A Washington rapist has pleaded guilty to two cold case murders that he was linked to through DNA taken from chewing gum during an undercover operation.
Mitchell Gaff, 68, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in Snohomish County Superior Court on Thursday, April 16, according to the Everett Police Department just north of Seattle.
Gaff described the two murders in detail in open court as part of a plea agreement that will in all likelihood mean that he dies behind bars, prosecutor Craig Matheson told USA TODAY.
"This was a good result for the families" of the victims, Matheson said. "They got some answers without any real risk of a jury going rogue or us making a mistake in the court during trial."
Gaff was a diagnosed sexual sadist and convicted rapist who was living as a free man in recent years when a DNA hit in the national database known as CODIS identified him as a potential suspect in the 1984 cold case murder of a 42-year-old mother of two named Judy Weaver.
