Arpana Jinaga

In October of 2008, a 24-year-old computer programmer living in the Seattle area would attend a Halloween party in her apartment complex. The following Monday, her body would be discovered inside of her apartment, the victim of an apparent homicide. More than a decade later, no one has been held accountable for her murder…

At around 9:00 in the morning on Monday, November 3rd, 2008, police in Redmond, Washington were contacted by an individual informing them of a dead body. According to this caller, the body had been found in an apartment just north of Marymoor Park, the scenic park and music venue east of Seattle, jutted up against Lake Sammamish.

This area - Redmond, Washington - is a relative stranger to violent crime. While armed robberies and sexual assaults do happen there, they are very low in number compared to other similarly-sized cities. Suspicious deaths, such as homicide, very rarely happen in Redmond: one of the wealthier suburbs on the outskirts of Seattle, which is known internationally for housing the U.S. headquarters for both Microsoft and Nintendo.

Police getting called out to a suspicious death in Redmond; one in which there was clear evidence of a struggle? That was surprising. The only other murder that took place in Redmond that year (2008) involved a jealous spouse who murdered his estranged wife and then himself (Joseph and Melissa Batten). In that case, police learned everything they needed to know from the crime scene itself. However, this case would prove to be much harder to solve for investigators; many of whom had not worked on a murder case in quite some time (if at all).

Police would arrive at the apartment complex a short time later, and immediately noticed two things that stood out about this crime. One, that someone had broken into the third-floor apartment of the decedent by kicking in the front door, leaving behind the broken frame to be discovered by the 911 caller. Two, that there was a noxious smell emanating throughout the apartment, which indicated the widespread use of chemical cleaning agents, which now proliferated the small living quarters. Whoever had forced entry into the apartment had attempted to clean and cover up their crime afterward.

Inside the apartment, it became clear to investigators that a struggle had taken place. 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". That dream that would ultimately turn into a nightmare for herself and her loved ones, who have had to endure years of trials and tribulations in the wake of their tragic loss.

This is the story of Arpana Jinaga.

Arpana B. Jinaga grew up in Hyderabad, one of the largest cities in all of India. She was the oldest of two daughters to her parents, B.C. and Nirmala Jinaga, a professor of computer engineering and a housewife, respectively.

While Arpana would show an affinity for art, writing, and even gymnastics from an early age, she seemed destined to follow in her father's footsteps, becoming a bit of a tech prodigy in her teenage years. As a teen, she participated in an IEEE Hardware Design Contest that earned her some attention from universities and potential employers, and seemed to cement her down the path of computing. Her younger sister, Pavitra, would begin to follow in these footsteps as well, and later pursue a career in computer engineering after Arpana.

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. 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). Among thousands of contestants, she was singled out as a top-20 performer and was the only participant from Asia to be featured in the subsequent awards.

In June of 2005, Arpana was featured in the New Indian Express, in an article titled "Young Inventors." In it, she spoke about her love of working with computers and using them to innovate new and exciting things and spoke about working with companies in the future to do just that - innovate - before following in her father's footsteps to become a professor.

By this point, Arpana had already started to make plans to accomplish all of these goals. After attending a prestigious university in India, she decided to broaden her horizons for post-graduate life. This eventually led to her moving to the United States to attend Rutger's University in New Jersey. There, she would receive her master's degree in electrical and computer engineering in December of 2007. But instead of returning home to India, she decided to take another huge leap and accepted a job as a software quality assurance engineer with the tech giant EMC (now known as Dell EMC). 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. By October of that year, she had already scored a promotion to lead programmer and seemed destined for greater things.

Arpana moved to Redmond, Washington in the early months of 2008. Redmond, a suburb on the outskirts of Seattle, is located just on the other side of scenic Lake Washington and is known as a bit of a tech mecca (having served as the homes for both Microsoft and Nintendo). She moved into the Valley View Apartments just north of Marymoor Park, along the 8900 block of Redmond-Woodinville Road. There, she lived in Apartment 8946, on the top floor of the complex.

While Arpana didn't have any friends or family in the area, she didn't let that deter her from leaning into the community. 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.

Shortly after moving to Redmond, the 24-year-old Arpana decided to purchase a motorcycle. Despite her not having any experience riding a motorcycle, she planned on using one as her primary mode of transportation. 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. 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.

In addition to joining a motorcycle club, Arpana also volunteered at the Redmond Fire Department, riding along to fires in the area; as well as animal shelters in Bellevue, where she helped care for and attend to unwanted pets. Friends recall that she spoke of opening an animal sanctuary for endangered species in the future. She even participated in Taekwondo classes and dabbled in a couple of musical ventures (including singing in a band back east while attending university).

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.

October 31st, 2008 - Halloween - had the rare fortune of falling on a Friday.

That day, Arpana showed up for work as if it were any other workday, but told some of her coworkers about a party being held that evening at her apartment complex. After leaving work, she would stop by a store to pick up some Halloween decorations, and began covering her apartment as other people began returning home and donning their costumes.

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. More than two dozen people would filter through the numerous apartments that evening, including Arpana's. Most of the guests left Arpana's apartment for her neighbors just after 9:00 PM, but there were a lot of moving pieces that evening, and no real comprehensive way to determine who was where at what time.

At some point in the evening, it would be reported that Arpana got into a verbal argument with a male partygoer. Witnesses would recall this incident being "race-related," likely due to comments the man had made, but Arpana would quickly move on and seemed to enjoy the rest of the party.

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. She was last seen by numerous people leaving an apartment on the first floor - where the party had ended up - and was heading back up to her apartment on the third floor (the top level of the complex).

Over the next hour or so, neighbors on both sides of Arpana would recall hearing what sounding like consensual sex taking place after the party: the neighbors would recall hearing what sounded like muffled moaning coming from her apartment shortly after 3:00 AM, which they were certain was coming from her apartment.

One of Arpana's neighbors (Kyle R.) would later remark that at around 8:00 AM, he was awoken by a "horrible growling" sound, which persisted for about 20 seconds and was punctuated with a solid thud sound. He then heard the sound of running water in Arpana's apartment, which lasted for about an hour, but wouldn't give these bizarre sounds any second thoughts in the days to come.

Investigators would later speculate that this was the time when the ambitious 24-year-old's life was coming to an end, and her killer was attempting to cover up his tracks.

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). However, the weekend after the party, Arpana would not answer any of their calls and would fail to call them back, which was very unlike her.

By Monday, Arpana had not yet surfaced and she would fail to show up for work that morning. 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.

At the same time, her family was desperately trying to call her, having not heard from her since the prior Thursday. Eventually, they would reach out to a family friend, Jay B. - 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.

Jay arrived at the apartment complex at around 9:00 AM and made his way to Arpana's apartment, which one of her neighbors - who I'll nickname "C.J." - happened to be nearby. Together, they decided to enter Arpana's apartment to check in on her, but when they knocked on the apartment door, it swung open. It quickly became evident that the door leading into the apartment had been forced open, and the door jam was broken.

Now inside, Jay and C.J. could see that things were in disarray, and briefly scanned the apartment before locating the body of Arpana lying on her bedroom floor, already in the process of decomposing. After making this gruesome discovery, Jay would begin dialing 911. Dispatchers would tell both of the men to leave the apartment but remain nearby, and wait for investigators to arrive.

Over the next few hours, police would begin arriving at the crime scene, closing it off to outsiders and attempting to gather statements from anyone they deemed pertinent. 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. According to police spokesmen early on, what investigators were finding indicated homicide - signs of a physical struggle and potential signs of sexual trauma - but they would remain tight-lipped in the days to come. Arpana's body was taken to the King County Medical Examiner's office for an autopsy, to determine the cause and manner of death.

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."

Days after the discovery of Arpana's body, a ceremony was held in Redmond, which had all of the customs of a Hindu memorial service and was attended by the many of dozens of lives that Arpana had impacted during her short time in the Pacific Northwest. Her body was then flown back to India, to be properly buried by her family, who struggled to move on after her sudden loss.

For Arpana's parents, they had to grieve not only the loss of their oldest daughter, but an inspiring and bright young soul that had managed to accomplish so much in such little time, and seemed poised to accomplish great things in the future - not only professionally, but personally. She had traveled the globe in pursuit of an exciting and adventurous life, made a name for herself in the notoriously-competitive tech sector by the age of 24, endeared herself to dozens of strangers... and it had all ended with one senseless act of violence.

Months later, members of the Pacific Northwest Riders, the motorcycle club that Arpana had joined, would organize memorial rides in her honor (which took them out to Snoqualmie Falls, one of Arpana's favorite places to visit in Washington). 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. Those thoughts were welcomed by Arpana's family back home in India, who found it "heartening" to hear what an impact she had had on those in the Seattle area over just a few months.

Phil Skelton, a member of the PNW Riders, spoke to the Redmond Reporter and said about Arpana:

"When you met her, she would have you smiling within 15 seconds."

Gregory Hobbs, another member of the club, said in the same article:

"She would strive to succeed in everything and she did just that. The world is a sadder place without her but the people she touched while she was here will remember her for an eternity."

Because of the scene left behind at the apartment complex, it was obvious that whoever had killed Arpana Jinaga had broken in and specifically targeted her, subjecting her to a violent assault and a rape (which would later be confirmed during her autopsy).

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. The damage left behind made it evident that the killer had entered through brute force, and from there, had proceeded to struggle with Arpana. The apartment was discovered in a state of disrepair different from how it had looked days beforehand (during the Halloween party), which made it clear that the struggle had ultimately led to Arpana's bedroom. That is where her body was discovered, nude and bloody, lying face-down on the floor beside her bed. She had been posthumously covered in numerous liquids, including bleach and motor oil, which the killer had undoubtedly use to try and cover up the crime scene.

When officers and investigators had first arrived at Arpana's apartment, they made note of the smell of chemical agents throughout it. It would soon become clear to them that someone had attempted to scrub the apartment of their presence, wiping bleach onto several pieces of furniture, as well as a table in the living room (from which, fluid had spilled down onto the carpet, permanently staining it). Police would speculate that the killer had started using bleach there and then carried it towards the bedroom, based on a trail of bleached droplets that led down the hallway.

In addition to the bleach, investigators would note that the apartment smelled faintly of motor oil, which had been dumped all around the crime scene; especially in the bedroom, on and around Arpana's body. The oil would contribute to the odd smell throughout the apartment, and was reportedly found all over the carpet of the bedroom.

In the apartment complex's dumpster, investigators would find a bottle of Castrol motorcycle oil, which the offender had likely found inside of Arpana's apartment and then sprayed all over the crime scene and her body. The empty bottle of motor oil was found inside of a plastic bag, which also contained Arpana's Halloween costume, a blood-stained bathrobe, and sheets from Arpana's bed, which were conspicuously missing from the crime scene.

Inside of Arpana's bathroom, investigators would find a white comforter from her bed, which had also been stained with blood. It was soaking in the tub, in a mixture of water and bleach. 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.

In the weeks to come, it would be reported that several items had been sent to the Washington state crime lab, but it was estimated that it could take weeks - if not months - for items to be tested for any possible forensic evidence.

Missing from the scene entirely was Arpana's motorcycle, a Suzuki GS 500, which quickly became a highly-sought-after item for Redmond Police. 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.

However, the notion of a robbery taking place did not end there. It would later be found that other items were missing from the crime scene, including at least one of Arpana's ID cards, her Blackberry (cell phone), and her digital camera; none of which would ever be recovered. 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. After all, nothing else of value had been stolen from the apartment, so someone might have been on the phone and camera that didn't want to be.

The autopsy of Arpana Jinaga was performed by the King County Medical Examiner's Office, and the results would be released roughly one week after Arpana's death (November 6th, 2008).

The autopsy revealed that Arpana had been strangled and asphyxiated to death, roughly two days before her body was discovered. This meant that she had been killed sometime on the morning of Saturday, November 1st, which would correlate to the hours after the Halloween party. 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.

In addition to being strangled-to-death by what appeared to be a bootlace, Arpana had endured other injuries before her death, which included (but was not limited to): a handful of blunt force blows to the head, the breaking of several teeth during the confrontation with her killer, being gagged by her own underwear (which the assailant had used duct tape to keep in place), and was then forcibly raped for an unknown extent of time. After her death, the killer had scrubbed Arpana's body with bleach in an attempt to destroy evidence, and investigators would later note that Arpana's hands had been stained blue by a "highly-acidic" cleaning agent.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the killer had then sprayed motorcycle oil and other chemicals all over the 24-year-old's body, which they had then attempted to light on fire, not knowing that oil isn't flammable.

Lt. Brian Coats would later tell reporters about the crime scene:

"It was a scene where the suspect or suspects spent a considerable amount of time covering the evidence of crime."

"It was a brutal scene. It was just gruesome. I hope I never have to investigate a case like this again."

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. They were primarily interested in the Halloween party she had attended that Friday, which was held inside of four separate apartments and saw more than two dozen guests coming-and-going well into the morning hours (which is when Arpana had died).

This is when police learned about the argument Arpana had gotten in with another partygoer, which was described as being "race-related." Those that remembered the incident thought that the man involved should be investigated as a suspect, but investigators probing this altercation didn't believe that there was anything to it. It seemed more like a momentary argument to them than a sign of anything serious and didn't believe that it was linked to Arpana's death hours later.

While those at the party remember Arpana going home alone at around 3:00 AM, neighbors that lived on both sides of her unit would recall hearing what sounded like muffled moaning sounds shortly thereafter, which they assumed at the time was consensual sex (but, knowing what we know now, undoubtedly wasn't). They then recalled the sound of running water for upwards of an hour; which they just assumed was Arpana taking a late-night shower but was probably the killer attempting to cover up the crime scene.

By January of 2009, it was reported that work on the case had started to stall, but investigators were still optimistic, due to the aforementioned physical evidence, which they were still awaiting the results of.

Speaking to the Bellevue Reporter, Lt. Doug Shepard of the Redmond Police Department said:

"We're a safe community. This sort of thing doesn't happen in Redmond. We have a brutal murder with no suspect. This one is not going away. We're not going to put this to bed.

"We still consider it early in the investigation. A lot of stuff has not been analyzed yet.

"It's the No. 1 priority in the division. We're not giving up."

Arpana Jinaga was not the first young professional from India to be killed in 2008. In fact, she was the fifth student or worker from India to be murdered in the United States that year; a fact that ultimately led to the United States Hindu Alliance calling for the FBI to investigate this case, as they feared that it could be tied to a widespread rash of hate crimes sweeping the nation. Those pleas would continue to amplify months after Arpana's murder, when it became evident that answers were not readily available.

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. Several suspects and persons-of-interest would be probed during that time, but for almost all of them, there was either something ruling them out entirely or not enough evidence to move forward with the case. According to investigators, they were also struggling to piece together a solid motive.

Speaking to the Redmond Reporter, Lt. Doug Shepard said:

"She did not make enemies, she just made friends and a lot of them. There is no apparent reason why someone would want to take this person from the prime of her life."

For the next two years, investigators would struggle to make sense of this case. That is, until roughly two years later when King County officials would throw together a press conference, where they announced the arrest of a suspect.

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. Despite being a relative unknown in the public sphere, Fair was no stranger to law enforcement, having been arrested nearly a dozen times already, and serving sentences for at least six crimes: which included drug and firearms-related crimes, as well as sexual offenses. 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.

A handful of years before the murder of Arpana Jinaga, Emanuel Fair had been arrested and charged with raping a minor. According to the 15-year-old victim, Fair had raped her numerous times, but this culminated in a final incident in the city of Burien that saw Fair escalate in violence, choking the teenage girl at gunpoint. He was arrested for this crime and ended up pleading guilty to avoid a decade-plus prison sentence (pleading down from 2nd degree to 3rd-degree rape). Fair would begin serving out his four-year sentence in 2004 but was released by the end of 2006, serving less than three years and being labeled a "level one" offender (the ones that were least likely to re-offend).

But over the next few years, Emanuel Fair would fail to abide by the terms of his release and was later jailed on probation violations. At the time of this announcement - in October of 2010 - he was incarcerated at the McNeil Island Correction Center in Steilacoom for failing to update his sex offender registration and was not expected to be released until 2012.

After his release from prison in November of 2006, Fair would begin a three-year process of floating between prison and homelessness; this included the period in which Arpana Jinaga was murdered. During that time, he had been couch-surfing with a friend at Arpana's apartment complex: a young woman named Leslie, who would actually lie to police about Emanuel staying there (claiming that she was home alone when questioned). Later, police would figure out that Fair attended that same Halloween party as Arpana because of photographs that other partygoers had taken, some of which had been posted online to social media sites.

In addition to having at least one brief encounter with Arpana at the party, police were able to determine that Fair had spent time at the party with "C.J." (Arpana's neighbor, who would co-discover her body days later). Fair and C.J. had gone down to a car so that they could listen to some music, and C.J. had even shown Fair a music editing software on his home computer. Both were seen together, and this would come up later - which is why I mention it - but both claim that their interaction lasted no more than 30 minutes or so, and they hadn't seen each other before or since.

In the weeks after Arpana's murder, Emanuel Fair was identified through photographs and eventually questioned. On November 21st, 2008 - three weeks after the murder - he spoke to investigators and admitted to being inside of Arpana's apartment during the Halloween party. He said that he met her briefly that night, and seemed to get along well with her; she briefly showed him photos from her bedroom computer, but that was about the extent of their interaction.

At that time, police didn't have anything incriminating linking Emanuel Fair to the murder. 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.

In October of 2010, King County prosecutors announced that they were filing charges against Emanuel Fair for the murder of Arpana Jinaga, based on evidence they had accumulated over nearly two years of investigating. The linchpin of their case was forensic evidence: according to prosecutors, DNA from Emanuel Fair had been recovered at the crime scene, on several pieces of evidence that they believe the killer had touched. This included the tape used to gag Arpana, DNA recovered from her neck (where she had been strangled), and a bloody robe found in the apartment complex's dumpster, which contained traces of Fair's DNA.

This was paired with several inconsistencies in Emanuel Fair's story; which included - but was not limited to - calls he had made during the time of Arpana's murder. Even though he claimed to have gone home to his friend's apartment at around 1:00 AM to sleep, cell phone records indicated that Fair made dozens of phone calls to numerous women between 2:00 and 5:00 AM; including several calls to Leslie, the woman whose apartment he claimed to have been sleeping at. Prosecutors implied that Fair had been lying about where he was during these vital hours, which remained unexplained nearly two years later.

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."

Now, nearly two years later, Emanuel Fair was being charged with 1st-degree murder and was transferred to the King County jail to await trial. Prosecutors made it clear that they'd be pursuing a life sentence, due to the brutality of the crime (not the standard 35-45 year sentence for 1st-degree murder). Shortly thereafter, Fair would be arraigned on murder charges and entered a plea of not guilty.

Emanuel Fair's innocence would be asserted by his defense attorneys in the months and years to come, who insisted that he receive proper treatment under the law; which, they alleged, prosecutors were refusing to give to him, as had the investigators from the very beginning of this case.

In pretrial motions filed by Fair's attorneys, it was claimed that Emanuel Fair, a black man, had been treated very differently from other suspects or POIs (most of whom were white). Fair's attorneys claim that he had been treated negatively during interviews, while other suspects with more incriminating evidence pointing to their guilty were treated with metaphorical kid's gloves. Investigators had seemed particularly hostile towards Fair and had not extended that hostility towards other white suspects (who may have had more of a motive to target Arpana).

These pretrial motions would also bring to light a discrepancy within the forensic analysis of the evidence, which would ultimately turn into the longest-lasting dispute in this case, carrying on over years and significantly delaying the state of Emanuel Fair's trial.

TrueAllele is a genotyping software developed by a company named Cybergenetics, which is utilized by law enforcement agencies all over the country. 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. 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.

This entire process has become known as probabilistic genotyping, and it's become a pretty integral facet of forensic testing over the last decade or so. It's also a lot more complicated than TV shows and movies would have us believe. 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.

TrueAllele was utilized heavily by this investigation and was able to come up with results that were far more definitive than anything the crime lab itself had been able to determine. While investigators had already analyzed the evidence and saw that it could feasibly implicate Emanuel Fair's involvement in the murder, it was anything but definitive (and could create reasonable doubt if brought up in trial). However, the results obtained through TrueAllele pointed to Fair, in particular, as the killer; with the software saying that he was thousands of times more likely to have been Arpana's killer than other available suspects.

As the Seattle Weekly would point out, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab found that Fair was 1,000 times more likely to have committed the crime than an unrelated African American, but TrueAllele found him to be 56.8 million times more likely. As you can imagine, this analysis was seen as invaluable to the prosecution, who saw this as being ironclad proof of Fair's guilt.

Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys, on the other hand, didn't see it that way. 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. Until such a time, they had to take the program and its parent company, Cybergenetics, at their word.

This would ultimately lead to a long and drawn-out dispute through the court system, as Cybergenetics CEO Dr. Mark Perlin refused to divulge the source code of his program, believing that doing so would bring risk to his company's trade secrets. Even though Emanuel Fair and other defendants all over the country began to demand access to the software's underbelly, Dr. Perlin was willing to take the issue to court to preserve his company's share in the burgeoning forensic analysis market, having already scored deals with law enforcement agencies all over the country.

While Cybergenetics would later win the appeals to keep the TrueAllele source code a secret, several years would pass during the drawn-out legal battle... during which time, Emanuel Fair continued to sit in jail, awaiting trial for charges that were nearly a decade old.

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. Prosecutors made it clear that they were seeking more than the recommended sentence - 45 years - which they were allowed to pursue because of the aggravated circumstances of her death.

The prosecution would paint a portrait of Fair as a repeat offender, who met Arpana at the Halloween party and then became infatuated with her. 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.

One of the women that Fair called, whom he phoned three times at around 4:45 AM, said that his calls had gone straight to voicemail. She recalled one of these voicemails sounding like constant movement on the other end, but nothing verbally being said. Fair was unable to recall these phone calls, stating that he had likely dialed this young woman's number on accident.

Erin Ehlert, the Senior Deputy Prosecutor, would claim that Emanuel Fair's DNA was found in places only the killer would have left behind a forensic footprint: on the piece of tape used to gag the victim, on her neck (where she had been choked), and then on a bloody bathrobe recovered by investigators. The analysis of this evidence had been performed by TrueAllele, making it the first criminal trial in Washington state that this was done; it had been used in prosecutions from other states - as well as exonerations in Washington - but never in this manner.

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." throughout the episode - stating during the trial that:

"... the State's position is that [C.J.] may have participated in the crime with Fair and that evidence implicating [C.J.] does not exculpate Fair. Rather than an 'other suspect,' [C.J.] can also be characterized as an uncharged accomplice."

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). Not only had he been at the party, lived next-door, and had a close personal relationship with the victim, but evidence found at or near the crime scene also seemed to implicate him.

In fact, DNA from several men was found at the crime scene, including several of Arpana's neighbors and fellow partygoers. 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. The semen from an unnamed neighbor was found on a towel near Arpana's body, while another neighbor's DNA was found on a bootlace that investigators theorized had been used to strangle Arpana (this neighbor, it's worth pointing out, had an alibi for the time of the murder, and had not been at the Halloween party).

The crime scene itself was a maelstrom of forensic evidence because more than a dozen people had been inside of Arpana Jinaga's apartment just hours before her death, attending the Halloween party. 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). This likely resulted in his DNA being distributed throughout the apartment; in particular, in Arpana's bathroom, where he had cleaned himself up.

Fair's attorneys would point out several gaps in the investigation. This included the nearly two years it took them to single out Emanuel Fair as a suspect; during which time, investigators had hired a psychic to help point them in the right direction, which highlighted how adrift the investigators had been up until that point. 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.

Emanuel Fair's defense attorneys would also contest the state's claims that he had acted alongside an accomplice; stating that he wasn't on-trial for crimes that he and/or someone else may have committed. If there was any evidence that pointed to Emanuel Fair's guilt, then it should be considered; but evidence pointing towards the involvement of an "uncharged accomplice" did nothing more than raise reasonable doubt that Fair had even been involved. After all, he was the only one facing charges, and him facing charges for two people was - at its core - unconstitutional.

Roughly two months after the trial began, after weeks of gridlock, the trial would end with a hung jury. The twelve jurors, who had originally leaned 9-3 in favor of acquittal, had been sent back to deliberate before ultimately coming up with a split decision (6-6 in favor of guilty/not-guilty, 5 of whom believed that "C.J." might have been involved). The jury was unable to come to a consensus regarding Fair's guilt, resulting in a mistrial.

The prosecution would quickly decide that they wanted to retry Emanuel Fair for the murder of Arpana Jinaga, and the court would set a date for that September. But just a few days before the retrial was set to begin (September 11th, 2017), the trial was placed on hold pending a discretionary review by the Court of Appeals.

Throughout the latter half of 2017 and the entirety of 2018, another lengthy legal battle would ensue. The state was attempting to build a case around the possibility of Emanuel Fair acting alongside an accomplice; who, they had alleged in the first trial, had acted alongside Fair to commit the crime but was not charged with anything for the time being.

Meanwhile, Fair's attorneys would argue that this was not a valid argument: the state couldn't have their cake and eat it, too. If the state wanted to pursue charges against Emanuel Fair, then they were well within their right to do so, but attempting to convict both him and an uncharged accomplice for crimes that they might have committed together was unconstitutional. They could try each of the men separately or together, but couldn't try one for the potential crimes of both.

Emanuel Fair's attorneys would argue that while there might have been DNA implicating him in the crime, there was just as much implicating others; including the neighbor that had been tied to this case from the very beginning, who I've identified as "C.J." throughout this episode - who, it turns out, had been one of the investigation's main suspects early on.

Because this individual has never been charged with any crime, I'll continue to refer to him as C.J., but there is a lot of evidence pointing towards him either having some kind of involvement in this case or, at the very least, knowing much more than he has publicly admitted. Investigators and prosecutors feel the same way about this individual because he was interviewed on more than four occasions in the weeks after Arpana's murder - more than any other suspect or POI - and at one point, investigators even wrote up probable cause paperwork to apply for this suspect's arrest. Later on, during Emanuel Fair's first trial, prosecutors even alleged that this neighbor had been an accomplice in the murder.

C.J. lived right next-door to Arpana Jinaga, and by his own admission, had a pretty close relationship with her. 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). During his interviews with investigators, C.J. would admit that during this time, he had stopped taking his psychiatric medication. Investigators would never ask him what this medication was, or what mental illness it was treating (one of the many missteps that Emanuel Fair's attorneys referred to in their pretrial motions).

C.J. showed up to the Halloween party rather late and was already heavily-intoxicated when he arrived. He later told investigators that he was sexually attracted to Arpana, and was hoping to "hook up" with her that evening (his words, not mine). In one of his interviews, he told police:

"She looked really good... I hadn't seen her for months, I'd never thought about her like that [prior to the night of the Halloween party]..."

While C.J. says that he went back to his apartment at around midnight to go to sleep, his phone records would show that he called Arpana twice a few hours later: once at 2:56, and a second time at 3:02 AM. These were the last calls or texts Arpana would receive that night, and when questioned about these phone calls, C.J. claimed to not remember anything about them. 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.

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). C.J. was one of these neighbors, who claimed to have passed out on a couch jutted up against his and Arpana's shared wall, and he said that he was woken up shortly after 3:00 AM to the sound of moaning, before falling back asleep until 10:00 AM. However, these phone calls indicate that this was a lie, and he was already awake at the time this happened (and, at the very least, subconsciously thinking about Arpana).

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. The description they gave to police more closely resembled C.J. than any other suspect (including Emanuel Fair), and when asked whether or not he had gone next-door to Arpana's apartment after making his two phone calls, C.J. told investigators:

"I don't think so."

The morning after the Halloween party - when investigators believed Arpana was killed and the killer began covering up his tracks, ultimately stealing Arpana's cell phone and digital camera - C.J. claims to have woken up at around 10:00 AM. But a check of his online activity would reveal that at around 10:00, he had printed out maps for local pawn shops. Then, in a strange turn of fate, he decided to drive up to the Canadian border, where he attempted to drive through the border without stopping or declaring himself. While border officials were able to quickly stop him, they ordered a search of his vehicle and ultimately turned him away because he didn't have a passport on him. When asked about this impromptu trip to the Canadian border, C.J. would later tell police that he was "kind of wanting to explore" and could offer up no further explanation for his bizarre actions.

Later that day - after being turned away from the Canadian border - C.J. would attend a party at a friend's house in Everett, and while there, attempted to wrestle them. It would be noted that those at the party recalled him arriving with a noticeable limp - which would be noted by investigators days later when they spoke to him - but when asked about where this limp had come from, he said it had come from the wrestling match at the party. Yet, it seems like the limp had come from somewhere else, due to him arriving at the party with it; and it was theorized by investigators later on that the wrestling match was an cover by C.J. to give the unexplained injury an innocuous excuse.

Other witnesses that knew C.J. claim that over the next several days and weeks, he made vague statements alluding to him going over to Arpana's apartment in his sleep; which, when you factor in him having quit psychiatric medication a short time prior, seems worrisome. Some were also concerned about his emotional state at the time, due to his prior relationship with Arpana, and him seeming to have become resentful towards her because of her newer friendships. At points, C.J. had even asked people whether or not he had killed Arpana, seeming to be unsure of the answer himself.

Over the next two years, C.J. 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). He couldn't recall whether or not he had kicked in Arpana's front door, and was unable to explain why he had printed out a map of pawnshop locations the morning afterward. Police had publicly speculated that Arpana's killer - who had stolen her cell phone and digital camera - might have attempted to distribute the stolen items through pawn shops, so this seems to be more than pure coincidence.

It's also worth pointing out that the same evidence used against Emanuel Fair - the DNA evidence analyzed by TrueAllele - revealed that C.J. was a similarly likely candidate to be Arpana's killer. His DNA had been found on a bottle of motor oil and on a bloody robe, both of which had been found inside of a plastic bag thrown into the apartment complex's dumpster. Police had already determined that Arpana's body had been covered in that type of motor oil, so whoever had handled it had likely been involved in her death.

All of this evidence made it virtually impossible for prosecutors to rule out C.J. as a suspect... which is why they ultimately presented a case that didn't do so. In fact, they posited throughout the first trial that he may have been an accomplice; an uncharged accomplice, but an accomplice nonetheless. However, without charging C.J. for having any involvement in the murder, they were creating ammunition for the defense in the form of reasonable doubt.

Emanuel Fair's second trial began just last year, in 2019, and again, tried to reach a jury consensus regarding his guilt. 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.

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. Not only was there just as much incriminating physical evidence implicating him in Arpana's death, but he had committed a ton of strange and bizarre acts around the time of her death that raised suspicion. Unlike Emanuel Fair, he also had a prior relationship with Arpana, lived next-door to her, and had been noticeably resentful towards her in the weeks leading up to her death.

C.J. 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. This ultimately ended up impacting the jury, as they had not been informed about the details of Fair's prior mistrial, and the testimony of C.J. did nothing but create reasonable doubt (since he could no longer be referred to as an "uncharged accomplice").

On Thursday, June 6th, 2019, the 12 members of the jury began deliberating, and originally found themselves deadlocked yet again (split into groups of 4: innocent, guilty, and undecided). However, over the next several days, they would eventually bring themselves to a consensus, and delivered their findings the following Tuesday, June 11th: not guilty.

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. was their ultimate undoing, and it had been a problem of their own making (as they had hoped to try C.J. as an uncharged accomplice). Speaking to the Times, this juror recalled:

"I think that was the biggest reasonable doubt and no one could eliminate him [as the killer]... We found [Fair] not guilty because of reasonable doubt, not because we thought he was completely innocent."

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.

In the year since Emanuel Fair's second trial came to an end, the story has received close to no attention from the world-at-large. Many had written off the case long ago, due to the belief that DNA had correctly tagged Fair as the killer back in 2010, but the truth is that the story is much more complicated than that. Even forensic analysis has its limits, as King County prosecutors and investigators in the Redmond area learned from this case.

To-date, Arpana Jinaga's murder remains unsolved. There has been no sign of activity in the case in some time, due to the prolonged trials of Emanuel Fair. He was originally charged with Arpana's murder in October of 2010 and acquitted in June of 2019 - nearly nine years, in which there was little movement in Arpana's case. 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. Authorities seem to have put all of their eggs in a single basket, and that resulted in an acquittal more than a decade after the original crime.

However, in that decade, we have learned about a couple of high-profile criminals that were active in the area at the time, who may or may not have committed this crime. And they're a couple of names that you might be familiar with.

Marc Patrick O'Leary, an Army veteran, is a convicted rapist and home invader who you might know from the well-known book "A False Report: An Unbelievable Story of Rape" (which was later adapted into the Netflix series "Unbelievable"). 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.

Through clever investigating, O'Leary was later captured and ultimately linked to at least five violent rapes between Washington and Colorado: all of which he had photographed and documented, keeping mementos of the victims (such as their cell phones and cameras).

While O'Leary never killed any of his known victims, there are certain details about his crime spree that remain unknown to investigators: including the contents of an encrypted file on his hard drive, which has been nicknamed "The Wretch" by certain investigators. This file contains 75 GB of incriminating details about O'Leary that he has refused to budge on, even after being arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Because the contents of "The Wretch" have not been cracked, investigators believe that it could hold proof of O'Leary committing more heinous crimes than he has been convicted of thus far, possibly even murder. After all, O'Leary seemed to show little regard for his victims' age, ethnicity, or well being - targeting them for his pure enjoyment - and he has refused to crack on any of his crimes in the years since. O'Leary is currently serving out his sentence at the Sterling Correctional Facility and remains a possible suspect in this case.

Another military veteran that has become a suspect in this story is none other than Israel Keyes, who was the focus of a very early episode of Unresolved from 2015 (and has since been covered more extensively in other books, documentaries, and podcasts).

Keyes was a methodical serial killer who obsessively planned out his crimes ahead of time, but was also known to act impulsively. He only admitted to three crimes in particular - Bill and Lorraine Currier from Vermont in 2009, and Samantha Koenig from Alaska in 2012 - but is believed to have committed several other murders, as well as separate rapes, assaults, and bank robberies over an extended period (possibly decades). Keyes later committed suicide in jail while awaiting trial, but police believe he may have committed as many as 11 murders (if not more, including out-of-country victims).

While Israel Keyes has become a boogeyman for numerous unsolved crimes - due to his habit of traveling the country and attempting to cover up any trace of himself - there is a compelling argument to be made in this case. Not only was Keyes accustomed to Washington, having grown up in the northeastern corner of the state and serving at Ft. Lewis for a spell in the early 2000s (just south of Tacoma), but he did travel to the Seattle area on the weekend of Arpana's murder.

On October 31st, 2008, Israel Keyes flew from Anchorage to SeaTac and was in the Seattle area until November 2nd, when he then flew from SeaTac to Boston. His reason for making this trip has never been uncovered, but it is believed that he might have committed crimes in the Seattle area over this three-day span in which Arpana Jinaga ended up dead.

These are just a couple of the most high-profile suspects I've uncovered while researching this case, but the answer may be more simple than that (it usually is). While Emanuel Fair was acquitted of the charges levied against him, the jurors that decided his fate claim that it had little to do with his innocence; but, rather, the level of reasonable doubt that his attorneys were able to raise. 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). It remains possible that both (or neither) were involved in this case - as investigators implied over the years - but a successful case has not been built around either.

Regardless, more than a decade has passed since the mysterious death of Arpana Jinaga, and no one has been held responsible for it. She was 24-years-old when she was killed on November 1st, 2008, and would now be 35. Who knows what kind of things she might have accomplished by now? Who knows how many lives she could have touched? Who knows, she might have even become a mother by now. All that we know for sure is that Arpana had already lived a full life by the age of 24, and could have continued changing the world for the better. Instead, her life was brought to a violent and sudden end the morning after a Halloween party, and no one has been held to task for that.

I hope that answers can still be found in this case, but until such a time, the story of Arpana Jinaga will remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on on July 5th, 2020

Producers: Maggyjames, Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Peggy Belarde, Quil Carter, Victoria Reid, Laura Hannan, Gabriella Bromley, Amy Hampton, Steven Wilson, Scott Meesey, Damion Moore, Astrid Kneier, Marie Vanglund, Scott Patzold, Lori Rodriguez, Aimee McGregor, Sue Kirk, Sydney Scotton, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Seth Morgan, Alyssa Lawton, Marion Welsh, Jared Midwood, Patrick Laakso, Kelly Jo Hapgood, Meadow Landry, Rebecca Miller, Tatum Bautista, Travis Scsepko, Teunia Elzinga, Erin Pyles, Jo Wong, Jacinda B., Ryan Green, Consuelo Moreno, Kelly Harris, and Emi Coates

Music Credits

Music throughout the episode was composed by Jake Mooshian. Listen to more of his music over at http://soundcloud.com/mooshian

The outro song ("June") was written and composed by Kieran Marsh