Fair visited her apartment twice once earlier in the night, and once around 1 a.m. to eat pizza. He faced two trials. You have permission to edit this article. A tech genius. Four men have been arrested in connection with the victim's death: Cameron Lee Johnson (age 29), Sylvester Lynn Jones (age 33), Brandon Nicholas Peyton (age 25) and Tyler Blake Slaton (age 20). DNA from the neighbor was found on a motor oil bottle, and from another man who wasnt at the party on a bootlace likely used to strangle Jinaga. In 2008, 24-year-old Arpana Jinaga and her neighbors threw a big Halloween party at their apartment complex in Redwood, Washington, and other than the typical drama accompanying partying in your . LISTEN to True Crime podcasts. On Oct. 31, 2008, Fair took a bus to Redmond to stay the weekend with a friend at the Valley View Apartments. He wasnt read his rights, but according to the transcript of the interrogation, Fair did his best to answer their questions about the party. Several residents in the complex told investigators that this man was interested in Jinga, and one said they saw him [exhibit] jealous behavior, the lawsuit says, when she talked to other men at the party. Prior to that, she had attended Rutgers University on the east coast, but had grown up in the Indian city of Hyderabad as the oldest of two daughters. That night, Jinaga co-hosted a Halloween party that spanned multiple units in the Valley View apartments in a small Seattle suburb called Redmond. He used her bathroom and made small talk, and by all accounts including his their interaction stopped there. Read part one about Arpana Jinaga's mysterious murder here. Jinaga, a 24-year-old software engineer from India, had attended Rutgers University, won an international software award and was a rising star at the Bellevue company where she worked. Singling out the only Black man at the party, when presented with multiple other white suspects, can only be viewed as racial discrimination, Fairs lawsuit alleges. There were so many mistakes in this investigation, says Dreveskracht, who, in addition to being a civil rights lawyer, is also an appointee on the Washington State. Jinaga was known to check in with her family daily by phone. Johnson, Jones and Peyton have been charged with first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault. In a 2016 pretrial interview, obtained by the Suspect podcast, Coats was asked if the prior conviction was significant to his investigation. It was a party full of 20- and 30-somethings, and according to witness interviews, as the night wore on, it got predictably rowdy: there were a couple of drunken arguments between friends and roommates; one guy wouldnt stop challenging all the larger men to arm wrestle, and accidentally bloodied Fairs lip at one point. According to police interviews, Fair called it a night around 2:30 or 3 a.m., headed back to Potts apartment and watched some TV in the living room. Leis was a 31-year-old single mother, who owned her own home and was known for her caring, bubbly personality at Independences Walmart. Her nude body was found two days later in the . It was like the movies, coming down slow. The police backup pointed their guns at his chest, he says, and detectives shouted at him to calm down. Arpana Jinaga. A second trial for Emanuel Fair, a suspect in the homicide case of 24-year-old Jinaga, ended with a not-guilty verdict on June 11. A second trial for Emanuel Fair, a suspect in the homicide case of 24-year-old Jinaga, ended with a not-guilty verdict on June 11. Arpana, the elder daughter of Basavraj Jinaga, a professor at the city-based JNTU, was a topper in studies and had set her own mark in chip designing. Listen in while Alisha and Emily discuss the twists of ever-changing alibis and the overwrought and complicated DNA testing . City police spokesperson Jim Bove said front door of Arpana's apartment on Redmond Woodinville was forced open shattering the door jam. And he prefers to avoid holidays, in part because he got used to not celebrating them when he was in jail, and in part because he doesnt want to be around family that didnt support him when he was behind bars. Please hit the subscribe and like also the bell it helps out our channel grow so we can bring more content for ya! Brian Coats, who led the investigation into Jinagas murder as a detective 13 years ago. If you have probable cause, you dont go to a psychic, he said. Its a tough decision to make, he said, and a lot of responsibility given the complications surrounding the crime. The residents of the Valley View apartments organize a big costume party. I just didnt think it would take that long.. They show that there was persuasive evidence against at least six other suspects that the detectives were investigating none of whom were Black, and none of whom spent a day in jail for Jinagas murder. When police presented their case to the prosecutors they only laid out the evidence against Fair. Emanuel Fair photographed in Seattle on March 31, 2022. 8/27/2016: The family of murder victim Angela Leis is searching for answers and justice. Either way, the police seemed to use that warrant to their advantage. She had a keen interest in engineering and won several innovation competitions. Fair didnt know anyone else at the complex, and had no idea, when he arrived, that a costume party was about to take over. The neighbor initially neglected to tell detectives about phone calls he made to Jinaga at 3 a.m. Later on the morning of her slaying, he drove to the Canadian border and attempted to cross it without a passport but was denied entry. Leis family wonders what would be different had Jones sentence been more severe or longer. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time She invited a few people into her bedroom, including Fair, to show them something on her laptop. By the end of season two, it becomes clear the show's host, played by Tina Fey, may be a cold-blooded murderer herself. When Coats showed Fair a photo of himself, taken at the party and holding a cell phone, Fair said he only used the phone once, early in the party. Then, due to inexcusable delays in Fairs trial and prolonged pretrial detention, he spent more than nine years in the King County Correctional Facility as an innocent man, in conditions of inhumane confinement that are well known to have a detrimental effect on mental health, the suit contends. But going by the witness statements, it was nothing too out-of-the-ordinary, and everyone seemed to have had a good night, overall. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Its just another day. On Oct. 31, 2008, 24-year-old Arpana Jinaga dressed up in a Little Red Riding Hood costume and prepared for a Friday night to remember. There were bleach stains on the carpet; her body was covered in motor oil from the waist down; Her fingers and fingernails were cleaned and then doused with toilet bowl cleaner; and burn marks made it look like someone had tried to burn her body and the apartment. Shed been gagged, beaten and strangled during an apparent sexual attack. It was a scene where the suspect or suspects spent a considerable amount of time covering the evidence of crime, Coats said. Johnson was convicted of first degree murder in the death of Angela Leis in August 2015. Detective Coats is now a captain in the department.). Sometime later, tenants who lived in apartments next to Jinagas recalled hearing the sounds of muffled moaning from her place, but attributed the noise to consensual sex. Her father reached out to an acquaintance in King County, who went to her apartment to check on her. Ehlert, in the 2020 interview, noted prosecutors were barred from including some key evidence at trial: Fairs past convictions and the possibility that he and the neighbor acted together in Jinagas killing because there wasnt evidence to support that theory a decision upheld by the state Court of Appeals after Fairs first trial. Now, two years later, hes suing everyone that had the power to put him in that cell. Fairs 23-page complaint, filed last month by his attorney, Ryan Dreveskracht, contends police and prosecutors botched the probe and wrongly targeted him because he was a Black man with a criminal record, despite evidence implicating Jinagas then-neighbor, who is white. He was one of the three individual's whose DNA was found . The last person to see her that night was another resident at Valley View, who told police they saw a tall man with olive skin talking to her in her doorway at 3 a.m. A tech genius. The key difference between them and Fair, the suit alleges, is that none of them were Black. I felt like I was kidnapped, Fair said in last months interview, when explaining his decision to pursue his claims of negligence, civil rights violations and malicious prosecution. We're also happy to directly answer any questions you may have. (Photo: Twitter/@pure1org) Fair met Jinaga hours before she was killed at a Halloween party in her apartment complex. On Thanksgiving, when he hadnt shown up to his familys dinner, Fair said an aunt called him to ask whether he was planning to come. Bove said.Arpana's body was found by Redmond police in her apartment on Monday morning, after it received an emergency call from one of her friends. The case took two years of investigating and analyzing evidence, meeting with the prosecution team, members of the state crime lab and other law enforcement entities to continue the development of the case with the eventual goal of bringing criminal charges. Most people at the party remembered Fair as relatively quiet it was a close-knit group of neighbors, and he only knew Potts. The partygoers become the main suspects in the eyes of the police, but not everyone is sure. Ehlert also defended an immunity deal with the suspected neighbor, and the decision to solely prosecute Fair for first-degree murder with sexual motivation a charge that hinged mostly on trace DNA collected from a crime scene teeming with genetic evidence linked to multiple people. . I dont want to pretend like it doesnt affect me, he says. Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. The result, it claims, was a biased probe that caused Fair to be arrested and charged without probable cause for a murder he did not commit.. The building was motel-style, so everyones front door faced the outside of the building, and for the party that night, four residents including Jinaga decorated their apartments and opened their doors. plea, which meant that he accepted the plea agreement while still maintaining his innocence a common tactic when you cant afford to go to trial. King County wants to know, XFL is back in Seattle heres what you need to know, Legislation seeks to strenghten Washingtons abortion laws, Robbery suspect ends up hiding in a tree | Podcast. In fact, police files show that there are multiple other men in Jinagas life that had as much, if not more, evidence against them and several more that were never thoroughly investigated. What are the conditions of his immunity? The suit contends that Fair never would have been in that cell and certainly not for years if he werent a Black man with a criminal record. He worked part time as a security officer for a little while the graveyard shift, so he didnt have to be around people. He spent three years in prison for the charge. We look forward to hearing from you! A primary suspect at first was Cameron Johnson, Jinaga's neighbor. She steadfastly stood by their decision to charge Fair in Jinagas murder. Source. Before Fair was charged, police had another person of interest, a neighbor of Jinagas who lived close by. You cant leave out the fact that there was basically everyone elses DNA at the scene, too. After her graduation, she got a job as a software engineer at EMC, in a suburb of Seattle. The neighbors DNA was also the primary profile found on an oil bottle, in a bag with the red robe presumed to have been worn by Jinaga that night. A tech prodigy from an early age, Arpana seemed poised to achieve great things in life. Most of the people at the Halloween party at the Valley View Apartments didnt remember Emanuel Fairs name. The night before Jinaga was discovered, the tenants of the apartment building where she had lived hosted a Halloween party, according to court documents. Fair said he was the only one to use the phone that night. Phone records show he made a handful of phone calls between 3 and 4 in the morning some to a friend who was a former sex worker, and a few to Potts, leaving voicemails that sounded like pocket dials. 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