A convicted rapist has been sentenced to a minimum of 50 years in prison for the murders of two women in the 1980s, after police used DNA from discarded chewing gum to link him to the crimes. Mitchell Gaff, 68, was arrested in May 2024 following a ruse in which undercover officers posed as gum company researchers and collected his saliva from used gum.
Gaff pleaded guilty on April 16 to two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Susan Vesey, 21, and Judith Weaver, 42. Vesey was found dead in her home on July 12, 1980, after being beaten, raped and strangled. Weaver was discovered on June 2, 1984, after a fire at her home, which Gaff admitted he set to destroy evidence.
According to court documents, Gaff was identified as a suspect after his DNA matched evidence from Weaver's murder through the national Combined DNA Index System. His DNA had been entered following a 1984 conviction for raping two teenage sisters. In January 2024, three Everett Police Department investigators visited Gaff's home, claiming to represent a gum company conducting market research.
Officer Susan Logothetti said one colleague offered Gaff a dish for his discarded gum. “I remember watching him spit the first piece of gum into the ramekin and seeing the saliva, and it was very hard for me to contain my excitement,” she told CNN. The DNA collected matched the crime scene evidence, leading to charges.
In his plea statement, Gaff admitted to attacking Vesey after finding her door unlocked, and later assaulting Weaver in her bedroom before setting the fire. “Before leaving I wrapped cords around her neck and lit the corner of the bedspread in an attempt to cover up my crime and with the intention of killing her,” he said. Gaff stated he did not know either woman prior to the attacks.
