True Crime All The Time - Jesus Mezquia

Episode Date: November 29, 2021

Mia Zapata was a rising star in the Seattle music scene. Her band, The Gits, was on the cusp of national fame. But, Mia was found murdered in July of 1993. Her case went unsolved for 10 years but, fortunately, the police had collected DNA from her body that ultimately led to the discovery of her killer.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Jesus Mezquia and the murder of Mia Zapata. Mia was loved by so many people. Her band opened for heavyweights like Nirvana. Joan Jett wrote a song about her murder. Some of these big artists came together to help fund a private investigator to find out who killed Mia. Jesus Mezquia was nowhere on police radar until they got a hit from a database that his DNA was a match.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 261 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson, Gibby. How are you? I'm doing good, man. How about you? I'm doing really well.

Good. You and I just got done finishing up a Patreon only episode on William Enman, a young serial killer out of Arizona. There was some interesting facets. Yeah. To that case, no doubt. A lot of. I would say bad individuals in that town for a small town. Yeah, yeah, a couple of small towns that we talked about.

But yeah, people doing some things they shouldn't have been doing. That's for sure. Besides the serial killer, some helping the serial killer. Yeah. But if you're a Patreon member, make sure you check that out. If you're not, now's a great time to sign up. It's awesome. We also have an episode out right now on Unsolved.

It's on the Veliska Axe murders. pretty famous unsolved case. It is. And we finally, you know, people have been asking us to do it. We finally decided to do it. And I hope you guys enjoy it.

Go after and listen. We're talking about the brutal murders. And then we're diving to some potential suspects. And even talk about where the case it's today. It's a popular case for the lack of a better term. A lot of people, you know, have an ongoing interest in this unsolved case.

All right, buddy, let's go ahead and give our shout. shout outs. For Patreon, we had Karen Thompson. Hey, Karen. Clara Olert jumped out at our highest level. What's it going on, Orlert? Dori Vittito. Hey, Vitito. Stephanie. What's going on, Stephanie? Ryan Fraley. Hey, Fraley. Tomina Ritko. Ooh, Tomino. Jumped out to our highest level. Sarah Kay. Just a good old Sarah Kay. Milk toast. Or meek toast. Okay. Lori Wendy. Hey, Wendy. Rebecca Zosh. What's going on, Zosh? Candice.

Good old Candice. Vinnie Villano. Oh, there's a Vinnie. Yo, Vinnie. Sonita White. Hey, Sanita. Beatrice Nevis. What's going on, Beatrice?

Tina Taylor, Natali jumped out at our highest level. Sounds like, you know, Tinker Tyler. That movie? Soldier spy. Yeah, it does. I got you. I knew where you were going. Hey, Tina.

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to our highest level. What up, Jay? And then if we go back into the vault, Gibbs, this week we selected Emily Flaws. Hey, Emily. So we appreciate the new support,

the continued support. We had some great PayPal donations. We had one for a birthday wish for Janet Mersonendez. Yeah, so that was really cool. Yeah. And we always love it when people do that. We do.

And I think, The birthday person gets a real kick out of it. Absolutely. Jennifer Wormuth. Hey, Jennifer. Pixel Daddy. What's up, Pixel. And Benjamin Sturros, who wanted me to mention that he made the donation for Vinla Wickman,

who he turned on to the show. So we appreciate both of you. We do. We absolutely do. Gives, I have to say this. This comes out on Sunday, November 28th. That is our five-year anniversary to the day. Really?

Yeah. Where's my present? From the day that we put out our very first episode. Where's my present? There's no present. You got brand new chairs over the years. Where's my present? But it's kind of amazing.

You and I have talked about it. Five years, so many episodes, the way the show's grown, and just all the love and support that we've received over those five years from, you know, fans. It's amazing. And we love our listeners. We appreciate you so much. Yeah, absolutely. All right, buddy.

Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm excited. We're talking about Jesus Mosquia and the murder of Mia Zapata. Mia Zapata was a rising star in the grunge music industry. She was the lead singer of a band called The Gits, a popular band in the Pacific Northwest. I've seen it listed Gibbs a couple of different ways, grunge, punk rock. Yeah. You know, I think it could go a couple of different ways.

But I think the big thing is that, you know, she and her band were on the cusp of national fame. They had a European tour lined up, a second album that was almost completed. And they had just finished up a West Coast tour. It's saying a lot. It's saying a whole lot. And, you know, I think this is a band that opened for some heavyweights like Nirvana. maybe Joan Jet, you know, some big bands and musical acts. Oh, Nirvana back on the day.

That would have been huge. It doesn't get any bigger than that. Mia's life tragically came to an end. On July 7th, 1993, she was raped and murdered by Jesus Mesquia, a sexual predator with a history of randomly targeting women. And her case went unsolved for years until advanced, in DNA technology finally led to an arrest and a conviction. And these cases are always fascinating, right?

You and I do a lot of unsolved cases, obviously on our unsolved podcast. We often talk at the end about, you know, especially in cases where they have DNA. Right. That it's almost just a matter of time. The technology is advancing so rapidly that they're going to put it together. They will. And there has to be a lot of people out there today who, you know, did very heinous things back, you know, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

Yeah. Who were scared living day to day. They should be scared. They should be scared. But living day to day knowing that it's just a matter of time before the authorities are going to come knocking on their door. Justice is coming. Yeah.

And it's powerful. It is. Mia Zapata was originally from Louisville. Kentucky, or Louisville, or Louisville, as Givie likes to say, she grew up singing and playing the guitar. Mia's parents divorced when she was young. Her mother stayed in Louisville and her father, Dick Zapata, moved to Seattle. Everyone who knew Mia said she was an independent, free-spirited person. She always liked to modify her school uniform to fit her unique style. She enjoyed painting portraits and writing poetry with her friends in high school. Mia's dream was to be a musician.

And she was determined to make that happen. You know, you got to believe it to achieve it. I know that's probably something that you put on one of your corny Instagram posts. My kids are always telling me about. Got to believe it to achieve it. But it is true. It is true. You know, I'm giving you a hard time, but it is true. And, you know, I always find it very inspirational to, kind of look at a biography of someone's life, someone who turned out to be famous or, you know, achieved great things in life and find out that from a very early age, they wanted to be X. Yeah. Whatever that is, a musician, an NBA basketball player, a baseball player.

And they, that's what they ultimately became. Yeah. You know, they believed it. And they achieved it. Exactly. Mia started the Gits in 1986. And this was during her time at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Well, there you go.

I go there a lot to hike. It's very close to us. It is. Great kind of nature scene, hiking trails. It's a very free-spirited town. Busy? No. No.

I don't think that means what you think it means. No, this is a town with a, you know, a lot of free-spirited town. spirited people. I actually think Dave Chappelle lives there now. He does, actually. Doesn't he? Yeah, he lives out in the township around it. Yeah, not too far from where we grew up in Yellow Springs, too, though. Right. Yeah. But Yellow Springs, to me, was always thought of as a town where, you know, you might take some illegal substances and go out in the woods in Yellow Springs and run around. Not that I have any unique knowledge of that. I don't think you need to run around anymore. I think you can just sit outside It's that kind of town.

Of the coffee shop and... And your tivas or your Birkenstocks. Yeah. And just enjoy yourself. It's a cool place. My kids love it. They go there. They've got some of those shops that sell like the cool candles.

The rocks that are infused with something or other. I don't understand it all. But yeah, magical stuff. It's a magical place. It is. Her bandmates were Andy Kessler on guitar. Matt Dres. on bass and Steve Moriarty, who was the drummer.

The band was originally named the sniveling little rat-faced Gitz, which was a Monty Python reference. That's a great, great movies that they, well, I mean, I know that Monty Python's a group. It is, but, you know, when you watch their movies, even today, I can't stop laughing. Oh, they're awesome, man. Now, I do think it's one of those things,

kind of a brand of comedy. you either like it or you hate it. There's probably not a lot of in between that I'll just watch it. You have fans and you have haters, probably. Yeah. Because they're kind of divisive and they're kind of out there. They are. But I remember just watching it growing up.

So I liked it then. And I just remember how funny I thought it was at that time. Sure. But that's a pretty long name for a band. It is a long name. So the group decided to shorten the name to just, the Gids. Steve Moriarty told the Rolling Stone, Mia Zapata was an extraordinary human being. She was a beloved friend, a gifted songwriter, musician, visual artist, and performer. Rather than

focusing on her death, we prefer to remember her friendship, talent, humor, and the incredible art and music she left to the world. Singer Joan Jett was also interviewed by Rolling Stone. She said, Mia's legacy should be beautiful, strong punk rock music coming from a woman's perspective because that's who she was. Another reason Mia was so special was because she was a Hispanic woman, popular in grunge music, which was back then and still is a majority, you know, kind of white music genre. Gibbs, did I ever tell you one of my first crushes was Joan Jed? Was it?

when I was young I had a 45 we talk about 45 sometimes not the pistol the the record right 45 record of uh I love rock and roll do you remember her in that other band before uh you know they sung that uh cherry bomb song and I don't no no because we are like what 17 years apart and age so some of the some of your references I don't get 17 years what I just pulled that out of my oh man yeah what you're crazy Yeah, Joan Jett and she was with I can't remember the name of the band, but they There's like shocking that you cannot remember the name of the band. Three other pretty famous singers too. Can you name one of the three? For $8,000. Maybe Lita Ford.

Lita Ford? Was she really good with the guitar, I think? Yeah, I remember her as a solo artist. I'm thinking maybe she was in the band too. I think I had a little crush on her too as well. They had that famous song, Cherry Bomb. Hmm. I'll find it.

I'll go back and find it. Yeah. That's a good story, though. I know. In 1989, the band moved to Seattle to try to make it big. And Gibbs, you remember the 90s, right? Seattle was considered ground zero. It was.

For the grunge music scene. It was a new style of music. It really was. Made popular by singers like Kurt Cobain. And the Gits were on their way to becoming a very successful. band. Their 1992 album, Frenching the bully, got them pretty popular in Seattle. They had a pretty large fan base in the Pacific Northwest, and their popularity was growing all over the country. What they were hoping for was a record deal that would jumpstart their careers in the summer of 1993.

The band went on a West Coast tour where they made some connections with major record labels. Atlantic took the band to lunch in Los Angeles. MCA planned to watch one of their concerts in Seattle. I think I already mentioned it, but the group was finishing up their second album titled Enter the Conquering Chicken. They even had a European tour booked for later that year. So, I mean, I think when you look at all of those things,

it kind of lays out a roadmap for some pretty big success to come in the future. Yeah, you can tell they were on the right track. Things were going to happen. They were doing everything that they needed to do. All the hard work was paying off. But when the Gitz returned home, a terrible tragedy brought their careers to a sudden halt. It was on July 7, 1993, that Mia Zapata was raped and murdered while walking home from a friend's house. She was only 27 years old when she died.

Part of the 27 club. Yeah, that's the first thing that jumped out at me. It's so strange. How many musicians, artists died at the age of 27. Some, you know, were some of the biggest names at the time. Sure were. Who's part of that group, Gibbs? Morrison, Joplin.

I'm trying to think of some of the others, but there's a whole list of them out there. And it's such a strange age. Hendricks? Hendricks, I think, was Amy Winehouse maybe even part of that? That's more recent. But it's just one of those things that people, you know, really look at and say, wow, so strange that at that age, so many stars or people of influence, musicians, artists have died. Very talented people. Yeah, very talented people.

The Gits had just returned from a West Coast tour on July 4th. The band was playing for the rock. for choice tour, which promoted abortion rights. And that was a cause that Mia was very passionate about. On July 6th, Mia rehearsed at Pancreus production studio behind Pike Street and 11th Avenue at 8.30 p.m. Mia went to Comet Tavern, local bar near her apartment. She spent a lot of nights there. According to her friends, she'd been drinking all day and she continued to drink at at the comet. She was celebrating.

You know, they'd just come off this successful tour. She also gives, I think wanted to spend some time with her friends. Well, and she's also getting over a breakup. Well, and that's a lot of times why you need

to get with friends, right? Exactly. You need that support. You just want to laugh. You want to be with people who you are comfortable with. According to Rolling Stone,

at the end of the tour, she told Steve Moriarty, I don't want to be back in Seattle. I really have a bad feeling here. Whoa. That's an ominous statement. It really is. Now, if you're Steve Moriarty, what do you make from that?

You know, and that's the thing. We often look back later after we know what has happened and think, oh, wow, that statement is so ominous. Sure. But does it have the same feeling? for the person that it's told to in a different light, you know, before the tragedy occurs. Just recently broken up with somebody. Maybe she didn't want to be in Seattle anymore because of that. Maybe she didn't want to be there. And maybe that's part of the reason. Or maybe it was because she just came off this amazing tour and she loved the cities she was in.

Mia left Comet Tavern at one point to walk to a local pizza joint to buy some liquor. But she came back and she stayed for a few more hours. It's kind of weird to leave a bar to go buy some liquor to come back to the bar to drink. Well, let's face it, it's a hell of a lot cheaper. Well, that is true. Because, you know, drink prices at a bar versus going and buying a pint. Yeah. You're going to get a lot more bang for your buck.

That's true. Bia left the bar at 1 a.m. And went to her friend TV's apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. TV's full name is not listed in any of the sources. But her apartment was above a small studio. That a few bands used as a rehearsal space, Mia's ex-boyfriend, Robert Jenkins occasionally rehearsed there. When Mia left Comet Tavern,

she told her friend she was going to look for Robert. So apparently she checked the studio for Robert before she went up to TV's apartment. According to law enforcement, she was most likely drunk and agitated at the time. Maybe she had a little bit of liquid courage. And that's why she wanted to talk to Robert? Yeah, maybe get some things off her chest as it maybe has been bugging her.

Yeah, about the breakup. But like I said, he wasn't there. So that's when Mia decided to visit TV at her apartment. She left TVs at 2 a.m. According to some sources, she told TV that she was going to look for Robert again. There are other sources that claim she told TV she was going to catch a cab and just go back to her apartment. And Gibbs, this is very normal for us in researching a case. Sources differ. And obviously it depends on who they talk to. Right. All right, Gibbs, let's take a

quick break to talk about Anna Louisa. This is by far one of my family's favorite supporters of the show. I mean, first and foremost, they offer some of the most beautiful, timeless, affordable quality, long-lasting jewelry. So right there, my family is hooked, but Anna-Luisa also has a sustainable mission. We have ordered a number of things from Anna-Luisa, both for ourselves and for our loved ones. Right now is a perfect time as we're approaching the holidays. We've been amazed with every piece of jewelry that we've received. When you open it up and you look at the craftsmanship. You look at the beauty, you can't believe what you're getting for the price. You have to check out this company. They have pieces that are perfect gifts for anyone on your list.

They have a lot of mix and match pieces. I absolutely recommend checking out Anna Louisa's beautiful, sustainable jewelry. Their pieces start at just $39. And they're currently running their biggest sale of the year. Head to shop.analoisa.com slash T-Cat. And you can get 60% off your second item. That's shop. A-N-A-L-U-I-S-A dot com slash T-CAT for 60% off your second item. At 3.20 a.m., a passer-by found Mia's body. She was lying next to the curb. Her arms were outstretched and her ankles were crossed. The Seattle Fire Department responded to the call. Mia was found on a dead end street at the 100th block of 24th Avenue South between South. Yessler and South Washington streets.

This was less than two miles from Comet Tavern. Mia had no pulse and she wasn't breathing. The paramedics tried to revive her, but they were unsuccessful. You know, her laying that way reminds me of some other cases where the victim's arms were outstretched and their ankles crossed. Yeah. Unfortunately, you and I have done a number of cases where it appears as though victims were posed. I don't know for sure if that's the case here, but is it possible that someone, you know,

collapsed and just ended up like that? Yeah, I'm sure it's possible. I think you also have to look at it that maybe it's a possible staging, opposing of the body. Mia had been beaten, raped and strangled. Her sweatshirt was pulled up under her arms. Her hood was tied around her face and nodded under her through. Her underwear, wallet, and bra were stuffed into the pocket of her jeans. Mia suffered internal and vaginal injuries consistent with rape. She had abrasions to her body and breasts that looked like bite marks. And she had a blunt injury to her abdomen and diaphragm. She also had lacerations to her liver.

That'd be hit pretty hard. Yeah. And I think often, right? this wasn't just a single blow. I think what authorities made from all of this was that these injuries indicated a prolonged struggle. Police reports state that Mia was most likely killed inside a car or maybe in an apartment and then placed on the street afterwards. So that fact alone kind of goes back to your theory that she was possibly

staged and or posed. Yeah, because I think if all that struggling was going on out on the streets, even at that time of night, you think somebody would have heard something. You would think. Yeah. But it doesn't sound like that's where the struggle occurred. So, you know, if you're inside a car, if you're inside a house or an apartment, much less chance that somebody's going to hear what's going on. Mia's father, Dick Zapata, received a call from the Seattle. Coroner's office asking him to identify Mia's body and gives in many different interviews. He has said this was the most shocking and terrible moment of his entire life. And I don't know how it wouldn't be for any parent.

It's the call you don't want to ever receive. No, I mean, number one, no parent wants to find out that their child is deceased. But think about having to be the one who goes to. to the coroner's office, they pull back that sheet, and there's your child. I can't imagine it, man. I mean. Well, nobody wants to, right? It breaks your heart.

It does. Mia's official cause of death was strangulation. But the medical examiner determined that Mia couldn't have survived her internal injuries, even if she hadn't been strangled. So regardless of her being strangled, she was going to die. Yes. Yeah. But they did list her official.

cause as strangulation, the Washington State Patrol forensic scientists examined swabs taken from her body. They didn't find any semen, but they did find saliva on the swabs from Mia's breasts. And basically, this was the only DNA evidence found left at the scene. Seems shocking that they couldn't find anything knowing how brutal her attack was besides just the saliva on her breast. But that's all they got. that's all they have to work with. One of the first things that jumps out to me, Gibbs, is really a question. Did her attacker, did her rapist wear a condo?

Could have. Could have because there was no semen found at the scene. Five weeks after Mia's death, a young woman walking along 10th Avenue near Union Street, which is just a block over from Comet Tavern, spotted the car following her. She thought at first the driver was going to offer. for her a ride. But then she noticed that he was masturbating while he followed her. So she wrote down the license plate and gave it to police. They wouldn't find out until years later that the car belonged to Jesus Mesquia Mia's killer. Talk about some foreshadowing. Yeah, and we're going to talk about

how they solve the murder. I don't have this information, but I do have the question. You have the license plate, why couldn't they figure out that the car belonged to, Hey, Zeus, Mesquia back then, seems strange. It does. Because Mia's murder went unsolved until 2003. 10 years. 10 years. Now the lab had the saliva samples, but, you know, we've talked about this before.

At the time, DNA testing, it just wasn't all that advanced. And they didn't have the national. databases that we have today. Well, that's very true. And that's a big part of it. Mia's case was so big. It was featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. There were a lot of people Gibbs that suspected Mia was a victim of the Green River killer.

Well, it makes sense that people would think that because the way the body was positioned. Yeah, I'm sure that was a big part of it. Obviously, we're going to find out that she wasn't a victim of Gary Ridgeway. but like you said, I can see why people might have thought that. Now, initially, some of Mia's friends and acquaintances were accused of murdering her. Detectives investigated all possible leads. They never really found any answers. They were able to create a timeline of her night, excluding the hour and 10 minute period

from when Mia left her friend's house to when her body was found. Now, I get it that friends, acquaintances, they're going to be looked at. But to find out that a lot of them were accused, that's a strong word. Well, maybe they were just really pushing hard on people to try to get somebody to crack. I'm sure they were. We said it. It was a big case, right? The pressure on the police had to be pretty intense. Yeah. According to Rolling Stone, MPR music critic and Powers wrote in 1994, partly because it was a murder, Zapata's death genuinely transformed, the smaller, more local scene in which she was a leading light. Talking about Kurt Cobain

with people in clubs and cafes, I actually feel his presence less than Zapata's. She is mentioned over and over. Posters asking for information adorn the wall of the comet tavern. on some street corners, you can see the flyers made by friends a long time ago. So this was written a year after her murder. But that's a big statement to say that, you know, her presence kind of overwhelmed Kurt Cobain. Yeah, I mean, because he was big. It was huge. Yeah.

I just think it tells you what people thought about Mia Zapata. Joan Jett wrote the song Go Home for her 1994 album Pure and Simple. She dedicated the song and music video to Mia to raise awareness about her case. The Gitts contacted Joan after seeing the video. And she recorded a live album and performed shows with the group in 1995. Mia's bandmates organized benefit shows to raise money for a private investigator. And there were some big names in the music industry, Sonic Youth, Hootian the Blowfish, people like that who donated to the cause.

Yeah, I mean, people really came out for Mia. But I like what the band's doing here. They're helping raise the money. They're using this money to get additional help investigating. What happened? Who did this? Why did they do this? Well, obviously, Gibbs, they loved her very much.

The Gitts raised enough money to hire a PI named Lee Heeran. She spent most of her time investigating Seattle musicians. She told CBS, I would go to a lot of the kids. concerts and talk to people in the hallways, out in the alleyways. I got to know all the players. I figured out the relationships. Hearon was the one who learned that Mia was going to see her ex-boyfriend. She found out that Mia planned on confronting him, but he was with another woman that night. The police verified Robert's alibi and eventually dismissed him as a suspect. Hieran suspected that someone picked Mia up in their car, beat, raped, and strangled her, then dumped her body in the street.

Gibbs she worked on this case for four years, but never really got any of the answers that she was looking for. Yeah, I think all her leads just kind of fizzled away. And that's got to be tough for anyone, a PI, a detective, an investigator to work on something for four, six, eight, ten years. Yeah. and never be able to get the answers you're looking for. I know there are some cases that haunt detectives for the rest of their lives because

they want to solve them so badly, but they just never do. I mean, a lot of them retire, not ever knowing what happened. And it haunts them. It does haunt them. In 1996, the band organized the benefit album titled Home Alive, the Art of Self-Defense to honor Mia's memory, bands like Nerfxiexie. Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and others contributed to raise funds for Home Alive, an organization that encourages women to take self-defense classes.

Man, that's some of the huge names there. That's like some of the biggest in the entire grunge scene. Exactly. Some of them just the music. And just music. Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't limit it to grunge because, you know, those bands were so big. After Mia's murder, women across Seattle enrolled in self-defense.

classes, but they realized the classes were ineffective and they were also expensive. So Home Alive created a new curriculum, taught classes, and made connections with other self-defense organizations. Home Alive is still active today as a volunteer collective. Which is awesome. It is awesome. We often talk about good things coming, you know, in the wake of tragedies. Well, here's one right here. Then after nine long years, advancements in DNA testing helped solve Mia's case. The King County Medical Examiner's Office preserved Mia swabs for nine years. In 2002, detectives Richard Gagnon and Greg Mixo were assigned to Mia's case as part of their work for the Seattle Cold Case Squad gives had a list of about 300 cases. That seems large.

It's a lot of cases. But they decided. to start with sex-related murders because a lot of those had the most DNA evidence left behind. So better odds to solve. Well, with the advancements. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. The detective submitted swabs from Mia's body to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for DNA analysis.

Only a tiny bit of DNA was collected, but they hoped it would be enough to get the answers that they needed. The lab used PCR to amplify the DNA. They found two DNA profiles, one for Mia and one for an unknown male. The lab entered the DNA into the national database in June 2002, but there were no matches at the time. And, you know, this is something that is kind of frustrating. It is. You know, a lot of people think, okay, we've got DNA. We're going to be able to figure out who did this. It's kind of like the CSI effect, right? You watch CSI within about, what's the show? 42 minutes or whatever it is with commercials. They've got the DNA. They've wrapped it up. We know in real life it doesn't always happen that way. This is just the first part of it.

Yeah. One of the big hurdles is when there's, you know, nobody that matches in the database. Now, we're circumventing some of that now with the genetic genealogy, the forensic genealogy, that type of stuff. Starting to close some gaps. In December 2002, the Washington State Patrol was informed that the DNA in the swab was matched to a 48-year-old man named Jesus Mesquia. None of Mia's bandmates, none of her family. No one around her knew who this man was. Jesus Mesquia was originally from Cuba. It's thought that he may have come to the U.S. as part of the Mariel boat lift in the 1980s

when Fidel Castro exiled thousands of Cubans. But we know a lot about that. You know, me and you worked with somebody that actually lived through that event. Yeah, we've heard some firsthand accounts, actually, of what went on. but Mesquia's earliest documentation in the U.S. starts around this time. In 2002, Mesquia was living in Marathon in the Florida Keys.

He was married and working as a fisherman. A lot of lobster fishing going on there. My uncle lived there for a very long time. Really? Big lobster fishing there, huh? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that.

Yeah. So although his life seems pretty peaceful, you could almost say idyllic, Mesquia had a long record of charges in multiple states. In 1997, he was convicted of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman. In Florida in the 1980s, he was convicted of kidnapping, false imprisonment, robbery, and indecent exposure. It's quite the list. It's quite the list.

But we already know, right? This is an individual who likes to expose himself. Right. He did so in Seattle, in the car. He likes to set things free and, you know, most people are not comfortable with that. No, they're not. In California in 1986, he was convicted of assault to commit rape. In 1989, he was convicted of battery of a spouse after punching his girlfriend in the face. And then in 1990, he was convicted of robbery. Well, he just really is a piece of shit, isn't he? He really is. But here's the thing. and we talk about it time and time again. How does all of this not add up to something much heavier in the way of sentencing? It's quite alarming for sure. Like, are the systems not talking to each other?

Are they not aware? Yeah, and that's possible, right? If you're moving around from state to state, I mean, your record follows you, though. I don't know. It just seems to me as though, let's say, in the 80s. It just didn't seem to take into account past convictions all that much, at least from the research that we've done in the cases that we've gone through. Mosquia was on probation after a 2002 felony conviction for possession of burglary tools

as part of his probation. He was required to submit a cheek swab sample. A 2001 Florida law expanded their felon database to include robbers, and burglars. Their goal was to get all felons in the database by 2005. Thank goodness they started that. Yeah. So obviously this is how his DNA ended up in the database. Now, although the DNA matched, the police couldn't make an arrest right away. I mean, they had to prove that this guy was even in Seattle at the time of Mia's murder. And the way that they did that was through arrest records and traffic citations.

Well, when you got somebody like this guy, always getting in trouble, he's going to leave a trail. Yeah, absolutely. The Washington state police learned that Muskeye was living in Seattle. Between 1992 and 1994, Gibbs just about a mile and a half from where Mia was killed. Well, that puts them there, right? 1993 is when this happened. Mosquia moved to Seattle in 1992 to live.

with an unidentified woman who moved to that city for work. She never got the job. So they ended up moving into her mother's home in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. Neighbors described Mesquia as a very superstitious man. Gibbs, I guess he liked to put garlic clothes in, you know, corners of the house to ward off evil spirits. Watch too many vampire shows. Something.

He was described as tall, physically striking. And he liked to wear flashy gold chains, bracelets and rings. All right. He sounds a lot like you. The gold? Yeah. Physically striking, flashy, multiple layered gold chains, bracelets. I don't leave the house with at least three or four around my neck at a minimum.

And you're sure it has to be unbuttoned so that everybody can see them. No reason to wear it. People aren't going to see him. Now, Muskeye had no job when he and his girlfriend lived in Beacon Hill. But occasionally he babysat his neighbor's child. So, all right, I don't know what type of vetting we're doing on the babysitter here, but Maybe you need a better vetting job. This is not the kind of person.

If you knew his entire rap sheet, and I'm sure this person didn't, but if you knew it, you would say, no way in hell, am I leaving you alone with my child? Well, I'm sure they couldn't believe it when they found this out years later. Yeah, after. they ever did after the fact. I'm sure they did. Eventually, he and his girlfriend moved into an apartment in the Laskey area where Mia lived. Mesquia liked to go fishing a lot. His neighbor said that they were scared of his intensity. So that's something you don't hear all the time. I get it. People are scary. They were scared of how intense this guy was. I've noticed some people like that in my past.

And it is a little unnerving. It really, is a good word, I think, for it. People do give off like an intense vibe, right, the way that they stare, the way that they present themselves. I think that's what was happening here. And I think just on top of that, they just thought there was something off about him. They couldn't figure out exactly what it was. I mean, he was vague about where he was from.

And it came out that he lied about his age. I'm guessing he made himself younger than he was. Yeah. Who doesn't lie? about their age from time to time. You know, you lie about my age all the time. Yeah, I try to bring it down to make you... Or the other way.

To make you younger than what you really are. Mesquia and his girlfriend broke up in the summer of 1993, but they continued to live together. According to the Seattle Times, the girlfriend, after catching some glimpses of Mesquia's anger, told a neighbor that she didn't know. what she'd gotten herself into and wanted to distance herself from him. The neighbor apparently let her stay in her apartment until she could buy a car for Mesquia. So this is a little strange, right? She's afraid of this guy, but they continued living together for a little while. But then she went and lived with her neighbor all the while trying to put enough money together

to get him a car basically what, to say, hey, here's a car, get the heck out of here. Yeah, I think that's exactly what she's trying to do. Like, here's some transportation. Now you can go ahead and move somewhere else. And that's exactly what happened. She purchased a car for him in 1994. He took the car and moved to Southern California,

then eventually back to Florida. Now, all of the evidence indicates that Jesus Mesquia and Mia didn't know each other at all. On the night of the murder, his girlfriend was out of town. So he was basically just out wandering the streets alone. This was a random opportunity attack. Well, we know how he liked to cruise the streets at night,

according to that witness later that called the police. Well, and I think a lot of predators do, right? They cruise. They're on the prow. They're just out looking for whatever they can find, potential victims, opportunities maybe. is a better way to put it. Detective Gagnon told CBS

he was always looking for a victim. He was a predator who likes to hurt women. He's a hunter. And Mia just happened to fall in his field of vision. And you and I have talked about this quite a bit. To me, this is scary, scary stuff.

It is. This is not a person who you've wronged. You didn't get in a fight with them. You didn't say something. to offend them, you're just out walking. And a predator sets their sights on you and they strike. It's just a scary thought. The Seattle police asked the Florida police to take Mesquia in for questioning. So, you know, this was after the DNA mashed and all that. Detectives, Gagnin and Mixel flew in for the interview on January 10th, 2003. They showed,

Mesquia pictures of five unsolved murder victims. One of them was Mia Zapata. Mesquia denied knowing any of them. Of course he did. He's not going to raise his hand up, right? Well, why would he? Right. I mean, they're saying right out of the bat, these are unsolved murder victims.

So to say that you knew any of them would put you in the crosshairs, right? But it didn't matter. He was arrested and immediately charged with first-degree. murder. They had the DNA. Mesquia was married at the time of his arrest and he had one daughter. The Seattle Times asked his wife if he had ever abused her or committed any criminal acts. She answered nothing, nothing, nothing. I do not believe that he did this. I don't believe it's possible. She said her husband was a quiet, calm person and a good father. He didn't drink or do drugs. and he spent most of his time fishing while she worked.

That's probably what he told her. I'm going fishing. Well, that could be. And I see what you're taking from it. What I'm taking from it is that he's out recreationally fishing while she's bringing home the bacon. Either way, it's a crime. I'm with you.

So he's arrested and he spent the next year awaiting his trial. Gibbs one interesting event occurred during the pre-trial. hearings. The defense tried to argue that a man named Scott McFarlane committed the murder. McFarlane was a cab driver who claimed he had a relationship with Mia. In 1994, he made some incriminating statements about the murder. He was driving a cab in Capitol Hill on July 6, 1993, and the court ruled this evidence was admissible for the trial. Then the prosecution brought in a witness named Valentina DeCechko. She said that Mesquia assaulted her in January 1994. She didn't report it at the time. But when she saw that he was charged with murder, she went to the

police. She said that in January 1994, she left her apartment at 4.30 a.m. for an early morning jog. Maschia approached her. He knocked her down and she felt pain in her throat. Now, she was able to run away from him, but when she returned home, she saw him standing at the corner of her building, staring at her and masturbating. The dude's got a problem. He does. I mean, this is like, have you seen my baseball type stuff here? Yeah. There was a lot of back and forth over this evidence. The state declared that if the defense submitted their McFarlane evidence, they would submit their DeCecho evidence as rebuttal. So in the end, the defense, chose not to enter the McFarlane evidence into trial.

Mesquia's trial started on March 8th, 2004. The defense argued that the saliva didn't prove he raped or killed Mia. The paramedics who tried to revive Mia may have corrupted the DNA samples. They theorized that they may have somehow transferred Mesquia's DNA to her breasts. Or the DNA came from contact. hours or days before the murder. So basically what the defense tried to do was suppress the DNA sample. But the court denied the motion and ruled that Florida police lawfully obtained the DNA

without any assistance from Washington police. And I think on the prosecution's part, they argued that Mesquia was the only possible perpetrator. His DNA was on Mia's body because he bit her. when he raped her. He had a long history of attacking and sexually assaulting women. He saw Mia walking alone

and took the opportunity to attack her when she was vulnerable. I mean, they're headed down the right direction, right? They've got science on their side with the DNA, and then you've got his history. This history speaks volumes.

And I think it would be very powerful to the jury, especially both of those combined. The defense presented circumstances substantial evidence to propose that Robert Jenkins was the perpetrator. They said that Mia was angry, that he had a new girlfriend. She was looking for him on July 6, 1993. Jenkins called Mia's roommate the next morning and asked to speak to Mia.

Her roommate told him that she might be in the shower. And oddly, Robert said the person in the shower probably wasn't Mia. The defense asked, how could he know that? this if he wasn't involved in the murder. Additionally, one of Mia's friends said Jenkins sometimes, quote, went crazy and had attacked me in the past. So you and I talk about this, especially when we get deep into trials. The defense is going to bring out everything, you know, that, that they can.

What's their job? They're trying to raise some reasonable doubt. Now, this is all circumstantial, but it's a theory. They're floating a theory that. Mia's ex was the perpetrator. The prosecution claimed that although Mia was angry with Robert and told TV she was going to find him, there was no physical evidence connecting him to the murder. Mesquia's trial lasted eight days.

On March 25th, 2004, he was found guilty of first-degree murder. Some of the jury members later said they argued a lot during their four-day deliberation. They tried to come up with possible scenarios to explain how the DNA could have gotten on Mia's body. They can be very difficult to figure that out. And I think that's what happened. Ultimately, they decided there was no other explanation other than the fact that mesquia raped and killed her. So four days is a long time to deliberate. It sounds like they were going through any and every different time.

type of scenario they could think of, they couldn't come up with one. Gibbs that would explain legitimately how his DNA was found on her breasts. Mesquia was sentenced to 36 years in prison on April 30th, 2004. Steve Moriarty said outside the courthouse, I'm just glad that he'll be rotting in prison and that we'll be able to live a little bit freer lives. It's got to feel good to know that your best friend, your bandmate, the person that did this to her day has come. Yeah, he's going to pay for what he did.

On August 23rd, 2005, the state court of appeals confirmed Mesquia's conviction, but overturned his sentence because of a Supreme Court ruling known as the Blakely decision. According to the Blakely decision, any factor would. which extends a sentence beyond the standard range must be proven to a jury or admitted to by the defendant. The standard sentence for first degree murder was 18 to 28 years. So his sentence was eight years longer than the standard range. During the 2004 sentencing hearing, the judge said she had legal justification for the longer sentence because of the extreme injuries. Mia suffered. She was raped, bitten, and strangled with the cords of her own sweatshirt. But the appeals court sent the case back to the King County Superior Court for new sentencing.

And you know, prosecutors don't like this. They never do. So they set out to try to get another lengthy sentence for Mesquia. And then strangely, on January 30th, 2009, the court of appeals reinstated the original sentence. Jesus Mesquia waived his right to have a jury determined whether aggravating circumstances would justify a longer sentence. So this allowed the judge to give him another 36-year sentence. And his own attorney told the Seattle Times that he didn't know why his client chose to waive his right to a jury hearing

because it could have shortened his sentence. It probably would have. I would think it would have too. I don't know why maybe he just didn't understand it as clear as he should have or maybe he just didn't want to. I'm sure his attorney explained it to him. I'm sure in detail. But as far as I know, he's never offered up the reason behind it. He continued serving time in prison and he didn't file any additional appeals.

Jesus Mesquia died on January 21st, 2021 in a Washington hospital. He was 66 years old. the Washington Department of Corrections never listed his cause of death. It gives, you know, as we wrap up this case, it took 10 long years. But Mia's family and friends and bandmates, they finally got to justice and closure that they needed. I think when you look at her case, it's one of those examples. We've talked about many of them of how DNA can get answers with a little bit of time, a little bit of luck.

and I think a lot of advancements in technology. In this one, thankfully, the medical examiner's office saved her swabs. And the police never gave up on her case, which unfortunately we do see that happens sometimes in some of the unsolved cases we do. Yeah. We also see where evidence is lost. Mishandled. Mishandled.

Contaminated. Yeah. To the point where, you know, the technology now exists. but when they go to try to get the sample, they got nothing to work with. Oh, you're right. You know, it did. A lot of time, a lot of luck, but it all paid off in the end. Everything just kind of lined up after 10 years.

And then it took another six years to finally get, you know, the sentencing conviction all straightened away. Yeah, obviously, I'm glad it all worked out. We could have easily been talking about this on Nunsall. If everything didn't line up, you know, without the deed. and A, we probably would be profiling this on unsolved. I think the other thing you have to talk about is that, you know, Mia's case is just another unfortunate reminder for many women to try to be safe. You know, when if you're walking alone at night, it's something that you and I have talked about from the beginning. We have. And it's not just women, right? Everybody needs to keep their head on a

swivel, you need to be vigilant in order to protect yourself from a predator like Jesus Mosquia. If you're interested in learning more about Home Alives self-defense classes or volunteering for the organization, you can visit www.combe.comalive.org to get more information. It does sound Gibbs as though they really offer a very valuable service. And a T-CAT safety safety whistle doesn't hurt either. No, make some noise. But that's it for our case on Jesus, Mosquia and the murder of Mia Zapata. You know, it's just another one of those cases of a young person with all of the talent in the world coming in contact with a predator who is out stalking, looking for a victim. I think as we often talk about in the unsolved cases, you know, how far could

she have gone. You know, how big would this band have gotten? How famous would she have been? Oh, man. And that's just one part of it. You know, that's not even the biggest part. It's just a question. You know, the big thing is her family missed out on, you know, their time with her, her bandmates, her friends, everybody who knew her and loved her. Right. She was young, 27. Yeah. We've got some voicemails gives you and check those out. Let's hear him. Hey, this is Hope. I'm from Western Kentucky, and I just wanted to say I just started listening to you guys, and it helps me. I have a very long commute to working back, so it keeps me occupied. I did want to make a recommendation.

It happened close to where I live in 2008, a man called Kevin Dunlap. He was a formal special operation soldier, and he killed three children and attempted to kill their mother. it turns out he was missing his frontal lobe, but he did plead guilty and is currently sitting on death row in Kentucky. So I definitely think it's an interesting case if you guys want to cover that. But thank you so much for all that you guys do and keep your own time taking. That definitely sounds like one that we need to check into. We've heard of people having damaged frontal lobes.

I don't think I've ever heard of a criminal who was missing their frontal lobe. But I didn't even know that was possible, to be honest with you. Interesting. Oh, my God. I'm actually doing it. I'm leaving a voicemail. So I started watching True Crime all the time maybe, I don't know, two or three weeks ago. I discovered it as a suggestion.

And I've been binge watching so much that I've gotten current on all the episodes from the start of the podcast up until this October. So I'm like maybe four episodes behind. because I literally listen to it all day long. I listen to it while I'm working, while I'm cooking. I goes off to it while I'm going asleep. I mean, I love you guys. Gibby, you're my dude. You're my dude.

I love you so much. You don't understand. Guys, keep it up. Keep your own time ticking. Stay safe. I'm actually doing this shit. And I don't know if I can say that on the voice now. But I will say I spent weeks sort of kind of laughing at folks who left voicemails and I sort of thought it was corny.

And then I started developing FOMO and I wanted to be a part of the community. So I'm leaving a voicemail. I love you guys. I'm going to always listen for as long as you stay on waves and keep doing it. Well, we love you too. She's actually doing it. She did it. She did it.

It's awesome. I'll do it again. Later on. So that's very cool. I mean, obviously that makes us feel good. We appreciate it. Hi, guys. This is Susan in Illinois.

Again, I just wanted to tell Mike Ferguson that you did an excellent job with the pronunciations of those names on Bogey Cry Life podcast. I don't know that I could have done it and I couldn't hear a single one that you slept up on. So I was like, wow, that had to have been kind of hard to do. and I didn't realize that Wang was such a popular name in China. Anyway, great job. Great podcast.

I love it. It's the best one ever. The only one I really listened to on a faithful basis. So I hope you guys have great holiday. Stay safe and keep your own time picking. Well, you know, I did a lot of phonic classes with Mike to get him prepared for that episode. A lot of tutoring. A lot of tutoring.

You know, we got through it. But I will say it was a very tough episode because... I kept questioning myself saying the names over and over, but I kept questioning, okay, am I saying it right? You know, I don't know that we'll go back to China too soon, just because it was a very tough episode. It was, but I'm glad we did it. Yeah, no, me too.

I mean, we need to branch out and do different types of cases, go different places, but it may be a while before we take that very, very long flight back. Well, I can't wait to go back so we can do a little mandromy. on. Okay. I got you. Not sure what that is, but we'll go with it. All right. We had one thing in the mailbag. It was from Cheryl Reed. She sent us some true crime addict pins. Very cool. They are cool. Yeah, we appreciate it very much. All right, buddy, that is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and givey, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.