Going West: True Crime - Arpana Jinaga // 246

Episode Date: October 22, 2022

In October of 2008, a young woman threw a Halloween party along with the rest of her apartment complex with countless attendees. But three days later, her body was found in her apartment, and the scene was not only gruesome, but incredibly confusing. With multiple partygoers as potential suspects, it was unclear to police from the start who was actually behind this tragedy. This is the story of Arpana Jinaga. BONUS EPISODES CASE SOURCES 1. Unresolved: https://unresolved.me/arpana-jinaga 2. India Today: https://www.indiatoday.in/latest-headlines/story/indian-techie-arpana-was-strangulated-autopsy-report-32870-2008-11-05 3. Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/trial-begins-8-years-after-redmond-woman-raped-strangled/ 4. Medium: https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/a-review-of-the-2008-murder-mystery-of-indian-immigrant-arpana-jinaga-in-redmond-washington-e858dd1cd24c 5. Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/emanuel-fair-trial-lawsuit-dna-murder-charge-1330251/ 6. DNA Idea: https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-arpana-s-body-to-arrive-by-the-weekend-1204033 7. Suspect: https://wondery.com/shows/suspect/ 8. New Indian Express: https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra-pradesh/2008/nov/05/kins-hopes-of-seeing-arpana-dashed-4498.html 9. Student Hardware Competition: https://emc2022.emcss.org/student-emc-hardware-design-competition.html 10. GNU: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-system-india.en.html#:~:text=The%20school%20system%20in%20India,secondary%20(17%20and%2018). 11. Arpana's apartment complex: https://www.apartments.com/valley-view-apartments-redmond-wa/pjp728s/ 12. WA State Court Documents: https://www.courts.wa.gov/content/petitions/96468-8%20Petition%20for%20Review.pdf 13. Seattle Weekly: https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/the-troubling-trial-of-emanuel-fair/ 14. Yahoo News: https://www.yahoo.com/video/m-m-not-free-man-150700113.html 15. Crime Story: https://crimestory.com/2020/09/02/interview-emanuel-fair-found-not-guilty-of-murder-after-nine-years-in-jail-with-amanda-knox/ 16. CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/marc-oleary-rapist-sexual-assault-golden-coloradonetflix-unbelievable/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on, True Prime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. I hope you're having a wonderful week. It is Friday. It is Friday. Well not really. So, yeah, almost a weekend. Hopefully you guys have some spooky plans for this weekend. Yeah, absolutely. And so today's case, I'm sure that one of you or more of you has recommended this case in the past, but I could not find any names. So apologies if you have recommended this one, but also thank you. I was trying to find an October case, and I came upon this one recently again, and I had completely forgotten about it, because we almost covered it a couple years ago. Yeah, I remember we did want to cover this case like a while ago, but I think another podcast had just covered it, so we were like, eh, maybe we'll give it some time.

Yeah, we give some space. All right, guys, this is episode 246 of Going West, so let's get into it. In October of 2008, a young woman threw a Halloween party along with the rest of her apartment complex with countless attendings. But three days later, her body was found in her apartment, and the scene was not only gruesome, but incredibly confusing. With multiple party goers as potential suspects, it was unclear to police from the start who was actually behind this tragedy. This is the story of Arpanajanaga was born on November 3, 1984 in Hyderabad, India.

And Hyderabad is a city in the center of the southern half of India, and it's the capital of the state of Telangana, and it's the fourth largest city in India, with about 10 million residents in the metropolitan area, so it's huge. And it's known for its tech industry, even hosting a suburb called High Tech City, which is a hub for investors and company specializing in IT, health, engineering, and of course tech. Arbana was born to her parents BC and near Mala, and then she was also the oldest of two girls. She had a younger sister named Pavitra.

So their father BC held a doctorate and was a professor of computer engineering at a college in Hyderabad called Jawar Harleur, Nehru, technological university, and near Malas stayed home with the girls. So Arpina was extremely sharp from a young age and taking after her father was a gifted student and a relentless intellectual. As a child she took up art, gymnastics, and writing as hobbies when she wasn't devoting her time to schoolwork. When she was a teenager, she competed in a contest for the IEEE.

I don't know if I think we need some more ease in there. I don't think it's the IEEE. I think it's the IEEE. Well, it's the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. There it is, all those ease. And that is based in New Jersey. And according to their website detailing this year's competition,

the IEEE Hardware Design Contest was meant to quote, provide an opportunity for student competitors to showcase their creative skills while informing other students or the general public about a topic relevant to electromagnetic compatibility or signal power integrity. And students were instructed to submit a 10 minute video detailing their concept. And Arpanas participation earned her accolades from both universities and tech companies. Yeah, so by the time Arpanina was graduating from higher secondary school,

she had become an expert in microchips. In 2005, at the age of 21 years old, she participated in another design competition, and although she didn't win, she placed in the top 20 participants worldwide. And it put her on the radar in the tech community as a wonder kind in her field. And a wonder kind is just a person who achieves great success when they're pretty young. So it makes sense. She is insanely smart. Right. Yeah, she is.

So, after completing her undergrad in India, she was accepted to a master's degree program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and she made the over 8,000 mile or almost 13,000 kilometer journey to the east coast of the United States to pursue her new career and her new life. In December of 2007, Arbana graduated with a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering. She was scouted by EMC, a company that designed and manufactured memory boards for computers. And in 2016, they were bought by Tech

Company Dell, officially merging into Dell EMC for $67 billion, which to this day is the largest corporate acquisition and tech history. So needless to say, it was an incredible opportunity for Arpina. In March of 2008, at 24 years old, she moved to Seattle to start a position as a software quality engineer. She's remembered by colleagues as dedicated in Bright and within six months, had already secured a promotion

and a raise. And while she was missed by her family and her friends back home, they were extremely proud of what she set out to accomplish, and she still talked to her parents just about every day on the phone. Now, before starting her new position, Arbana scoped out the Seattle area of Washington, of course, to settle into her new life, and she stayed with a family friend while she looked for an apartment and eventually found

one in Redmond, Washington, which is a northeastern suburb of Seattle, just 20 minutes from downtown. Redmond is an idyllic city of about 70,000 people and is home to both Microsoft and Nintendo. It's nestled between Lake Washington and Lake Samamish and home to Marymore Park, which is a large wooded area with hiking trails, a dog park, playgrounds, soccer and baseball fields, and a river that leads right into Lake Samamish. Arpen have found a one-bedroom apartment on the third floor of the Valley View apartment complex, which was on Redmond Woodenville Road, North East, near the park I was just talking about. Arpina, bubbly and friendly, started building her circle of friends and thrived at work.

She enjoyed becoming a part of her new community and volunteered for the local fire department and a local animal shelter, which is really badass. She also purchased a motorcycle having grown up driving one and enjoyed exploring the natural beauty that Washington state had to offer from the seat of her bike. Her new friend Rachel remembered being shocked and impressed at how comfortable Arpina was riding her motorcycle. And Arpina had explained that back home in Hyderabad, she had seen a young woman driving one

and she called her dad to just ask if she could get one, telling him that she was set on learning how to do it herself and then she did. And now she, or then after this, she rode motorcycles. So Rachel described her as vivacious and said, quote, everything she did, she did 100%. She took lessons, got her license, and bought one, and once she moved to Seattle, even joined a local motorcycle club called

the Pacific Northwest Riders. So that's kind of cool, she like joined a motorcycle club. Yeah, she's like all over the map. So it was there that she met Aaron, a fellow motorcycleist, and the man that she'd been dating at the time of her death. Now it's unclear exactly how serious she was about him, but according to Aaron, quote, I think we were avoiding trying to label ourselves as boyfriend and girlfriend because we had only been going out for a few months, but we genuinely cared for each other.

And we weren't well, I was not dating anyone else. Halloween rolled around, and the residents of the Valley View Apartments had decided that they were going to throw a massive joint party. Four apartments, including arpanas, would serve as the home bases, but they also decorated the outdoor areas and covered walkways as well. Attendees remember it being like this lavishly planned and decorated affair. There was a pirate room, a winter wonderland, and a 1960s themed lounge, as well as a haunted forest, which was arpanas apartment. She was planning on dressing as little red writing hood,

and keeping with the theme of the decor for her apartment. The complex was papered with flyers promoting this party, and everyone who lived there plus plenty of invited guests were expected to attend. Preparations went on for weeks leading up to Halloween, and Arpenah had invited her sort of boyfriend, Aaron. But he'd already made some Halloween plans with some friends, and he couldn't make it, a decision that he now regrets. Arpen is dad BC remembers quote,

she was happy when we last spoke to her on Thursday before she went for the party. This is really such a fun concept, though, to have this apartment streaming, or this apartment, this party streaming into different apartments to kind of go from room to room. We had a kind of similar situation last year.

We lived in a cold assac, and our whole cold assac did this for Christmas though, and we did like a holiday party at everybody's house. And we did appetizers, the next person did soup, the next person did the entree, then dessert, and it was like, it was so much fun. Yeah, I wish like some of the old apartments, because that's such a great concept.

I don't know why more people don't do that, because like being in an apartment already, just from my experience is already kind of isolating. You feel like you have neighbors, but sometimes you don't know them that well. And so it'd be cool to just have a joint party where everybody hops around from apartment to apartment. Well, that's the thing is everybody has to be down

and wants to celebrate Halloween and have people in their space and that's what's difficult with apartments too is you're right. Like you don't really know. I don't think ever in the apartments I lived in today, even though people across the hall. Like it's just so different than living in an actual house in a neighborhood.

So. Not to hate on apartments, I've lived in many of them. Oh, no, absolutely. I've lived out of my life. But how cool that her, that Arpanas apartment, was willing to kind of do this fun Halloween party, join the Halloween party. Yeah.

So very, very exciting. Now Arpanas' friend Rachel and another friend of theirs named Nicole arrived early to run an errand across the street. So they went to a sex shop called Lovers Package to pick up fishnet stockings for their costumes. When dusk fell, partygoers started to filter in. There were food and drink tables stationed everywhere, and the covered walkways between the apartments were adorned with fake spiderwebs, so fun. As people mingled

and filtered in and out of the four apartments, Rachel found herself outside talking to a man who introduced himself as Emanuel Faire, who had come to visit a friend of his who lived at Valley View, named Lesley. Lesley's apartment had been one of the four decorated for hosting party guests. Now Leslie's apartment had been one of the four decorated for hosting party guests. They chatted for a while before moving inside to talk to other people, but Rachel remembers him seeming kind and normal. On the other hand, there was another attendee who completely rubbed her the wrong way. In Rachel's words, quote, what a douche. Nice. Yeah.

So Neil Marshall was the stepbrother of a Valley View resident named Chris Cutler. And surprisingly, though it seemed to implicate his stepbrother, Chris consented to be interviewed on the 10-part Wondering Podcast based on Arpanas murder called Suspect. I'm sure a lot of you guys have listened. I think this is actually why we didn't cover this case

sooner because we felt like a lot of you guys were probably listening to think this is actually why we didn't cover this case sooner because we felt like a lot of you guys are probably listening to. Yeah, and that's like a multi part. I think it's like seven parts or something. Yeah, that's a great podcast. And I'm sure a lot of you guys have listened to that one as well. Yeah, super good, very detailed.

And we'll let you guys go listen to that if you want to, if you haven't already, but we are just gonna say at least this. So like I said, Chris was interviewed on that podcast and on it, he admitted that Neil, his stepbrother, had a bit of a drinking problem and that that Halloween night was no exception. So Chris explained that Neil's drinking got excessive quickly and that he didn't know when to stop.

Now, according to Chris, it was a regular occurrence for them to buy like an 18 pack of beer and drink all of them while they were playing video games in Chris' apartment. And when asked whom she thought was responsible for Open As Murder, Rachel said, quote, there was really only one person that stuck out in my mind. Neil. And not saying that to Jumphead too much just want you guys to know that he was there and we're just talking about the kind of party goers here

So that night drunken rowdy Neil was challenging people to arm wrestling contests at one point He and a manual decided to box each other for fun and Neil punched a manual so hard in the mouth that he drew blood And I got to say there's always got gotta be one guy like this at a party who is just obnoxious, wants to fight everybody and just like- Gotta prove he's stronger than everybody else. Right, there's always that one person. So Rachel also said that Neil tried to shut himself in the bedroom of one of the apartments with her before she stormed out. Rachel remembers Neil making a play for Arpina that night as well.

Neal had asked Rachel if she thought that Arpina would hook up with him, and basically Rachel's response to that was not in a million years, like there's no way stay away from her don't talk to her. It was late in the evening at this point and according to multiple attendees everyone at the party was drunk and some were smoking weed although Chris said that he didn't remember seeing any hard drugs that were present at this party. Chris tried to coax Neil back to his apartment to get him to call it a night but Neil refused. Around midnight everyone went to Arbana's third floor apartment to eat pizza.

Among others, Chris, Emmanuel, Neil, Rachel, and her boyfriend, Sean, and a man named Cameron Johnson were all there. Cameron Johnson was Arpena's next-door neighbor, and others remember them being flirty with each other that night. Rachel said that Cameron was pretty quiet, but Emanuel remembers bonding with him over their shared music taste, and even went out to Cameron's car, and then to his apartment to listen to some new music of Cameron's. It was at that point in the night that things started to fall apart.

One guest in a downstairs apartment started popping balloons and had to be asked by the renter of the apartment to leave. Also Rachel's boyfriend Sean and his friend got into a fight. She said that everyone was pretty drunk by that time and that there was a lot that she didn't remember. As Rachel left the party herself and said goodnight to her good friend, Arbana, Rachel remembers that Arbana took her house keys with her for some reason and walked Rachel and some other friends downstairs.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Arbana said to Rachel and their girlfriends that they were so lucky to be women in the United States because it had been so hard for her growing up in India as a woman. Rachel had told her that it wasn't always easy here either, but Arpina responded, quote, you have no idea and actually broke down crying. Whether this was triggered by something that happened at the party or if it was just something that Arpina had been thinking about, Rachel does not know. After Rachel left, Arpina, along with a few other people, headed to a first floor apartment

together. And then a little while later, Arbana left around 3am, and that was the last time that she was seen. She left this first floor apartment. And the next account of Arbana's activity that night was from her next door neighbor on the other side, a man named Kyle. So Kyle chose not to attend the party, but remembers hearing a suspicious conversation earlier that evening.

Arpanah was apparently talking to a man outside of Kyle's apartment, and Kyle remembered it sounding like it was a drug deal, with the man to whom Arpina was speaking saying, quote, you can see the devil. Later between 3 and 4 am, the noise in music had finally died down, and Kyle assumed that everybody had gone home or passed out. But around 8 am, he awoke to hear moaning coming from the other side of the wall that he shared with Arpina's apartment. A.M. he awoke to hear moaning coming from the other side of the wall that he shared with Arpina's apartment. Kyle remembers quote, I was awoken to what sounded like Arpina getting sick or having

sex, I wasn't sure, but it sounded like she was choking and throwing up, and then I heard a thud on the floor after. But it went on for like 20 seconds. He described what sounded like growling, that ended with a thud that sounded like she had fallen out of bed. Wanting to respect her privacy, Kyle left her alone and went back to bed. Kyle said, quote, I thought she finally threw up and passed out. Their bathrooms were connected by the same wall, and later on in that day, he heard water

running and assumed that she was back on her feet and okay, so he didn't think twice about what he had heard that morning. 2 days passed. Back in Hyderabad, her family was starting to panic. They never went a day without hearing from Arpanah. An Arpanah's dad reached out to two of Arpanah's friends from back in India who had also settled in the states, asking if they had heard from her. To her father's dismay, they had not.

On Monday, November 3rd, which was actually Arpanah's birthday, 2008, after Arpanah had failed to show up for work, he knew that something was wrong. Arpina was definitely not the type of person to put off her responsibilities. B.C. then contacted a family friend in the area named Jay and explained the situation, begging him to check on his daughter immediately. Well, it must have been so hard for them being all the way in India, not having heard from her and not being able

to just like drive up the street to go check on her themselves and then also knowing it's her birthday. So she should be doing something today and she should be expecting calls today and she's not responding to us. Absolutely, and I hate when we talk about that scenario in these cases where the parents are so far away. And often times it's just a few cities away or a few states and they either fly or drive

to that area. But for Arpanas parents, they're in an entirely different country. Yeah, and from Seattle to Hyderabad, it's like a 12-hour time difference. So then there's that you're dealing with time differences. And that makes things even more complicated. Absolutely. So again, Arpanas' father BC had that family friend that lived in the area named Jay. So Jay did go to Arpanas apartment check on her.

And as he was walking up the stairs to her third floor apartment, he ran into Arpanas next door neighbor, Cameron Johnson, who we mentioned earlier. Jay asked about Arpanas and Cameron, not having seen her since the party on Halloween, so three days prior, agreed to check on her with him. When the two reached the threshold of her apartment, the first thing they noticed was that the door was broken. When Jay pushed it open, a screw fell out. The first thing they noticed was that the door was broken. When Jay pushed it open, a screw fell out.

He explained that it looked as if someone had beaten it down and then propped it back up. So cautiously, they surveyed the apartment because obviously this is not giving them good feelings. And what they found was a nightmare. Arpen's body lie on the floor at the foot of her bed, crumpled with her head toward the door, but her legs were toward the window on the opposite wall. A towel had been tossed over her body, and Jay frantically called 911, who struggled to

understand him because he was so distraught. While Jay gets the news that Arpina has been dead for some time, Jay's phone was ringing non-stop. It was B.C. hoping for good news about his daughter. Before that short break, we learned that Arpen is home had gone from hosting a party to becoming a crime scene. And the scene was so gruesome. According to Arpen's autopsy, her official cause of death was strangulation from a ligature, which they believed to be a shoelace. The medical examiner guessed that she had died between 3.30 and 8 o'clock AM on November

1st. And remember, she had last been seen around 3am leaving that first floor apartment to, you know, apparently, probably go back up to her third floor apartment. And then Kyle, her next door neighbor, had heard her choking or whatever he had heard at about 8 a.m. Yeah, so this timeline does fit. She had been found naked, and there was evidence of sexual assault. She had broken teeth and multiple blunt force injuries to her head.

She had also been gagged with her own underwear, and duct tape was used to seal her mouth shut. The lower portion of her body was coated in motor oil, and her hands in blue toilet bowl cleaner. Which doesn't even make sense. I don't even know why that would be a thing. She had a burn on one of her arms, and there were burns on the carpet as well, indicating that her murderer had probably tried to burn her body in her own apartment.

Her fingernails had been thoroughly scrubbed. Her phone and digital camera were missing from the scene, and they were never recovered, so this is obviously really, really bad. It looked like somebody was really trying to cover their tracks. The apartment's stunk of bleach and white bleach stains dotted the carpet. Arpina's satin sheets had been stripped from the bed and partially burned, and her comforter was left soaking in the bathtub. Though her helmet was found on the counter, her motorcycle was missing from the parking lot.

And then I just think, sorry, really quick, with you saying that her comforter was left soaking in the bath tub, you know, then knowing that Kyle later heard what sounded like her shower being on was probably just her killer cleaning up the scene. Absolutely. So in a dumpster in the parking lot outside, police actually found Arpena's little red writing hood costume. The shoelaces believed to be the murder weapon, and her blood-stained bathrobe and a bottle of motor oil were found wrapped in a plastic bag. Now, according to a detective,

there were clear indications of a struggle, meaning that she was at one point conscious enough to fight back. One by one, detectives questioned Arpanis friends and fellow party goers, but quickly narrowed their focus to two people. Emanuel Fair and Cameron Johnson. And remember, Cameron Johnson is one of the people who is coming upon this scene with Jay. Yeah. So with just a quick search, police were able to determine that Emanuel Demelvin Fair,

also known as Anthony P. Parker, had a criminal record, and he was the only attendant of the party who had one. A record that included the rape of an underage girl, and the story behind that is that in 2004, so four years earlier about, 19-year-old Immanuel faced charges for the rape of a 14-year-old girl at gunpoint. He entered what's called an Alfred plea, which we've talked about much on this show, and that just means that he maintained his innocence, but didn't want or couldn't afford to go to trial.

He was in prison for three years for this assault. Now naturally, this made him a prime suspect in the assault and murder of Arpanajanaga. But he feels that his suspected involvement was more racially motivated. Emanuel had been the only black attendee of the party, and in questioning, other people had even referred to him as simply the black guy instead of by his name or even his costume, which had been a construction worker. That's pretty fucked up. I mean, of course it is. The property manager of the complex

who did not attend the party even said that he would have suspected him earlier if she had known that there was a quote, big black guy in attendance, which is like not what you say. No, yeah. I mean, that's like, I mean, if anything, this guy is a criminal record and guy in attendance, which is like not what you say. No, yeah. I mean, that's like, I mean, if anything, this guy is a criminal record and he was there, but we remember that Rachel said that he seemed like a normal nice guy that doesn't mean that he can't potentially be a killer, but he's not a killer because he's black.

Very true. So, Emanuel maintained that he had gone to bed in his friend Leslie's apartment around 2 a.m. and then he stayed there with Leslie for the rest of the night. However, his phone records indicate that he made multiple calls between 2 and 5 a.m., including calls to Leslie herself whom he claimed was home with him at the time. He alleged that they were pocket dials as he had been sleeping on his phone. So obviously as we know, two in 2008, you know, most people had either a flip phone, flip phone or some kind of phone that had buttons, but dialing was so much easier back

then than it is now. Very true, yeah. You can't really but dial now on iPhones and smartphones. Yeah, like I remember, I had a blackberry and that thing, you know, if it was in my back pocket, I would forget about it, sit on it, and then a blackberry and that thing, you know, if it was in my back pocket, I would forget about it, sit on it, and then it would just like call somebody randomly. Absolutely, so if, I mean, that could absolutely be true,

but if you're making multiple calls to people, I don't know how true that is, how many people you can really butt dial in one night from sleeping on your phone. Yeah, not impossible. Yeah, I guess not impossible, but it is weird. I mean, because I don't remember ever but dailings, somebody are the same person more than once.

Like, I just, I don't know. That kind of seems unbelievable to me. Yeah, it's a little, a little, you know, iffy. So not that it excuses anything that, you know, he had been accused of, but Emanuel had had a rough start. He was raised by his grandmother in Central Seattle, and his mom was homeless and she was also addicted to drugs. At some point in his childhood, Emanuel also ran away from home and he started using drugs

as well, but he managed to turn things around for himself. Sadly, his mother died of heart problems when he was just 16 years old, and his grandmother had a stroke so a manual had become her caretaker. He told Rachel when they were chatting at the party that he was looking for a stable, full-time job in order to be able to provide for himself and his grandmother. His family didn't have the money to hire a lawyer for his first infraction, or foot the bail for the murder of Arpena Janaga, which he was arrested for. But we'll get to that in just a second. An eyewitness actually placed Cameron Johnson in the proximity of Arpena's apartment at the supposed time of the murder.

And another intendi, remember seeing Cameron standing in the doorway of Arpen his apartment, talking to her around 3am. And remember we talked about this previously that the murder occurred between 3am and 3am, so it's kind of strange that Cameron Johnson is talking to her in her doorway at 3am. Agreed. So Cameron's phone records also indicate that he called her around that time, although he claims that he doesn't remember doing so. It was later revealed that Cameron had been under psychiatric care and was taking medication,

but that he had stopped of his own volition prior to this party. Later on the day of Arpenis murder, which was Saturday, November 1, 2008, Cameron actually drove to Canada and attempted to cross the border, but he had forgotten his passport and was denied entry. So after being questioned by police, he completely wiped his phone. That is so damn suspicious. Very suspicious. Cameron also told police that he had been, quote, kind of wanting to explore.

Right, so he's just going to Canada to just see the sights. No other reason. The very next day after this party. Right, and of course, as well, being the time when he wiped his phone. It just doesn't look good, that's all we're saying. Yeah, and obviously Seattle is not that far from Canada. It is so close.

But it's also not that close. I mean, it is a drive to get there. For sure, it's definitely a few hours. Like, the closest place you could go is about two and a half hours away, unless you took the ferry from Seattle to like Victoria, BC. Right, so it's like wearing Canada to go, but obviously like you're saying it is a couple hours, so it's like wearing Canada that he go, but obviously like you're saying it is a couple hours,

so it's not like right across the street or something. And of course you can go to Canada to take a trip, but it is weird because it is the next day and it just looks suspicious. And then why would you wipe your phone? I don't know. I wouldn't do that. So Emmanuel consented to providing a DNA sample

and by the end of January 2009, so a few months after our arpanas murder, investigators had their results. Emmanuel's DNA had been found on Arpanas blood-stained bathrobe as well as on multiple sheets of toilet paper found in her bedroom on the duct tape used to seal her mouth shut and on a swab of her neck

However, the DNA were degraded samples meaning that it wasn't a very strong sample and also may have been mixed with samples from other people Who's DNA had not been tested which is super frustrating that it's not like clear cuts. Yeah, not super solid. Yeah, we have your DNA on here, but we're also not sure if that's yours. What's? So Emanuel maintains that he had been in our business apartment and around her all night. Obviously part of her party took or part of the party was in her apartment. So that makes sense.

Right. Yeah. So, you know, this was a clear explanation for why his DNA could be on her. Also, he had helped Leslie and other members of the complex clean up the mess from the night before, which is why his DNA was found in the dumpster. Emanuel said in an interview that happened to be conducted by another wrongfully convicted defendant, Amanda Knox, quote, this is a party. People were going in and out of four or five units.

There has to be DNA everywhere. Why are they like nitpicking? You're not putting everything out there. Cameron's DNA had also been present on some of the evidence and was actually the primary profile found on the bottle of motor oil found in a plastic bag in the dumpster. To me that seems even more suspicious because it's on the bottle that's in a plastic bag in a dumpster. So how it's not like you were going through the dumpster or you had put something in the dumpster in it had gotten on a different thing.

Like this bottle was in a bag. Yeah, it was wrapped in a bag, and we know that motor oil was found on arpanas. So I mean, it's so what the hell. Yeah, it's just very suspicious. Multiple people remember Cameron being jealous that arpanas was talking to other men at the party. Now, remember, we also discussed Neil Marshall

who was extremely drunk and clearly interested in Arpina. One article also claimed that a man in Arpina's motorcycle club, again the Pacific Northwest writers, a man named Brian, had a history of sexual assault. It's unknown whether this claim was investigated or whether he attended the party, but strangely, a male resident of the apartment complex killed himself just days after the party in their apartment at Valley View. His DNA was never compared with the DNA found on Arpanis' body.

There were multiple unidentified male DNA profiles found on her body, let alone around the rest of the brutal crime scene, but police seemed to already know who they wanted for the murder. On October 30, 2010, so almost two years to the day after Arpenis' murder, Emanuel Faire was detained for the crime. Emanuel Fair sat in jail awaiting trial for seven years. His trial began on Valentine's Day in 2017, and the jury took an entire week to deliberate and still couldn't decide on a verdict.

In the end, with a hung jury, the judge declared a mistrial. Then two years later, a manual second trial began on May 7, 2019. On June 11, 2019, a jury concluded that they could not convict a manual fare beyond a reasonable doubt, and he was declared a free man, and released from prison that same day after serving nearly 9 years for a crime that he claims he did not commit. Earlier this year in 2022, he filed a civil lawsuit against the county, the Redmond Police Department and the lead detective in Arpanas case. This is just so insane how that all unraveled for him.

And of course, I do understand why police are suspicious of him, but it's so hard when it feels like there's multiple people that could have done this. There's multiple people whose DNA is confirmed to have been on her and in her apartment because she had a party. So that makes things so, so difficult. And then how bizarre that like we have two like Cameron and Emanuel both have weird things. So Emanuel had made those calls after he said he was asleep.

Was it a butt dial? Who knows? Or a sleep dial? Whatever you want to call it? And then we look at Cameron. Cameron was seen talking to her outside her apartment at 3 a.m. and then the next day he goes to Canada and He wipes his phone and also he called her that night in the middle of the night. Yeah, it's just

Just really weird things all around to me. I just feel like Cameron is more in my mind is more suspicious than Emanuel so I'm kind of surprised that this didn't fall on him more so than a manual, but then again, this person in the complex committing suicide days afterwards is also very weird. Is that a tragic coincidence or were they behind it because their DNA was never tested? So we will not know. Yeah, and we also have to talk about Neil Marshall because you know, he was very clearly asking Rachel if she thought that Arpina would be interested in him and he was very very intoxicated at the party and kind of being a fool. It's just insanity. Like truly unreal how many people could have been involved in how unclear it actually is.

Yeah, this is one of those cases where it's like there is almost too many suspects here. Right, so this just begs the question, who did kill Arpina Janaga? For now, we still don't know. And Cameron remains an obvious suspect, but there are many persons of interest who were not investigated at all. Online forums also claim there are two more possible suspects, both high profile and well-known offenders. One is a serial rapist named Mark O'Leary.

Mark's crimes in the Seattle and Denver area spanned from 2008, the year Arpano was killed, to 2011, and he is known to have committed the assaults of at least six different women. He is not ever known to have killed anyone, but he was confirmed to be in this Seattle area at the time. And this is just kind of what people on the internet are running with, so there's no real reason to believe he was involved, but he was in the area and he was a bad dude. And an eight episode scripted mini series on Netflix called Unbelievable was produced about him. And I had sentencing in 2011, Mark said of himself, quote,

I am a sexually violent predator and I'm out of control. Very interesting thing to say by yourself. Yeah, no doubt. I'm in a piece of shit. So another possibility is the infamous serial killer, Israel Keys, whom we've discussed as the possible culprit in many different cases that we have covered on the show. And he is believed to be involved in the deaths

of 11 or more people. And because he took his own life as he was apprehended, we'll never know how high that number really is. But Israel was confirmed to be in the area on Halloween of 2008, though I feel like there's so many people that were actually in the building that night that we can confirm that could have been behind it. So my bet's on them.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it seems kind of random to just throw like a random person in there. Which is fair, because, you know, he killed a lot of people. Absolutely, but we also know that she was at her apartment complex i highly doubt israel keys was there and it's kind of one of those things where we've talked about so many cases like you just said where people are like oh like it's possible that israel keys was involved unlike how many fucking murder says this guy you know believed to be involved in a lot all all over the United States. I will say are seemingly connected to him.

It's so many and I will say to if somebody at the party had described him to a T and said there was a stranger at the party and nobody knew who he was. And this what he looked like and he looked like Israel keys. That would be totally different. But that is not the case. So Arbana's local friends and colleagues threw her a heartfelt memorial in Bellevue, Washington, which is a nearby suburb shortly after her death. On November 9th, 2008, her body made its way back home to Hyderabad and was buried near

her family. They held a beautiful celebration of her life, adorned with hundreds of flowers from attendees and loved ones. A local newspaper reported that while BC was stoic, Arpenas' grandmother, mother and sister, quote, cried inconsolably. Her sister Pavitra followed in Arpenas footsteps and also pursued a career in tech. Arpanas murder was the fifth murder of an Indian student in the United States from her area of India alone in 2008, so that year, four other people from that area of India were

murdered. That's insane. If you have any information about the assault and the murder of Arpanah Janaga, please visit Redmond Washington's website redmond.gov and fill out their crime tip report or call the Redmond Police Department at 541-504-3400. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. This case is just so tragic, especially considering Arbana came to this country to, you know, build herself a successful career and a happy life and she was doing just that.

And it was taken away from her so violently on a night that was supposed to be filled with nothing but good times. Yeah, it's just incredibly sad. And the fact that it's still unsolved and there's so many suspects and seemingly so much evidence, it just boggles my mind. Like hopefully, Arpen is family and her friends get the answers that they deserve and Arpen gets justice. I fully agree. So please share this story on socials. It means a lot.

Word of mouth is great too. If you want to tell a friend or a family member about our show and our story. That would just really help in general, especially if you're in the PNW. Also if you guys are interested in a deeper dive into our story, please check out Suspect amazing show. Yeah, absolutely. And thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and just every other episode of going west.

It means the world to us. We have another show called The Dark Parts, if you wanna check that out. We just came out with a new episode called The Highgate Vampire, and we have a fun Halloween episode planned for next week, so don't forget to check it out and subscribe. All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world,

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