True Crime Campfire - Introducing: Suspect

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

A big Halloween party at an apartment complex in Redmond, Washington. Themed rooms and costumed partygoers. But by the end of the party, one of the hosts is dead. The police look to the partiers as the prime suspects: was it the guy in the devil mask, the bank robber, the construction worker? As investigators comb through forensic evidence, witness testimony, DNA, and even consult with a psychic, they zero in on one suspect in particular. But for what reason? Host and reporter Matthew Shaer (Over My Dead Body) returns to the scene of the crime, speaks with everyone about a night that still haunts them years later. It’s a series about race and policing, mislaid justice, cutting-edge science, and the kinds of weighty choices that cops and prosecutors make every day -- choices that, once made, are difficult to reverse.https://wondery.com/shows/suspect/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hey, campers. I had just started listening to a new true crime mini-series from Wondery and Campside Media that I'm completely hooked on. It's called Suspect. It starts in October 2008. The residents of a Redmond apartment complex were throwing a big Halloween party, dozens of people in costume, mingling, drinking, and dancing. But after the party started to quiet down, one of them was murdered in her home. The police spent weeks piecing together the night with hazy recollections, spotty DNA evidence, and, dozens of party photos. Eventually, they had a suspect. His story kept changing. His DNA was at the crime scene. When he finally came in for questioning, the detectives felt like they were a breath away from a confession. But that didn't happen. And so the police decided to focus their attention on another man, a man with a criminal record whose DNA was also found at the crime scene, and he just so happened to be the only black man at the party. Suspect starts out as a compelling hoodon and then becomes a story about cutting-edge forensic science and mislaid justice, about race and policing, and ultimately the kinds of weighty decisions that cops and prosecutors make every day.

Decisions that once made change lives forever and are almost impossible to reverse. I'm about to play you a brief preview of suspect, but while you're listening, make sure to follow Suspect on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or you can binge all nine episodes ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondry app. Campsite Media. At the time of the Halloween party in 2008, Jay was in his 30s, a successful programmer. He lived in the Seattle area, but he kept in touch with a lot of friends back home, including Dr. Janaga, whose daughter had moved down the road from Jay to an

apartment complex in Redmond. Very beautiful girl and very brainy. And above all, she's very caring. I noticed that you speak about her in the present tense. Yes. Yeah. Three days after the costume party at the Valley View, Jay woke up, walked downstairs, checked his phone.

He saw a bunch of missed calls from Arpena's dad. He called Dr. Janaga back immediately, and he could hear him. and he could hear his friend was in a bad place. There was no sign of Arpana. She wasn't answering her phone. Her friends, Shri and Lalitha, couldn't get in touch with her either. Jay hung up and tried Arpena himself. Nothing.

I called him back and saying that it's going to voicemail. And what do you want me to do? He said, can you go and check on her? Jay had been to Arpanah's place once before, but all he remembered was that you had to walk up a set of stairs to the top floor. To be honest, I don't even know that. Unit number. So that's why I took the steps.

Then I was knocking on the wrong door. I knocked for almost like 30, 40 seconds. No one was there. Then I waited. Then again knocked. No one was replied. That's where I saw the gentleman. I don't even know who he is.

The guy Jay saw coming towards him was in his mid-term. 20s with a goatee and sideburns, average build and height. It was Cameron Johnson, Harper and his next door neighbor. And I asked him, do you know this girl? He said, yeah, I know. So I asked him where she lives. By then, me and Cameron, we both were standing just in front of that apartment. Jay pushed gently on the door and a bolt fell off.

Someone seemed to have bashed it in. The lock was broken and there were splinters all around the Jay. all around the jam. Then I turned to camera and I asked, like, hey, looks like somebody broke her apartment, what the hell is going on, right? So can you come and help me out? And he said, okay, then we both went inside an apartment.

I was yelling at her, basically. Jay was yelling, calling for Arpena, but no one was answering. The two men crossed the threshold of the apartment. Jay noticed Arpena's motorcycle helmet was on the counter, which to him at least was notable, she wouldn't have ridden her bike anywhere without a helmet. She was too careful for that.

So he speculated that either her bike, which had not been in the parking lot, was in the shop, or Arpena was still in the apartment. He headed down a short hallway towards the bedroom. That's when he saw a figure lying on the floor next to the bed. I've spent the past two years talking to everyone involved in the investigation into the murder of Arpanajanaga, the cops. There's somebody lying to conceal something that they didn't want to tell us. The lawyers.

We get the police's version of events, and then we usually get their criminal history. But if those were the only facts, everyone would be guilty. And the man ultimately charged with her murder. They say things to scare you and be like, you need to just take this deal. Or we're going to give you. you a hundred years. There's bully tactics, man. Follow suspect on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music,

or you can binge all nine episodes ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.