Suvechha Sarkar
In August 1986, the quiet community of Tacoma, Washington, was forever changed by the tragic murder of Jennifer Bastian. The lively teenager had disappeared before her remains were found on a wooded trail. What followed was a decades-long mystery that would haunt both her family and the investigators committed to seeking justice. A&E’s ‘Cold Case Files: Taken in Tacoma’ retraces the steps of the case’s investigation, shedding light on how modern DNA technology identified the killer after more than 30 years. It also features interviews from her loved ones and officials who waited years for answers.
Jennifer Bastian’s Remains Were Found Weeks After Her Disappearance
Born on April 15, 1973, in Cook County of Chicago, Illinois, Jennifer Marie Bastian, lovingly known as Jenni, arrived as a beacon of light in the lives of her parents, Pattie and Ralph John Bastian. Growing up, she was always loved dearly by her parents and her older sister, Theresa. Jennifer was a bright and kind girl who her family often described as a “bundle of energy.” She usually loved immersing herself in activities like cartwheels, swimming, and gymnastic moves. She had her whole life ahead of her and was quite excited about her upcoming YMCA bike riding trip. Jennifer was trying to master riding her 15-speed bike before the trip by practicing daily. She frequently rode her bike with her friends to Point Defiance Park.
Just like any other day, on August 4, 1986, Jennifer asked permission to ride her bike. However, she rode alone since none of her friends were available that day. After writing a note for her father stating that she would return by 6:30 pm, she took off towards the park. However, when dinner time passed and she didn’t return home, her parents began calling her friends and neighbors to no avail. Ultimately, they informed the police that Jennifer was missing. A bloodhound was reportedly brought to sniff her clothes. It quickly picked up her scent and led the detectives to Five Mile Drive at Point Defiance Park, but they could not locate her. The following morning, a full-fledged search began in the area. However, the three-day-long search proved to be of no avail.
On the third day, Barbara Welch, mother of Michella Welch, approached Pattie. 12-year-old Michella had also disappeared 5 months ago while biking, and her remains were found a few miles away from the area where Jennifer vanished. Although officials initially believed Jennifer to be kidnapped, their leads led to a dead end. On August 26, 1986, a jogger noticed a foul odor on the trails near Five Mile Drive in Tacoma, Washington. After struggling to locate its source for two days, on August 28, 1986, investigators finally found Jennifer’s remains. While the way she was found reportedly indicated sexual assault, she also had ligature marks around her neck. Since the remains had decomposed, there was limited evidence that was collected. The autopsy determined her cause of death to be strangulation.
Modern DNA Science Identified Jennifer’s Killer After Over Three Decades
As the investigation intensified, officials began considering that Jennifer and Michella may have been murdered by the same person since the nature of their deaths was similar. They found a lead to a man who lived in a van in the parking lot of Point Defiance Park. However, his DNA did not turn out to be a match to Michella’s, excluding him as the suspect. Despite hundreds of leads, they all led to a dead end, and the case turned cold. In the autumn of 2008, a new cold case unit shed light on two cases of juvenile women, Kimberly Payne and Denise Sallee, who were also sexually assaulted and murdered in 1986. Officials began looking at them closely since all four of these juvenile female cases happened around the same area. It pointed towards Timothy Ray Burkhart, who was a suspect in an abduction and two homicide cases from 2001.
However, it turned out that Timothy had committed suicide. Law enforcement developed his DNA from the evidence of 2001, striking a match with Denise and Kimberly, but it was inconsistent with Michella’s case. In January 2013, Jennifer’s swimsuit was again submitted to forensics, and it revealed new male DNA. When it was entered into the database, it provided no match to Michella’s case, indicating that her and Jennifer’s murders were committed by different individuals. Investigators resubmitted samples of all the males related to Jennifer’s case, but they did not provide any matches. In early 2015, they created a database with over 2300 names related to her and Michella’s case, but it also provided no leads. In the summer of that year, the then-lead case detective connected with Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick, a renowned forensic genealogist.
Colleen ultimately helped the detective find a list of potential suspects’ last names by identifying their paternal line via YSTR DNA. This provided matches to Holbrook, Smith, and Washburn. They discovered that a man named Robert Washburn had called in with a tip of seeing a suspicious jogger in May 1986 in Michella’s case. In March 2017, officials collected his DNA samples in Eureka, Illinois. On May 8, 2018, the last batch of DNA hit a match to Robert. It turned out that during Jennifer’s murder, he was living just nine blocks away from her home. Finally, he was arrested in May 2018 and formally charged with first-degree murder on May 24, 2018. He initially pleaded not guilty. However, Robert later admitted his crime and pleaded guilty on January 25, 2019. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison. As of writing, Robert is serving his sentence at Airway Heights Corrections Center in Airway Heights, Washington.
Read More: Robert Washburn: Where is Jennifer Bastian’s Killer Now?
