --> 00:09:47,655 Sarah, who had just started her junior year in high school, 164 00:09:47,689 --> 00:09:51,448 had big plans for her future, starting with college. 165 00:09:51,482 --> 00:09:53,103 She didn't want to go to a state school. 166 00:09:53,137 --> 00:09:57,551 She wanted to go to a school far away. 167 00:09:57,586 --> 00:09:58,862 She loved to travel. 168 00:09:58,896 --> 00:10:00,413 I actually would hear her say, I can't 169 00:10:00,448 --> 00:10:02,517 decide if I want to be a museum curator 170 00:10:02,551 --> 00:10:04,586 or an engineer like my father. 171 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:08,310 And I was always rooting for the museum curator. 172 00:10:08,344 --> 00:10:11,241 Liberty Barnes, Kristi Gutierrez, Amy Parodi, 173 00:10:11,275 --> 00:10:15,482 and Mary Beth Thome were some of Sarah's closest friends. 174 00:10:15,517 --> 00:10:18,275 So this was after the last day of 10th grade. 175 00:10:18,310 --> 00:10:20,310 And we're just kind of goofing around afterwards. 176 00:10:20,344 --> 00:10:21,586 And that totally, I mean, you can 177 00:10:21,620 --> 00:10:24,034 see there's Sarah right in the middle of it, just being goofy. 178 00:10:24,068 --> 00:10:27,000 [SOMBER MUSIC] 179 00:10:27,034 --> 00:10:30,275 The fiery red hair, was that her personality? 180 00:10:30,310 --> 00:10:31,000 Yes. 181 00:10:31,034 --> 00:10:31,482 Yes. 182 00:10:31,517 --> 00:10:32,275 Yeah. 183 00:10:32,310 --> 00:10:33,517 She was artistic. 184 00:10:33,551 --> 00:10:34,517 She was creative. 185 00:10:34,551 --> 00:10:35,482 She was smart. 186 00:10:35,517 --> 00:10:36,655 She was feisty. 187 00:10:36,689 --> 00:10:37,793 Imaginative. 188 00:10:37,827 --> 00:10:39,172 All of those things. 189 00:10:39,206 --> 00:10:42,827 She would be the last one to wait for someone, 190 00:10:42,862 --> 00:10:46,379 always be there with a smile. 191 00:10:46,413 --> 00:10:50,206 She would help with homework. 192 00:10:50,241 --> 00:10:53,034 It was her ultimate kindness. 193 00:10:53,068 --> 00:10:55,655 After Sarah was ripped from their lives, 194 00:10:55,689 --> 00:11:00,137 they say their sense of safety was gone forever. 195 00:11:00,172 --> 00:11:03,448 You grow up getting all the safety conversations 196 00:11:03,482 --> 00:11:04,241 with your parents. 197 00:11:04,275 --> 00:11:05,655 And bad things can happen. 198 00:11:05,689 --> 00:11:08,517 And it's all this sort of vague possibility out there. 199 00:11:08,551 --> 00:11:11,379 And then all of a sudden, it was like, no, no, no, no, no, it 200 00:11:11,413 --> 00:11:12,758 can really happen. 201 00:11:12,793 --> 00:11:15,241 It really did just happen. 202 00:11:15,275 --> 00:11:18,758 [EERIE MUSIC] 203 00:11:20,241 --> 00:11:22,655 It was all hands on deck. 204 00:11:22,689 --> 00:11:25,379 The sheriff's office put everything they had 205 00:11:25,413 --> 00:11:30,172 into solving this case as soon as they could. 206 00:11:30,206 --> 00:11:33,310 And the killer left behind important evidence. 207 00:11:33,344 --> 00:11:36,862 Sarah had not been raped, but the killer's DNA 208 00:11:36,896 --> 00:11:40,413 was found on pieces of her clothing. 209 00:11:40,448 --> 00:11:43,551 There was semen found on her underwear and on her jacket. 210 00:11:43,586 --> 00:11:47,137 We had a full male DNA profile. 211 00:11:47,172 --> 00:11:50,793 DNA technology was new back in 1991. 212 00:11:50,827 --> 00:11:53,793 But investigators hoped that DNA would someday 213 00:11:53,827 --> 00:11:55,827 lead them to Sarah's killer. 214 00:11:55,862 --> 00:11:58,965 In the meantime, they had eyewitnesses. 215 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,965 I thought for sure somebody would know him. 216 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,034 Drew and his friend who was with him the morning 217 00:12:05,068 --> 00:12:07,724 they found Sarah's body worked with police, 218 00:12:07,758 --> 00:12:10,068 and a sketch of the man they saw in the bushes 219 00:12:10,103 --> 00:12:12,068 was released to the public. 220 00:12:12,103 --> 00:12:15,758 Police would later release a more elaborate sketch. 221 00:12:15,793 --> 00:12:18,310 I very vividly remember going through yearbooks, going, OK, 222 00:12:18,344 --> 00:12:20,344 who looks like this sketch? 223 00:12:20,379 --> 00:12:25,172 Everyone, it felt like, at one point, was a suspect. 224 00:12:25,206 --> 00:12:29,137 But as days went by and as leads dried up, 225 00:12:29,172 --> 00:12:32,689 police kept coming back to Drew and his friend. 226 00:12:32,724 --> 00:12:36,310 They just made me feel like I was the only person that 227 00:12:36,344 --> 00:12:39,034 could help them solve this. 228 00:12:39,068 --> 00:12:41,551 I know that wasn't the intent. 229 00:12:41,586 --> 00:12:43,586 The officers are just doing their best. 230 00:12:43,620 --> 00:12:46,758 How much pressure were you feeling? 231 00:12:46,793 --> 00:12:49,620 It's unimaginable pressure. 232 00:12:49,655 --> 00:12:52,137 And despite everyone's best efforts, 233 00:12:52,172 --> 00:12:55,000 it would take years to find Sarah's killer. 234 00:12:55,034 --> 00:12:59,241 This case was never forgotten. 235 00:12:59,275 --> 00:13:02,758 [MUSIC PLAYING] 236 00:13:10,551 --> 00:13:13,965 [SOMBER MUSIC] 237 00:13:15,413 --> 00:13:20,517 In early June of 1993, 1 and 1/2 years after Sarah Yarborough's 238 00:13:20,551 --> 00:13:23,620 murder, local media were there as students 239 00:13:23,655 --> 00:13:26,103 gathered in the courtyard of Federal Way High School 240 00:13:26,137 --> 00:13:27,862 to honor her. 241 00:13:27,896 --> 00:13:30,655 Bill Fuller, a family friend who helped spearhead the move 242 00:13:30,689 --> 00:13:32,275 for a memorial to remember Sarah, 243 00:13:32,310 --> 00:13:35,620 unveiled it with help from Sarah's younger brother Andrew. 244 00:13:35,655 --> 00:13:39,689 It was quite a day, a lot of tears as they looked at it. 245 00:13:39,724 --> 00:13:43,413 You could see Sarah in that bench. 246 00:13:43,448 --> 00:13:46,137 Bill Fuller has known the Yarboroughs for years, 247 00:13:46,172 --> 00:13:48,689 and his daughter was in Sarah's class. 248 00:13:48,724 --> 00:13:50,896 Sarah was fun to be around. 249 00:13:50,931 --> 00:13:53,103 That was probably what we missed the most, 250 00:13:53,137 --> 00:13:54,827 is she was fun to be around. 251 00:13:58,344 --> 00:14:01,965 The bench reads "carpe diem," seize the day, 252 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,172 a mantra Sarah lived by. 253 00:14:04,206 --> 00:14:07,724 Encased in bronze are some of her favorite possessions-- 254 00:14:07,758 --> 00:14:11,655 ballet shoes, a replica of Sarah's beloved dog Gibby, 255 00:14:11,689 --> 00:14:13,241 and books. 256 00:14:13,275 --> 00:14:16,413 It's nice that people cared about her so much, 257 00:14:16,448 --> 00:14:19,413 Andrew Yarborough, now an adult, admits that he 258 00:14:19,448 --> 00:14:21,379 struggled as a young teenager. 259 00:14:21,413 --> 00:14:24,034 It was especially difficult to see those sketches 260 00:14:24,068 --> 00:14:28,758 around town of the man police believed murdered his sister. 261 00:14:28,793 --> 00:14:31,241 There was drawings of the person's face 262 00:14:31,275 --> 00:14:33,034 all over in businesses and town. 263 00:14:33,068 --> 00:14:35,965 I do recall that quite a bit, just having that kind 264 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:37,655 of a constant reminder. 265 00:14:37,689 --> 00:14:38,862 Looking back. 266 00:14:38,896 --> 00:14:41,931 I feel like we didn't do a very good job with the boys. 267 00:14:41,965 --> 00:14:45,172 I think that we were so consumed by our own grief 268 00:14:45,206 --> 00:14:47,827 that we didn't take time to help them. 269 00:14:47,862 --> 00:14:50,137 I think we didn't really know how to help them. 270 00:14:50,172 --> 00:14:53,517 I mean, it wasn't something we had experience with. 271 00:14:53,551 --> 00:14:56,241 We didn't know anything about grieving ourselves 272 00:14:56,275 --> 00:14:59,586 or how to help them through it. 273 00:14:59,620 --> 00:15:03,310 And they weren't alone in their grief. 274 00:15:03,344 --> 00:15:06,931 Shannon Grant, the last friend to see Sarah alive, 275 00:15:06,965 --> 00:15:09,862 says she lived with constant regret. 276 00:15:09,896 --> 00:15:13,517 I wish we could go back and do it all over again, that I would 277 00:15:13,551 --> 00:15:17,896 have asked the other drill team members what time practice was, 278 00:15:17,931 --> 00:15:19,448 maybe dropped her off. 279 00:15:19,482 --> 00:15:22,379 I mean, there's a lot of the what-ifs. 280 00:15:22,413 --> 00:15:25,620 The milestones were especially painful. 281 00:15:25,655 --> 00:15:29,241 There was survivor guilt. Why am I 282 00:15:29,275 --> 00:15:32,241 filling out my college applications when 283 00:15:32,275 --> 00:15:34,241 Sarah wanted to go to college? 284 00:15:34,275 --> 00:15:35,827 This isn't fair. 285 00:15:35,862 --> 00:15:39,068 Every joyful occasion had this sorrow 286 00:15:39,103 --> 00:15:41,931 that went with it that was-- 287 00:15:41,965 --> 00:15:43,896 there's one missing from the crowd here. 288 00:15:47,517 --> 00:15:52,517 Graduation day, June 12, 1993 was an emotional day 289 00:15:52,551 --> 00:15:55,206 but even more so since it fell on what would have 290 00:15:55,241 --> 00:15:58,068 been Sarah's 18th birthday. 291 00:15:58,103 --> 00:16:01,655 Laura Yarborough came to support her daughter's friends. 292 00:16:01,689 --> 00:16:04,448 I do not know where she found the strength to do that. 293 00:16:04,482 --> 00:16:06,275 She loved that green dress, right? 294 00:16:06,310 --> 00:16:07,241 Yeah. 295 00:16:07,275 --> 00:16:10,896 She wore green quite a bit with her hair. 296 00:16:10,931 --> 00:16:12,862 Laura Yarborough says Sarah's friends 297 00:16:12,896 --> 00:16:14,793 helped ease her grief somewhat. 298 00:16:14,827 --> 00:16:17,965 And she thinks she filled the void for them as well. 299 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,517 Sometimes they would say, well, I'm going to date this person, 300 00:16:20,551 --> 00:16:22,827 and I just wanted to let you know because I wasn't sure 301 00:16:22,862 --> 00:16:25,586 if Sarah would approve of this person. 302 00:16:25,620 --> 00:16:27,379 So they would seek approval through you. 303 00:16:27,413 --> 00:16:28,862 You became sort of their surrogate. 304 00:16:28,896 --> 00:16:29,482 [LAUGHS] Yes. 305 00:16:32,206 --> 00:16:35,206 As life slowly moved forward, investigators 306 00:16:35,241 --> 00:16:38,862 kept working the case. 307 00:16:38,896 --> 00:16:41,034 I describe it as like a relay race 308 00:16:41,068 --> 00:16:43,620 where the baton was handed off from one detective 309 00:16:43,655 --> 00:16:46,551 to the next over the years and decades. 310 00:16:46,586 --> 00:16:48,862 I kind of refer to myself as the fifth Beatle 311 00:16:48,896 --> 00:16:50,344 in this investigation. 312 00:16:50,379 --> 00:16:52,620 By the early 2000s, investigators 313 00:16:52,655 --> 00:16:57,137 had received over 3,000 leads, and advances in technology 314 00:16:57,172 --> 00:16:58,275 made them hopeful. 315 00:16:58,310 --> 00:17:00,724 They entered the DNA from the crime scene 316 00:17:00,758 --> 00:17:04,862 into the recently established CODIS system, a national DNA 317 00:17:04,896 --> 00:17:08,862 database that includes profiles of convicted offenders. 318 00:17:08,896 --> 00:17:11,689 The strategy was to continually try 319 00:17:11,723 --> 00:17:15,550 to see if there would ever be a match while also investigating 320 00:17:15,586 --> 00:17:16,792 leads. 321 00:17:16,827 --> 00:17:20,482 But over time, there appeared to be no match. 322 00:17:20,517 --> 00:17:23,896 For us to have DNA evidence from the suspect 323 00:17:23,931 --> 00:17:26,550 but not have that link to anybody, 324 00:17:26,586 --> 00:17:28,931 it just didn't make sense. 325 00:17:28,965 --> 00:17:32,448 It seemed hard to believe that the suspect hadn't committed 326 00:17:32,482 --> 00:17:37,413 any other prior crimes where his DNA wouldn't be in the system. 327 00:17:37,448 --> 00:17:40,206 That's when he says detectives realized they had 328 00:17:40,241 --> 00:17:41,965 to go in a different direction. 329 00:17:47,689 --> 00:17:50,000 My name's Colleen Fitzpatrick, and I'm 330 00:17:50,034 --> 00:17:53,482 one of the pioneers of forensic genetic genealogy. 331 00:17:53,517 --> 00:17:57,620 In 2011, investigators reached out to Fitzpatrick 332 00:17:57,655 --> 00:18:01,586 to inquire about using forensic genetic genealogy, 333 00:18:01,620 --> 00:18:04,931 the practice of using software to compare unknown DNA 334 00:18:04,965 --> 00:18:09,344 profiles to information from public DNA databases 335 00:18:09,379 --> 00:18:12,862 and searching family trees to identify suspects. 336 00:18:12,896 --> 00:18:15,931 Genetic genealogy is well known now 337 00:18:15,965 --> 00:18:19,000 and has been used to solve numerous cold cases. 338 00:18:19,034 --> 00:18:22,275 But at that time, it was in its infancy. 339 00:18:22,310 --> 00:18:25,241 When I started in this field, it didn't exist. 340 00:18:25,275 --> 00:18:28,758 Fitzpatrick says most police agencies had been skeptical 341 00:18:28,793 --> 00:18:31,068 of this new investigative tool. 342 00:18:31,103 --> 00:18:34,862 The police thought I was crazy, this little old lady 343 00:18:34,896 --> 00:18:36,310 with a crazy idea. 344 00:18:36,344 --> 00:18:38,793 And I was actually almost laughed out of the room. 345 00:18:38,827 --> 00:18:40,586 But the King County Sheriff's Office 346 00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:42,551 took a chance on Fitzpatrick. 347 00:18:42,586 --> 00:18:43,413 It was for free. 348 00:18:43,448 --> 00:18:45,241 I just wanted to see if it worked. 349 00:18:45,275 --> 00:18:48,655 What are you going to lose if you try something? 350 00:18:48,689 --> 00:18:51,241 The Yarboroughs were encouraged. 351 00:18:51,275 --> 00:18:54,931 I think it wasn't until we met Colleen Fitzpatrick that I 352 00:18:54,965 --> 00:18:57,034 really began to think, well, they're 353 00:18:57,068 --> 00:18:59,241 going to find this person. 354 00:18:59,275 --> 00:19:02,275 And it didn't take long before Fitzpatrick came up 355 00:19:02,310 --> 00:19:06,344 with the name of a possible suspect that surprised just 356 00:19:06,379 --> 00:19:08,000 about everyone. 357 00:19:08,034 --> 00:19:11,310 Everyone went, [SCOFFS] no way. 358 00:19:18,655 --> 00:19:22,068 [MUSIC PLAYING] 359 00:19:28,965 --> 00:19:32,517 From the beginning, it was very promising. 360 00:19:32,551 --> 00:19:38,034 And the story took some really bizarre twists. 361 00:19:38,068 --> 00:19:41,655 In 2011, 20 years after Sarah's murder, 362 00:19:41,689 --> 00:19:44,551 when forensic genetic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick 363 00:19:44,586 --> 00:19:46,689 started working the Yarborough case, 364 00:19:46,724 --> 00:19:49,551 she traced Sarah's killer's family tree 365 00:19:49,586 --> 00:19:53,655 back to a man named Robert Fuller, whose family had come 366 00:19:53,689 --> 00:19:55,862 to America on the Mayflower. 367 00:19:55,896 --> 00:20:00,034 I found numerous matches to the name Fuller. 368 00:20:00,068 --> 00:20:03,172 When Fitzpatrick gave the name Fuller to the King County 369 00:20:03,206 --> 00:20:07,034 Sheriff's Office, they immediately knew of one person 370 00:20:07,068 --> 00:20:09,034 with that last name-- 371 00:20:09,068 --> 00:20:13,206 Bill Fuller, the Yarboroughs' close family friend who helped 372 00:20:13,241 --> 00:20:16,379 get that memorial bench built for Sarah. 373 00:20:16,413 --> 00:20:20,137 Naturally, that piqued our interest. 374 00:20:20,172 --> 00:20:22,344 From the beginning, Sarah's family and friends 375 00:20:22,379 --> 00:20:26,482 believed Bill Fuller had nothing to do with Sarah's murder. 376 00:20:26,517 --> 00:20:30,655 He didn't look at all like the suspect, the wrong hair color. 377 00:20:30,689 --> 00:20:31,586 He's short. 378 00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:32,965 He's not tall. 379 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,862 He just didn't fit the profile at all. 380 00:20:35,896 --> 00:20:38,827 Fuller's age didn't match the profile either. 381 00:20:38,862 --> 00:20:42,862 He's 79 years old now but was 48 years old 382 00:20:42,896 --> 00:20:47,068 at the time of Sarah's murder, at least two decades older 383 00:20:47,103 --> 00:20:49,517 than the man Drew Miller described. 384 00:20:49,551 --> 00:20:53,517 There was no way that I could be even remotely connected 385 00:20:53,551 --> 00:20:55,413 to the case. 386 00:20:55,448 --> 00:20:58,896 He fully cooperated with police and voluntarily 387 00:20:58,931 --> 00:21:00,931 gave them a DNA sample. 388 00:21:00,965 --> 00:21:04,931 It didn't match the DNA found at Sarah's crime scene, 389 00:21:04,965 --> 00:21:08,034 yet Fitzpatrick remained optimistic. 390 00:21:08,068 --> 00:21:11,206 The good news is that we came up with a possible last name 391 00:21:11,241 --> 00:21:12,482 to investigate. 392 00:21:12,517 --> 00:21:17,344 And this was the first break in the case in 20 years. 393 00:21:17,379 --> 00:21:20,620 Fitzpatrick knew that Sarah's killer was in the Fuller family 394 00:21:20,655 --> 00:21:24,206 tree somewhere, so she and her team went back to work. 395 00:21:24,241 --> 00:21:26,103 And as the years went by, she knew 396 00:21:26,137 --> 00:21:30,034 she was only getting closer, especially after 2018, 397 00:21:30,068 --> 00:21:33,965 when forensic genetic genealogy was used to identify the Golden 398 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,241 State Killer. 399 00:21:35,275 --> 00:21:38,931 The Golden State Killer really started the big revolution. 400 00:21:38,965 --> 00:21:42,620 Things had evolved, that we had the data to work with. 401 00:21:42,655 --> 00:21:46,551 The technology was in place that we could go for it. 402 00:21:46,586 --> 00:21:49,931 Then, in September of 2019, Fitzpatrick's team 403 00:21:49,965 --> 00:21:51,275 made a breakthrough. 404 00:21:51,310 --> 00:21:54,586 They came up with two new possible suspects-- 405 00:21:54,620 --> 00:21:57,344 brothers Edward and Patrick Nicholas, 406 00:21:57,379 --> 00:22:02,896 who, as the DNA showed, were distant cousins of Bill Fuller. 407 00:22:02,931 --> 00:22:06,724 This is eight years of on and off and looking at it, 408 00:22:06,758 --> 00:22:08,068 never giving up. 409 00:22:08,103 --> 00:22:09,034 This is it. 410 00:22:09,068 --> 00:22:11,344 This is exciting. 411 00:22:11,379 --> 00:22:14,275 Edward Nicholas was a registered sex offender. 412 00:22:14,310 --> 00:22:18,482 His DNA was in the system, was in CODIS. 413 00:22:18,517 --> 00:22:21,068 But Edward's DNA wasn't a match. 414 00:22:21,103 --> 00:22:23,620 So they zeroed in on his brother Patrick, 415 00:22:23,655 --> 00:22:26,931 who, in 2019, was a divorced loner who 416 00:22:26,965 --> 00:22:29,655 lived a couple of towns away from Federal Way. 417 00:22:29,689 --> 00:22:33,275 We learned that he was working at a auto parts store, lived 418 00:22:33,310 --> 00:22:37,758 alone, no children, no friends or acquaintances 419 00:22:37,793 --> 00:22:38,862 that would even visit him. 420 00:22:38,896 --> 00:22:42,034 Everything that he did was mostly by bus. 421 00:22:42,068 --> 00:22:45,379 He wasn't driving. 422 00:22:45,413 --> 00:22:47,172 Detective Free says he discovered 423 00:22:47,206 --> 00:22:50,896 that when Sarah was murdered, the bus route Nicholas often 424 00:22:50,931 --> 00:22:54,793 took happened to go past Federal Way High School. 425 00:22:54,827 --> 00:22:57,827 Back then, Nicholas was just 27 years old 426 00:22:57,862 --> 00:23:01,931 and around that time looked very much like the description 427 00:23:01,965 --> 00:23:03,931 of the sketch. 428 00:23:03,965 --> 00:23:05,344 It looked promising at that point, 429 00:23:05,379 --> 00:23:08,517 but we still needed to get a DNA sample from him 430 00:23:08,551 --> 00:23:13,551 to match up to the DNA evidence that we had. 431 00:23:13,586 --> 00:23:17,206 So in late September 2019, investigators 432 00:23:17,241 --> 00:23:19,482 came up with a plan. 433 00:23:19,517 --> 00:23:23,034 We assigned a team of undercover detectives 434 00:23:23,068 --> 00:23:25,655 to start doing surveillance on Patrick 435 00:23:25,689 --> 00:23:30,034 Nicholas in the hopes of obtaining a surreptitious DNA 436 00:23:30,068 --> 00:23:31,034 sample. 437 00:23:31,068 --> 00:23:32,758 Eventually, undercover detectives 438 00:23:32,793 --> 00:23:35,068 followed Nicholas to a laundromat. 439 00:23:35,103 --> 00:23:37,448 They saw him go outside and smoke a cigarette. 440 00:23:37,482 --> 00:23:40,862 And Patrick Nicholas was seen throwing the cigarette butt 441 00:23:40,896 --> 00:23:41,793 on the ground. 442 00:23:41,827 --> 00:23:43,344 That was collected by our detectives. 443 00:23:43,379 --> 00:23:44,103 That's what you needed. 444 00:23:44,137 --> 00:23:44,931 Yes. 445 00:23:44,965 --> 00:23:45,896 Right there, that cigarette butt. 446 00:23:45,931 --> 00:23:47,448 Yes. 447 00:23:47,482 --> 00:23:50,034 Actually, he dropped two cigarette butts and a napkin 448 00:23:50,068 --> 00:23:51,413 that fell out of his pocket. 449 00:23:51,448 --> 00:23:54,931 And all three items were collected. 450 00:23:54,965 --> 00:23:57,965 The DNA samples were rushed to the crime lab. 451 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,034 And within days, detectives received the call 452 00:24:01,068 --> 00:24:02,931 they had been waiting for. 453 00:24:02,965 --> 00:24:04,103 The DNA match. 454 00:24:04,137 --> 00:24:05,931 This was our suspect. 455 00:24:05,965 --> 00:24:06,896 Perfect match? 456 00:24:06,931 --> 00:24:08,310 Yes. 457 00:24:08,344 --> 00:24:10,758 Patrick Nicholas was arrested. 458 00:24:10,793 --> 00:24:13,241 There were so many suspects over the years. 459 00:24:13,275 --> 00:24:17,241 Was Patrick Leon Nicholas ever named as a suspect? 460 00:24:17,275 --> 00:24:19,413 Out of 4,000 tips, he was never named. 461 00:24:24,827 --> 00:24:27,034 I was pretty in shock. 462 00:24:27,068 --> 00:24:30,344 The news was a relief for Sarah's family and friends, 463 00:24:30,379 --> 00:24:34,275 who had never given up hope that they would get answers. 464 00:24:34,310 --> 00:24:37,413 One thing the detectives kept telling us was, 465 00:24:37,448 --> 00:24:40,241 eventually, technology is going to solve this case. 466 00:24:40,275 --> 00:24:42,275 I trusted that. 467 00:24:42,310 --> 00:24:45,724 And they turned out that they were right. 468 00:24:45,758 --> 00:24:51,758 And I remember going out to my car and bawling, just bawling. 469 00:24:51,793 --> 00:24:56,241 Finally, finally, they got him. 470 00:24:56,275 --> 00:25:00,827 When Drew Miller, who had seen Sarah's killer back in 1991, 471 00:25:00,862 --> 00:25:04,034 saw Patrick Nicholas's face, he says 472 00:25:04,068 --> 00:25:06,862 he knew they had the right person. 473 00:25:06,896 --> 00:25:08,689 What did he look like? 474 00:25:08,724 --> 00:25:12,448 The same guy, just older, just the same evil eyes. 475 00:25:12,482 --> 00:25:13,172 Same face? 476 00:25:13,206 --> 00:25:16,241 Those evil eyes stayed the same. 477 00:25:16,275 --> 00:25:17,172 All these years later? 478 00:25:17,206 --> 00:25:19,551 Yeah. 479 00:25:19,586 --> 00:25:22,000 But it was not over yet. 480 00:25:22,034 --> 00:25:23,827 Why do you think you're here? 481 00:25:23,862 --> 00:25:25,103 I have no clue. 482 00:25:25,137 --> 00:25:27,034 During his interrogation-- 483 00:25:27,068 --> 00:25:28,724 What am I being charged for? 484 00:25:28,758 --> 00:25:32,620 --when detectives specifically asked him about Sarah's murder, 485 00:25:32,655 --> 00:25:35,793 he gave an alarming response. 486 00:25:35,827 --> 00:25:37,931 What we're investigating is the death 487 00:25:37,965 --> 00:25:40,793 of a young girl named Sarah Yarborough. 488 00:25:40,827 --> 00:25:42,000 What year? 489 00:25:42,034 --> 00:25:45,103 Interestingly, he asked what year this was. 490 00:25:45,137 --> 00:25:47,206 And that really sent up a flag. 491 00:25:47,241 --> 00:25:48,068 Why? 492 00:25:48,103 --> 00:25:49,758 Why would you ask that? 493 00:25:49,793 --> 00:25:52,068 He's being told this is a murder case. 494 00:25:52,103 --> 00:25:54,758 We're wondering at this point, are there other victims? 495 00:25:54,793 --> 00:25:55,482 This is it. 496 00:25:55,517 --> 00:25:56,655 I'm not going to say anything-- 497 00:25:56,689 --> 00:25:59,689 After 1 and 1/2 hours, Nicholas asked for an attorney 498 00:25:59,724 --> 00:26:01,275 and stopped talking. 499 00:26:01,310 --> 00:26:05,379 But his criminal record would speak volumes. 500 00:26:05,413 --> 00:26:08,275 I am the one that got away. 501 00:26:18,482 --> 00:26:21,965 [EERIE MUSIC] 502 00:26:26,931 --> 00:26:31,034 On a quiet morning in June 1983, eight years 503 00:26:31,068 --> 00:26:34,482 before Sarah's murder, 21-year-old Anne Croney 504 00:26:34,517 --> 00:26:36,517 was sitting by her car along the Columbia 505 00:26:36,551 --> 00:26:40,965 River in Richland, Washington when a man approached her. 506 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,551 He seemed normal, kind of friendly 507 00:26:44,586 --> 00:26:45,965 actually, just friendly. 508 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,689 I had asked him if he'd done any water skiing yet because he 509 00:26:48,724 --> 00:26:50,517 said he had just moved to town. 510 00:26:50,551 --> 00:26:52,034 And he said he couldn't swim. 511 00:26:52,068 --> 00:26:55,482 And he said, my name is Pat Nicholas. 512 00:26:55,517 --> 00:26:59,068 After a few minutes of small talk, she became uncomfortable. 513 00:26:59,103 --> 00:27:01,896 I noticed his voice was getting shaky. 514 00:27:01,931 --> 00:27:06,034 And I told him I had to go. 515 00:27:06,068 --> 00:27:10,068 I went to close the door, and he put a knife to my throat. 516 00:27:13,586 --> 00:27:18,241 Everything kind of stopped at that moment. 517 00:27:18,275 --> 00:27:21,965 He told me to take my clothes off. 518 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,793 Nicholas stuffed Anne's underwear into her mouth 519 00:27:24,827 --> 00:27:28,517 to prevent her from screaming, forced her out of the car, 520 00:27:28,551 --> 00:27:30,862 and led her to the riverbank. 521 00:27:30,896 --> 00:27:34,137 We got about halfway down the bank, and he told me to stop. 522 00:27:34,172 --> 00:27:36,448 I ran and dove in the river because I 523 00:27:36,482 --> 00:27:39,206 was thinking he couldn't swim, swam as hard as I could. 524 00:27:39,241 --> 00:27:40,517 You swam for your life. 525 00:27:40,551 --> 00:27:43,724 I swam for my life. 526 00:27:43,758 --> 00:27:47,620 Passersby found Anne at a dock nearby and called police. 527 00:27:47,655 --> 00:27:50,482 As it turns out, 19-year-old Patrick Nicholas 528 00:27:50,517 --> 00:27:54,206 was no stranger to law enforcement and had a record. 529 00:27:54,241 --> 00:27:58,482 He had raped two women and attempted to rape a third. 530 00:27:58,517 --> 00:28:02,896 He'd been convicted of rape as a juvenile 531 00:28:02,931 --> 00:28:07,034 and had actually only just been out for a few months 532 00:28:07,068 --> 00:28:10,000 when he attacked me. 533 00:28:10,034 --> 00:28:13,586 Days after Anne's attack, he was tracked down, arrested, 534 00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:16,068 and pled guilty to attempted rape. 535 00:28:16,103 --> 00:28:18,965 He told authorities, "I realize that I 536 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,965 have a problem concerning raping girls." 537 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,172 At his sentencing hearing, Anne spoke out. 538 00:28:26,206 --> 00:28:30,310 I was actually very angry and asked the judge 539 00:28:30,344 --> 00:28:32,068 for the maximum sentence. 540 00:28:32,103 --> 00:28:35,758 And the judge did agree and sentenced him to 10 years. 541 00:28:35,793 --> 00:28:37,344 So I thought it was over. 542 00:28:37,379 --> 00:28:39,758 I thought that justice had been served. 543 00:28:43,034 --> 00:28:45,172 But Patrick Nicholas did not serve 544 00:28:45,206 --> 00:28:47,034 the full 10 years in prison. 545 00:28:47,068 --> 00:28:50,206 He was released after just 3 and 1/2 years. 546 00:28:50,241 --> 00:28:52,310 Anne was never notified. 547 00:28:52,344 --> 00:28:56,655 She barely thought of him again until October 2019. 548 00:28:56,689 --> 00:29:00,241 The police knocked on my door and said 549 00:29:00,275 --> 00:29:02,517 that there were detectives in Seattle that 550 00:29:02,551 --> 00:29:04,931 wanted to talk to me about a cold case. 551 00:29:04,965 --> 00:29:07,241 They informed Anne that Patrick Nicholas had 552 00:29:07,275 --> 00:29:10,862 been arrested again, this time for the murder of Sarah 553 00:29:10,896 --> 00:29:12,275 Yarborough. 554 00:29:12,310 --> 00:29:15,034 He told me that there were similarities in the cases. 555 00:29:15,068 --> 00:29:22,310 And I was crushed. 556 00:29:22,344 --> 00:29:26,758 It had never occurred to me that what I escaped from 557 00:29:26,793 --> 00:29:29,068 was a murderer. 558 00:29:29,103 --> 00:29:31,965 What's more, if Nicholas had served his full prison 559 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,931 sentence, he would have still been behind bars 560 00:29:34,965 --> 00:29:39,517 that December morning in 1991, unable to murder Sarah 561 00:29:39,551 --> 00:29:40,655 Yarborough. 562 00:29:40,689 --> 00:29:42,793 How angry are you to hear that he 563 00:29:42,827 --> 00:29:44,241 was released that early and-- 564 00:29:44,275 --> 00:29:45,482 Very. 565 00:29:45,517 --> 00:29:48,103 It brought up a lot of the old anger and even more anger, 566 00:29:48,137 --> 00:29:50,896 because the system failed. 567 00:29:50,931 --> 00:29:54,413 King County deputy prosecuting attorney Celia Lee and Mary 568 00:29:54,448 --> 00:29:59,793 Barbosa describe him as a serial predator with a clear pattern. 569 00:29:59,827 --> 00:30:03,896 All of the women were approached at or near their car. 570 00:30:03,931 --> 00:30:06,275 He would strike up a conversation 571 00:30:06,310 --> 00:30:10,241 and then pull a knife and tell them that they needed to walk, 572 00:30:10,275 --> 00:30:13,689 where he would order them to take off their clothes and then 573 00:30:13,724 --> 00:30:15,068 rape them. 574 00:30:15,103 --> 00:30:17,482 Nicholas had also been convicted of sexually 575 00:30:17,517 --> 00:30:22,620 assaulting a minor in 1994, three years after Sarah's 576 00:30:22,655 --> 00:30:23,689 murder. 577 00:30:23,724 --> 00:30:26,827 Five sexual assaults that investigators knew of, 578 00:30:26,862 --> 00:30:30,724 none of which had required him to submit his DNA, 579 00:30:30,758 --> 00:30:34,310 so there was no record of him in the CODIS database. 580 00:30:34,344 --> 00:30:36,793 But in pretrial hearings, the judge 581 00:30:36,827 --> 00:30:40,034 ruled that Nicholas's criminal history could not 582 00:30:40,068 --> 00:30:42,172 be entered in as evidence. 583 00:30:42,206 --> 00:30:45,275 She found that it would be unfairly 584 00:30:45,310 --> 00:30:46,827 prejudicial to the defendant. 585 00:30:46,862 --> 00:30:51,862 But the prosecutors were hopeful their case was strong enough. 586 00:30:51,896 --> 00:30:53,103 All rise for the jury. 587 00:30:53,137 --> 00:30:57,448 In early 2023, more than 30 years after Sarah Yarborough's 588 00:30:57,482 --> 00:31:03,137 murder, her accused killer, now 59 years old, went on trial. 589 00:31:03,172 --> 00:31:05,620 Sarah's childhood friends were there. 590 00:31:05,655 --> 00:31:07,655 I so clearly remember the morning 591 00:31:07,689 --> 00:31:09,241 before the trial started just going, 592 00:31:09,275 --> 00:31:11,896 I don't know if I can do this. 593 00:31:11,931 --> 00:31:14,448 I had so many different emotions flowing through. 594 00:31:14,482 --> 00:31:16,344 And it was like, no, we need to be there. 595 00:31:16,379 --> 00:31:21,241 There was this absolute love for Sarah and the Yarboroughs 596 00:31:21,275 --> 00:31:23,310 that was so strong. 597 00:31:23,344 --> 00:31:25,965 Did you feel like they were a lifeline for you? 598 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:26,758 Yeah. 599 00:31:26,793 --> 00:31:27,551 Be seated. 600 00:31:27,586 --> 00:31:28,965 You weren't in it alone. 601 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:30,620 You were all in it together. 602 00:31:30,655 --> 00:31:34,655 As the trial got underway, the focus was on the DNA. 603 00:31:34,689 --> 00:31:38,000 What was your strategy then in trying this case? 604 00:31:38,034 --> 00:31:41,034 Well, we needed them to trust the science. 605 00:31:41,068 --> 00:31:42,827 There was a field that was emerging called 606 00:31:42,862 --> 00:31:45,310 forensic genetic genealogy. 607 00:31:45,344 --> 00:31:48,137 Patrick Nicholas's public defender, David Montes, 608 00:31:48,172 --> 00:31:52,000 challenged how forensic genetic genealogy was used 609 00:31:52,034 --> 00:31:54,068 to first identify Nicholas. 610 00:31:54,103 --> 00:31:55,862 I want to dig into the science because-- 611 00:31:55,896 --> 00:31:57,655 The first time that kind of defense 612 00:31:57,689 --> 00:32:00,034 had been used in Washington State. 613 00:32:00,068 --> 00:32:02,689 They used technology that was not only proven, 614 00:32:02,724 --> 00:32:05,413 but just wacky, really. 615 00:32:05,448 --> 00:32:08,103 He's not the person that killed Sarah Yarborough. 616 00:32:08,137 --> 00:32:11,379 The police needed an answer more than they 617 00:32:11,413 --> 00:32:13,034 need the right answer. 618 00:32:13,068 --> 00:32:18,517 And so they turned to new, novel, untested technology. 619 00:32:18,551 --> 00:32:20,172 Genetic genealogy is a new field. 620 00:32:20,206 --> 00:32:22,689 It really hasn't been tested out. 621 00:32:22,724 --> 00:32:25,172 Should we be making important decisions 622 00:32:25,206 --> 00:32:29,000 based on something that is not well or deeply understood? 623 00:32:29,034 --> 00:32:31,931 But the prosecutors said that argument was moot 624 00:32:31,965 --> 00:32:36,137 because Patrick Nicholas's DNA matched the DNA found 625 00:32:36,172 --> 00:32:37,965 at the Yarborough crime scene. 626 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,793 And Detective Free says the numbers were astronomical. 627 00:32:41,827 --> 00:32:45,206 The odds were 1 in 120 quadrillion that-- 628 00:32:45,241 --> 00:32:47,241 Quadrillion, yeah. 629 00:32:47,275 --> 00:32:51,241 Right, that it was somebody else. 630 00:32:51,275 --> 00:32:54,000 If the numbers pointed to Nicholas's guilt, 631 00:32:54,034 --> 00:32:56,862 law enforcement says so did evidence 632 00:32:56,896 --> 00:33:01,344 found at his house near the time of his arrest in 2019. 633 00:33:01,379 --> 00:33:03,034 It was almost like a lair. 634 00:33:03,068 --> 00:33:05,413 There was no working electricity at this house, 635 00:33:05,448 --> 00:33:08,551 stacks of pornography all throughout the place. 636 00:33:08,586 --> 00:33:14,724 We also found a newspaper from 1994 that had on its front page 637 00:33:14,758 --> 00:33:16,793 an article about the Sarah Yarborough case. 638 00:33:16,827 --> 00:33:18,862 And going through one of the kitchen drawers, 639 00:33:18,896 --> 00:33:22,793 we found a torn photograph taken from a magazine, a woman 640 00:33:22,827 --> 00:33:24,275 in a cheerleading outfit. 641 00:33:27,793 --> 00:33:32,448 When the prosecutors showed that photo in the courtroom, 642 00:33:32,482 --> 00:33:34,482 the oxygen left the room. 643 00:33:34,517 --> 00:33:35,551 Yeah. 644 00:33:35,586 --> 00:33:38,551 Montes downplayed their significance. 645 00:33:38,586 --> 00:33:40,206 I think both of those pieces of evidence 646 00:33:40,241 --> 00:33:42,517 were not especially strange given 647 00:33:42,551 --> 00:33:44,344 the general state of his house. 648 00:33:44,379 --> 00:33:48,137 There were stacks and stacks of newspapers all over his house. 649 00:33:48,172 --> 00:33:51,034 This is evidence tape. 650 00:33:51,068 --> 00:33:53,655 Patrick Nicholas didn't flinch as the evidence 651 00:33:53,689 --> 00:33:57,344 was shown, showing no emotion throughout the trial. 652 00:33:57,379 --> 00:34:01,517 But Sarah Yarboroughs presence was felt, especially when 653 00:34:01,551 --> 00:34:04,655 now retired Captain Scott Strathy carefully 654 00:34:04,689 --> 00:34:07,689 unpackaged and displayed Sarah's clothing 655 00:34:07,724 --> 00:34:11,620 that had been in storage for over 30 years-- 656 00:34:11,655 --> 00:34:15,793 her drill team jacket, shoes, sweater, 657 00:34:15,827 --> 00:34:18,275 even her nylon stockings. 658 00:34:18,310 --> 00:34:21,034 This was like opening a time capsule. 659 00:34:21,068 --> 00:34:23,172 All of a sudden, they were real things. 660 00:34:23,206 --> 00:34:24,896 They weren't even photographs. 661 00:34:24,931 --> 00:34:31,034 They were the things she had on her body when she died. 662 00:34:31,068 --> 00:34:34,793 You sort of felt yourself crumble. 663 00:34:34,827 --> 00:34:37,827 After nine long days of testimony, 664 00:34:37,862 --> 00:34:39,551 the case went to the jury. 665 00:34:39,585 --> 00:34:41,206 Let's all rise for the jury. 666 00:34:41,241 --> 00:34:44,965 It took them just over a day to reach a verdict. 667 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,931 I was shaking and just that-- there 668 00:34:46,965 --> 00:34:49,896 was so much adrenaline and so much anticipation. 669 00:34:49,931 --> 00:34:53,275 We the jury find the defendant, Patrick Leon-- 670 00:34:53,310 --> 00:34:54,413 Everything just dropped. 671 00:34:54,447 --> 00:34:55,344 And it's like, what? 672 00:34:58,586 --> 00:35:02,172 Why do you think it took law enforcement so long to identify 673 00:35:02,206 --> 00:35:04,068 Patrick Nicholas as a suspect? 674 00:35:04,103 --> 00:35:07,379 Take a look at a timeline of the case at 48hours.com. 675 00:35:11,586 --> 00:35:14,000 [EERIE MUSIC] 676 00:35:14,034 --> 00:35:17,827 This is the State of Washington versus Patrick Leon Nicholas. 677 00:35:17,862 --> 00:35:19,724 Sarah Yarborough's loved ones had waited 678 00:35:19,758 --> 00:35:22,103 over 30 years for this moment. 679 00:35:22,137 --> 00:35:24,034 We the jury find the defendant-- 680 00:35:24,068 --> 00:35:25,931 But then, shock. 681 00:35:25,965 --> 00:35:27,931 --not guilty of the crime of murder 682 00:35:27,965 --> 00:35:31,931 in the first-degree premeditated. 683 00:35:31,965 --> 00:35:34,034 Patrick Nicholas was found not guilty 684 00:35:34,068 --> 00:35:37,068 of the first charge, premeditated first-degree 685 00:35:37,103 --> 00:35:38,103 murder. 686 00:35:38,137 --> 00:35:40,413 I remember dropping my head to my hands. 687 00:35:40,448 --> 00:35:41,344 I was angry. 688 00:35:41,379 --> 00:35:43,103 I was in disbelief. 689 00:35:43,137 --> 00:35:47,655 When that first one came in not guilty, I closed my eyes. 690 00:35:47,689 --> 00:35:50,793 But there were other charges, and there was still 691 00:35:50,827 --> 00:35:52,344 hope of a conviction. 692 00:35:52,379 --> 00:35:55,137 Guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree, 693 00:35:55,172 --> 00:35:57,034 guilty in the second degree-- 694 00:35:57,068 --> 00:35:59,379 Patrick Nicholas was found guilty 695 00:35:59,413 --> 00:36:02,724 of first-degree murder and second-degree murder. 696 00:36:02,758 --> 00:36:04,758 The jury ruled both had been committed 697 00:36:04,793 --> 00:36:06,965 with a sexual motivation. 698 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,758 I remember hearing the family behind me cry. 699 00:36:10,793 --> 00:36:14,517 And I made eye contact with the jurors and nodded at them. 700 00:36:14,551 --> 00:36:15,034 They got it. 701 00:36:15,068 --> 00:36:16,241 They got it right. 702 00:36:16,275 --> 00:36:22,206 I feel so grateful for those detectives, for the boys, 703 00:36:22,241 --> 00:36:25,241 for the previous victims, for every witness 704 00:36:25,275 --> 00:36:28,793 who took the stand, so grateful that all these people came 705 00:36:28,827 --> 00:36:31,310 together. 706 00:36:31,344 --> 00:36:33,379 Two weeks after Nicholas's conviction, 707 00:36:33,413 --> 00:36:35,137 dozens of people who had been involved 708 00:36:35,172 --> 00:36:37,931 in every part of Sarah's case gathered back 709 00:36:37,965 --> 00:36:40,379 at the courthouse for his sentencing hearing. 710 00:36:40,413 --> 00:36:43,724 Prosecutors asked the judge to impose extra time 711 00:36:43,758 --> 00:36:47,931 to take into account all of Nicholas's crimes. 712 00:36:47,965 --> 00:36:51,724 The sentencing hearing was exhilarating in a way 713 00:36:51,758 --> 00:36:53,827 that I never expected. 714 00:36:53,862 --> 00:37:00,655 It was probably the most raw human courage 715 00:37:00,689 --> 00:37:03,482 I have ever seen in my life. 716 00:37:06,482 --> 00:37:09,137 Sarah's death left our family broken, 717 00:37:09,172 --> 00:37:11,620 and we've never been the same. 718 00:37:11,655 --> 00:37:16,000 The pain in my father's voice over the phone telling me Sarah 719 00:37:16,034 --> 00:37:17,551 was dead-- 720 00:37:17,586 --> 00:37:20,103 Person after person took to the podium 721 00:37:20,137 --> 00:37:24,413 to say all that Patrick Nicholas had taken from them. 722 00:37:24,448 --> 00:37:26,586 Coming face to face with pure evil 723 00:37:26,620 --> 00:37:30,103 that day has deeply impacted my entire life. 724 00:37:30,137 --> 00:37:32,448 He took her life and what was sure to be 725 00:37:32,482 --> 00:37:35,758 a brilliant future from her. 726 00:37:35,793 --> 00:37:38,793 In taking Sarah, he took the Innocence of every one of us. 727 00:37:38,827 --> 00:37:42,241 To face Patrick Nicholas and to say what 728 00:37:42,275 --> 00:37:45,862 they had been wanting to say to his face for 30 years-- 729 00:37:45,896 --> 00:37:49,000 Patrick Nicholas is pure evil. 730 00:37:49,034 --> 00:37:51,517 --there was so much power in the room. 731 00:37:51,551 --> 00:37:53,137 It was electric. 732 00:37:53,172 --> 00:37:56,000 And then Anne Croney, who wasn't allowed 733 00:37:56,034 --> 00:38:00,034 to testify at Sarah's trial, started speaking. 734 00:38:00,068 --> 00:38:04,034 He just did a double take and shuddered when Anne stood up. 735 00:38:04,068 --> 00:38:04,931 Like he saw a ghost. 736 00:38:04,965 --> 00:38:06,000 Yes. 737 00:38:06,034 --> 00:38:08,620 I'm sure he didn't expect to ever see my face 738 00:38:08,655 --> 00:38:10,482 or hear my name ever again. 739 00:38:10,517 --> 00:38:13,241 We rely on a system of Justice that 740 00:38:13,275 --> 00:38:16,413 is designed to protect us from predators like Nicholas. 741 00:38:16,448 --> 00:38:18,379 And this system failed me. 742 00:38:18,413 --> 00:38:22,689 It failed Sarah, her family, friends, and countless others. 743 00:38:22,724 --> 00:38:25,517 I ask the court to please not make the same mistake. 744 00:38:25,551 --> 00:38:28,724 After everyone spoke, Judge Josephine Wiggs 745 00:38:28,758 --> 00:38:29,896 addressed the court. 746 00:38:29,931 --> 00:38:35,103 And when I think about this poor child, 747 00:38:35,137 --> 00:38:41,448 this poor child, what she experienced, 748 00:38:41,482 --> 00:38:43,206 fighting for her life-- 749 00:38:43,241 --> 00:38:46,965 Judge Wiggs put her fist on the thing and said, 750 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:48,172 this was a child. 751 00:38:48,206 --> 00:38:48,896 --a child. 752 00:38:48,931 --> 00:38:50,068 She kept saying that. 753 00:38:50,103 --> 00:38:53,655 And all I could think was, oh, my gosh, that's right. 754 00:38:53,689 --> 00:38:54,896 We were children. 755 00:38:57,655 --> 00:39:01,344 Nicholas received a sentence of almost 46 years. 756 00:39:01,379 --> 00:39:04,103 For Sarah's family and friends, the sentence 757 00:39:04,137 --> 00:39:06,517 brought mixed emotions. 758 00:39:06,551 --> 00:39:08,379 I don't know that this is justice. 759 00:39:08,413 --> 00:39:12,000 It is a verdict, and it is putting someone away 760 00:39:12,034 --> 00:39:13,551 for something that they did. 761 00:39:13,586 --> 00:39:17,689 But he got 30 years that she didn't get. 762 00:39:17,724 --> 00:39:20,965 It makes me mad that he was free for so many years. 763 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,379 And who knows how many other people 764 00:39:24,413 --> 00:39:25,827 were hurt during that time? 765 00:39:25,862 --> 00:39:28,172 I don't know that we'll ever know. 766 00:39:28,206 --> 00:39:30,655 And that could have been avoided. 767 00:39:30,689 --> 00:39:34,310 Forensic genetic genealogy helped solve Sarah's case, 768 00:39:34,344 --> 00:39:37,448 but prosecutors say similar technology could 769 00:39:37,482 --> 00:39:40,758 have identified Patrick Nicholas years earlier 770 00:39:40,793 --> 00:39:43,275 if only familial DNA searches were 771 00:39:43,310 --> 00:39:45,068 allowed in Washington State. 772 00:39:45,103 --> 00:39:49,379 In a familial DNA search, an unknown DNA sample 773 00:39:49,413 --> 00:39:52,862 is compared against profiles already in CODIS 774 00:39:52,896 --> 00:39:55,655 to search for possible family members. 775 00:39:55,689 --> 00:39:58,931 Remember, Patrick Nicholas's brother's DNA 776 00:39:58,965 --> 00:40:01,724 had been in CODIS for years. 777 00:40:01,758 --> 00:40:04,310 The legislation just doesn't exist in this state 778 00:40:04,344 --> 00:40:06,068 to allow that search. 779 00:40:06,103 --> 00:40:08,241 California uses it. 780 00:40:08,275 --> 00:40:10,586 The UK, as I understand, has-- 781 00:40:10,620 --> 00:40:11,896 New York, New York, Wisconsin-- 782 00:40:11,931 --> 00:40:12,620 New York. 783 00:40:12,655 --> 00:40:15,034 --Minnesota, Colorado, Florida. 784 00:40:15,068 --> 00:40:17,758 Do you think it's time to get that law changed? 785 00:40:17,793 --> 00:40:18,275 We do. 786 00:40:18,310 --> 00:40:19,344 We do. 787 00:40:19,379 --> 00:40:22,344 The Yarboroughs agree and hope that Sarah's case 788 00:40:22,379 --> 00:40:24,137 can make a difference. 789 00:40:24,172 --> 00:40:26,793 I would like to know that other parents don't 790 00:40:26,827 --> 00:40:30,310 have to wait 30 years. 791 00:40:30,344 --> 00:40:32,517 What do you hope her legacy is? 792 00:40:32,551 --> 00:40:36,517 I think her legacy is she was always someone 793 00:40:36,551 --> 00:40:38,172 who brought people together. 794 00:40:38,206 --> 00:40:40,310 She's brought all the people together 795 00:40:40,344 --> 00:40:42,275 that attended the trial. 796 00:40:42,310 --> 00:40:45,068 That's the kind of person she was. 797 00:40:45,103 --> 00:40:48,862 For Drew Miller, who, at 13, found Sarah's body, 798 00:40:48,896 --> 00:40:53,241 the connections made at trial finally brought him some peace. 799 00:40:53,275 --> 00:40:55,896 Knowing he's in prison is fantastic. 800 00:40:55,931 --> 00:40:58,896 But knowing her family and friends 801 00:40:58,931 --> 00:41:02,103 is way more important to me because that's 802 00:41:02,137 --> 00:41:06,413 what's given me the actual healing that I needed. 803 00:41:06,448 --> 00:41:08,862 This is probably the beginning of our junior year. 804 00:41:08,896 --> 00:41:11,413 Sarah's friends will always remain bonded 805 00:41:11,448 --> 00:41:15,482 by the past and Sarah's stolen future. 806 00:41:15,517 --> 00:41:18,689 Not only was she beautiful, her soul was beautiful. 807 00:41:18,724 --> 00:41:23,172 And the grace and the beauty that she carried and left 808 00:41:23,206 --> 00:41:25,586 with all of us, we won't forget her. 809 00:41:25,620 --> 00:41:26,931 We will never forget her. 810 00:41:26,965 --> 00:41:30,413 [INSPIRING MUSIC] 811 00:41:30,931 --> 00:41:34,413 [THEME MUSIC] 812 00:41:42,896 --> 00:41:45,034 After the Murdaugh murders, a new lead 813 00:41:45,068 --> 00:41:48,103 heats up this cold case, the mysterious unsolved death 814 00:41:48,137 --> 00:41:49,137 of Stephen Smith. 815 00:41:49,172 --> 00:41:51,275 Do you believe Stephen was murdered? 816 00:41:51,310 --> 00:41:52,448 I do. 817 00:41:52,482 --> 00:41:55,103 Investigating another tragedy in Murdaugh country-- 818 00:41:55,137 --> 00:41:57,068 What really happened to Stephen Smith? 819 00:41:57,103 --> 00:42:00,000 48 Hours, Saturday on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.