March 11, 2024 • 35 mins
Certain cases stand out for the way they impact those who knew the victim along with those investigating their demise. This case is no different. When a bright light is extinguished all too soon, all that is left are questions. The hope is that those questions can be answered quickly but when they are not, those answers and justice may seem out of reach. Time and technology were the hope for the family of Sarah Yarborough but just how long would they have to wait?
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Episode Transcript
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Trish (00:14):
Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of Criminal
Discourse podcast.
I'm Trish, I'm Wendy and we'reback with you with an all-new
episode.
So glad you could join us today.
Wendi (00:34):
No case updates, but we do have a shout-out.
Trish (00:37):
Well, a couple shout-outs from people that have reached
out to us on Instagram andFacebook, and just the other day
had one from Gwyneth, who gavea case suggestion, which,
surprisingly enough, is one I'malready working on, so I know
it's the right case to do so.
Stay tuned for that one.
Wendi (00:55):
And send us more case suggestions If you have them.
We love those.
Now we know there are so manytrue crime podcasts out there to
choose from and only so manyhours in a day, so we want to
take a moment to say that wetruly appreciate you choosing to
listen to our podcast today.
Now, if you want to join thediscourse, you can reach out to
us on our website,criminaldiscoursepodcastcom, or
(01:15):
on social media.
We're on Facebook, instagramand YouTube at Criminal Dispod
and Criminal Discourse Podcast.
And one last thing before weget started the views and
opinions discussed on theCriminal Discourse Podcast are
just our views and opinions.
Everyone is presumed innocentuntil convicted in a court of
law.
All right, you ready, I'm ready.
(01:37):
Where are we going to today?
Trish (01:38):
We are going to the state of Washington, so certain cases
always stand out for the waythey impact those who knew the
victim, along with thoseinvestigating their demise.
In this case is no different.
When a bright light isextinguished all too soon, all
that is left are questions.
The hope is that thosequestions can be answered
quickly, but when they're not,those answers and justice may
(02:02):
seem out of reach.
Time and technology were thehope for the family of Sarah
Yarborough, but just how longwould they have to wait?
am am on the 14th of13-year-old 1991, Drew Miller
and his friend were taking ashortcut through Federal Way
High School grounds in FederalWay, Washington.
Now Federal Way is named afterFederal Highway US 99, and is
(02:25):
part of Seattle's metropolitanarea.
Now Drew would recall that itwas freezing that morning, so
much so that the mud puddles hadfrozen over.
He and his friend were headedout to skateboard after having a
sleep over the night before,and what should have been a fun,
relaxing outing that Saturdaymorning would be a moment that
would have a profound impact onDrew's life as well as the
(02:47):
Federal Way community.
As the boys were breaking upthe frozen puddles, they passed
by the tennis courts and theynoticed a man in the bushes off
to the side.
Now, this man was originallycrouched down and just seemed to
be staring at them.
The man suddenly stood upcasually, walked out of the high
bush line and then walked aheadof the boys on the path leading
between the hill with thebushes and the tennis courts.
(03:08):
Now, initially they thoughtthey caught him smoking some
weed, like oh you know, our bad.
But then the boys saw what theman had walked away from Lying
on the ground was the body of apartially clothed young woman.
She was not moving.
When the boys looked in thedirection the man had been
walking, their shock soon turnedto fear, as they saw the man
had stopped and was staring backat them, with only a few yards
(03:30):
away from them.
Drew and his friend took off,running back home and called the
police.
Now, one of the first officersto arrive on the scene was
Detective Scott Strathey.
What investigators would come tofind was that the victim was
16-year-old Sarah Yarbrough, astudent at Federal Way High
School.
There was a pile of clothingnear Sarah's body.
It was her drill team jacketand some undergarments, and she
(03:52):
still had curlers in herponytail.
She looked to have beenstrangled by nylon stockings
tied in a ligature around herneck.
The stockings were her own.
Sarah's car, which was herfather's vehicle, was in the
high school parking lotapproximately 300 feet away from
where her body was found.
So all still on school property.
Detectives from the King CountySheriff's Office Major Crimes
(04:13):
Unit examined Sarah's car.
Now, investigators could see nosigns of struggle in or around
the vehicle.
There was a container of orangejuice still sitting upright in
the front seat of her car.
In one of the links I have inthe resource section you can see
pictures of the inside of hervehicle.
They took that day and it's oneof those Tupperware juice
containers.
It took me back, taking us backto the old days, taking us back
(04:35):
to my childhood.
Detectives would find thatSarah had made the container
that morning and she had takenit with her to her drill team
competition.
She was to have that day.
Now the question was how didSarah get from her car to the
bush-covered hill?
After talking to family andfriends, one early theory was
that she had been coaxed in someway.
Perhaps the man seen emergingfrom the bushes had asked her
(04:57):
for some help in finding somelost keys or a dog, and Sarah
was known for always beinghelpful.
Sarah Yarborough was the oldestof three.
Born to Tom and LaurieYarborough, she had two younger
brothers.
Her closest at the time was her11-year-old brother, andrew.
Sarah was in her junior year ofhigh school and would tell her
parents that her plans were togo far away for college.
(05:18):
She was not staying local.
Her mother described her asadventurous and wanting to
either study engineering likeher father or maybe to become a
museum curator.
Sarah is described by those whoknew her best as artistic and
creative and smart andimaginative, and at times feisty
, but always kind.
She would be the last to waitfor someone, but the first to
(05:39):
offer them any help, especiallywith their homework.
And she, so she was like acheerleader, right she was on
the drill team, which I'm notsure if that's a different
version of cheerleading, I thinkit might be different.
I think your drill team is whenyou use the wooden rifles.
Maybe, oh, okay, that's what Itook it as a drill team.
They're not.
I don't think they're populararound our area, but I know in
(05:59):
other areas of the country theyare.
Wendi (06:01):
She seems fun.
Peppy yeah, fiery red hair yeah.
Trish (06:06):
Investigators would find that, although the crime scene
looked like a sexual assault hadtaken place, sarah had not been
raped.
She had been beaten and died bystrangulation.
From those pantyhose foundaround her neck and semen would
be found on her jacket andunderwear, but also under
Sarah's fingernails, provingthat she had put up a fight.
Detectives were hopeful when afull DNA profile was obtained.
(06:28):
Now they just needed to matchthat profile to their murderer.
Also in the investigation'sfavor were the two witnesses who
had gotten a good look at thesuspect and were able to give a
detailed sketch.
Drew and his friends describeda younger looking white male,
approximately six feet tall,with a medium build.
He had shoulder length straighthair.
His bangs were cut above hiseyebrows.
(06:50):
The suspect wore a dark coloredtrench coat and dark colored
pants.
Now police released that sketchafter Sarah's murder and leads
started pouring in, but theywould eventually dry up.
There was a killer among thecitizens of Federal Way and
these citizens now lived under aconstant fear if or when the
killer would strike again.
So a year and a half would passwith no suspecting custody and
(07:13):
sketches of Sarah's killer stillplaced up around town.
Sarah's family and friends werestill mourning their loss and
worked hard to keep her memoryalive.
They channeled their effortsinto putting together memorial
for Sarah and in June 1993, abench was placed outside Federal
Way High School.
Engraved on the bench were thewords Carpe Diem or Seize the
(07:34):
Day, a mantra, sarah embodied.
Also beside the bench, encasedin bronze, were some of Sarah's
favorite possessions her balletshoes, her favorite books and a
replica of her beloved dog Gibby.
On the plaque to honor Sarah atRed, 1975 to 1991, seeker of
Knowledge, holiness and Holiness, seer of Truth, beauty and
(07:55):
Dreams.
A gift from her class of 1993,family, friends and Generous
Donors.
So Sarah's friend Shannon.
She was the last friend to seeher alive.
In interviews years later,shannon would say that she lived
with regret.
She wished she would have askedother drill team members what
time the team was to meet thatmorning for their competition.
Sarah's drill team was to meetat the school that day at 9 am,
(08:19):
not 8 am, as Sarah had thought.
She had rushed out of the houseso quickly she hadn't had time
to take the curlers out of herhair.
Her parents were out of townthat weekend for her brother's
soccer tournament, so she hadher friends stay over the night
before.
Neither had known.
Sarah had no need to rush outthat morning.
Now, what would have beenSarah's graduation day, june 12,
1993, was also her birthday.
(08:40):
Sarah's close friends wouldlater say that every joyful
event, every occasion, wasfilled with sorrow and regret
because Sarah wasn't there.
Now, on that graduation day,her mom actually came to her
graduation to support herfriends and she did that because
they were such a support forher.
Wendi (08:59):
I can't imagine how hard that had to be for the community
.
I don't know how big they were,but regardless, that's not
normal to lose someone in thatway and then to have it be her
birthday on top of it.
Trish (09:08):
Detective John Free joined a long line of
investigators who would continueto work on Sarah's case over
the years.
Now, over 3,000 leads werepursued and the unknown,
mysterious DNA profile waseventually entered into CODIS,
the combined DNA index system,when it became fully operational
in the mid to late 90s.
But there was no success.
(09:29):
There was no match.
In 2011, investigators reachedout to Dr Colleen Fitzpatrick.
She was an early pioneer in thefield of forensic genetic
genealogy.
Since this was a newerinvestigative tool, dr
Fitzpatrick offered her servicesfor free, and it wasn't long
before she came up the name of apossible suspect.
Wendi (09:50):
For free.
Trish (09:50):
I hope she's charging now because these are valuable
services she may be now, butback then, because it was so new
, nobody really knew of it.
But she saw the potential ofwhat it could be as an
investigative tool.
Not that you solely rely on it.
It's just something like aprofile right Like a criminal
profile, behavioral profile.
You just use it as a tool tohelp narrow down suspects and
(10:13):
she proved it.
Wendi (10:14):
She didn't put the money barriers in the way.
Trish (10:17):
No, dr Fitzpatrick, using the DNA profile, was able to
identify the killer's familytree and came up with one name
Robert Fuller.
Now his family tree dates backto early settlers who came over
on the Mayflower.
Robert, or Bill Fuller as hewas known, was a close family
friend of the Arboros.
He even helped get Sarah'sMemorial Bench built.
(10:38):
Now, from the start, theArboros did not believe that
Bill had anything to do withSarah's death.
He didn't fit the descriptionof the killer.
Bill was short and had shorthair.
Plus, he was 48 at the time ofSarah's murder.
He was not the younger man thatfit the profile and Bill
cooperated fully withinvestigators and willingly gave
his DNA.
That did not match the DNA leftat the scene, but Dr
(11:00):
Fitzpatrick felt strongly thatSarah's killer was somewhere on
the Fuller family tree and shewent to work whittling it down.
So in September 2019, drFitzpatrick made another
breakthrough in Sarah's case.
She had two new suspects,brothers, edward and Patrick
Nicholas, distant cousins ofBill Fuller.
(11:20):
So investigators ran their DNAprofiles against Edward Nichols
as his DNA was uploaded intoCODIS due to being convicted of
rape and a registered sexoffender.
But no match.
So they turned their attentionto Patrick.
Now, by 2019,.
Patrick Nicholas was describedas a divorced loner who was
working in an auto parts store.
(11:41):
He was still living inWashington state, actually a
couple towns away from FederalWay.
Nicholas had no children anddidn't appear to have any
friends or close acquaintances.
He didn't even drive.
His main form of transportationwas by taking the bus.
Now, what piqued DetectiveFree's interest was the fact
that Federal Way High School isalong a bus route Nicholas had
often taken.
(12:01):
Another point of interest wasthat when Sarah had been
murdered, nicholas was 27 andlooked very much like the
witness sketch.
So now detectives needed to getNicholas's DNA, so they started
to surveil him, with a plan tosecretly collect a sample.
So in late September 2019,undercover officers watched
Nicholas enter a laundry mat, sothey follow him inside.
(12:23):
You know they're observing himand they see him go outside
shortly after and smoke twocigarettes, discarding them on
the ground along with a napkinthat had fallen out of his
pocket.
Officers quickly took thecigarettes and napkin and
immediately sent them off to thecrime lab.
Within days, the results werein a perfect DNA match and over
4000 tips that had been sentinto authorities over the years.
(12:46):
Patrick Nicholas's name wasnever mentioned.
Patrick Leon Nicholas was takeninto custody shortly after Now,
during questioning, nicholasasked what he was being charged
with and detectives told himthat they were investigating the
death of a young girl, sarahYarborough.
Nicholas's response what yearNow?
(13:06):
This shocked detectives anddetective free asked why would
you ask that?
Nicholas replied this is it.
I'm not gonna say anything.
And he didn't.
And an hour and a half laterthe next thing he said is he
asked for an attorney.
So when Drew Miller saw anupdated picture of Nicholas, he
knew immediately that he was theman he saw so many years ago
and that they had the right guy.
(13:27):
He was the same guy, just older, and he would say quote evil
eyes.
Those eyes stayed the same.
Wendi (13:34):
I bet he remembered after being terrified of him that day
.
Trish (13:37):
He said it did have a profound impact on him.
And years later he would alsosay that he felt such a weight
on his shoulders becausedetectives would come back to
him initially in the earlystages of the investigation,
asking more questions becausethey didn't really have any
other leads, and he felt reallyresponsible like, oh my gosh,
what more could I do?
You know it was a lot ofpressure on the young man.
(13:59):
Investigators looked intoPatrick Nicholas's criminal
background, which confirmedtheir suspicions that Sarah's
attack was not his first or hislast.
In June 1983, now this is eightyears before Sarah's murder
Anne Crony had been hanging outby her car one morning along the
Columbia River, and that iswhen a man approached her and
struck up a friendlyconversation.
(14:20):
He introduced himself as PatNichols, telling Anne that he
had just moved to town.
And in their conversation, youknow, she's like oh, have you
gone waterskiing yet?
You know, because they werealong the river and that's a big
sport.
He let her know that no,because he doesn't know how to
swim.
So after a few more minutes ofconversation Anne starts to feel
uncomfortable and that's whenshe notices Pat's voice had
(14:42):
started to become shaky, so hergut's telling her OK, time to go
.
Anne told Pat that she had togo and got in her car, but when
she went to close the door, patput a knife to her throat and he
ordered her to take off herclothes.
Afterwards he stuffed herunderwear in her mouth to
prevent her from screening andhe directed her to walk ahead of
him down to the nearbyriverbank.
(15:02):
Now, halfway down the riverbankhe told her to stop, but Anne,
remembering that Pat told her hecouldn't swim, decided and made
the bravest decision of herlife.
She dove into that water andshe swam away.
Now Anne would be found by apasserby at a nearby dock, who
then called the police.
Now, once Anne gave the name ofher attacker, they had very
little difficulty locating him,as he was no stranger to police.
(15:25):
Nicholas at the time was about19 years old and, as a juvenile,
had been convicted of two priorrapes and an attempted rape.
He had only just been releasedfrom a detention center for a
few months when he attacked Anne.
Now, days later, nicholas wasarrested and pleaded guilty to
an attempted first degree rapeof Anne.
Crony, nicholas would tell thepolice quote I realize I have a
(15:47):
problem concerning raping girls.
Anne spoke at Nicholas'ssentencing asking the judge for
the maximum sentence, and thejudge agreed.
Patrick Nichols was sentencedto 10 years behind bars.
But he didn't serve 10 yearsbehind bars.
Nichols was released just afterthree and a half years.
Now, to add injury to insult,anne was never notified by
(16:08):
correction officials that herattacker was to or had been
released, and Nichols didn'thave to give his DNA sample at
the time, as CODIS was notlaunched into the mid to late
1990s.
Wendi (16:20):
Well, the people responsible for these decisions
are the ones who should befeeling pressured, not the ones
who discovered Sarah's body.
That's terrible.
Not only was he let out soearly, after already having two
rapes and an attempted rape tohis name, but now, three years
after he tried to get and sayingthat I have a problem
concerning raping girls, that'sI'm going to do it again.
Trish (16:41):
So Anne barely thought of Patrick Nichols until October
2019, when police knocked on herdoor and shock turned to anger
when told that Nichols had beenarrested for Sarah's murder,
knowing that he would have stillbeen behind bars in December of
1991, had he been made to servehis whole sentence.
Now we know people get let outfor good behaviors, prison
(17:04):
overcrowding, but this was a manwho had a history as a teenager
of doing this.
He should have been made toserve his entire sentence, but
he wasn't.
At least four charges at leastfour.
Well now, this would have beenprobably his first as an adult.
Remember, the rest werejuvenile.
So maybe because it was hisfirst time being charged as an
(17:26):
adult, good behavior in prison,they let him out Three and a
half.
Yeah, I don't know how tojustify that, but it happened.
It kind of took me back to thetoolkit murders.
Yeah yes, you know those guyswith their history of going in
and out of jail very bigsentences but very little time
served.
Wendi (17:46):
And we can use the excuse they didn't know as much then
and we know better now.
But it's still so disappointingto see.
It still feels like they shouldhave known better, especially
when you have someone sayingthings, admitting things, like
that.
Trish (17:57):
To King County Deputy Prosecutors Cecilia Lee and Mary
Barbosa.
They knew that Patrick Nicholaswas a serial predator even
after Sarah's murder.
Nicholas had an additionalconviction in 1994.
This was three years afterSarah's murder of sexually
assaulting his six year oldstepdaughter.
At the time, which should havebeen a first degree child
(18:17):
molestation charge was able tobe pleaded down to a gross
misdemeanor that did not requirehis DNA collection.
Now, in an attempted rape andother rape convictions, nicholas
was never required to submithis DNA, which would have been
uploaded into CODIS becauseCODIS didn't exist then.
Wendi (18:35):
I'm flabbergasted.
No other comment.
Trish (18:38):
Yeah, I'm not sure why it got pleaded down to a gross
misdemeanor and it could havebeen because of the victim was
so young, not having her testify.
Right, you know, they weregetting something better than
nothing.
Maybe the mother wasintimidated, nervous, absolutely
we don't know the circumstancessurrounding that.
So to prosecutors, nicholas hada clear pattern of behavior.
(18:58):
He would approach young womennear or in their car.
He would start up a friendlyconversation with them and then
pull a knife on them and orderthem to walk ahead of him.
Now, once at the location ofhis choosing, he ordered them to
take off their clothes and thenrape them.
Now in Ann's case, he had totake off her clothes in the car
and then walk ahead of them.
But I think this was prettymuch an empty, deserted parking
(19:19):
lot, similar to Sarah's too, buthe took her into the bush line
before she removed some of herclothing.
So even though Nicholas had acriminal history, the trial
judge ruled that none of itcould be used as evidence in his
upcoming trial.
It's highly prejudicial.
So Patrick Nicholas, now 59,was being tried for first degree
felony murder in SarahYarborough's death.
(19:40):
The prosecutor's focus was onthe DNA and the emerging field,
forensic genetic genealogy.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about forensic genetic
genealogy, and we've talkedabout this in other cases that
we've covered.
That, of course, involves usingDNA evidence collected from
crime scenes to identifypotential suspects by tracing
their family trees throughpublicly available genetic
(20:01):
databases such as Jed Match orFamily Tree DNA.
Now this technique gainedprominence, of course, in recent
years due to successes insolving cold cases, including
homicide, sexual assault andunidentified remains cases.
In cases where traditionalinvestigative methods have been
exhausted and DNA evidence isavailable but not matched to any
(20:23):
known suspects in lawenforcement databases, forensic
genetic genealogy can offer anew avenue for investigation.
Like I said, it's a tool andyou upload the DNA profile from
the crime scenes into thisgenetic genealogy databases.
Those investigators then searchfor familial matches to the
unknown suspects, dnapotentially identifying distant
(20:44):
relatives who share geneticsimilarities, and this can be
distant.
So we're not like I mean, ifyou're lucky it's a first cousin
, but sometimes it's many, many,many, many, many, many cousins.
Once removed, twice removed.
So, it's, yeah, it's looking forthe kind of that needle in a
haystack in a way.
Wendi (21:00):
And if you use any of the websites like Ancestry or Jed.
Match you know that themajority of the matches you get
are like third, fourth, fifthcousins.
They're not.
There's very few that are veryclose matches to you.
Trish (21:12):
So, once potential relatives are identified,
genealogists work backwardsthrough their family trees and
they use publicly availablerecords, such as census data,
birth and death certificates,obituaries, to build this
extensive family trees andidentify potential suspects.
Law enforcement can then usethis information to narrow down
their search and focus onindividuals who fit the profile
(21:35):
of the predator.
Now, forensic genetic genealogyhas been instrumental in
solving several high profilecold cases, leading to the
arrest and prosecution ofindividuals who previously
alluded law enforcement.
However, it has also raisedethical and privacy concerns
regarding the use of geneticdata for law enforcement
purposes and the potentialimplications for individuals and
(21:55):
their relatives who mayunwittingly become part of a
criminal investigation.
Now, this investigative toolespecially in 2018, helped crack
a numerous cold cases.
We talked about this before inMichelle Martinko's case that we
covered, yes, and the GoldenState Killer, of course, is the
most famous one of JosephD'Angelo.
Whereas the prosecution wasfocused on the DNA, the defense,
(22:16):
led by public defender DavidMontes, challenged how forensic
genetic genealogy was anunproven science.
He claimed it was a junkscience at this time.
So this trial would be thefirst in Washington state to
introduce genetic genealogy intoevidence in a criminal trial.
Now, nicholas's trial began onApril 17, 2023, not even a year
(22:39):
ago at the Norm Melling RegionalJustice Center in Kent,
washington.
So in April, dr ColleenFitzpatrick president of
Identifiers that is the name ofher organization testified to
the privacy issue that thedefense had raised concerning
the Washington stateconstitution the judge cited.
With the state, though, thatthere was no violation of
privacy, since JEDMATCH did notprovide any information that
(23:02):
included private healthinformation or genetic makeup.
And also, remember, when youupload your data into JEDMATCH,
you are choosing to do so as aprivate individual, knowing that
it's going to be used publicly.
Wendi (23:13):
You sign off on that.
Other people have access to itand you do have some security
settings to make it more or lessprivate, but absolutely you
agree to those terms Also anyDNA left at a crime scene that
yields personal familialinformation is not considered a
quote private affair per theWashington Constitution.
Trish (23:34):
Nor are the open source, like JEDMATCH materials used to
identify that relationship.
So there was no issue regardingprivacy for the courts.
So, as prosecutors Lee andBarbosa pointed out during the
trial, the defense argumentreally was kind of mute because
Nicholas's DNA found it Sarah'smurder scene.
Of course the semen left on thejacket, the underwear and under
(23:55):
her fingernails had a one in120 quadrillion chance that
belonged to someone else.
Wendi (24:01):
Yeah, so for me I feel like the defense there was when
we talked about the tube sockmurders.
I forget the suspect's name,but he was convicted in one of
the couple's murders that wasconnected to the unsolved ones,
and instead of fighting you knowwhether the genetic genealogy
is junk science he fought.
Well, yeah, you found my DNAthere.
(24:22):
Here's why.
So like an explanation for whyhis DNA might be at the crime
scene, almost like a transfer.
Yes, because and his excuse waswell, we did have sex, but it
was consensual, because youcannot fight one in 120
quadrillion odds that your DNAis at the crime scene.
So it's like it's there.
So what's?
Trish (24:42):
your excuse for it.
So other evidence presented attrial included items found in
Nicholas's home which detectivefree described more like a layer
.
It had no working electricity.
There were just piles of stuffeverywhere, especially
pornography.
In the kitchen drawer was founda picture torn from a magazine
of a girl in a cheerleadinguniform and there was also a
(25:03):
newspaper article from 1994 thathad an article on the front
page about Sarah's murder.
So it took over a day for thejury to render its verdict.
After nine days of testimony thefirst charge of first degree
murder premeditated.
Nicholas was found not guilty.
Sarah's family and friends werein shock.
But there were two more chargesto go.
Nicholas was found guilty ofthe crime of murder in the first
(25:25):
degree and guilty of crime ofmurder in second degree.
Both were found to havecommitted with sexual motivation
.
After 31 years Sarah Yarborough, her family, her friends
finally had justice.
Nicholas sentencing took placetwo weeks later.
Both Sarah's mother, laura, andher brother Andrew spoke.
Drew Miller also confrontedNicholas about coming face to
(25:47):
face with pure evil that day andhow it deeply impacted his life
.
Each of Sarah's close friendsstood up and spoke about what
Nicholas had taken from themthat day Probably the last
person Nicholas thought wouldstand to speak was a ghost from
his past.
Anne Crony, who was not allowedto testify at the trial, made
sure she faced him one last time.
Anne told the court this is aquote from what she said we rely
(26:11):
on a system of justice that isdesigned to protect us from
predators like Nicholas, andthis system failed me.
It failed Sarah, her family,her friends and countless others
.
I asked the court to please notmake the same mistake.
Judge Josephine Wiggs spokedirectly to Nichols and this is
a little snippet of what shesaid.
When I think about this poorchild and how she fought for her
(26:34):
life, an outrageous violationof a child, this outrageous
sexual assault upon a childcultivating in her murder, is
the basis for an exceptionalsentence.
Judge Wiggs sentenced PatrickNicholas to 548 months or
slightly under 46 years inprison.
Side note, the defense had askedfor about a 20-year sentence.
They didn't get it.
(26:54):
So during an interview afterNicholas's sentencing,
prosecutors said that ifforensic genetic genealogy was
allowed to use familial DNAsearches in Washington state,
nicholas could have beenidentified years earlier.
Now unknown samples can becompared against profiles that
are already uploaded in CODIS,but they are not allowed to
(27:16):
search for possible familialmatches in CODIS.
Remember Edward Nicholas hadbeen in CODIS for years because
he was a registered sex offender.
Now, would it have stoppedSarah's murder?
No, would it have stopped whathappened to the six-year-old
stepdaughter?
No, but he could have beentaken off the streets much
earlier.
California, new York, wisconsin, minnesota, colorado and
(27:38):
Florida all allow for familialsearches, and even the United
Kingdom allows for it.
Prosecutors and Sarah's familyfeel that the law in Washington
state should be changed.
Sarah Yarborough's legacy,according to her mother, was not
only bringing people togetherin life but, more importantly,
for those that were left behindby her tragic end.
So again, this stays of a veryclose-knit community.
(28:01):
I think I link in the shownotes some 48 hours on this case
.
You see her four friends thatstill seem very close, and her
mom and her brother and evenDrew Miller and he's a part of
this circle too that they haveall supported each other over
the years.
Wendi (28:17):
Yeah, I'm curious too, the ethics of doing the familial
searches in CODIS.
I mean, to me I don't see anyred flags, but that would be one
, I guess, for the listeners.
If you guys have any opinionson that, we'd like to hear that
too, because to me it seems likeeven less of a concern than the
using the Jedmatch and otherfamilial stuff online.
Trish (28:39):
Well, you figure, if they would have run it, since his
brother is already in there,that would have been a closer
match than a distant cousin.
Wendi (28:46):
Right, and we're talking about the DNA of people who've
either committed a crime orthey're in there because they
were suspected of a crime andthey gave their DNA willingly,
or DNA collected at a crimescene.
So to me it's less of an issue.
I'm surprised that there aren'tmore states that allow for it.
I'm surprised to hear that youcan't search that way in CODIS.
(29:07):
Not in some states, not in ourstate, pennsylvania, come on, I
don't know.
Trish (29:12):
I didn't look.
Those were the states that werementioned in the article I read
and it was a more recentarticle.
I've never thought about it.
Wendi (29:18):
That's interesting.
Trish (29:19):
Isn't it that you think, oh, they use every tool
imaginable?
No, not really.
It depends on your state.
Wendi (29:24):
So I assume he continued to plead his innocence.
He didn't do it.
Trish (29:29):
Yeah, they really said.
Wendi (29:30):
So I guess, because he's on that bus route, he must have
just seen her there.
They think it was more of acrime of opportunity.
Yeah.
Trish (29:37):
She had again thought that she was late, she rushes
out of the house.
It's the window of when thisoccurred, remember.
Drew Miller comes across to heraround nine o'clock in the
morning.
So she leaves the house likeclosely around eight o'clock,
thinking she's late, flying outthe door.
So it's within that hour, whenDrew Miller and his friend are
(29:58):
walking along that path, thatthey discover Sarah's body.
So they think you know she'srushing out, she's in her car.
She might have been standingoutside of her car if he was on
the bus route.
Wendi (30:09):
Probably the only one there.
Trish (30:10):
Yes, so they didn't have to be there till nine, not for
an hour, right, and that againwas a crime of opportunity.
He sees this young, beautifulgirl they weren't ever specific
about where he got off on thebus.
If he had taken the bus thatday, in terms of did he get off
and he was walking along, youknow, by Federal High School and
sees Sarah there, or by a bus,and sees Sarah there, and then
(30:33):
get off on the next stop andwalk back, but at some point he
confronts her, striking up aconversation.
Her friend seemed to think likeoh hey, have you seen my dog?
I lost him.
Can you help me find him?
Get her out of the car and thenconfront her and walk her into
the bush line.
That's what they think happened.
Wendi (30:50):
Yeah, but he's never going to say I think it's also
fascinating the behavior withthe boys that he encountered too
, the fact that he did just letthem go, like, oh, it's not
going to matter, I'm fine.
It kind of shows a confidence.
But we know now that he alreadylike oh, if I have to serve
time, it won't be that bad.
Get out in three years.
Well, if they even find meRight.
Trish (31:10):
That is true, and this is 1991.
You're not thinking even of DNAback then.
This is pre-selfo right.
You're not thinking any of that.
And it's sad that it took solong, though, to find him and
it's.
And then he, of course, goes onand does what he does to his
young stepdaughter.
And my understanding, I lookedto see.
(31:32):
You know, was he looked at forany other unsolved sexual
assaults, right, murders?
Nothing popped that I could see.
But Anne says, you know she waslucky she got away.
Think about it as a juvenile hehad raped those young girls.
He ended up going away doingtime.
Well, I can't let someone livethen to identify me.
Oh yes, so Anne gets away,right.
(31:54):
And then Sarah, eight yearslater, doesn't write the
escalation right.
Wendi (32:00):
That's another sad component.
Well, there is more to thiscase.
I feel like a lot of questionsthat I still have, especially
about how we treat DNA in thecriminal justice system, but if
you want to learn more abouttoday's case, you can head on
over to our website.
That's criminal discoursepodcastcom.
There you'll find Trisha'sdetailed show notes and all the
resources that she used,including that 48 hours special,
(32:23):
and I feel like I saw in one ofthe articles they mentioned
there was a documentary onParamount Plus recently.
I don't know what it's called,just putting that out there.
I'm sure there's other specialsabout this case as well, and it
is like Trish mentioned thefamily element.
How everybody came together isreally interesting to see how
they talk about it and she yeah,it's interesting to hear about
(32:43):
her life too.
She was quite a person.
We invite you also to join thediscourse and let us know your
thoughts on today's or any othercase through our website
contact page or by messaging uson social media.
Reach out anytime to tell usmore about yourself, let us know
what you think about the issuesthat come up with today's case,
or suggest a new case for us tocover If you enjoyed this
(33:04):
episode, you can also subscribeon whatever platform you're
listening to us on.
Leave us a five star review welove those and tell a friend so
they can join the discourse too.
Trish (33:14):
And if you'd want to share this episode with someone
I know on Spotify and I thinkApple podcast you can I think
you can click on the episode,hit those three dots and then
you can share it with someone.
So, as always, if you seesomething, know something, say
something, you might have thatmissing piece of the puzzle it
takes to solve a crime, and nota missing piece of the puzzle
(33:36):
per se.
But Anne Crony hats off.
She spoke her truth in court.
Initially she asked for themaximum.
She got the maximum and thecorrection system, the parole
system.
They let her down when you letthem out after like three and a
half years.
Had he served those whole 10years, based upon his history as
a juvenile, taking that intoaccount and I'm not sure why you
(33:58):
wanted he would have nevermurdered Sarah.
Wendi (34:00):
I also have to give a shout out to Dr Colleen
Fitzpatrick.
Trish (34:03):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Wendi (34:04):
Putting it out there, doing it for free?
No, this is really good guys.
I'll even do it for you forfree because I believe in this
as an investigative tool how youcan bring closure to families
and proving it.
Doing it yeah, actuallybringing closure to families
because of the work that she did.
Good job, Colleen.
Trish (34:21):
And before we go, remember to stay safe out there.
We need to be kind to oneanother, we need to support one
another and we need to watch outfor one another.
So until next time, guys.
Bye.
Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of Criminal
Discourse podcast.
I'm Trish, I'm Wendy and we'reback with you with an all-new
episode.
So glad you could join us today.
Wendi (00:34):
No case updates, but we do have a shout-out.
Trish (00:37):
Well, a couple shout-outs from people that have reached
out to us on Instagram andFacebook, and just the other day
had one from Gwyneth, who gavea case suggestion, which,
surprisingly enough, is one I'malready working on, so I know
it's the right case to do so.
Stay tuned for that one.
Wendi (00:55):
And send us more case suggestions If you have them.
We love those.
Now we know there are so manytrue crime podcasts out there to
choose from and only so manyhours in a day, so we want to
take a moment to say that wetruly appreciate you choosing to
listen to our podcast today.
Now, if you want to join thediscourse, you can reach out to
us on our website,criminaldiscoursepodcastcom, or
(01:15):
on social media.
We're on Facebook, instagramand YouTube at Criminal Dispod
and Criminal Discourse Podcast.
And one last thing before weget started the views and
opinions discussed on theCriminal Discourse Podcast are
just our views and opinions.
Everyone is presumed innocentuntil convicted in a court of
law.
All right, you ready, I'm ready.
(01:37):
Where are we going to today?
Trish (01:38):
We are going to the state of Washington, so certain cases
always stand out for the waythey impact those who knew the
victim, along with thoseinvestigating their demise.
In this case is no different.
When a bright light isextinguished all too soon, all
that is left are questions.
The hope is that thosequestions can be answered
quickly, but when they're not,those answers and justice may
(02:02):
seem out of reach.
Time and technology were thehope for the family of Sarah
Yarborough, but just how longwould they have to wait?
am am on the 14th of13-year-old 1991, Drew Miller
and his friend were taking ashortcut through Federal Way
High School grounds in FederalWay, Washington.
Now Federal Way is named afterFederal Highway US 99, and is
(02:25):
part of Seattle's metropolitanarea.
Now Drew would recall that itwas freezing that morning, so
much so that the mud puddles hadfrozen over.
He and his friend were headedout to skateboard after having a
sleep over the night before,and what should have been a fun,
relaxing outing that Saturdaymorning would be a moment that
would have a profound impact onDrew's life as well as the
(02:47):
Federal Way community.
As the boys were breaking upthe frozen puddles, they passed
by the tennis courts and theynoticed a man in the bushes off
to the side.
Now, this man was originallycrouched down and just seemed to
be staring at them.
The man suddenly stood upcasually, walked out of the high
bush line and then walked aheadof the boys on the path leading
between the hill with thebushes and the tennis courts.
(03:08):
Now, initially they thoughtthey caught him smoking some
weed, like oh you know, our bad.
But then the boys saw what theman had walked away from Lying
on the ground was the body of apartially clothed young woman.
She was not moving.
When the boys looked in thedirection the man had been
walking, their shock soon turnedto fear, as they saw the man
had stopped and was staring backat them, with only a few yards
(03:30):
away from them.
Drew and his friend took off,running back home and called the
police.
Now, one of the first officersto arrive on the scene was
Detective Scott Strathey.
What investigators would come tofind was that the victim was
16-year-old Sarah Yarbrough, astudent at Federal Way High
School.
There was a pile of clothingnear Sarah's body.
It was her drill team jacketand some undergarments, and she
(03:52):
still had curlers in herponytail.
She looked to have beenstrangled by nylon stockings
tied in a ligature around herneck.
The stockings were her own.
Sarah's car, which was herfather's vehicle, was in the
high school parking lotapproximately 300 feet away from
where her body was found.
So all still on school property.
Detectives from the King CountySheriff's Office Major Crimes
(04:13):
Unit examined Sarah's car.
Now, investigators could see nosigns of struggle in or around
the vehicle.
There was a container of orangejuice still sitting upright in
the front seat of her car.
In one of the links I have inthe resource section you can see
pictures of the inside of hervehicle.
They took that day and it's oneof those Tupperware juice
containers.
It took me back, taking us backto the old days, taking us back
(04:35):
to my childhood.
Detectives would find thatSarah had made the container
that morning and she had takenit with her to her drill team
competition.
She was to have that day.
Now the question was how didSarah get from her car to the
bush-covered hill?
After talking to family andfriends, one early theory was
that she had been coaxed in someway.
Perhaps the man seen emergingfrom the bushes had asked her
(04:57):
for some help in finding somelost keys or a dog, and Sarah
was known for always beinghelpful.
Sarah Yarborough was the oldestof three.
Born to Tom and LaurieYarborough, she had two younger
brothers.
Her closest at the time was her11-year-old brother, andrew.
Sarah was in her junior year ofhigh school and would tell her
parents that her plans were togo far away for college.
(05:18):
She was not staying local.
Her mother described her asadventurous and wanting to
either study engineering likeher father or maybe to become a
museum curator.
Sarah is described by those whoknew her best as artistic and
creative and smart andimaginative, and at times feisty
, but always kind.
She would be the last to waitfor someone, but the first to
(05:39):
offer them any help, especiallywith their homework.
And she, so she was like acheerleader, right she was on
the drill team, which I'm notsure if that's a different
version of cheerleading, I thinkit might be different.
I think your drill team is whenyou use the wooden rifles.
Maybe, oh, okay, that's what Itook it as a drill team.
They're not.
I don't think they're populararound our area, but I know in
(05:59):
other areas of the country theyare.
Wendi (06:01):
She seems fun.
Peppy yeah, fiery red hair yeah.
Trish (06:06):
Investigators would find that, although the crime scene
looked like a sexual assault hadtaken place, sarah had not been
raped.
She had been beaten and died bystrangulation.
From those pantyhose foundaround her neck and semen would
be found on her jacket andunderwear, but also under
Sarah's fingernails, provingthat she had put up a fight.
Detectives were hopeful when afull DNA profile was obtained.
(06:28):
Now they just needed to matchthat profile to their murderer.
Also in the investigation'sfavor were the two witnesses who
had gotten a good look at thesuspect and were able to give a
detailed sketch.
Drew and his friends describeda younger looking white male,
approximately six feet tall,with a medium build.
He had shoulder length straighthair.
His bangs were cut above hiseyebrows.
(06:50):
The suspect wore a dark coloredtrench coat and dark colored
pants.
Now police released that sketchafter Sarah's murder and leads
started pouring in, but theywould eventually dry up.
There was a killer among thecitizens of Federal Way and
these citizens now lived under aconstant fear if or when the
killer would strike again.
So a year and a half would passwith no suspecting custody and
(07:13):
sketches of Sarah's killer stillplaced up around town.
Sarah's family and friends werestill mourning their loss and
worked hard to keep her memoryalive.
They channeled their effortsinto putting together memorial
for Sarah and in June 1993, abench was placed outside Federal
Way High School.
Engraved on the bench were thewords Carpe Diem or Seize the
(07:34):
Day, a mantra, sarah embodied.
Also beside the bench, encasedin bronze, were some of Sarah's
favorite possessions her balletshoes, her favorite books and a
replica of her beloved dog Gibby.
On the plaque to honor Sarah atRed, 1975 to 1991, seeker of
Knowledge, holiness and Holiness, seer of Truth, beauty and
(07:55):
Dreams.
A gift from her class of 1993,family, friends and Generous
Donors.
So Sarah's friend Shannon.
She was the last friend to seeher alive.
In interviews years later,shannon would say that she lived
with regret.
She wished she would have askedother drill team members what
time the team was to meet thatmorning for their competition.
Sarah's drill team was to meetat the school that day at 9 am,
(08:19):
not 8 am, as Sarah had thought.
She had rushed out of the houseso quickly she hadn't had time
to take the curlers out of herhair.
Her parents were out of townthat weekend for her brother's
soccer tournament, so she hadher friends stay over the night
before.
Neither had known.
Sarah had no need to rush outthat morning.
Now, what would have beenSarah's graduation day, june 12,
1993, was also her birthday.
(08:40):
Sarah's close friends wouldlater say that every joyful
event, every occasion, wasfilled with sorrow and regret
because Sarah wasn't there.
Now, on that graduation day,her mom actually came to her
graduation to support herfriends and she did that because
they were such a support forher.
Wendi (08:59):
I can't imagine how hard that had to be for the community
.
I don't know how big they were,but regardless, that's not
normal to lose someone in thatway and then to have it be her
birthday on top of it.
Trish (09:08):
Detective John Free joined a long line of
investigators who would continueto work on Sarah's case over
the years.
Now, over 3,000 leads werepursued and the unknown,
mysterious DNA profile waseventually entered into CODIS,
the combined DNA index system,when it became fully operational
in the mid to late 90s.
But there was no success.
(09:29):
There was no match.
In 2011, investigators reachedout to Dr Colleen Fitzpatrick.
She was an early pioneer in thefield of forensic genetic
genealogy.
Since this was a newerinvestigative tool, dr
Fitzpatrick offered her servicesfor free, and it wasn't long
before she came up the name of apossible suspect.
Wendi (09:50):
For free.
Trish (09:50):
I hope she's charging now because these are valuable
services she may be now, butback then, because it was so new
, nobody really knew of it.
But she saw the potential ofwhat it could be as an
investigative tool.
Not that you solely rely on it.
It's just something like aprofile right Like a criminal
profile, behavioral profile.
You just use it as a tool tohelp narrow down suspects and
(10:13):
she proved it.
Wendi (10:14):
She didn't put the money barriers in the way.
Trish (10:17):
No, dr Fitzpatrick, using the DNA profile, was able to
identify the killer's familytree and came up with one name
Robert Fuller.
Now his family tree dates backto early settlers who came over
on the Mayflower.
Robert, or Bill Fuller as hewas known, was a close family
friend of the Arboros.
He even helped get Sarah'sMemorial Bench built.
(10:38):
Now, from the start, theArboros did not believe that
Bill had anything to do withSarah's death.
He didn't fit the descriptionof the killer.
Bill was short and had shorthair.
Plus, he was 48 at the time ofSarah's murder.
He was not the younger man thatfit the profile and Bill
cooperated fully withinvestigators and willingly gave
his DNA.
That did not match the DNA leftat the scene, but Dr
(11:00):
Fitzpatrick felt strongly thatSarah's killer was somewhere on
the Fuller family tree and shewent to work whittling it down.
So in September 2019, drFitzpatrick made another
breakthrough in Sarah's case.
She had two new suspects,brothers, edward and Patrick
Nicholas, distant cousins ofBill Fuller.
(11:20):
So investigators ran their DNAprofiles against Edward Nichols
as his DNA was uploaded intoCODIS due to being convicted of
rape and a registered sexoffender.
But no match.
So they turned their attentionto Patrick.
Now, by 2019,.
Patrick Nicholas was describedas a divorced loner who was
working in an auto parts store.
(11:41):
He was still living inWashington state, actually a
couple towns away from FederalWay.
Nicholas had no children anddidn't appear to have any
friends or close acquaintances.
He didn't even drive.
His main form of transportationwas by taking the bus.
Now, what piqued DetectiveFree's interest was the fact
that Federal Way High School isalong a bus route Nicholas had
often taken.
(12:01):
Another point of interest wasthat when Sarah had been
murdered, nicholas was 27 andlooked very much like the
witness sketch.
So now detectives needed to getNicholas's DNA, so they started
to surveil him, with a plan tosecretly collect a sample.
So in late September 2019,undercover officers watched
Nicholas enter a laundry mat, sothey follow him inside.
(12:23):
You know they're observing himand they see him go outside
shortly after and smoke twocigarettes, discarding them on
the ground along with a napkinthat had fallen out of his
pocket.
Officers quickly took thecigarettes and napkin and
immediately sent them off to thecrime lab.
Within days, the results werein a perfect DNA match and over
4000 tips that had been sentinto authorities over the years.
(12:46):
Patrick Nicholas's name wasnever mentioned.
Patrick Leon Nicholas was takeninto custody shortly after Now,
during questioning, nicholasasked what he was being charged
with and detectives told himthat they were investigating the
death of a young girl, sarahYarborough.
Nicholas's response what yearNow?
(13:06):
This shocked detectives anddetective free asked why would
you ask that?
Nicholas replied this is it.
I'm not gonna say anything.
And he didn't.
And an hour and a half laterthe next thing he said is he
asked for an attorney.
So when Drew Miller saw anupdated picture of Nicholas, he
knew immediately that he was theman he saw so many years ago
and that they had the right guy.
(13:27):
He was the same guy, just older, and he would say quote evil
eyes.
Those eyes stayed the same.
Wendi (13:34):
I bet he remembered after being terrified of him that day
.
Trish (13:37):
He said it did have a profound impact on him.
And years later he would alsosay that he felt such a weight
on his shoulders becausedetectives would come back to
him initially in the earlystages of the investigation,
asking more questions becausethey didn't really have any
other leads, and he felt reallyresponsible like, oh my gosh,
what more could I do?
You know it was a lot ofpressure on the young man.
(13:59):
Investigators looked intoPatrick Nicholas's criminal
background, which confirmedtheir suspicions that Sarah's
attack was not his first or hislast.
In June 1983, now this is eightyears before Sarah's murder
Anne Crony had been hanging outby her car one morning along the
Columbia River, and that iswhen a man approached her and
struck up a friendlyconversation.
(14:20):
He introduced himself as PatNichols, telling Anne that he
had just moved to town.
And in their conversation, youknow, she's like oh, have you
gone waterskiing yet?
You know, because they werealong the river and that's a big
sport.
He let her know that no,because he doesn't know how to
swim.
So after a few more minutes ofconversation Anne starts to feel
uncomfortable and that's whenshe notices Pat's voice had
(14:42):
started to become shaky, so hergut's telling her OK, time to go
.
Anne told Pat that she had togo and got in her car, but when
she went to close the door, patput a knife to her throat and he
ordered her to take off herclothes.
Afterwards he stuffed herunderwear in her mouth to
prevent her from screening andhe directed her to walk ahead of
him down to the nearbyriverbank.
(15:02):
Now, halfway down the riverbankhe told her to stop, but Anne,
remembering that Pat told her hecouldn't swim, decided and made
the bravest decision of herlife.
She dove into that water andshe swam away.
Now Anne would be found by apasserby at a nearby dock, who
then called the police.
Now, once Anne gave the name ofher attacker, they had very
little difficulty locating him,as he was no stranger to police.
(15:25):
Nicholas at the time was about19 years old and, as a juvenile,
had been convicted of two priorrapes and an attempted rape.
He had only just been releasedfrom a detention center for a
few months when he attacked Anne.
Now, days later, nicholas wasarrested and pleaded guilty to
an attempted first degree rapeof Anne.
Crony, nicholas would tell thepolice quote I realize I have a
(15:47):
problem concerning raping girls.
Anne spoke at Nicholas'ssentencing asking the judge for
the maximum sentence, and thejudge agreed.
Patrick Nichols was sentencedto 10 years behind bars.
But he didn't serve 10 yearsbehind bars.
Nichols was released just afterthree and a half years.
Now, to add injury to insult,anne was never notified by
(16:08):
correction officials that herattacker was to or had been
released, and Nichols didn'thave to give his DNA sample at
the time, as CODIS was notlaunched into the mid to late
1990s.
Wendi (16:20):
Well, the people responsible for these decisions
are the ones who should befeeling pressured, not the ones
who discovered Sarah's body.
That's terrible.
Not only was he let out soearly, after already having two
rapes and an attempted rape tohis name, but now, three years
after he tried to get and sayingthat I have a problem
concerning raping girls, that'sI'm going to do it again.
Trish (16:41):
So Anne barely thought of Patrick Nichols until October
2019, when police knocked on herdoor and shock turned to anger
when told that Nichols had beenarrested for Sarah's murder,
knowing that he would have stillbeen behind bars in December of
1991, had he been made to servehis whole sentence.
Now we know people get let outfor good behaviors, prison
(17:04):
overcrowding, but this was a manwho had a history as a teenager
of doing this.
He should have been made toserve his entire sentence, but
he wasn't.
At least four charges at leastfour.
Well now, this would have beenprobably his first as an adult.
Remember, the rest werejuvenile.
So maybe because it was hisfirst time being charged as an
(17:26):
adult, good behavior in prison,they let him out Three and a
half.
Yeah, I don't know how tojustify that, but it happened.
It kind of took me back to thetoolkit murders.
Yeah yes, you know those guyswith their history of going in
and out of jail very bigsentences but very little time
served.
Wendi (17:46):
And we can use the excuse they didn't know as much then
and we know better now.
But it's still so disappointingto see.
It still feels like they shouldhave known better, especially
when you have someone sayingthings, admitting things, like
that.
Trish (17:57):
To King County Deputy Prosecutors Cecilia Lee and Mary
Barbosa.
They knew that Patrick Nicholaswas a serial predator even
after Sarah's murder.
Nicholas had an additionalconviction in 1994.
This was three years afterSarah's murder of sexually
assaulting his six year oldstepdaughter.
At the time, which should havebeen a first degree child
(18:17):
molestation charge was able tobe pleaded down to a gross
misdemeanor that did not requirehis DNA collection.
Now, in an attempted rape andother rape convictions, nicholas
was never required to submithis DNA, which would have been
uploaded into CODIS becauseCODIS didn't exist then.
Wendi (18:35):
I'm flabbergasted.
No other comment.
Trish (18:38):
Yeah, I'm not sure why it got pleaded down to a gross
misdemeanor and it could havebeen because of the victim was
so young, not having her testify.
Right, you know, they weregetting something better than
nothing.
Maybe the mother wasintimidated, nervous, absolutely
we don't know the circumstancessurrounding that.
So to prosecutors, nicholas hada clear pattern of behavior.
(18:58):
He would approach young womennear or in their car.
He would start up a friendlyconversation with them and then
pull a knife on them and orderthem to walk ahead of him.
Now, once at the location ofhis choosing, he ordered them to
take off their clothes and thenrape them.
Now in Ann's case, he had totake off her clothes in the car
and then walk ahead of them.
But I think this was prettymuch an empty, deserted parking
(19:19):
lot, similar to Sarah's too, buthe took her into the bush line
before she removed some of herclothing.
So even though Nicholas had acriminal history, the trial
judge ruled that none of itcould be used as evidence in his
upcoming trial.
It's highly prejudicial.
So Patrick Nicholas, now 59,was being tried for first degree
felony murder in SarahYarborough's death.
(19:40):
The prosecutor's focus was onthe DNA and the emerging field,
forensic genetic genealogy.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about forensic genetic
genealogy, and we've talkedabout this in other cases that
we've covered.
That, of course, involves usingDNA evidence collected from
crime scenes to identifypotential suspects by tracing
their family trees throughpublicly available genetic
(20:01):
databases such as Jed Match orFamily Tree DNA.
Now this technique gainedprominence, of course, in recent
years due to successes insolving cold cases, including
homicide, sexual assault andunidentified remains cases.
In cases where traditionalinvestigative methods have been
exhausted and DNA evidence isavailable but not matched to any
(20:23):
known suspects in lawenforcement databases, forensic
genetic genealogy can offer anew avenue for investigation.
Like I said, it's a tool andyou upload the DNA profile from
the crime scenes into thisgenetic genealogy databases.
Those investigators then searchfor familial matches to the
unknown suspects, dnapotentially identifying distant
(20:44):
relatives who share geneticsimilarities, and this can be
distant.
So we're not like I mean, ifyou're lucky it's a first cousin
, but sometimes it's many, many,many, many, many, many cousins.
Once removed, twice removed.
So, it's, yeah, it's looking forthe kind of that needle in a
haystack in a way.
Wendi (21:00):
And if you use any of the websites like Ancestry or Jed.
Match you know that themajority of the matches you get
are like third, fourth, fifthcousins.
They're not.
There's very few that are veryclose matches to you.
Trish (21:12):
So, once potential relatives are identified,
genealogists work backwardsthrough their family trees and
they use publicly availablerecords, such as census data,
birth and death certificates,obituaries, to build this
extensive family trees andidentify potential suspects.
Law enforcement can then usethis information to narrow down
their search and focus onindividuals who fit the profile
(21:35):
of the predator.
Now, forensic genetic genealogyhas been instrumental in
solving several high profilecold cases, leading to the
arrest and prosecution ofindividuals who previously
alluded law enforcement.
However, it has also raisedethical and privacy concerns
regarding the use of geneticdata for law enforcement
purposes and the potentialimplications for individuals and
(21:55):
their relatives who mayunwittingly become part of a
criminal investigation.
Now, this investigative toolespecially in 2018, helped crack
a numerous cold cases.
We talked about this before inMichelle Martinko's case that we
covered, yes, and the GoldenState Killer, of course, is the
most famous one of JosephD'Angelo.
Whereas the prosecution wasfocused on the DNA, the defense,
(22:16):
led by public defender DavidMontes, challenged how forensic
genetic genealogy was anunproven science.
He claimed it was a junkscience at this time.
So this trial would be thefirst in Washington state to
introduce genetic genealogy intoevidence in a criminal trial.
Now, nicholas's trial began onApril 17, 2023, not even a year
(22:39):
ago at the Norm Melling RegionalJustice Center in Kent,
washington.
So in April, dr ColleenFitzpatrick president of
Identifiers that is the name ofher organization testified to
the privacy issue that thedefense had raised concerning
the Washington stateconstitution the judge cited.
With the state, though, thatthere was no violation of
privacy, since JEDMATCH did notprovide any information that
(23:02):
included private healthinformation or genetic makeup.
And also, remember, when youupload your data into JEDMATCH,
you are choosing to do so as aprivate individual, knowing that
it's going to be used publicly.
Wendi (23:13):
You sign off on that.
Other people have access to itand you do have some security
settings to make it more or lessprivate, but absolutely you
agree to those terms Also anyDNA left at a crime scene that
yields personal familialinformation is not considered a
quote private affair per theWashington Constitution.
Trish (23:34):
Nor are the open source, like JEDMATCH materials used to
identify that relationship.
So there was no issue regardingprivacy for the courts.
So, as prosecutors Lee andBarbosa pointed out during the
trial, the defense argumentreally was kind of mute because
Nicholas's DNA found it Sarah'smurder scene.
Of course the semen left on thejacket, the underwear and under
(23:55):
her fingernails had a one in120 quadrillion chance that
belonged to someone else.
Wendi (24:01):
Yeah, so for me I feel like the defense there was when
we talked about the tube sockmurders.
I forget the suspect's name,but he was convicted in one of
the couple's murders that wasconnected to the unsolved ones,
and instead of fighting you knowwhether the genetic genealogy
is junk science he fought.
Well, yeah, you found my DNAthere.
(24:22):
Here's why.
So like an explanation for whyhis DNA might be at the crime
scene, almost like a transfer.
Yes, because and his excuse waswell, we did have sex, but it
was consensual, because youcannot fight one in 120
quadrillion odds that your DNAis at the crime scene.
So it's like it's there.
So what's?
Trish (24:42):
your excuse for it.
So other evidence presented attrial included items found in
Nicholas's home which detectivefree described more like a layer
.
It had no working electricity.
There were just piles of stuffeverywhere, especially
pornography.
In the kitchen drawer was founda picture torn from a magazine
of a girl in a cheerleadinguniform and there was also a
(25:03):
newspaper article from 1994 thathad an article on the front
page about Sarah's murder.
So it took over a day for thejury to render its verdict.
After nine days of testimony thefirst charge of first degree
murder premeditated.
Nicholas was found not guilty.
Sarah's family and friends werein shock.
But there were two more chargesto go.
Nicholas was found guilty ofthe crime of murder in the first
(25:25):
degree and guilty of crime ofmurder in second degree.
Both were found to havecommitted with sexual motivation
.
After 31 years Sarah Yarborough, her family, her friends
finally had justice.
Nicholas sentencing took placetwo weeks later.
Both Sarah's mother, laura, andher brother Andrew spoke.
Drew Miller also confrontedNicholas about coming face to
(25:47):
face with pure evil that day andhow it deeply impacted his life
.
Each of Sarah's close friendsstood up and spoke about what
Nicholas had taken from themthat day Probably the last
person Nicholas thought wouldstand to speak was a ghost from
his past.
Anne Crony, who was not allowedto testify at the trial, made
sure she faced him one last time.
Anne told the court this is aquote from what she said we rely
(26:11):
on a system of justice that isdesigned to protect us from
predators like Nicholas, andthis system failed me.
It failed Sarah, her family,her friends and countless others
.
I asked the court to please notmake the same mistake.
Judge Josephine Wiggs spokedirectly to Nichols and this is
a little snippet of what shesaid.
When I think about this poorchild and how she fought for her
(26:34):
life, an outrageous violationof a child, this outrageous
sexual assault upon a childcultivating in her murder, is
the basis for an exceptionalsentence.
Judge Wiggs sentenced PatrickNicholas to 548 months or
slightly under 46 years inprison.
Side note, the defense had askedfor about a 20-year sentence.
They didn't get it.
(26:54):
So during an interview afterNicholas's sentencing,
prosecutors said that ifforensic genetic genealogy was
allowed to use familial DNAsearches in Washington state,
nicholas could have beenidentified years earlier.
Now unknown samples can becompared against profiles that
are already uploaded in CODIS,but they are not allowed to
(27:16):
search for possible familialmatches in CODIS.
Remember Edward Nicholas hadbeen in CODIS for years because
he was a registered sex offender.
Now, would it have stoppedSarah's murder?
No, would it have stopped whathappened to the six-year-old
stepdaughter?
No, but he could have beentaken off the streets much
earlier.
California, new York, wisconsin, minnesota, colorado and
(27:38):
Florida all allow for familialsearches, and even the United
Kingdom allows for it.
Prosecutors and Sarah's familyfeel that the law in Washington
state should be changed.
Sarah Yarborough's legacy,according to her mother, was not
only bringing people togetherin life but, more importantly,
for those that were left behindby her tragic end.
So again, this stays of a veryclose-knit community.
(28:01):
I think I link in the shownotes some 48 hours on this case
.
You see her four friends thatstill seem very close, and her
mom and her brother and evenDrew Miller and he's a part of
this circle too that they haveall supported each other over
the years.
Wendi (28:17):
Yeah, I'm curious too, the ethics of doing the familial
searches in CODIS.
I mean, to me I don't see anyred flags, but that would be one
, I guess, for the listeners.
If you guys have any opinionson that, we'd like to hear that
too, because to me it seems likeeven less of a concern than the
using the Jedmatch and otherfamilial stuff online.
Trish (28:39):
Well, you figure, if they would have run it, since his
brother is already in there,that would have been a closer
match than a distant cousin.
Wendi (28:46):
Right, and we're talking about the DNA of people who've
either committed a crime orthey're in there because they
were suspected of a crime andthey gave their DNA willingly,
or DNA collected at a crimescene.
So to me it's less of an issue.
I'm surprised that there aren'tmore states that allow for it.
I'm surprised to hear that youcan't search that way in CODIS.
(29:07):
Not in some states, not in ourstate, pennsylvania, come on, I
don't know.
Trish (29:12):
I didn't look.
Those were the states that werementioned in the article I read
and it was a more recentarticle.
I've never thought about it.
Wendi (29:18):
That's interesting.
Trish (29:19):
Isn't it that you think, oh, they use every tool
imaginable?
No, not really.
It depends on your state.
Wendi (29:24):
So I assume he continued to plead his innocence.
He didn't do it.
Trish (29:29):
Yeah, they really said.
Wendi (29:30):
So I guess, because he's on that bus route, he must have
just seen her there.
They think it was more of acrime of opportunity.
Yeah.
Trish (29:37):
She had again thought that she was late, she rushes
out of the house.
It's the window of when thisoccurred, remember.
Drew Miller comes across to heraround nine o'clock in the
morning.
So she leaves the house likeclosely around eight o'clock,
thinking she's late, flying outthe door.
So it's within that hour, whenDrew Miller and his friend are
(29:58):
walking along that path, thatthey discover Sarah's body.
So they think you know she'srushing out, she's in her car.
She might have been standingoutside of her car if he was on
the bus route.
Wendi (30:09):
Probably the only one there.
Trish (30:10):
Yes, so they didn't have to be there till nine, not for
an hour, right, and that againwas a crime of opportunity.
He sees this young, beautifulgirl they weren't ever specific
about where he got off on thebus.
If he had taken the bus thatday, in terms of did he get off
and he was walking along, youknow, by Federal High School and
sees Sarah there, or by a bus,and sees Sarah there, and then
(30:33):
get off on the next stop andwalk back, but at some point he
confronts her, striking up aconversation.
Her friend seemed to think likeoh hey, have you seen my dog?
I lost him.
Can you help me find him?
Get her out of the car and thenconfront her and walk her into
the bush line.
That's what they think happened.
Wendi (30:50):
Yeah, but he's never going to say I think it's also
fascinating the behavior withthe boys that he encountered too
, the fact that he did just letthem go, like, oh, it's not
going to matter, I'm fine.
It kind of shows a confidence.
But we know now that he alreadylike oh, if I have to serve
time, it won't be that bad.
Get out in three years.
Well, if they even find meRight.
Trish (31:10):
That is true, and this is 1991.
You're not thinking even of DNAback then.
This is pre-selfo right.
You're not thinking any of that.
And it's sad that it took solong, though, to find him and
it's.
And then he, of course, goes onand does what he does to his
young stepdaughter.
And my understanding, I lookedto see.
(31:32):
You know, was he looked at forany other unsolved sexual
assaults, right, murders?
Nothing popped that I could see.
But Anne says, you know she waslucky she got away.
Think about it as a juvenile hehad raped those young girls.
He ended up going away doingtime.
Well, I can't let someone livethen to identify me.
Oh yes, so Anne gets away,right.
(31:54):
And then Sarah, eight yearslater, doesn't write the
escalation right.
Wendi (32:00):
That's another sad component.
Well, there is more to thiscase.
I feel like a lot of questionsthat I still have, especially
about how we treat DNA in thecriminal justice system, but if
you want to learn more abouttoday's case, you can head on
over to our website.
That's criminal discoursepodcastcom.
There you'll find Trisha'sdetailed show notes and all the
resources that she used,including that 48 hours special,
(32:23):
and I feel like I saw in one ofthe articles they mentioned
there was a documentary onParamount Plus recently.
I don't know what it's called,just putting that out there.
I'm sure there's other specialsabout this case as well, and it
is like Trish mentioned thefamily element.
How everybody came together isreally interesting to see how
they talk about it and she yeah,it's interesting to hear about
(32:43):
her life too.
She was quite a person.
We invite you also to join thediscourse and let us know your
thoughts on today's or any othercase through our website
contact page or by messaging uson social media.
Reach out anytime to tell usmore about yourself, let us know
what you think about the issuesthat come up with today's case,
or suggest a new case for us tocover If you enjoyed this
(33:04):
episode, you can also subscribeon whatever platform you're
listening to us on.
Leave us a five star review welove those and tell a friend so
they can join the discourse too.
Trish (33:14):
And if you'd want to share this episode with someone
I know on Spotify and I thinkApple podcast you can I think
you can click on the episode,hit those three dots and then
you can share it with someone.
So, as always, if you seesomething, know something, say
something, you might have thatmissing piece of the puzzle it
takes to solve a crime, and nota missing piece of the puzzle
(33:36):
per se.
But Anne Crony hats off.
She spoke her truth in court.
Initially she asked for themaximum.
She got the maximum and thecorrection system, the parole
system.
They let her down when you letthem out after like three and a
half years.
Had he served those whole 10years, based upon his history as
a juvenile, taking that intoaccount and I'm not sure why you
(33:58):
wanted he would have nevermurdered Sarah.
Wendi (34:00):
I also have to give a shout out to Dr Colleen
Fitzpatrick.
Trish (34:03):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Wendi (34:04):
Putting it out there, doing it for free?
No, this is really good guys.
I'll even do it for you forfree because I believe in this
as an investigative tool how youcan bring closure to families
and proving it.
Doing it yeah, actuallybringing closure to families
because of the work that she did.
Good job, Colleen.
Trish (34:21):
And before we go, remember to stay safe out there.
We need to be kind to oneanother, we need to support one
another and we need to watch outfor one another.
So until next time, guys.
Bye.
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