This story contains details of violent sexual crimes that readers may find disturbing. They were included to demonstrate the similarities between cases and the terror that victims were forced to endure.
When two researchers knocked on Mitchell Gaff's door and asked if he would try various flavors of their company's gum, the convicted rapist thought he was participating in a harmless taste test.
What Gaff didn't know is that the "researchers" were really undercover investigators who suspected him of murder, and that they were really there to collect DNA evidence.
Now Gaff − a diagnosed "sexual sadist" and admitted rapist − stands accused of the gruesome killings of two women after DNA collected from the gum matched separate crime scenes in the 1980s in Washington state, according to court records.
Gaff, 68, will go to trial on both murder charges five months from now in September in Everett, the city just north of Seattle where prosecutors say he preyed on women. He has pleaded not guilty.
