He was also a longtime friend of Omar Norman, a convicted killer that had received a 52-year sentence for murdering a man in October of 2005. Speaking to the press, King County's Sr. Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird claimed: "The defendant opened the locked door to Jinaga's apartment, attacked her, stripped off her clothing, gagged her, assaulted her and finally strangled her to death.". Police getting called out to a suspicious death in Redmond; one in which there was clear evidence of a struggle? So I just finished the Suspect podcast on Wondery +, and am finding myself feeling mislead by the hosts after doing some additional research after the fact. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, of course. We have a brutal murder with no suspect. Speaking to the Redmond Reporter, some of the club's members would remember Arpana as the fun-loving, ambitious young woman she had been - not just the victim she had become in local newspapers.
Inmate files $1 million lawsuit against Cameron County and two jailers was interviewed multiple times by investigators, and each time, was unable to remember certain details: including what he had been up to during the estimated time of the murder (3:00 - 8:00 AM). Alanis' head was forcefully slammed to the ground and "Galarza violently punched and hit Alanis' head, face and body as his blood spilled to the ground.". Reply . Even though Arpana Jinaga had not been back home to visit her family in India in more than two years, she still talked to them over the phone regularly and had spoken to them the night before the Halloween party (Thursday, October 30th). Benson: I think no one feels satisfied with the outcome. In 2008, a 24-year-old Redmond-based software engineer named Arpana Jinaga was found strangled in her apartment after a Halloween party in her building. After nine years of awaiting his fate, 35-year-old Emanuel Fair was released from custody just hours after being acquitted in the death of Arpana Jinaga. What drew you to this story, and why now? Meanwhile, Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys Benjamin Goldsmith and Katharine Edwards emphasized creating reasonable doubt; mostly, by pointing the blame at Arpana's neighbor, C.J., whom, they believed made a more convincing suspect. Some of these individuals had not even attended the Halloween party, which made the discovery of their DNA at the crime scene that much more surprising.
That night, Arpana and at least three of her neighbors would open up their apartments for the party, which would move throughout the complex over several hours. Typically, when police recommend filing charges against someone, they don't follow that up with any investigation of their own and that's sadly what happened here. The two hung out often after Arpana moved to the Redmond area, but had begun to drift apart in the weeks before the murder (due to Arpana spending her free time volunteering and participating in her motorcycle club). The best musical instrument is a love triangle. - a former-student of Arpana's father in India, who had since become a professor in the states - and asked him to check in on Arpana at her apartment in Redmond. She would begin working there in March of 2008, and a company spokesman would later say that during her brief six-month tenure at the company, she had cemented herself as a hardworking and bright employee, who was considered a "rising star" among the higher-ups at EMC. Can you please do me a favor? asks a man, previously designated as a person of interest, when approached in the third episode. In that sense, the end of Suspect could very well be the start of the rest of the story. During his interviews with investigators, C.J. After making this gruesome discovery, Jay would begin dialing 911. But because of his prior criminal record, he would remain at the top of their suspect list for some time until the results from the forensic analysis came back from the Washington state crime lab, which seemed to implicate his involvement in the murder. And while TrueAllele had not yet been used by a prosecution in Washington state at this point, it had been used to obtain dozens of convictions all over the country and was seen as a reliable tool for law enforcement. Emanuel Demelvin Fair - who was also known as Anthony P. Parker - was 27 years old when charges were filed against him in October of 2010. did nothing but create reasonable doubt (since he could no longer be referred to as an "uncharged accomplice"). After being held in custody for nine years, he was found not guilty of Jinagas murder and released in 2019. Now science has gotten very sophisticated. However, when police revealed that they had obtained a log of his text messages and calls directly from his cell provider, he audibly responded "oh crap" and then claimed ignorance. And soon, she was able to build an entire social circle around herself, due to her bubbly personality and her willingness to try anything at least once. throughout this episode - who, it turns out, had been one of the investigation's main suspects early on. There is no apparent reason why someone would want to take this person from the prime of her life.". (Arpana's neighbor, who would co-discover her body days later). Its challenging in terms of race, in terms of policing, in terms of forensic science. It was just gruesome. By the age of 24, Arpana Jinaga had already lived a full and rewarding life and seemed poised to leave a positive impact on the rest of the world. Despite the insistence from the Redmond Police Department that this case was their top priority, that didn't bring forth any answers in the months to come, as the workable leads only led investigators to numerous dead-ends. However, investigators could not establish a specific time of death; instead speculating that she had died at some point early on Saturday morning, sometime between 3:00 and 8:00 AM.
Athens podcast tracks murder of former UGA law student, autopsy Its the best we can do forensically, but it still requires human beings to translate. Together, they decided to enter Arpana's apartment to check in on her, but when they knocked on the apartment door, it swung open. They argued against the analysis performed by TrueAllele; at least, until they were able to look through the source code of the software to determine just how, exactly, the program had come to this consensus. Emanuel Fair's second trial began just last year, in 2019, and again, tried to reach a jury consensus regarding his guilt. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. Even Seattles prosecutors are far more liberal than prosecutors in other parts of the country in terms of their policies.
Investigators would later retrieve the cell phone's information from Arpana's provider, but its disappearance - as well as the absence of Arpana's camera - pointed to the likelihood of her killer being someone that she knew. Using the design kit allotted to each contestant, Arpana was able to design a communications jammer, which didn't win her the contest but showcased her ingenuity at such a young age (21). Terms of Service apply. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. There has been no sign of activity in the case in some time, due to the prolonged trials of Emanuel Fair. The oil would contribute to the odd smell throughout the apartment, and was reportedly found all over the carpet of the bedroom. Just like in the first trial, the state leaned heavily upon the DNA evidence, which had been aided by the TrueAllele analysis and originally implicated Fair in Arpana Jinaga's murder. I hope that answers can still be found in this case, but until such a time, the story of Arpana Jinaga will remain unresolved.
Suspect on Stitcher Arpana's body was taken to the King County Medical Examiner's office for an autopsy, to determine the cause and manner of death. Whoever had forced entry into the apartment had attempted to clean and cover up their crime afterward. Throughout the latter half of 2017 and the entirety of 2018, another lengthy legal battle would ensue. It was around 3:00 AM on November 1st (Saturday) when the apartment's Halloween party began to die down; at which point, Arpana began returning to her apartment to catch some sleep. Despite her not having any experience riding a motorcycle, she planned on using one as her primary mode of transportation. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. Muhammad Ali, one of Arpana's co-workers at EMC in Bellevue, would attempt to call her but was unable to get through to her cell phone. While jailed at the facility, Alanis-Mejia underwent suicide screening because he had recently lost his parents. By Cameron Sheppard March 4, 2023 1:30 pm. Its probably a spoiler to tell you at this point that the team doesnt end up solving Jinagas murder. Prosecutors even asserted that Emanuel Fair might have acted in-tandem with an uncharged accomplice - Arpana's neighbor, who I've identified as "C.J." Crime scene investigators with the Washington State Patrol would arrive at the scene roughly four hours after the 911 call was made, and began documenting what they found and where.
Most of this reasonable doubt revolves around C.J., Arpana's neighbor, who also remains a very valid suspect (hence me not wanting to say his name throughout this podcast). Mar. as a suspect which is why they ultimately presented a case that didn't do so. Mar. can also be characterized as an uncharged accomplice.". Several items found inside of the apartment had also been burned by the killer, including a green blanket that belonged to Arpana, the red cape she had been wearing to the Halloween party, other pieces of her costume, a black sheet, and portions of carpet. She would even join a local motorcycle club, the Pacific Northwest Riders, and many of those in the PNW Riders chat-room would later reminisce about her lack of knowledge when it came to riding bikes, but how she came prepared to take on the challenge with a smile on her face, and her participation on lengthy rides throughout scenic western Washington that summer. Arpana Jinaga was not the first young professional from India to be killed in 2008. By the time she was reaching adulthood, Arpana had already become incredibly proficient in embedded systems (utilizing both hardware and software for specific functions) and gained international notoriety for her skills in 2005 when she participated in a design contest for Microchip. Its absence led investigators to speculate that robbery had played some kind of motive, as the killer might have stolen the bike to flee from the scene, but police would later locate the motorcycle at a repair shop in Everett, where Arpana had taken it days prior. When residents of the Valley View Apartments in Redmond, Wash . Regardless, more than a decade has passed since the mysterious death of Arpana Jinaga, and no one has been held responsible for it. Paul Vernon, one of Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys, countered the state's claims; stating that if they were factoring in DNA evidence for the crime, then this neighbor of Arpana's would be just as guilty as Emanuel Fair (if not more so). "There have been multiple reports between 2012 and 2020 of Carrizales guards provoking inmates in order to get reaction from the inmate and then beat the inmate," the lawsuit stated. A witness that was returning home from work that evening at around 3:00 AM - who had not attended the Halloween party, but lived nearby - later told police that they saw a non-black individual standing in the doorway of Arpana's apartment at around 3:00 AM. and on their website: sarahneilsonwriter.com. In fact, Suspect is as straightforward as a true-crime podcast can get. It was also pointed out by the defense that Emanuel Fair - now standing trial for murder - had been involved in a small accident at the party that resulted in him getting a bloody lip inside of Arpana's apartment (which was verified by other partygoers). and Nirmala Jinaga, a professor of computer engineering and a housewife, respectively. Alanis-Mejia was allegedly beaten by jailers Raul Galarza and Mark Solis while . Emanuel Fair's trial would begin in February of 2017 - more than six years after he had originally been charged, and more than eight years after Arpana Jinaga's murder. But a check of his online activity would reveal that at around 10:00, he had printed out maps for local pawn shops. The power of that for potentially solving a crime, but also the potential shortcomings of DNA, was something everyone we talked to for this series has been really honest about. Investigators would continue to reach out to Arpana's family and friends over the next several weeks, hoping to learn more about the days and hours leading up to her death. By October of that year, she had already scored a promotion to lead programmer and seemed destined for greater things. The most crushing thing of course is shes not here, but you can imagine it would be really difficult for her family to have that lack of closure. We didnt want to make that kind of show. 4A former Cameron County inmate is suing the county and two of its jailers for $1 million alleging he was beaten by the jailers while incarcerated. was called to the stand during this trial to answer questions but was limited in what questions he could be asked, due to his privilege against self-incrimination. That was surprising. After Dax Shepard asked her about her musical chairs relationship situation. . Despite not even knowing how to ride a motorcycle at the time, she purchased a Suzuki and began attending classes to learn how to safely ride it. An apartment complex hosts a big Halloween party with themed rooms and costumed . Specifically, it is a software that uses thousands of algorithms to read DNA and translate it, essentially, into evidence that investigators and prosecutors can then use. The lawsuit alleges jailers Raul Galarza and Mark Solis began demeaning Alanis-Mejia and ridiculing him because he was crying over the death of his parents. Multiple witnesses had claimed to see Arpana return to her apartment at around 3:00 AM on November 1st, and shortly thereafter, some of her neighbors had recalled hearing "moaning" coming from her apartment (which they assumed was consensual sex taking place). Still, I dont mean for this discussion of aesthetics to take us too far away from Suspects merits in and of itself. To-date, Arpana Jinaga's murder remains unsolved. More than a decade later, no one has been held accountable for her murder. Each host brings a new, love gone wrong true story to mix. They were able to follow the trail of maelstrom throughout the apartment down the hallway, towards the decedent's bedroom, where they discovered her body: that of a 24-year-old from India, who had come to America a few years prior to pursue her "American dream". While Arpana didn't have any friends or family in the area, she didn't let that deter her from leaning into the community. An exclusive trailer for Suspect is below. The gap between practice and potential is further underscored by the many instances in which Suspect carries the genres various conventions and clichs. While O'Leary was ultimately arrested for crimes he committed in Colorado, he had committed earlier crimes in Washington; in particular, in the area where Arpana lived - where he lived, as well. According to one of the jurors, who later spoke to the Seattle Times, the state's inability to reconcile the charges against Emanuel Fair with the evidence implicating C.J. Redmond Police spokesman Jim Bove would tell reporters later that day (Monday, November 3rd): "There were signs of trauma in the apartment We have booked it as a case of suspicious death.". It's also a lot more complicated than TV shows and movies would have us believe. This killer had kicked in the front door to the apartment, which had been locked beforehand by not only the doorknob itself but the deadbolt. Suspect is a lot more successful in the latter mode, if only because the series wraps up with yet another genre convention: the original mystery resolves inconclusively. I hadn't seen her for months, I'd never thought about her like that [prior to the night of the Halloween party]". According to prosecutors, Emanuel Fair claimed to have gone back to his friend Leslie's apartment at around 1:00 AM but would make nearly two dozen calls to three separate women (none of whom were Arpana) between 2:00 and 5:00 AM. The Wagner opera returns to the Met for the first time in 17 years. Was there anything that surprised you in your reporting of this story? had gone down to a car so that they could listen to some music, and C.J. Utilizing almost 200,000 lines of code, TrueAllele can analyze evidence with more than a half-dozen contributors, and determine who the most likely culprit is based on how many genetic markers are left on the evidence and where. The defense also pointed out how evidence found in the apartment complex's dumpster - which had ultimately implicated Emanuel Fair - was found nearly two days after the discovery of the victim's body, giving it several days of potential tampering before being documented by investigators. Strangers come . By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Alanis Mejia is also accused of striking Galarza in the chest. was a similarly likely candidate to be Arpana's killer. After attending a prestigious university in India, she decided to broaden her horizons for post-graduate life. She moved into the Valley View Apartments just north of Marymoor Park, along the 8900 block of Redmond-Woodinville Road.