Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Beautiful teen high schooler heads to drill team practice, found raped and murdered by 12-year-olds

Episode Date: December 6, 2019

Nearly 28 years after two young boys discover the body of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough, a suspect is in custody.Police say Sarah was raped, strangled and killed, then left in a secluded, wooded area. Suspect Patrick Leon Nicholas claims innocence.Joining Nancy Grace to discuss the case: Jason Oshins: NY Defense Attorney James Shelnutt : Retired Atlanta Metro Major Case Detective, SWAT Officer Caryn Stark: Psychologist   Dr. Michelle Dupree: South Carolina Medical Examiner & Author of “Homicide Investigation Field Guide”   Shera LaPoint: Genetic Genealogist, The Gene Hunter Levi Page: Investigative Reporter  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. She was just going to drill team practice. A teen girl, straight-A student, on her way to school. I mean, what could be wrong with that? The drill team, you know, the girls in the outfits that do routines at football and basketball games. Sarah Yarborough, her body is found by two 12-year-old little boys playing just yards away from the school. You think when you send your child to school, everything is okay. And then the case drags on, and her rape and murder go unsolved.

What happened to this teen girl, this beautiful girl scrubbed in sunshine? Sarah Yarborough. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories, and I want justice. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She was the all-American girl next door, a wholesome teenager with long red curls. Sarah Yarborough had everything in front of her. She was passionate about music, dance, art. Andrew remembers his sister Sarah was always there when he needed her. She was always willing to help me out.

She was a, you know, just thinking back, a gracious sister. But those good times with Sarah would end in a harrowing way. It's just, it's crushing. Andrew remembers he was just 11 years old and playing in a Saturday morning soccer tournament when police came to the game to speak to his parents. They didn't tell my parents, obviously, what had happened yet. They just had indicated that, you know, something was wrong and they needed to come with them.

Something was terribly wrong. That morning around 8 a.m., Sarah pulled up to Federal Way High School to meet her cheerleading team. The girls were about to leave for a competition, but Sarah never made it on the bus. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You are here in Crime Watch Daily's Jason Matera. Sarah Yarbrough, just 16 years old, the all-American girl next door. What happened? Joining me, an all-star panel, Daryl Cohen, former prosecutor, now defense attorney, inner city Atlanta. Karen Stark,

psychologist, finder at karenstark.com. Professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, Joseph Scott Morgan. Cheryl LaPointe, genetic genealogist from The Gene Hunter. Right now to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Levi Page. What happened to Sarah Yarbrough? Nancy, it was December 14, a Saturday morning, and Sarah was scheduled to go to a drill competition with her classmates on the drill team. But she arrived at school. Her car was there, but she was not. And then hours later, that's when her body was discovered by two 12-year-old boys. Where was her body?

It was near the parking lot in bushes. There were two 12 year old boys. They were hanging out near the school. One of them lives near the school and they saw a man acting strange in the bushes. They locked eyes with him and he left. So they went to check out what's he doing. So they went to the bushes near the parking lot and they found her dead body. Take a listen to our friend Jason Matera. How did Sarah die? She was strangled. In a shocking discovery around the same time the cheerleaders were waiting to load the bus, two boys find Sarah's body lying just 150 feet away from her parked car in a brushy area near the high school. Did anyone hear Sarah scream a commotion, a scuffle? We didn't have anybody that heard any

screaming, but we did have a jogger that saw our suspect interacting with Sarah's body in the bushes. Strangled and reportedly sexually assaulted, Sarah was left for dead in broad daylight. Did Sarah have any enemies? Was she involved in drugs, the wrong crowd? No, yeah. No, that definitely wasn't her. Any scorned ex-boyfriends? No, you know, there would be, you know, nobody that she would have any grievances with. And that's what's so difficult. To Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, why is it, Joe Scott Morgan, it's so much more difficult to solve

a murder when the killer is at random? Yeah, you don't have anything to start with, Nancy. The connectivity there, you know, where you don't have these kind of impulsive events that occur, you know, like the reporter was talking about relative to relative to impassioned events like scorned lovers, this sort of thing, running with the wrong crowd, you're absent all of that. So for investigators just from Jump Street, it's a real problem. To Daryl Cohen, former prosecutor in inner city Atlanta, now renowned defense attorney out of Atlanta.

Daryl Cohen, you throw in a random killing. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Explain. Well, because you have, as Joseph mentioned, you have no place to start. Where you start is the person who was killed. And you go from there and you look for whatever forensic evidence there may be. You look to see, as mentioned before, was she involved in drugs? Did she have someone or someone who did not like her?

You just start from nowhere. And from nowhere, you have to be somewhere. Very, very difficult. Why do you keep saying, did she run with the wrong crowd? She didn't run with the wrong crowd. Why is it so hard for all of you to well not you shara and not you karen stark but i'm referring to the men on this panel you keep talking about her her her her like somehow it's her fault i mean levi page crime online.com investigative reporter tell me about

this little girl sarah yarborough she's just 16 how bad could she be she was a 16 year old straight a student on the honor roll and was a member of the drill team and everyone that has commented on her that knew her personally said that she was extremely nice and a very nice young woman with a very bright future ahead of her. Listen. She was excited about going to college. She had big hopes and big dreams. She was a great sister. She was a great daughter.

Laura Yarborough's daughter. On the morning of December 14, 1991, she arrived early at Federal Way High School so she could meet up with her drill team. But that never happened. Just after 9 a.m., two 12-year-old kids were cutting through the high school and saw a male walking out of the bushes at the school. After he walked away, they went into the bushes to look around, and there they found Sarah's body. Sarah had been murdered. You know, it upset me when I first found out about it.

I went over to our high school where I was a cheerleader. I ended up being a cheerleader because I was the only girl cut off the basketball team. Out of everybody that tried out, one person got cut, me. And the only thing left was cheerleading. So I did it. I did it for five years. And long story short, there were a million times I would go over there all by myself and paint posters and all sorts of set up equipment, all sorts of stuff, all alone. Me and my little Toyota my dad and mom gave me in a place that was totally surrounded by trees. Never thought a thing about it. And now, Daryl Cohen, Mr. Ditchy Run With the Wrong Crowd,

Daryl Cohen, my little Lucy, and John David are 12. That means this girl is just a couple years older than them. And let me just say, hell no. Nobody is, quote, running with the wrong crowd. Now, see what you did? You made me curse, all right? You made me say H-E-double-L, Daryl Cohen. This girl's scrubbed in sunshine. Yes, but Nancy, you have to look at it. I'm not saying or even intimating that you ran

with the wrong crowd, but a good investigator, he or she has to look and see everything and start ruling it out. This girl was obviously killed by a psychopath who just was going to find whoever was near. Take a listen to our friend Jason Matera. The violent and random murder gripped the quiet community of Federal Way, Washington, with fear. What was the atmosphere like after Sarah turned them dead? It changes things afterwards. I think people were much more conscious about being in groups, not being alone.

Ted Bow would know about those changes firsthand. That's because he went to high school with Sarah all those years ago. Did you know her? I did. I knew who she was. You'd see her in the hallway and she was on the drill team. Can't miss the red hair. And in an ironic twist, he's now the sheriff's captain heading up the team in charge of solving the crime.

This is the case that would be the most important for me as I look at the wall. Not to discount the other cases, but this one I have a personal tie to. It means something to me to be able to say that while I was here, we solved this case. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In a shocking discovery around the same time the cheerleaders were waiting to load the bus, two boys find Sarah's body lying just 150 feet away from her parked car in a brushy area near the high school. Did anyone hear Sarah scream a commotion, a scuffle? We didn't have anybody that heard any screaming, but we did have a jogger that saw our suspect

interacting with Sarah's body in the bushes. Strangled and reportedly sexually assaulted, Sarah was left for dead in broad daylight. Did Sarah have any enemies? Was she involved in drugs, the wrong crowd? No, yeah. No, that definitely wasn't her. Any scorned ex-boyfriends?

No, you know, there would be you know nobody that she would have any grievances with. You are hearing Crime Watch Daily's Jason Matera. Sarah Yarbrough just 16 years old the all-American girl next door. Joining me an all-star panel Daryl Cohen former prosecutor prosecutor, now defense attorney. I agree with you and Joe Scott in that you have to look. You have to look everywhere. And typically, Joe Scott, you start with, for instance, the husband, the boyfriend, the lover, the ex. This is a 16-year-old girl, so there's no husband or lover, but a boyfriend, somebody she rejected, somebody that has a crush on her. Then if there's nobody there, you look to the family, the dad, the stepfather,

the weird uncle, if there is one. Then you move out further and further, the grandfather, the great-grandfather, relatives, cousins. Then you go to the school. Was there a janitor? Was there a yardman? Was there a teacher? Was there somebody that came in contact with her? Right? That's where you start. But here we're getting nowhere. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, going back to the high school, that's an interesting thing, Nancy, because here we had this young girl that was supposed to meet up with her drill team to go and practice and or to go to a game. And it's striking to me that an individual would attack this young girl unless they had knowledge of the fact that this is where they would gather. Maybe they had foreknowledge. Maybe they were foreknowledge.

Maybe they were watching from a distance the entire time. And that's what makes this doubly horrific, because this is a total stranger, apparently. There's no connection for her relative to violence or somebody that would be violence in her sphere. So that's a place that the investigators would have to start. You know what you just brought to mind? You brought to mind a scene out of Lion King where the hyenas are just waiting at the edge of the light for their chance to pounce.

That's what's making this so difficult, the random nature of this murder. Listen. The violent and random murder gripped the quiet community of Federal Way, Washington, with fear. What was the atmosphere like after Sarah turned him dead? It changes things afterwards. I think people were much more conscious about being in groups, not being alone. Ted Bow would know about those changes firsthand. That's because he went to high school with Sarah all those years ago. Did you know her? I did. I knew who she was.

You'd see her in the hallway and she was on the drill team. Can't miss the red hair. And in an ironic twist, he's now the sheriff's captain heading up the team in charge of solving the crime. This is the case that would be the most important for me as I look at the wall. And not to discount the other cases, but this one I have a personal tie to. It means something to me to be able to say that while I was here, we solved this case. Following Sarah's murder, there was a massive manhunt.

Over 2,500 tips poured in, and most importantly, invaluable physical evidence was collected from the crime scene. Any DNA recovered at the scene that wasn't Sarah's? Yes, we had a full male profile from the scene. Full male profile? Yes. Have you been able to match this DNA to anyone else? No, there's been several samples submitted over the years, but no matches.

Over the years, there have been only a few persons of interest identified, but no arrests ever made. What stood out to these individuals about the person leaving the bush? There was an age range of probably maybe like a late teenager, early 20s. They thought he had kind of shaggy, dirty blonde hair. Now we know there's a high likelihood he has blue eyes. With that description, forensic artists drew a composite of the killer. But even with that sketch, the mystery man's identity eluded cops. This just seemed like a very solvable case from the beginning and it had a lot

of media exposure, a lot of community interest. After thousands of hours of investigation, much to the frustration of detectives, the case froze over. You're hearing our friends at Crime Watch daily as Jason Matera. It's amazing to me that you can get that type of an ID on a perpetrator, a rapist and murderer that you can't find. With me, Cheryl LaPointe, genetic genealogist with The Gene Hunter. Cheryl LaPointe, they can't identify the killer from the DNA he leaves on the body of this young girl, but they can tell me he's got blue eyes? How? Well, Nancy, again, DNA is an amazing tool. And through different testing that we do now, we can actually get profiles of your ancestors, your heritage, your eye color, things like that, that really help us to narrow down these criminals.

As a matter of fact, there were lots and lots of theories about who murdered young Sarah Yarborough. Any reason to believe the suspect is still living in Washington state? There's theories that the suspect could have been passing through, visiting the area. The suspect could be dead. Logic would cause you to believe that if he did this offense that he would end up in a felon databank somewhere. Yet we've had no matches over all these years. But detectives never gave up hope, even scouring an ancestry database, going all the way back to the birth of America in hopes of finding a match to that DNA. There was a direct relationship to a Fuller's that came over on the Mayflower, which generated some tips. We looked at some local people with the last name that we eliminated through DNA. When you realize this, do you think, wow,

this is the big break in the case? Yeah, at the time, we thought it was a huge break. But once again, we were able to take DNA from everybody, and they were all eliminated. Cops even managed to convince people to give their DNA in their attempt to find who murdered Sarah Yarborough. Take a listen to this. Could all those dead ends finally lead somewhere? Now nearly three decades later, that rough sketch has been replaced with a new age progression portrait. The technology called polymorphism uses DNA markers from the suspected killer to envision what he would look

like now. You have DNA recovered at the scene. You have reliable, it appears, eyewitnesses. You have this age progression. You have a lot to go on and yet still nothing. That must be incredibly frustrating. It is frustrating. It's all there. If we can identify the suspect, this is a solvable case. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Could all those dead ends finally lead somewhere? Now, nearly three decades later, that rough sketch has been replaced with a new age progression portrait. The technology called polymorphism uses DNA markers from the suspected killer to envision what he would look like now.

You have DNA recovered at the scene. You have reliable, appears eyewitnesses. You have this age progression. You have a lot to go on and yet still nothing. That must be incredibly frustrating. It is frustrating. It's all there. If we can identify the suspect, this is a solvable case. We don't need a confession to solve it. We have everything

is there to get us to the finish line. You know what? You're hearing our friends at Crime Watch dealing and they're talking about a process called polymorphism, where you basically use DNA found on the victim's body to create a sketch, like a composite sketch. To Cheryl LaPointe joining me, genetic genealogist with The Gene Hunter, what is polymorphism? Well, Nancy, it is actually where the DNA is used to basically draw a picture of what a person may actually look like. And in this case, it gave a picture of what they thought the suspect looked like. And it gives law enforcement a lead to hopefully be able to further track down a perpetrator. To Karen Stark, psychologist, you can find her at karenstark.com. She's joining us today out of Manhattan. Karen, this has got to be pure hell for the parents to lose their daughter,

a teen girl, straight-A student scrubbed in sunshine going to drill practice, and then to suddenly be confronted with a composite sketch, including blue eyes gotten from the DNA off your dead daughter's body. It's pure hell. You're absolutely right, Nancy. But the worst hell is the fact that they can see what this perpetrator probably looked like, and yet they're unable to have this guy be captured to have any details to know that somebody is walking free who murdered their daughter. So it would not change the fact that she was dead. But at least they could see somebody go to trial. They would understand what happened. To Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.

Joe Scott, have you ever dealt with polymorphism? Have you ever seen it done? I've not personally dealt with it as a practitioner, Nancy. But, yeah, I have friends who are DNA technologists and DNA scientists that have. And it's an amazing technology because you're literally, I don't want to say creating, but you're literally generating a profile of an individual that in our normal understanding, like in our normal world, does not exist. You're kind of taking the biological sample that's left behind and those little markers that are along the the dna molecule uh they they are actually in they what they do is this idea of individualism it gives an individual specific characteristics and nancy what's so intriguing about this that what goes

to the heart of this case is what a fantastic job that the police did with this case. Because, Nancy, this was back in 1991. This is prior to OJ and all of that stuff we went through. And they were able to retain enough of this biological sample that they could come back in modern times and do this specific kind of testing. They preserved this evidence, which, by the way, is very, very fragile. To Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, obviously there was DNA on the body of Sarah Yarborough. What was it, touch DNA? Wait, they didn't have touch DNA in 1991. It was actually semen, Nancy. The person that raped her actually had used her pantyhose, tied it around her and strangled her and then beat her.

And there was semen on her jacket, the pantyhose and on at the scene of the crime. So that's the DNA that was collected. You know what? As much as I don't want hearing it, Levi Page, I'm glad you said that, because as all of us really is technicians. You know, a lot of people on the panel have fancy degrees and training, but we're technicians in seeking justice. And what you just said, we are talking about a little girl, a 16-year-old, who's gone back to her high school to go to drill practice. She's on the drill team straight a student beloved and levi page just explained the way that she was raped and murdered her bruised and beaten body found by two 12 yearold little boys playing. So Cheryl will point with me, genetic genealogist with the gene hunter. So we have DNA.

Very often, everybody thinks that's the end of the story. So there's DNA. Yay, we solved the case. It's not that easy. You may get DNA, but you got to have somebody to match it up to. Yes, Nancy. So what happens here, the forensic DNA testing that is done in those cases that's used in the CODIS system is a different type of DNA testing. And it's not able to be cross-referenced with the direct-to-consumer DNA test that we as genetic

genealogists use. So basically only people who have been DNA tested because of criminal activity will be in the CODIS system. But there is a great chance that a relative of one of these criminals has DNA tested with a direct-to-consumer company like Family Tree DNA or Ancestry. And it's the same process that we use to find biological families of adoptees. This genetic genealogy is bringing new hope to cases that have gone cold and been unsolvable for years. Joe Scott, very quickly, what is CODIS? CODIS is a national database that is a repository for genetic material that are recovered at crime scenes.

Now, this can either go and also from sampling of individuals that are known offenders. What's curious about this, Nancy, is that this database actually splits into you have known offenders and then you have what they used to refer to as the forensic offenders, which are those samples that they have. They're in this huge pool of recovered DNA where they don't have attachments to, you know, where you have multiple. You might have an offender that has offended over and over again, but they have not yet arrested this individual. So these are unknown offenders, but you have their DNA markers. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Through the years, suspect sketches were produced and updated, most recently in 2018, based on DNA evidence collected at the scene.

Late last night, Nicholas, who goes by his middle name, Leon, was booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of homicide. This mugshot of Nicholas is from a 1994 King County case when he was charged with molesting a six-year-old girl. Because he pleaded guilty to assault in that case, his DNA was not collected. But based on a DNA profile honed through the years and genealogy, Nicholas and his brother were identified as possible suspects. The brother was ruled out, so detectives started watching Leon. Over the last weekend, detectives from the sheriff's office surveilled the subject and collected discarded items containing his DNA. According to charging documents, the discarded items were two cigarettes and a napkin.

The collected DNA was processed in a rush earlier this week, and the Washington State Patrol crime lab determined it matched the younger brother who was arrested at a Kent business last night. So there you have it. You are hearing from our friend Amy Clancy at K-I-R-O-7. The case cracked by DNA left on cigarette butts. This is my question to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. This guy, the suspect, Patrick Nicholas, now 55 years old. That would have made him about 24 at the time of the murder. He was already convicted of attempted rape at the time Sarah was murdered. Why wasn't he on the cops' radar?

Yes, eight years before her murder in 1983, he approached a young woman. She was in her car. He had a knife. He forced her out, told her to take off all of her clothes. He walked her to a river and he attempted to rape her, but she fought back and jumped in the river and swam away. He was arrested and pled guilty to attempted rape, and he only served about four years in prison. He was released in 1987. I guess in that case, there was no DNA, so he was not in the CODIS bank. Yes, and then two years after Sarah's murder, he was arrested for allegedly molesting his six-year-old stepdaughter, and that case was pled down to a fourth-degree assault.

So again, no DNA was collected. And tonight, we've also learned through probable cause documents that detectives got a call last Friday from criminal genealogists saying they had a possible lead. Detectives took that lead, tracked Nicholas over the weekend. They got his DNA from a cigarette and a napkin that he happened to drop on the ground. That DNA matched what was found again almost 28 years ago. This is why public servants do their work. This is why your government officials support different all kinds of different layers of what King County government provides.

PC docs say Patrick Nicholas was convicted for first degree attempted rape in 1983. He served four years in prison at the time. But because DNA collection didn't begin until 1990, his DNA was never collected. We've also learned that the lead in this case was a family tree analysis from Patrick Nicholas's brother, Edward. Edward is a registered sex offender from a previous rape conviction, and his DNA was the one in the system originally. But it really speaks volume, guys, to the advanced technologies now available to solve these crimes. Patrick Nicholas being held on $5 million bail. To you, Daryl Cohen, now that he's been matched up through DNA,

do you think that will be strong enough to convict him? I think as much as I detest cigarettes, I love cigarettes because the fact that he put his DNA on a cigarette, not one but two, will convict him. Absolutely. I think the jury, when they hear everything, it has to be put yourself in the jury's head, put yourself in the jury's eyes. And if you paint the story, this young girl who was absolutely brutalized, and you paint the story with a witness or two who may have seen him, the DNA will be all that we need. This is what the suspect looked like back in 1991, according to a then 12-year-old boy who helped create this sketch. Seeing evil face to face like that and knowing that it's real. This now grown man doesn't want

Cairo 7 to identify him because his own children still don't know about the trauma he experienced in December 1991 when he and a friend, both 12, discovered the murdered body of 16-year-old Sarah Yarbrough and got a good look at the suspect. He stood up in those bushes. He was probably about 30, maybe 25 yards away from us. At that point, we couldn't see where Sarah was yet, so we walked the same way. No cause for serious alarm yet until we got close enough to where we could see, and then we ran back to my house and called the police. Question again, explain to me, Levi Page, how did they get the DNA match on Patrick Nicholas, who actually lived not too far away from the victim? Yes, he was living in a dilapidated building, according to prosecutors,

but they had DNA in the form of semen. They put it into a database and they came back with results. And one of them matched his brother, who was a convicted criminal. His DNA was in the database. So they tried to match that DNA to the DNA found on Sarah's body. They did not match. So they started surveilling Patrick Nicholas, who was 55 years old, and they started surveilling him. They found him, you know, outside of a laundromat. He was talking to people, smoking cigarettes. He threw some trash away. They went into the trash, got what he threw away, the cigarette, the napkin. Then they matched the DNA that was found on Sarah's body to him and he was arrested. It's that tireless police work that Sarah's mom is thankful for. After almost 28 years, she heard the news she thought she would never hear. Her daughter's accused killer had been caught. Officers arrested 55-year-old Patrick Leon Nicholas at a business in Kent on Wednesday night. King County detectives believe Nicholas is the one who strangled and killed Sarah Yarbrough

at a Federal Way high school back on December 14, 1991. For years, Sarah's mom lived with the pain of her daughter's death, but also not knowing who killed her. She thanks detectives for not giving up. I was really surprised. I actually wondered perhaps if the person was no longer living. It just seemed unbelievable to me that he would still be around. But I have to say that the detectives have never given up. It broke me as a young man, you know, having to come to grips with that.

It's a very, very horrible thing. After the brutal discovery, the boy helped an artist create the first two suspect sketches and lived in fear until earlier this month when 55-year-old Patrick Leon Nicholas was arrested and charged with the murder of Sarah Yarbrough. That's an amazing amount of peace given to me. Were you afraid of him growing up? Oh, absolutely. You were in court last week when he appeared. Why did you go? I had to see that man in handcuffs in custody with my own two eyes. Was that the man you saw that day in 1991? Absolutely.

I have no doubt about it. It's like we've been carrying around this big weight for all these years and finally have been able to set it down. That's how I felt when I left that courtroom after seeing him in custody. The man told me for years detectives would bring him photo montages of potential suspects, hoping that he could identify somebody. And he said he always felt bad that he couldn't.

He said he didn't until he was in court last week and saw Nicholas and he said, that's the guy. That's how certain he is. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.