Every Town - 26 Years Later - Cold Case Of Michella Welch & Jennifer Bastian Solved

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

In 1986, the spring and summer months in Tacoma, Washington were shaken by the back-to-back disappearances and murders of 12-year old Michella Welch and 13-year old Jennifer Bastian. Their cases cases remained dormant for 3 decades only to be revitalized in 2018 and When the truth was finally revealed, it wasn't what anyone expected.  💥 Watch On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries🎧 Our Other Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579💀 Follow Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 💀 Follow Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg👁 Follow Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald💥 Follow Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial🗣 Business Inquiries: [e-mail] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. In 1986, the spring and summer months in Tacoma, Washington was shaken by the back-to-back disappearances and murders of 12-year-old Michaela Welsh and 13-year-old Jennifer Bastion.

There were the ill-fated victims of heinous crimes that unfolded under eerily similar circumstances, both of which were presumed to be deliberate acts committed by one deranged person. Their cases remained dormant for three decades, only to be revitalized in 2018. when the truth was finally revealed. It really wasn't what anyone expected. Hey guys, I'm Andrew Fitzgerald, and welcome to another episode of Everytown. Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember, you can always watch these episodes over on our YouTube channel called Scary Mysteries.

Remember to share us with your friends. But for now, let's head over the West Coast's Pierce County in Washington, where we learn about the tragic details surrounding these cases. as well as the bittersweet truth that DNA technology finally unveiled. In the mid-1980s, the neighborhoods in Tacoma, mid-sized urban port city in the seat of Washington's Pierce County, were teaming with kids roaming around without fear. Like in many parts of the country, children woke up

and enjoyed playing outdoors with their friends back then. The simple joys and happy memories of their youth happened on the streets as they took their bikes and skateboards to shopping centers and places. parks and parents let them have their fun without many worries at all. Michaela Welch and Jennifer Bastion were part of a close-knit bunch of kids in Tacoma who enjoyed the freedom brought by spring and summer breaks. But all that changed drastically when in 1986 both girls mysteriously disappeared

or later found lifeless, there's four months apart. The unfortunate predicament of Michaela was the first one that brought terror to Tacoma's younger population in their families. The eldest of three girls, Michaela was described by her younger sister Nicole, as just an amazing, amazing girl, super talented, beautiful artist. The petite, 12-year-old loving sister with long blonde hair, was musically inclined as well, and played the piano and violin. Wearing a pair of huge eyeglasses, Michaela may have looked a bit bookwormish, but she also loved outdoor activities too. It was during one of these leisurely outings to a local park. in the spring of 86, when Michaela's seemingly ideal, youthful life took a terrible turn. On a beautiful Wednesday at around 10 a.m. on March 26th that year,

Michaela did a thoughtful, sisterly act by taking her younger sisters, Nicole and Angela, to Puget Park, located at 3,100 North Proctor Street in North Tacoma. Michaela and Nicole rode on bicycles while towing Angela behind them on a skateboard. After about an hour of playing with her siblings, because Michaela went home and prepared sandwiches for their picnic at the park. Meanwhile, our sisters left the playground area to play near a gulch. When she returned, Michaela chained her bike next to her sisters, set the lunches on the table, but Nicole and Angela were nowhere in sight.

They actually had gone to a nearby building to use the restroom, but being the responsible older sibling, Michaela went looking for them. When Nicole and Angela returned to the park at around 1.15 p.m., They found Michaela's bike and the sandwiches neatly set on the table, but now was Michaela who wasn't around. So they went and played near a cave under the bridge for another half hour waiting for her to return, but Michaela still wasn't at the park when the younger Welsh girls came back. They called her name from the edge of the gulch, started down a trail looking for her, but couldn't find her anywhere. Angela later recalled, she took a very long time.

Her bike was locked up and the bag was ripped open. It was very bizarre and we went looking. Nicole also remembered their babysitter shouting, Angie, Nikki, she thought it was Michaela, but of course it wasn't. By 3 p.m., police had been notified and were scouring the north end for any sign of a girl. They discovered that she was last seen at around 1.30 p.m. talking to an unidentified man. He was described as possibly Hispanic, around 25 to 35 years old, standing around 5'8 foot with black hair, a possible mustache, and wearing light-colored clothing.

The search for Michaela culminated just before the day ended. When at 11.30 p.m., a tracking dog found her body in a makeshift fire pit. In an isolated area of the gulch, more than a quarter of a mile away from the play area of Puget Park, Michaela's throat had been slit, she had been badly beaten. The medical examiner determined that ultimately Michaela died from blunt force trauma to the head and adding a jolting effect to the discovery was the evidence that she was also sexually assaulted.

So who could do such a horrific crime upon a girl full of so much potential? And was Michaela a target of a pre-planned murder plot? Was she just a random victim? During the investigation into Michaela Welsh's murder, her 13-year-old male classmate told detectives he'd seen a white, skinny man at the park that day, under the Proctor Bridge, who kept looking at the girls. This man was around 24 to 26 years old, approximately 5 foot 9, wearing a blue denim jacket with holes in it, blue jeans, and dirty ripped up white tennis shoes. But just like the other anonymous guy Michaela was allegedly last seen talking with, This second mystery man remained unidentified as well.

DNA evidence was taken from the crime scene, but didn't prove very useful as lack of sophistication and forensics back then hindered achieving much proof. Twenty years later, though, a DNA profile was developed, but a search of the state and national databases came up empty. Back in 1986, while Tacoma authorities were deep into finding leads that would help resolve the murder case in Michaela, The city's neighborhood was once again stunned by another horrible crime, which had some uncanny parallels to Michaela's. This victim was also a blonde teenage girl riding her bicycle to a park when she disappeared and was later found dead in the woods. Her name was Jennifer Bastion. Just like Michaela, she was robbed of a bright future on one bright sunny day in the summer of 86. Jennifer was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 15, 1973, but her family, including dad, Ralph,

mom, Patty, and older sister, Teresa, later relocated to Tacoma. It was there that Jennifer developed a keen interest in biking. Started out as a hobby, but later on turned into her joining cycling tours. At 13 years old in 1986, the 4-foot 10-inch-tall cyclist was eager to train for an upcoming YMCA bicycle tour of Lopepa. Island. And on the afternoon of August 4th, she asked her dad if she could take her Schwinn bicycle out to Point Defiance Park. Ralph agreed, but only if his daughter called him when she arrived back home. Point Defiance Park in Tacoma is the largest urban park in Washington's Pierce County. It's a network of roads and trails weaving through the forest and provides a quiet retreat for joggers,

cyclists, hikers, and sightseers alike. Jennifer wanted her for. friends to join her that afternoon, but they declined. Dean McGrath, a one-time skateboarder, who was part of Jennifer's neighborhood friends, provided the reason. He said, some people were going to go with her, but everybody knew she was training hard and we couldn't keep up. At 2.30 p.m., Jennifer left home, and peddled off alone, heading 30 blocks to the park. She left a note letting her family know that She should be home around 6.30. At the park, at least five people reported spotting Jennifer in the area until 6 p.m. Two individuals possibly spoke with her as late as 5 p.m. at the Dalco Passage viewpoint, a five-mile drive.

But as the hours passed by, no Jennifer returned home. At 8.30 p.m., her parents called the police and reported their youngest daughter missing. Scores of officers assisted by canines searched for the girl, and Point Defines Park was closed for two days while searchers looked. It wasn't until August 26th or three weeks later that searchers found Jennifer's body in a wooded area between five-mile drive and the cliffs overlooking commencement bay. Her body was hidden beneath some brush with her bike nearby. We said at the time a jogger reported an odd smell, prompting investigators to search that area.

Bloodhounds were able to track Jennifer's scent from her home to the park. and indicated that she made at least one lap around five-mile drive before she was ultimately kidnapped. Reports also show that the area where Jennifer's body was dumped appeared to have been prepared in advance before the crime was committed. And just like Michaela's tragic fate, Jennifer had also been strangled and raped. Police didn't retrieve DNA from Jennifer's body because it was too badly decomposed by the time they found her. They found samples near her body and submitted about 30 cheek swamined. of potential suspects to the lab for comparison. A dedicated task force put in at least 10,000 investigative hours in the hunt for the girl's killer.

DNA tests have been run on evidence since 1988. In fact, the killer's behavioral profile had been developed as recently as 2013, but despite the DNA being run through a national database, no matches hit the bullseye yet. Both Michaela and Jennifer were of the same age, out biking in a park and broad daylight when they disappeared. Both were seen by witnesses talking to people before they went missing. They were found dead and secluded areas and suffered physical and sexual attacks.

Thus it seemed logical for police to theorize that the two girls' murders were connected. At one point, authorities suspected that the criminal was convicted child killer David Fisher. One of his victims was a 13-year-old girl from Tacoma, Laura Brown. Burbank, whom Fisher kidnapped, then sexually molested, and killed by shooting her in the head in June of 1970. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but was able to escape effortlessly on September 1, 1974, and had been missing ever since then. So the possibility of Fisher is the one responsible for the 86 killings wasn't far-fetched.

On January 4th, 1990, though, at Tip, led to the arrest of Fisher in Emmons in Canada. He was extradited back to the U.S. and further investigations using DNA technology about his involvement in the cases of Michaela and Jennifer. Proof Fisher was not actually the primary target. When the back-to-back abduction and murders in 86 blanketed Tacoma and Fear, Lindsay Wade was just 11 years old. She said, I just remember that it was really scary to me as a young girl. This, coupled with her fascination and crime books, Lindsay ultimately decided to become a detective.

At that time, too, Detective Gene Miller was a patrol officer for the Tacoma PD, and he found the deaths of Michaela and Jennifer very painful. He said, I think that it does one of two things to you. It's either going to eat you up, or it's going to motivate you to find the bad guy. He chose to do the latter. In 2009, Detective Miller started the cold key. case unit in Tacoma, where he got to work with Lindsay, whose determination and grid enabled her to rise up the ranks and eventually become a cold case detective. In unlocking the dormant cases of the two girls, Detective's Miller and Wade had to deal with dozens of two-decade-old binders of

police reports. From these, Detective Wade made a list of 2,300 men mentioned and connected with the case. He said, my working theory at that time was that this guy, has got to be somebody who's been convicted of a sex crime or another murder, and somehow he slipped through the cracks. They had a suspect's DNA taken from Michaela's body, which didn't hit a match, but none were taken in Jennifer's case. In 2013, an expert panel at the National Center for Missing Exploited Children advised detectives Miller and Wade to test Jennifer's swimsuit she was wearing. It was based on the assumption that her swimsuit must have been removed prior to any sexual assault occurring because it was found down around her ankles at the time that she had been

recovered. And then boom, a significant turning point in the investigation was presented when the lab test discovered a male's DNA. But when the DNA samples from Michaela's body and Jennifer's swimsuit were compared, detectives were in for a shocker. They were distinctively different from one another. They were now, after not one but two killers, and the pursuit to find them would prove difficult to say the least. The next five years would like a race against time, solving two, three decades-long cold cases, and convicting two murderers required exhausting all possibilities

in the more time that passed, the harder it would become. Detective Wade utilized advanced DNA techniques, forensic genealogy, and created a narrow-down list of 160 suspects to collect DNA from. In 2016, using DNA phenotyping technology, Tacoma Police and the Virginia-based company, Parabon Nanolabs,

produced computer-generated composites that could reveal the faces of the two killers responsible. More than 100 new tips were generated when Tacoma Police activated its child abduction response team to rework the case as if Jennifer had just been kidnapped.

And part of the list of alleged suspects in Jennifer's case was Robert Washburn, who agreed to provide his own DNA to the FBI when they tracked him down in 2017. By then, he was living in Eureka, Illinois. He'd been a suspect in Jennifer's case from the beginning as Robert was living less than five miles from Point Defiance Park and a few blocks from her home. Robert also told police back then that he noticed a foul smell coming from the same area where Jennifer's body was later found, which put him on the detective's radar. And May of 2018, Robert's DNA matched the DNA found in Jennifer's swimsuit. Tacoma police assisted by the Illinois

State Police arrested him at his Illinois home on May 10th. He was transferred to Washington's Pierce County Jail to face charges of first-degree murder. It became clear that Jennifer's case was independent from Michaela's. However, the succeeding incident seemed to subtly connect these two cases. A month after Robert Washburn was apprehended in charge for Jennifer's, 1986, murder. An astonishing development in Michaela's case brought elation and surprise to everyone. Parabond nanolabs used DNA technology to identify a suspect by matching the unknown profile to a family member from publicly available websites. A relentless effort yielded promising results. Two brothers who had the correct amount of shared DNA matching the DNA obtained from Michaela's

body were identified. They both lived in the north end of Tacoma. two miles from Puget Park where the crime happened in 86. One of these brothers was Gary C. Hartman, who in 2018, was already a 66-year-old family man without any criminal record. He was likewise a licensed community nurse specialist at Western State Hospital in Lakewood. In June of 2018, Tacoma Police surveilled Gary's home. The next day, a detective was able to obtain a brown paper napkin Gary used for wiping his mouth while having breakfast at a restaurant. near his workplace. This napkin was submitted to the state crime lab for comparison to the unknown DNA profile in a match was soon found. Gary was arrested on June 20th, 2018, and booked

into the Pierce County Jail as well. The next day, the senior citizen with little white hairs on his balding head appeared at the Pierce County courtroom, and was hit with first-degree murder and first-degree rape charges in the death of Michaela. Gary's arrest was the best news Michaela's family had received in 32 years. Her mother Barbara Leonard shared, I never believed this day would happen and considered the arrest incredible. She admitting getting paranoid for years over Michaela's murder and had never heard of Gary Hartman before his arrest. Mrs. Leonard credited detectives, the cold case task force, and the media for keeping the heat on the case. But Gary entered a not guilty plea and faced

an ongoing trial. On the other hand, Robert Washburn confessed to Jennifer's murder in January of 2019, eight months after he was arrested. He confessed in court that Jennifer was riding her bike in Point Defiance Park on August 4th, when he grabbed her, dragged her into the woods, and strangled her. In January 25th, 2019, Robert was sentenced to 27 years in prison. A 61-year-old must serve a minimum of 20 years before he's eligible for release. And at his sentencing, Robert issued an apology through a written statement. I am deeply sorry for the death of Jennifer. I recognize there is little that my words can do to diminish the tremendous sense of pain and loss that this crime caused to many people.

Indeed, Robert, even after three decades, the pain is deeply embedded in the family of Jennifer, whose mother Patty addressed Robert in court. She said, not a day went by in a normal way, and you stole that from us. No longer were we able to look at beautiful summer days the same way. Without an iota of doubt, the tragic debts of Michaela Welsh and Jennifer Bastion have permeated into the consciousness of all the neighborhoods in Tacoma. For 32 years, the unsolved cases weren't just a mystery that may never be deciphered,

but also a nightmare that robbed people of their peace. But then the unexpected happened, and the two girls were rewarded with much delayed but much deserved justice. So no matter what, it's always important to never give up hope. Hey guys, if you enjoyed that and want more podcasts from us, go check out our Scary Mysteries podcast for more creepy, true crime and paranormal stories. For now, though, that's it for this week's episode, and please do tune in next week for another one, fill with Skare. strange and mysterious stories. Because who knows? Maybe your town will be next.