Mitchell Gaff Sentenced to 50 Years to Life for Everett Murders

Mitchell Gaff, a man with a long record of sexual violence, pleaded guilty in April 2026 to the murders of Judith Weaver and Susan Vesey, two women killed in Everett in 1984. In May 2026 he was sentenced to 50 years to life. Investigators tied him to the crimes through DNA recovered from chewing gum that was obtained from him through a ruse, a breakthrough that led to his arrest in May 2024 and that has reopened a four-decade-old case.

Judith Weaver was killed in June 1984 in an Everett apartment. She had been bound, sexually assaulted and strangled. Two days after the murder of Weaver, on June 2, 1984, Susan Vesey was found beaten and bound inside her Everett home. It was her 21st birthday. Vesey's fiancé, Bill Richards, had long been a suspect in the case, but he died in 1994 without being charged in connection with the crimes.

Gaff's criminal history stretches back well before the Everett killings. He was convicted in 1979 of burglary and of assaulting a bound woman. In 1984, while on probation, he raped two teenage sisters at knifepoint. During state psychological evaluations he later admitted to six rapes. He was civilly committed as a sexually violent predator, a designation that a state appeals court upheld in 1998.

His path back into the community ran through a series of supervised steps. In 2006 he was moved to a halfway house in Seattle, under GPS monitoring and other supervision terms. He was unconditionally released from civil commitment in September 2018. He later lived in Olympia under an alias, and he was arrested in May 2024 after the DNA match.

Everett police are now reviewing other unsolved cases to determine whether Gaff may be connected to them. The lead detective said she believes more victims exist, though she has not identified any new victims or crimes since the 2024 arrest. Gaff has acknowledged that he deliberately altered details in the admissions he made during his evaluations, which complicates the effort to verify what he has said about his past. His defense attorney declined to comment.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact the Everett Police Department at 425-257-8450. Investigators are continuing to work through older files, and the case has become a reminder of how a single piece of biological evidence, collected decades after the crimes, can reshape what is known about a series of unsolved killings.

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Caroline Mercer

World News Correspondent

Caroline Mercer covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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