Going West: True Crime - Leticia Martinez-Cosman // 405

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

In March of 2023, a 58-year-old woman headed to a Seattle Mariners game with a man she had met at Costco two weeks prior. But after enjoying their date, even snapping a photo together in the stands, she went missing. When the following day brought strange text messages sent from her phone, and a report that her son had been abducted from his bed, investigators started to piece together a disturbing puzzle. This is the murder of Leticia Martinez-Cosman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west Hello everybody big. Thank you to Aubrey and Marie West. Hello everybody. Big thank you to Aubrey and Marie, Veronica, Hayley, Beth and Kristen. Kristen who actually listens with her lash clients over at Olivia Vail in Washington. Thank you all so much for sending this case over. It is based in Seattle and in this story today everything unravels right in front of our eyes and it only happened last year in 2023. So this is a new one Yeah, and the trial date is actually set for this June But there is so much information that's already been released and we've got it all coming up today

So without further ado, alright guys, this is episode 405 of going west. So let's get into it. Is crypto perfect? Nope. But neither was email when it was invented in 1972. And yet today, we send 347 billion emails every single day. Crypto is no different. It's new. But like email, it's also revolutionary.

With Kraken, it's easy to start your crypto journey with 24-7 support when you need it. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Seek kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. In March of 2023, a 58-year-old woman headed to a Seattle Mariners game with a man she met at Costco two weeks prior. But after enjoying their date, even snapping a photo in the stands together, she went missing.

When the following day brought strange text messages sent from her phone and a report that her son had been abducted from his bedroom, investigators started to piece together a disturbing puzzle. This is the story of Leticia Martinez- born on March 26, 1965 in Encinitas, California, where she grew up alongside sisters Laura and Lupe and a brother named Ricardo. Her siblings remember her as even tempered, kind and upbeat. Her sister actually recalled quote, her motto was to embrace life, to take it as it comes, regardless of its ups and downs.

Her best friend Annie said quote, she's just very fun loving, sweet and kind, the most generous person you could ever meet. Leticia attended Sandagito High School in Encinitas before meeting her husband, Craig Cosman. But while she was pregnant with her first and only child, Craig received a new job up the coast in the Seattle area. So the couple picked up and moved north to settle into Washington State and start their family. the couple picked up and moved north to settle into Washington state and start their family.

Leticia welcomed her son Patrick, who is described as the love of her life. Patrick was diagnosed with autism, Asperger's, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he needed some extra care, which Leticia provided lovingly and proudly, always doting on him and working as hard as she could to make sure that he had everything that he needed. But she and her husband, Craig, eventually split up and he relocated to Texas, but Leticia remained in Seattle with Patrick. Thus, Leticia became Patrick's sole caregiver, and though she was happy to do so, they did struggle sometimes because he required full-time care, meaning Leticia had to work two jobs at times to just ensure that his needs were met. And regarding what she did for work, she held a myriad of positions,

including being a treasurer and the front desk assistant at a law firm, as well as the owner of her own restaurant. Now, Leticia opened what would become a local institution in the South Seattle suburb of White Center called Cafe Rosella. She proudly hosted many community outreach programs like performances from local artists, diversity and inclusion events and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for their local chapter.

Friday and Saturday nights brought themed events and live music that had dozens of residents dancing in the streets, and her brother Ricardo helped her find the space and run the operation and was so proud of his sister for creating such a mainstay in their community. A friend of hers named Sharon wrote a tribute to Leticia in their local paper just applauding her for opening up her coffee shop, saying, quote, "'Those of us who lived or worked in White Center "'or otherwise came to cross paths with Leticia

"'know what a generous, kind-hearted person she was.' "'I used to see Leticia nearly every day at Cafe Rosella, "'her White Center art coffee shop. "'Leticia had many, many friends "'and was a major force in the revitalization of White Center. She and Patrick were frequently seen there together just chatting up with the locals and serving their neighbors with a smile. And Ricardo said of his sister's relationship with her son, quote, when she speaks of him, it's easy to understand her devotion to his well-being and her sense of pride in his accomplishments despite his special needs.

On March 19th, 2023, 58-year-old Leticia was out running errands with a friend, and she headed into a Costco in the Soto neighborhood of South Seattle. It was there that she met 46-year-old Brett Gitchell. According to the friend who was with Leticia at the time, the two struck up a conversation just bonding over their love of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. Leticia was such a fan that she attended most of their games, so she was always excited to talk about them. As the conversation was ending, Leticia and Brett exchanged numbers and Leticia wound

up asking Brett to attend an upcoming baseball game with her. Her brother explained, quote, Leticia is an avid fan of the Seattle Mariners through and through, so then Leticia invited him to see her favorite team. He added that this was pretty uncommon for Leticia, who had her hands full with work and caring for Patrick, saying, quote, "...it was a rare occasion that Leticia would take time for herself." But this seemed like, you know, a great meet-cute, and like they had some stuff in common, and she probably thought it would be nice to go out with this guy,

since she hadn't dated, really, since her split from her husband, not very much. Yeah, and she gets to do her favorite thing, which is go watch the Mariners play. So 12 days later, on Friday, March 31, 2023, the Seattle Mariners would play a home game against the Cleveland Guardians to a packed stadium. So the fans ushered in the new baseball season, and everybody just seemed to be in good spirits, especially Leticia and Brett, who spent their first date enjoying one of their all-time favorite activities. They even snapped a selfie both clad in Mariners hats, while Leticia smiled, and Brett just kind of playfully stuck out his tongue. And we are going to post this picture on our socials so that you guys can see.

And the reason why we have this photo is because at 7 p.m. that night, Leticia sent it to the friend that she had met Brett with on the day that they went to Costco. And the weather was okay that day. Most people in the stadium were kind of bundled up in beanies and jackets, but it wasn't raining and it was partly cloudy out. So not a bad day to go see a baseball game, especially in the Pacific Northwest Northwest where usually it is raining Their phone records placed them both at T-Mobile Park Which is the baseball stadium in South Seattle that evening just up the road from where they met a few hours later Surveillance footage from the stadium showed them heading out to the parking lot together

Now Leticia had driven herself there in her Honda CR-V and she parked near the stadium, but it's unclear whether they left together or they left separately. Because after that, Leticia was never seen again. And it wasn't at all like Leticia to disconnect from her family and friends, like she rarely went more than a day without checking in. And her 24 year old son, Patrick, was rarely left alone, especially not overnight. But after the evening of March 31st, even he was met with radio silence from his mom. On the morning of Saturday, April 1st, 2023, so the following morning,

a friend of Leticia's got a text message from her phone explaining that she had run into an old boyfriend at the game. Now, according to this text, Leticia had ditched Brett, the guy she had gone to the game with, and wound up hanging out with her former boyfriend all night. Though her friend felt like that was a weird thing for Leticia to do, she really didn't think too much of it, at least not yet. Later that evening, Leticia was supposed to be babysitting, but around 6.30pm, her phone

texted the family that she was supposed to babysit for and abruptly cancelled on them. So this was another red flag for those who knew Leticia well, because like her brother, Ricardo said before, she rarely took time for herself and always put others first. She was very reliable. Also, Ricardo was texting his sister that day, but claims that the exchange was odd and didn't sound like her. He called her on the phone repeatedly but calls continued to go to voicemail, with court

documents later divulging, quote, while these messages came from Leticia's phone, the author of the messages cannot be verified. Then, in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 2nd, over 24 hours since Leticia had been seen publicly, another strange occurrence befell the family. Patrick was kidnapped from his own home. So obviously this is extremely strange because we've got a missing mom and now all of a sudden, her son is kidnapped. Like it's so weird, like trying to put that connection together of what may have occurred

here. Well, around 2am on the morning of Sunday, April 2nd, Patrick awoke to a knock on his door, an eerily, not even his front door, but his bedroom door. Cautiously, 24-year-old Patrick opened it to see a man he later described as white in his 30s or 40s and sporting facial hair and glasses, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and a face mask. Patrick later claimed that he thought the man was a neighbor of theirs. Well, the man said that he was there to help Patrick, saying that his mom had been in an accident and that he needed to take Patrick to the hospital where Leticia was being treated. So he loaded Patrick into the back of an SUV and began to drive around Seattle aimlessly,

for what seemed like hours, according to Patrick's testimony. Now at some point that morning, around two hours later, after Patrick no longer had any idea where they were going or why he was even there, the man pulled the car over, telling Patrick that he needed to get a drink of water. But instead, he jumped into the backseat of the car and attacked Patrick, attempting to smother him with a bag. Locals in the vicinity reported hearing a horn honking repeatedly around this time, which is consistent with Patrick's head being hit against the steering wheel.

When Patrick fought back, the man pressed his forearm against his neck. Thankfully, Patrick is a strong man, standing over six feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds, and he was able to overpower the man, who was significantly more slight. He even bit the man on his hand and caused injuries to both the man's hands and face, which would not only deter him, but make it easier to identify him later, which we are going to get into. So, after doing this, Patrick was able to flee from the vehicle and call 911 while the

man took off in the car. Terrified, he was unable to provide much of a description of either his attacker or the car that he had been kidnapped in. He told the 911 operator this. Here's the audio clip. So after making this call, Patrick hid in the yard of a local resident until the police were able to assist him. He had been driven over 10 miles or 16 kilometers to the southeast, landing him in Renton, Washington, which is another suburb of Seattle.

After police were able to locate and interview him, he was taken to the hospital to be assessed for injuries. And then he was turned over to the care of his uncle Ricardo, since they still had no idea where Leticia was. Knowing that it was very unusual for Leticia to be ignoring his calls and leaving her son alone, Ricardo reported his sister missing as soon as Patrick had been questioned and was safely released from hospital custody, which was on Sunday, April 2nd. That same morning, mere hours after Patrick had been found safely after this whole kidnapping ordeal, Letizia's car was found in flames, which was a very bad sign that something awful had happened to her.

So it's crazy, like, Letizia goes missing, her son is kidnapped and then able to flee the situation, and then her car is found in flames, and all of this is happening in less than 48 hours. But let's talk about the situation with her car being found. So at 6.49am that morning, just a few hours after Patrick was kidnapped, law enforcement responded to the side of the road near Lewis Park in the North Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, just seven minutes from T-Mobile Park where Leticia had been seen two days earlier. The vehicle was a Honda CRV registered to Leticia Martinez Cosman.

According to the officers who responded to the scene, the fire had been set intentionally as the arsonist had used an accelerant. And they were able to determine that this fire was started in the passenger seat. So at this point, everybody who knew her was horrified. After being alerted that Leticia had been reported missing, her friend came forward to share that text that Leticia had sent from the baseball game, you know the picture of her and her date, and then she also shared the text from after the game indicating that Leticia had reunited with an old boyfriend. And she also

informed the police that she couldn't be sure that Leticia herself had written them. So luckily she shared that because this kind of gives the the police the idea that you know maybe we shouldn't be looking at this potential old boyfriend but instead the last person that we know she was with. So at this point law enforcement knew their next step would be locating and interviewing that very man. Her date for the evening, 46-year-old Brett Gitchell. Two full days of searching for Leticia yielded no sign of her, and there was no word from her nor text from her phone, so she had gone completely dark by this point. Then came another strange legal development that would prove to be an eerie link to Leticia's disappearance.

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the same Soto Costco that Leticia had met Brett in two weeks prior reported the theft of more than $10,000 worth of jewelry. Quickly scanning through the security camera footage, police spotted a man who resembled Brett Gitchell driving into the parking lot and then parking his tan 1999 Audi A6 that was registered of course in his name. He can be seen entering the store, quickly making out with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, and then exiting the store to his car. He was at large for over 24 hours but the following day, based on a tip-off from the Soto Costco, security

from another Costco spotted Brett lurking in their aisles. At 7pm on Wednesday, April 5th, 2023, so five days after Leticia went missing, security for a Costco in Shoreline, Washington, located Seattle's North suburbs Recognized Brett from the incident at their fellow outlet in Soto and reported his presence to police Brett's identity was pretty easy to confirm as he was wearing the exact same outfit that he had been wearing the day before Brett was arrested swiftly Ironically again at a Costco. What is up with him and Costco? Like that's where he meets Leticia, he's lurking in all these Costcos stealing jewelry, like what?

What is it with Costco? The guy's a weirdo. Definitely a weirdo. So after he was caught, he began spinning a web of lies that he would eventually trap himself in. When police asked to search his car and his phone, Brett claimed that he had not driven to the Costco and that he had left his phone at home.

However, a really quick scan of the parking lot would reveal that this was definitely not true. His tan Audi was waiting out in the Costco parking lot and his phone was found inside. And this guy is just gonna keep lying. I don't know how he thinks people are not going to easily Uncover his lies like to say oh my car is not here. It's like yeah this yeah I was gonna say like his lies aren't even good like they're just like he's like yeah, my car is not here

They're like that's your car right there Yeah, and it's gonna get worse because's going to keep getting caught in these lies. So police were immediately suspicious of his actions over the course of the prior few days, knowing that he had been the last person to see Leticia before she disappeared and that he also fit the description of Patrick's kidnapper. And you know, here he is committing more crimes and he has prior crimes that we're gonna discuss as well so they know that this guy is not a good dude anyway. So as

they brought him into custody detectives noticed that he had lacerations on his face and his hands consistent with the self-defense wounds that Patrick claimed he inflicted on his attacker. The court documents allege, quote, Brett had numerous visible injuries on his body, including many cuts and scrapes on his hands, some that were covered by band-aids. Brett had cuts and scrapes on his face, arms, and body, and had bruises on his torso and arms. The marks on his body appeared to be several days old and were in various stages of healing and scabbing.

There was blood on the inside of his right shoe. It's really all just falling into place here. Now when asked about his whereabouts over the course of the last few days, Brett claimed that he had been out in Ellensburg, Washington, which is about an hour and 45 minutes southeast of Seattle. Now he had driven there once on April 2nd, but other than that, he said that he had stayed in the vicinity of downtown. They questioned whether he had been at a Mariners game in the last few days knowing full well that he had and he said that he had not. However, the arresting officer noted that he still had a Mariners wristband dangling from his wrist at the time of his arrest. Another one of those really stupid lies. Yeah like it's like I can

see on your body that you were there not even including all the other evidence that we have that proves that you were there. But interestingly, by the time that he was brought into the interrogation room, this wristband was gone. As if, like, he's just going to hide it somewhere, like they didn't already see it, like... Well, they did ask him about it, and he said that it belonged to a friend, but I think we all know how wristbands work, and that when you take them off they're off and that's the point of these wristbands and so you can't give them to somebody else like they don't want you to give your wristband to somebody else so that they

can come into the game too that's not how they're designed right especially in 2023 then when Brett was asked if he knew Leticia, he said that he had never heard of her nor had he ever met her. Which is insane because he knew at the very least that a photo of them existed. In the picture that she takes of them where he's sticking out his tongue, he is looking at the camera. So whether he knew that she had sent it to her friend or not, he knew it existed and he knew that she was with a friend when they met. So it's just another dumb thing to lie about. I think this piece of shit was just hoping that Leticia had not sent that photo to anybody.

But yeah, he was definitely wrong on that one. Well when they continued to press him with questions about Leticia's whereabouts, he said that he actually had seen her around the Soto Costco a few times, you know, cause he's obsessed with Costco, but that he didn't know her personally. But that is when they revealed that Letizia's friend had brought forward a picture of the two of them at the game that he claims he never attended. So once they showed this, he had to admit that he had been on a date with her,

but that she left with another man. Which makes us hard to believe that she left with another man because everything else he's saying is a lie. So this just makes them believe even more that he was the one to send that text that she was off with an ex-boyfriend. After admitting to attending the Mariners game with Leticia, Brett requested a lawyer. Though Brett was an experienced criminal, he left behind a sloppy trail of clues that led investigators right back to him. Sloppy.

Yeah, very sloppy. So Brett was working for a company called HopeSource, which is a nonprofit that assists low-income families in Kittitas County with housing, electricity, and transportation. He worked as their bus driver and was originally from Renton, Washington, which happened to be where Patrick was found by the police after having been abducted. So at the time of his arrest, Brett held 7 felony convictions and 9 misdemeanor convictions. Dating back to 1992, his crimes include felony theft charges and drug charges, as well as driving with a suspended license, lying to a public servant, driving under the influence,

malicious mischief, and domestic violence. He also struggled with opioid addiction. In 2022, he was accused of repeatedly harassing a neighbor after alleging that she stole his AirPods and Suboxone, which is a drug used to treat opioid addiction. He retaliated by threatening that he was going to burn her apartment to the ground and telling her quote, I hope you get raped. Horrible fucking thing to say. God, this guy is vile.

So in December of 2022, Brett contacted a staff member of Central Washington University, telling them that he had contracted an illness from pool equipment and was now infected with what he described as nanotechnology. Okay weirdo. He told the University employee that he was attempting to reach the CIA and even traveled to Alexandria, Virginia in an attempt to do so. And the employee was so rattled by this interaction, you know, understandably that they reported it to police and Brett was registered as a missing person. He was eventually located at an Alexandria area hotel, a Hilton hotel, and police reported that he was physically okay, but that he had been exhibiting strange and paranoid behavior.

Keyword paranoid. So Brett's long-term ex-girlfriend reported that he had a lengthy history of abusing meth and prescription drugs. On top of this, the landlord of his apartment building was attempting to evict him and even sued him in January of 2023. So about two months before he met Leticia. And that's what's so sad about all this is even right before he met Leticia,

he was committing crimes and doing weird and awful things. And she just met this guy at Costco and he was a Mariners fan too. And she thought that they could have a nice time together. And if she knew all of this, all these things we're saying, she never would have done that. And the fact that he was able to kind of disguise that side of himself, which leaded to her going out with him is so sad. She had no idea who she was spending her evening with.

Yeah, I mean, this guy is just a human wrecking ball. Anything in his path is going to be destroyed. So true. And sadly, Leticia was in his pathway. Well and this behavior continues and really leads right up to their date with an even stranger kind of occurrence happening on March 28th, 2023, so three days before the baseball game date because Brett was captured on security camera footage in the backyard of a family's home in the Genesee Hill neighborhood of Seattle

So they reported this mysterious yard invasion to the police and he became known as the Genesee Hill Prowler I mean things just keep getting even more strange with this guy and How creepy that he's just roaming around people's backyards and trying to break into their homes like and committing so many different kinds of crimes it's really odd so although police didn't know it at the time the man captured in the video would precisely resemble Brett Gitchell right down to the black rimmed glasses and the Seattle Mariners sweatshirt while in the backyard he attempted glasses and the Seattle Mariners sweatshirt.

While in the backyard, he attempted to enter the home through the back door, but when he discovered that it was locked, he disabled the security cameras by cutting the wires and then broke into the family's unlocked shed. He was able to flee with a leaf blower and an outdoor clock, so sounds like he really scored here. Oh yeah, big score there, buddy. Yeah, but obviously not to take away from how scary this would have been for that family. So with police finding all of this out, they are just stacking more and more crimes against Brett and just attaching him to so many different things. After obtaining a search warrant for

Brett's phone and his vehicle, detectives were able to track his movements for days in between when Leticia was last seen and when Brett was arrested. And these movements were very telling. Late on the evening of March 31st, 2023, after the baseball game, his phone pings show him in the vicinity of Leticia's home. Hours later, early on the morning of April 1, 2023, Brett drove to a remote and mountainous

region of King County, Washington near Renton. The following day, which was Sunday, the day Patrick was abducted, Brett's cell phone records again place him near Leticia's home, which is consistent with the time that he went to take her son Patrick. He then again traveled to Renton, where Patrick managed to escape from the vehicle. So his phone pings are matching with all these things that are happening. And in addition to his phone's location data, police also spotted him on multiple security cameras along his route, which was fairly simple

to plot out because Brett had his phone on his person the entire time, like taking absolutely no precautions. We love to see it. At 11 57 p.57pm on the evening of April 1st, 13 and a half hours since Leticia had last been spotted on surveillance footage exiting T-Mobile Park after the game, Brett was seen on camera at her home casually walking across the front of the house. So creepy. Yeah, this guy really likes to creep around in people's yards. And that's at like midnight too. Yeah, and it's especially creepy because two hours later, Patrick was abducted. At 6am on the morning of Sunday, April 2nd, about two hours after Patrick managed to escape

from the scene of his altercation with Brett, Brett was spotted again on camera, this time at a gas station on Beacon Avenue in the South Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle. He was seen purchasing a lighter, a gas canister, and gas to fill the canister. Sixteen minutes later, Brett's phone records and Leticia's phone records aligned, proving that the phones were together, likely in Brett's possession. Thirty minutes after that, Leticia's car was found aflame, less than a mile from where

Brett had stopped for gas. Though investigators believed staunchly that Brett was involved in her disappearance, they had yet to locate a body to complete this entire picture. But thankfully, they were able to keep him detained for the Costco theft while they continued to build their case against him for the backyard invasion and theft, the abduction and attempted murder of Patrick Cosman, and the potential abduction and murder of Leticia Martinez Cosman. Investigators quietly launched searches of the area of Renton where Brett's phone had pinged and they soon narrowed in on South 192nd Street between Talbot Road South and

State Route 167 as Brett's phone records show that he stopped there for about 20 minutes on April 1st, hours after Leticia was last seen at that game. The heavily wooded area was near where Brett had lived previously and near where Brett had attempted to strangle Patrick. So on April 11th, after 5 days of searching, investigators finally located Leticia's lifeless body, partially concealed by dirt and brush. She had been strangled and buried hastily. On April 14th, 2023, after an autopsy was performed by the King County Medical Examiner,

authorities confirmed that the remains belonged to 58-year-old Leticia Martinez Cosman. And though this was a devastating discovery, her family has claimed that they're relieved she was at least found. Two GoFundMe's were established for the family in order to cover her funeral expenses and to maintain Patrick's care. But for the time being, Patrick left Seattle

to join his father in Texas. The family began planning for a memorial For the time being, Patrick left Seattle to join his father in Texas. The family began planning for a memorial which would take place in July of 2023. Heavily based on the security footage recovering which showed Brett at Leticia's home and then the gas station near where her car was burned, as well as the phone records that tracked his movements between Renton and Seattle, Brett was charged with her murder. The King County Sheriff's Office announced that they would charge Brett Gitchell with

second-degree murder for the murder of 58-year-old Leticia Martinez Cosman as well as first-degree attempted murder for his assault of 24-year-old Patrick Cosman, first degree kidnapping, first degree theft, second degree unlawful possession of a firearm, and second degree arson. Just really adding more felonies to his list, his very long list of felonies. Seriously. So because of all this, his bail was set at over $5 million. But on April 24, 2023, Brett pleaded not guilty to the new charge of Leticia's murder. His defense attorney, Dillon Johnson, claimed to poke a hole in the data that put him behind bars which was his cell phone's location services.

He protested, quote, that type of information is not capable of geolocating a phone with a great deal of precision Though the evidence seems staggering to us He claimed that it was unfair to pin the murder on Brett when he just happened to be in the general area of these events Based on shoddy cell phone data. Yeah, sure Yeah, he it's just a coincidence that he was in every single area that police checked and that he was on surveillance footage He just happened to be right there and at her house right before her son is abducted I don't buy that but Brett's defense team continues to build their case as it goes to trial very soon Just about a month after we're recording this

But there's a really strange thing in this case, because Leticia's murder actually saw similarities to another murder in the area, which we covered in episode 320, and we mentioned Leticia's case in that episode as well. On Monday, July 27th, 2020, 50-year-old Diana Davis left Tacoma where she resided for downtown Seattle to meet a friend or possibly to meet a date, because Diana was divorced and had

taken up online dating during the pandemic. Her phone last pinged at Lumen Field in South Seattle, which ironically is just across the street from T-Mobile Park where Leticia was last seen two days later in an alley in downtown Tacoma Diana's car a silver 2013 Chevrolet Impala was found engulfed in flames so you can kind of see the similarities here a Frantic search ended in tragedy when on April 5th A frantic search ended in tragedy when on April 5th, Diana's body was discovered at Snoqualmie Pass, about an hour southeast of where her phone last pinged.

Her remains were discovered by a hiker about 25 yards into the woods, partially concealed by brush and dirt, but her upper half was visible. So her remains were not very well buried as well, just like Leticia's, because Leticia's remains, like you said, were hastily buried. So a lot of similarities here. Exactly. Though decay and damage from animals and the elements made it difficult to ascertain her cause of death, it was determined to be a result of blunt force trauma to the head,

as Diana had received multiple blunt force trauma to the head, as Diana had received multiple blunt force injuries to the face, which were believed to be caused by a hammer. The medical examiner also entertained the possibility that a sexual assault occurred before her death. A small amount of male DNA was able to be collected from beneath her fingernails, enough for a comparison if they could obtain DNA from the guilty party. So, based on the similarities in the two cases, police have reportedly investigated a potential link between Brett Gitchell and Diana,

though they have not announced their findings quite yet. That will be very interesting to know if they release that. Yeah, is this guy a serial killer by chance? Well, Brett's trial is scheduled to begin on June 12th of this year, 2024. So, I know maybe we should have waited to cover this until the trial happened, but this just gives us an opportunity to share her case before then, and update you guys if anything else is uncovered during that time. While Patrick settles into his new life in Texas, Leticia's brother Ricardo remains in Seattle,

where he continues to fight for justice on behalf of his sister. Ricardo says, quote, I'd like for him to be happy and everyone never forget who she was. That would be my justice. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys for sticking around and checking out this episode of Going West. Also, I just wanted to let you guys know that there is a GoFundMe for Leticia's son Patrick. All the proceeds go to him, so if you'd like to donate alongside us, it will be in the description of this episode. Yes, absolutely.

Her brother, Ricardo, said that Patrick will have extensive physical and mental health needs in the days and months ahead and they can't do it alone. So yeah, click on that link if you're able to donate. I know it would mean a lot to the family. We're definitely going to do it. So thank you guys so much if you can do that. If not, thank you so much for just listening to Leticia's story. I'm so glad that there seems to be resolution coming for her. Even though we still don't understand motive, like there's so

many answers we don't have as to, you know, after they left the game, why was she killed? Where was she killed? What exactly happened to her? So I am really hoping that her family gets those answers next month. Yeah, and again, we will try to keep you guys updated on that trial. And if you wanna see pictures from this case, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram at goingwestpodcast,

and we're also on Facebook. Yes, if the trial, like you said, Heath, if there is enough information uncovered, we'll do an update. If not, we usually post on our social. Sometimes we only do it on our Instagram story, depending on what it is. So go follow us there if you want to, you know, kind of stay in the loop of this. If you might forget to Google it yourself.

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