The prosecution would paint a portrait of Fair as a repeat offender, who met Arpana at the Halloween party and then became infatuated with her. "We still consider it early in the investigation. Prior to that, she had attended Rutgers University on the east coast, but had grown up in the Indian city of Hyderabad as the oldest of two daughters. "In 2004, a correctional officer, Lt. Hilda Trevino, blew the whistle on fellow guards' mistreatment of inmates. It was the culmination of a long and tortured relationship with the criminal justice system. 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. This likely resulted in his DNA being distributed throughout the apartment; in particular, in Arpana's bathroom, where he had cleaned himself up. 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. Prosecutors implied that Fair had been lying about where he was during these vital hours, which remained unexplained nearly two years later. Alanis was "left in that state for two hours, until he was taken to the Valley Regional Medical Center," according to the lawsuit. The case remains unsolved today. (Arpana's neighbor, who would co-discover her body days later). A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for May 30 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan. Those pleas would continue to amplify months after Arpana's murder, when it became evident that answers were not readily available. You see the consequences of a decision, even a relatively small decision. Benson: I think no one feels satisfied with the outcome. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. While O'Leary never killed any of his known victims, there are certain details about his crime spree that remain unknown to investigators: including the contents of an encrypted file on his hard drive, which has been nicknamed "The Wretch" by certain investigators. Whats Next for Convicted Sex Criminals Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly? Her younger sister, Pavitra, would begin to follow in these footsteps as well, and later pursue a career in computer engineering after Arpana. 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. But what I hope people also get from this is that theres a lot of vitality in the podcast it starts with Arpana and her being an extremely alive, curious person. Let's get this out of the way: Suspect is a very good listen. For the next two years, investigators would struggle to make sense of this case. This one is not going away. Discover golden trading opportunities with FXTM, Laura B. Martinez, The Brownsville Herald, Texas. According to investigators, they were also struggling to piece together a solid motive. than any other suspect (including Emanuel Fair), and when asked whether or not he had gone next-door to Arpana's apartment after making his two phone calls, C.J. Fair was held in jail for nine years and was twice tried but was never convicted. Keyes was a methodical serial killer who obsessively planned out his crimes ahead of time, but was also known to act impulsively. 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). The two disgraced men have both been sentenced for sex crimes. Unlike Emanuel Fair, he also had a prior relationship with Arpana, lived next-door to her, and had been noticeably resentful towards her in the weeks leading up to her death. It is . This included the nearly two years it took them to single out Emanuel Fair as a suspect; during which time, investigators had hired a psychic to help point them in the right direction, which highlighted how adrift the investigators had been up until that point. In 2019, he ultimately walked free after being acquitted of the murder charges. After all, he was the only one facing charges, and him facing charges for two people was - at its core - unconstitutional. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Joel Alonso Alanis-Mejia, alleges the county jail system has a history of jailers using excessive force against inmates. The jailers "violently slammed Alanis into a wall and then tackled him to the ground with both officers leaping on top of him," the lawsuit stated. Lets get this out of the way: Suspect is a very good listen. 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. claims to have woken up at around 10:00 AM. It's an extra special, two-part, more than two-hour, Valentine's event. 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. Terms of Service apply. 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. The description they gave to police more closely resembled C.J. By Cameron Sheppard March 4, 2023 1:30 pm. Investigators would later retrieve the cell phone's information from Arpana's provider, but its disappearance - as well as the absence of Arpana's camera - pointed to the likelihood of her killer being someone that she knew. Together, they decided to enter Arpana's apartment to check in on her, but when they knocked on the apartment door, it swung open. And who you can expect to see performing and presenting. While Arpana didn't have any friends or family in the area, she didn't let that deter her from leaning into the community. Speaking to the Redmond Reporter, some of the club's members would remember Arpana as the fun-loving, ambitious young woman she had been - not just the victim she had become in local newspapers. Alanis' head was forcefully slammed to the ground and "Galarza violently punched and hit Alanis' head, face and body as his blood spilled to the ground.". By this point, Arpana had already started to make plans to accomplish all of these goals. 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.". would admit that during this time, he had stopped taking his psychiatric medication. She was last seen by numerous people leaving an apartment on the first floor - where the party had ended up - and was heading back up to her apartment on the third floor (the top level of the complex). All of this evidence made it virtually impossible for prosecutors to rule out C.J. Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix have broken up after he allegedly cheated on her with Raquel Leviss. And they're a couple of names that you might be familiar with. Regardless, more than a decade has passed since the mysterious death of Arpana Jinaga, and no one has been held responsible for it. October 31st, 2008 - Halloween - had the rare fortune of falling on a Friday. TrueAllele was utilized heavily by this investigation and was able to come up with results that were far more definitive than anything the crime lab itself had been able to determine. The Seattle Timesrecently spoke with Shaer and Benson over Zoom about the impetus for this podcast, what surprised them in their reporting and what their take-aways are from investigating this story. In that case, police learned everything they needed to know from the crime scene itself. On October 31st, 2008, Israel Keyes flew from Anchorage to SeaTac and was in the Seattle area until November 2nd, when he then flew from SeaTac to Boston. Again. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. A tech prodigy from an early age, Arpana seemed poised to achieve great things in life. There, she lived in Apartment 8946, on the top floor of the complex. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. But theres also a kind of incredible energy that went into every part of this; as much as it all sort of ended up with everyone feeling haunted, this was a lot of people trying to do what they thought was right, in most cases. But a check of his online activity would reveal that at around 10:00, he had printed out maps for local pawn shops. 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). Fair was unable to recall these phone calls, stating that he had likely dialed this young woman's number on accident. Instead, her life was brought to a violent and sudden end the morning after a Halloween party, and no one has been held to task for that. Multiple witnesses had claimed to see Arpana return to her apartment at around 3:00 AM on November 1st, and shortly thereafter, some of her neighbors had recalled hearing "moaning" coming from her apartment (which they assumed was consensual sex taking place). 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. Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys, on the other hand, didn't see it that way. Can Anyone Predict Whos Going to Win Best Supporting Actress? In addition to the bleach, investigators would note that the apartment smelled faintly of motor oil, which had been dumped all around the crime scene; especially in the bedroom, on and around Arpana's body. The team, led by Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson (who previously collaborated on Over My Dead Body), with further reporting by Natalia Winkelman, approaches every beat of the investigative documentary process with clinical precision and workmanly competence. 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. This is perhaps another way Suspect embodies a core quality of the contemporary true-crime podcast experience: You might get a little more truth and even a little more justice, but youre still far from closure. The power of that for potentially solving a crime, but also the potential shortcomings of DNA, was something everyone we talked to for this series has been really honest about. Despite not even knowing how to ride a motorcycle at the time, she purchased a Suzuki and began attending classes to learn how to safely ride it. However, without charging C.J. According to one of the jurors, who later spoke to the Seattle Times, the state's inability to reconcile the charges against Emanuel Fair with the evidence implicating C.J. Six years after charges were filed, Fair, now 33, spends his days shuffling between the King County Superior Court and the county jail while his two defense attorneys . 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. 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. Shortly after moving to Redmond, the 24-year-old Arpana decided to purchase a motorcycle. 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. 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. 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). Yet, it seems like the limp had come from somewhere else, due to him arriving at the party with it; and it was theorized by investigators later on that the wrestling match was an cover by C.J. By the age of 24, Arpana Jinaga had already lived a full and rewarding life and seemed poised to leave a positive impact on the rest of the world. Lt. Brian Coats would later tell reporters about the crime scene: "It was a scene where the suspect or suspects spent a considerable amount of time covering the evidence of crime. This area - Redmond, Washington - is a relative stranger to violent crime. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Editors note: A previous version of this story stated Emanuel Fair was convicted for the murder of Arpana Jinaga. Guest on Suspect. You can listen early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+ in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery App. Instead of trying to solve Jinagas murder, Shaer and Benson use extensive interviews to weave a complex narrative around race, injustice, the place of forensic DNA evidence in the common perception of guilt and innocence and, ultimately, a tragic story with no real closure. This was paired with several inconsistencies in Emanuel Fair's story; which included - but was not limited to - calls he had made during the time of Arpana's murder. C.J. Things you buy through our links may earnVox Mediaa commission. One, that someone had broken into the third-floor apartment of the decedent by kicking in the front door, leaving behind the broken frame to be discovered by the 911 caller. 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.