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Alanis Mejia is also accused of striking Galarza in the chest. During that time, he had been couch-surfing with a friend at Arpana's apartment complex: a young woman named Leslie, who would actually lie to police about Emanuel staying there (claiming that she was home alone when questioned). 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. 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). Or it might not. One of the women that Fair called, whom he phoned three times at around 4:45 AM, said that his calls had gone straight to voicemail. It was the culmination of a long and tortured relationship with the criminal justice system. Not only was there just as much incriminating physical evidence implicating him in Arpana's death, but he had committed a ton of strange and bizarre acts around the time of her death that raised suspicion. Sign up for Vultures new recommendation newsletter 1.5x Speed here. The prosecution would quickly decide that they wanted to retry Emanuel Fair for the murder of Arpana Jinaga, and the court would set a date for that September. To-date, Arpana Jinaga's murder remains unsolved. "This unwritten policy of permissible use of excessive force has deep roots going back decades to Carrizales' opening. 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. "We still consider it early in the investigation. Everything Everywhere All at Once leads with eight nominations tonight. October 31st, 2008 - Halloween - had the rare fortune of falling on a Friday. Sure, it grapples with several important ideas discriminatory policing based on race, the limitations of DNA evidence, the thorny relationship between the judicial system and actual justice but it doesnt end up being particularly about any of those things, nor does it substantially advance the conversation on any front. They dance and drink. Even though Emanuel Fair and other defendants all over the country began to demand access to the software's underbelly, Dr. Perlin was willing to take the issue to court to preserve his company's share in the burgeoning forensic analysis market, having already scored deals with law enforcement agencies all over the country. Shaer and Benson previously collaborated on another true-crime podcast calledOver My Dead Body.. This ultimately ended up impacting the jury, as they had not been informed about the details of Fair's prior mistrial, and the testimony of C.J. 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. Over the next hour or so, neighbors on both sides of Arpana would recall hearing what sounding like consensual sex taking place after the party: the neighbors would recall hearing what sounded like muffled moaning coming from her apartment shortly after 3:00 AM, which they were certain was coming from her apartment. 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). She even participated in Taekwondo classes and dabbled in a couple of musical ventures (including singing in a band back east while attending university). It was just gruesome. In a new Wondery podcast series called Suspect, career journalistsMatthew ShaerandEric Bensoninvestigate the story of Jinagas murder, Fairs conviction and the spiderweb of details around this story. In that case, police learned everything they needed to know from the crime scene itself. Inside of Arpana's bathroom, investigators would find a white comforter from her bed, which had also been stained with blood. 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. A curious thing about Suspect, though, is that as much as some of its interviewees display awareness about the format theyre engaging with, the show itself largely resists doing the same. Despite the insistence from the Redmond Police Department that this case was their top priority, that didn't bring forth any answers in the months to come, as the workable leads only led investigators to numerous dead-ends. A witness that was returning home from work that evening at around 3:00 AM - who had not attended the Halloween party, but lived nearby - later told police that they saw a non-black individual standing in the doorway of Arpana's apartment at around 3:00 AM. Breaking down the contenders in the seasons most unpredictable Oscar race. For three and a half decades, her disappearance was a mystery - a riddle neither authorities . 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. Fair was held in jail for nine years and was twice tried but was never convicted. I hope people think about that, but I also hope that they think about the way that justice is carried out or not, in cities across the country and in a really liberal place like Seattle. And soon, she was able to build an entire social circle around herself, due to her bubbly personality and her willingness to try anything at least once. Posting comments is now limited to subscribers only. Missing from the scene entirely was Arpana's motorcycle, a Suzuki GS 500, which quickly became a highly-sought-after item for Redmond Police. And who you can expect to see performing and presenting. That the murder took place around the time of a Halloween party lends a slightly surreal quality to the way law-enforcement types discuss the case on tape: Was it the gangster? 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. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, This password will be used to sign into all, Shania Twain Gives Rare Update on Her Ex-Husband and Ex-BFF, Journey Should Probably Go Their Separate Ways, 6 Stand-ups Analyze ChatGPTs Attempts to Steal Their Jobs, Rick Scott Is Unfortunately Kind of Right About Novak Djokovic, Rick Scott Is Unfortunately Right About Novak Djokovic, The 7 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend, Ke Huy Quan Continues His Winning Streak at the Independent Spirit Awards. A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for May 30 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan. The most crushing thing of course is shes not here, but you can imagine it would be really difficult for her family to have that lack of closure. We didnt know that the King County prosecutors office was going to be willing to participate in the show. Emanuel Demelvin Fair - who was also known as Anthony P. Parker - was 27 years old when charges were filed against him in October of 2010. Benson: I think no one feels satisfied with the outcome. They argue and fight. I hadn't seen her for months, I'd never thought about her like that [prior to the night of the Halloween party]". "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. 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. In terms of pure execution, it's probably the best narrative true-crime podcast I've heard all year. 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. Offscreen, he was one himself. Arpana's body was taken to the King County Medical Examiner's office for an autopsy, to determine the cause and manner of death. She was the oldest of two daughters to her parents, B.C. The description they gave to police more closely resembled C.J. Investigators would later speculate that this was the time when the ambitious 24-year-old's life was coming to an end, and her killer was attempting to cover up his tracks. Here was a case where a woman was murdered and there were years of investigation, years of pursuing various suspects, two trials. Redmond, a suburb on the outskirts of Seattle, is located just on the other side of scenic Lake Washington and is known as a bit of a tech mecca (having served as the homes for both Microsoft and Nintendo). His reason for making this trip has never been uncovered, but it is believed that he might have committed crimes in the Seattle area over this three-day span in which Arpana Jinaga ended up dead. She recalled one of these voicemails sounding like constant movement on the other end, but nothing verbally being said. In addition to joining a motorcycle club, Arpana also volunteered at the Redmond Fire Department, riding along to fires in the area; as well as animal shelters in Bellevue, where she helped care for and attend to unwanted pets. 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. He said his surgery was a success, but he needs time to heal before he can tour again. 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). As a teen, she participated in an IEEE Hardware Design Contest that earned her some attention from universities and potential employers, and seemed to cement her down the path of computing. ", "It was a brutal scene. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. This is a series whose internal universe pretty much stops at the very edges of its specific case. 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. 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). claimed to not remember anything about them. Shortly thereafter, Fair would be arraigned on murder charges and entered a plea of not guilty. A lot of stuff has not been analyzed yet. Both jailers acted under color and are not entitled to qualify for immunity because the excessive use of force violated Alanis-Mejia's Fourteen Amendment constitutional rights, the lawsuit alleged. had even shown Fair a music editing software on his home computer. 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. What were the things that made that possible? It is . An apartment complex hosts a big Halloween party with themed rooms and costumed . Many had written off the case long ago, due to the belief that DNA had correctly tagged Fair as the killer back in 2010, but the truth is that the story is much more complicated than that. Over the next few hours, police would begin arriving at the crime scene, closing it off to outsiders and attempting to gather statements from anyone they deemed pertinent. 4A former Cameron County inmate is suing the county and two of its jailers for $1 million alleging he was beaten by the jailers while incarcerated. 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. He then heard the sound of running water in Arpana's apartment, which lasted for about an hour, but wouldn't give these bizarre sounds any second thoughts in the days to come. 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. Of course, for [Arpanas] family, its crushing. After all, not everything has to be about something bigger than itself, and theres something to be said about delivering the most polished version of a standard. At times the party veers out of control. These are just a couple of the most high-profile suspects I've uncovered while researching this case, but the answer may be more simple than that (it usually is). And the energy with which many of the people pursued this case it is tragic, what happened. In fact, she was the fifth student or worker from India to be murdered in the United States that year; a fact that ultimately led to the United States Hindu Alliance calling for the FBI to investigate this case, as they feared that it could be tied to a widespread rash of hate crimes sweeping the nation. After Dax Shepard asked her about her musical chairs relationship situation. Strangers come together. Follow Suspect Season 2: Vanished in the Snow on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. "It's the No. DNA evidence was linked to three men and ultimately used to charge Emanuel Fair, a Black man from Seattle. Then, in a strange turn of fate, he decided to drive up to the Canadian border, where he attempted to drive through the border without stopping or declaring himself. Whoever had forced entry into the apartment had attempted to clean and cover up their crime afterward. In October of 2008, a 24-year-old computer programmer living in the Seattle area would attend a Halloween party in her apartment complex. That day, Arpana showed up for work as if it were any other workday, but told some of her coworkers about a party being held that evening at her apartment complex. 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. TrueAllele is a genotyping software developed by a company named Cybergenetics, which is utilized by law enforcement agencies all over the country. And they're a couple of names that you might be familiar with. After all, nothing else of value had been stolen from the apartment, so someone might have been on the phone and camera that didn't want to be. as a suspect which is why they ultimately presented a case that didn't do so. . Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys, on the other hand, didn't see it that way. On November 21st, 2008 - three weeks after the murder - he spoke to investigators and admitted to being inside of Arpana's apartment during the Halloween party. Several items found inside of the apartment had also been burned by the killer, including a green blanket that belonged to Arpana, the red cape she had been wearing to the Halloween party, other pieces of her costume, a black sheet, and portions of carpet. This Valentine's Day, prepare for a unique podcast experience! Things you buy through our links may earnVox Mediaa commission. [In the 1980s], you really needed a lot of body fluid, so there was no ambiguity about whose DNA it was. The resulting product is tight as hell, a listening experience of such efficiency that I couldnt help but compulsively move from each episode to the next. Later that day - after being turned away from the Canadian border - C.J. 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. 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. In addition to having at least one brief encounter with Arpana at the party, police were able to determine that Fair had spent time at the party with "C.J." Arpana B. Jinaga grew up in Hyderabad, one of the largest cities in all of India. We didnt want to make that kind of show. Regardless, more than a decade has passed since the mysterious death of Arpana Jinaga, and no one has been held responsible for it. As if that wasn't bad enough, the killer had then sprayed motorcycle oil and other chemicals all over the 24-year-old's body, which they had then attempted to light on fire, not knowing that oil isn't flammable. 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). However, the notion of a robbery taking place did not end there. However, without charging C.J. 4A former Cameron County inmate is suing the county and two of its jailers for $1 million alleging he was beaten by the jailers while incarcerated. Her younger sister, Pavitra, would begin to follow in these footsteps as well, and later pursue a career in computer engineering after Arpana. By October of that year, she had already scored a promotion to lead programmer and seemed destined for greater things. In it, she spoke about her love of working with computers and using them to innovate new and exciting things and spoke about working with companies in the future to do just that - innovate - before following in her father's footsteps to become a professor. After all, he was the only one facing charges, and him facing charges for two people was - at its core - unconstitutional. It is unknown if Galarza and Solis are still employed by the county, and it is also unknown if they have hired attorneys to represent them. How did that happen? I hope that answers can still be found in this case, but until such a time, the story of Arpana Jinaga will remain unresolved. Who knows, she might have even become a mother by now. The analysis of this evidence had been performed by TrueAllele, making it the first criminal trial in Washington state that this was done; it had been used in prosecutions from other states - as well as exonerations in Washington - but never in this manner. That dream that would ultimately turn into a nightmare for herself and her loved ones, who have had to endure years of trials and tribulations in the wake of their tragic loss. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Emanuel Fair's second trial began just last year, in 2019, and again, tried to reach a jury consensus regarding his guilt. 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. Alanis-Mejia was allegedly beaten by jailers Raul Galarza and Mark Solis while . According to investigators, they were also struggling to piece together a solid motive. Emanuel Fair's trial would begin in February of 2017 - more than six years after he had originally been charged, and more than eight years after Arpana Jinaga's murder. Months later, members of the Pacific Northwest Riders, the motorcycle club that Arpana had joined, would organize memorial rides in her honor (which took them out to Snoqualmie Falls, one of Arpana's favorite places to visit in Washington). All rights reserved. was called to the stand during this trial to answer questions but was limited in what questions he could be asked, due to his privilege against self-incrimination. He previously suffered a brain aneurysm on February 18, and was ultimately taken off life support. It remains possible that both (or neither) were involved in this case - as investigators implied over the years - but a successful case has not been built around either. That was surprising. Season 2: Vanished in the Snow chronicles the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews. That is where her body was discovered, nude and bloody, lying face-down on the floor beside her bed. 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. (Arpana's neighbor, who would co-discover her body days later). These pretrial motions would also bring to light a discrepancy within the forensic analysis of the evidence, which would ultimately turn into the longest-lasting dispute in this case, carrying on over years and significantly delaying the state of Emanuel Fair's trial. 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. Why did it play out like it did? 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". C.J. Speaking to the Redmond Reporter, Lt. Doug Shepard said: "She did not make enemies, she just made friends and a lot of them. Privacy Policy and Shane Waters will introduce 14 crime podcast hosts, including Crimelines! Benson: DNA was kind of the selling point in terms of why this was going to be something that was current and hadnt been talked about a lot, because the DNA science has evolved very quickly. 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. 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. Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza do not seem like a match made in action-comedy-chemistry heaven, but it somehow works. Speaking to the Times, this juror recalled: "I think that was the biggest reasonable doubt and no one could eliminate him [as the killer] We found [Fair] not guilty because of reasonable doubt, not because we thought he was completely innocent.". He is also seeking a jury trial. Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys would also contest the state's claims that he had acted alongside an accomplice; stating that he wasn't on-trial for crimes that he and/or someone else may have committed. But we got really all of those people. Season 1 features a whodunit-style search for a holiday party killer. had gone down to a car so that they could listen to some music, and C.J. Hes dangerous, hes terrifying, hes an extra in, How to Watch the 2023 Oscars Celebrate All 23 Categories Live Again. "Classic City Crime," a true-crime podcast hosted by Cameron Jay, centers around the tragic death of Tara Louise Baker. was one of these neighbors, who claimed to have passed out on a couch jutted up against his and Arpana's shared wall, and he said that he was woken up shortly after 3:00 AM to the sound of moaning, before falling back asleep until 10:00 AM. But instead of returning home to India, she decided to take another huge leap and accepted a job as a software quality assurance engineer with the tech giant EMC (now known as Dell EMC). Fair and C.J. Was there anything that surprised you in your reporting of this story? The two hung out often after Arpana moved to the Redmond area, but had begun to drift apart in the weeks before the murder (due to Arpana spending her free time volunteering and participating in her motorcycle club). Short of clear leads and smoking guns, the authorities ultimately pin the crime on the lone Black man at the party, Emanuel Fair, who had a prior criminal record. The podcast currently has over 1,000 followers on Instagram and has over . The autopsy of Arpana Jinaga was performed by the King County Medical Examiner's Office, and the results would be released roughly one week after Arpana's death (November 6th, 2008). Suspect takes up the unsolved murder of Arpana Jinaga, who was killed the night of a Halloween party at her Redmond, Washington, apartment complex in 2008. For three and a half decades, her disappearance was a mystery - a riddle neither authorities . He said that he met her briefly that night, and seemed to get along well with her; she briefly showed him photos from her bedroom computer, but that was about the extent of their interaction. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. Speaking to the press, King County's Sr. Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird claimed: "The defendant opened the locked door to Jinaga's apartment, attacked her, stripped off her clothing, gagged her, assaulted her and finally strangled her to death.". Witnesses would recall this incident being "race-related," likely due to comments the man had made, but Arpana would quickly move on and seemed to enjoy the rest of the party. Discover golden trading opportunities with FXTM, Laura B. Martinez, The Brownsville Herald, Texas. In any case, Suspects overarching narrative builds up to Fairs victory against wrongful imprisonment. Even forensic analysis has its limits, as King County prosecutors and investigators in the Redmond area learned from this case. After her death, the killer had scrubbed Arpana's body with bleach in an attempt to destroy evidence, and investigators would later note that Arpana's hands had been stained blue by a "highly-acidic" cleaning agent.