Long before DNA evidence connected Mitchell Gaff to two unsolved Washington murders, he told state psychologists that he had committed six rapes, according to court records.
Years later, a judge ended Gaff’s civil commitment, allowing him to live in the community without the restrictions of Washington’s sexually violent predator program.
Gaff pleaded guilty in April 2026 to killing Judith “Judy” Weaver and Susan Vesey. The following month, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge sentenced him to 50 years to life in prison.
His criminal history has raised questions about whether there may be other victims. In September 2018, a court unconditionally released him from civil commitment. He later lived in Olympia under the name “Sam Wise Price.”
Dr. Katherine Ramsland, a forensic psychologist and author who was not involved in the case, said failing to respond to a predator’s admissions can carry risks.
“Psychologically, if he’d confessed but discovered there’d be no consequence, he’d likely feel emboldened to potentially repeat it,” Ramsland said.
In June 1984, Weaver was found bound, sexually assaulted and strangled in her Everett apartment, near Rucker Avenue. Investigators determined that Gaff had cut her clothing with a knife and set a fire in an effort to destroy evidence.
Authorities initially focused on Weaver’s fiancé, Bill Richards. Her daughters told investigators the couple had a volatile relationship. Richards remained a suspect until he died in 1994.
In November 2023, Everett police Detective Susan Logothetti sent evidence from Weaver’s case for updated DNA testing. Investigators had obtained a sample from Gaff using chewing gum.
Gaff was arrested in May 2024. DNA evidence later connected him to Vesey’s killing. She was found beaten and bound in her Everett home on June 2, 1984, the morning of her 21st birthday.
Everett police said Gaff’s statements about the murders were consistent with evidence gathered by investigators.
In 1979, a jury found Gaff guilty of first-degree burglary and second-degree assault. He had bound a woman’s hands, hit her repeatedly with a pistol and struck her head against concrete before she managed to escape.
Gaff received probation and work release. While still on probation in 1984, he broke into an Everett home and raped two teenage sisters, ages 14 and 16, at knifepoint. A judge revoked his probation and imposed an exceptional 138-month prison term, ordering his sentences to be served consecutively.
Before Gaff was due to leave prison, Washington authorities sought to have him committed to a secure facility as a sexually violent predator.
During psychological evaluations, Gaff admitted to making obscene phone calls and committing sexual assaults, including six rapes. A jury determined that he met the criteria for civil commitment. The state Court of Appeals upheld that finding in 1998.
A psychologist testifying for the state diagnosed Gaff with sexual sadism and said he was at risk of committing further offenses. An expert for the defense, however, believed Gaff could live safely in the community under controlled conditions.
By 2005, state evaluators concluded that Gaff no longer needed the highest level of confinement and approved his move to a less restrictive setting. The next year, he left Washington’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island for a secure halfway house in Seattle’s SoDo district.
The arrangement required GPS monitoring and supervision whenever Gaff left the facility. He also agreed not to challenge his sexually violent predator status for eight years.
Gaff remained in the civil commitment system until September 2018, when a court dismissed the state’s petition and released him unconditionally.
“It’s tricky to hold them beyond their sentence, and sometimes it means having to prove they’re an imminent danger, not just a possible one,” Ramsland said.
Everett police are reviewing unsolved homicides, sexual assaults and other cold cases for possible connections to Gaff, Logothetti said. She said she believes there may be additional victims.
Logothetti said Gaff told evaluators he would sometimes change his accounts “without giving away too much.”
“He said it was amusing to him to change details in his admissions, which his treatment team did not pick up on over the years,” she said.
Detectives have compared information from Gaff’s disclosures with unsolved cases in Washington and other states. So far, they have not identified additional victims or crimes since his 2024 arrest or his guilty pleas in 2026, Logothetti said.
Gaff’s defense attorney, Heather Wolfenbarger, declined to comment. Anyone with information about possible victims connected to Gaff can contact the Everett Police Department tip line at 425-257-8450.
