He made calls to a few friends, including apparently pocket-dialing Potts. Coats was asked during the podcast if the prior conviction was significant to his investigation. An exclusive trailer for Suspect is below. Legal Expert Weighs In, Idaho Murder Victims' Families React to Suspect's Arrest: 'Such a Blessing and Relief', 'She Had No Idea': Sister of Idaho Victim Reacts to Claim that Suspect's Phone Pinged Near House 12 Times, Parents Charged with Murder After 4-Year-Old Son Dies from Alleged 'Exorcisms', Idaho Killings: Surviving Roommate Saw Alleged Killer Wearing Black Clothes and a Mask, Affidavit Says. He had been in her apartment once earlier in the night too. Bodicherla went to the apartment complex, where he encountered Cameron Johnson, who showed him the way to Jinaga's unit. "Choices that, once made, are difficult to reverse.". Jinaga showed Fair and other partygoers something on her computer on another occasion. The suit contends detectives aligned evidence to match their theory and disregarded half a dozen non-Black suspects in the case. When Johnson was interviewed by police on Nov 3 and 5th, he was noticeably limping with elbow and knee issues, but claimed it was due to an arm wrestling incident. He used the bathroom on one occasion. At age 20, Jinaga moved from her native India to the United States and quickly found success. New episodes of the nine-part series will be released weekly on Tuesdays. Jinagas father had asked a family friend to check in on her after she missed scheduled calls with family from India. -, Press J to jump to the feed. She had opened her third-floor apartment to Fair and dozens of other partygoers, who traipsed in and out during the festivities. Nearly a year later. In a 2020 interview, one of the prosecutors said Fair looked like the best suspect because his DNA was found on objects specifically related to the murder, not the aftermath. Ive been away for so long, I dont believe in holidays no more, he said. Arpana Jinaga. Its got to be terrible for everybody it touched. Emanuel has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout this case and he, his family, and friends are greatly relieved that justice was served by his acquittal, defense attorney Benjamin Goldsmith wrote in an email Friday. I dont think he killed Arpana. Fair said the lawsuit, obtained by Atlanta Black Star, is the closest thing to justice I can get.. She had opened her third-floor apartment to Fair and dozens of other partygoers, who traipsed in and out during the festivities. They found her nude body on her bedroom floor, face-down on the carpet and partially covered with cloth. The majority of criminals arent very bright. .but he doesnt mention it? Arpana dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and her apartment was one of four areas in the complex. 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. On Oct. 31, 2008, Fair took a bus to Redmond to stay the weekend with a friend at the Valley View Apartments. 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. She is suspected to have died from strangulation from a bootlace. In my opinion, and in my heart, I dont have any question about anything we did in regards to charging that Emanuel Fair killed Arpana Jinaga, she said. His first trial, in 2017, ended in a hung jury because one juror said Fair looked like a thug with tattoos on his hands. The jury in the second trial acquitted him. Fair ultimately was charged based on trace DNA evidence found on Jinagas neck; a piece of duct tape used to gag her; paper found in the apartment; and mixed with Jinagas blood on a robe recovered from the apartment buildings dumpster. On Oct. 30, 2010, Fair was placed in a Seattle holding cell while detectives gathered more evidence against him for the 2008 sexual assault and murder of a 24-year-old software engineer and Indian immigrant named Arpana Jinaga. Another apartment complex resident committed suicide just days after Jinagas death, and his DNA was reportedly never compared to the crime scene. Meanwhile they raided Emmanuels stuff and according to his best friend on the podcast took almost ALL of his things. I always knew I was going to get out; I just didnt think it would take as a long as it took, Fair, 38, said last month. If you would like to share your thoughts or experiences in relation to this story, please email the reporter or, Fire on Lake City Way in Seattle raises smoke, flooding concerns, WA to end masking requirement in health care, correctional facilities, Tacoma woman refusing tuberculosis treatment continues to face arrest, Be bolder to get light rail done, expert panel tells Sound Transit, Driver makes U-turn, hits pedestrian near Pioneer Square, police say. And thats hard.. The officers allegedly did not change gloves between evidence collections, or between rooms or locations. This is only a fraction of the evidence exonerating Emanuel which was wide-ranging and persuasive. Jinaga lived alone in an apartment at the Valley View Apartments. The lawsuit alleges that a lighter was found in his apartment with a sticky substance on it, but investigators never collected it. Suspect is an investigative series about mislaid justice and the kinds of weighty decisions that detectives, lawyers, and jurors make every day - decisions that, once made, are almost impossible to reverse.Season 2: Vanished in the Snow chronicles the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews. Jinaga's neighbor Cameron Johnson showed up to the party in Jinaga's unit late. Brian Bundridge was in a motorcycle club with Jinaga. Johnson was hanging out near Jinagas apartment when her friend arrived to check on her, and he helped the family friend identify the body, the lawsuit alleges. To contaminate evidence, Jinagas hands had been doused in blue toilet-bowl cleaner and her body covered in motor oil. However, phone records show that he was making many phone calls between 2am and 5am, including to Potts. Fair was tried for Jinagas sexual assault twice and was acquitted after his second trial in June 2019. Johnson was hanging out near Jinagas apartment when her friend arrived to check on her, and he helped the family friend identify the body, the lawsuit alleges. Two days later on Monday, Jinagas father in India was worried that her daughter was not answering her phone, so he asked family friend Jay Bodicherla in the US to check up on her. 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. Her other immediate neighbor, Kyle Rose, said he heard growling sounds around 8 a.m. The lawsuit alleges that a lighter was found in his apartment with a sticky substance on it, but investigators never collected it. He had a lighter covered in gook that looked like motor oil which they took a photo of but never bagged it nor did they check his shoes for a missing lace. Everyone seemed to have a good time, the lawsuit alleges. But of course, I imagine it must have been loud disturbance to kick in a door, which was apparently never reported. But I dont have a desire to do that. This is a person who is living her dream. Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. After a background check revealed Fairs criminal record, including a third-degree child rape conviction, Fair quickly became the new prime suspect despite leads about the neighbor and other viable suspects, the suit states. The Wondery true-crime podcast Suspect centers on the murder of Arpana Jinaga as well as the trials of the wrongly imprisoned Emanuel Fair, who spent years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. He scrubbed his phone after questioned about the call and could easily have hung around and taken time to clean her apartment/scrub the crime scene because their apartments shared a balcony and him taking out trash wouldn't strike anyone as weird or noticeable. Now working a security job and living with friends in Renton, he said hes often depressed, carries guilt for a younger brothers emotional troubles and avoids going out. A suspect is identified, arrested, and convicted, but this morphed into a greater mystery when journalists began investigating the case years later. He used the bathroom on one occasion. He waited in jail while authorities tested his DNA. Investigators said the lower half of the womans body was covered in motor oil. I lost a lot. 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. There were also other men in Jinagas life that detectives suspected of the murder, and some of their DNA was found at the crime scene. However, when Fair emerged as a suspect, his treatment can only be viewed as racial discrimination, his attorneys allege. He attributed them to wrestling a stranger he met at another Halloween party the next day, the lawsuit alleges. A spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office said in an email, we look forward to addressing these allegations in a public courtroom, and we are confident in our case.. But I dont have a desire to do that. In it, Ehlert stood firmly by the prosecuting teams decisions. They act on impulse, not ration. She volunteered at the. The DNA on her neck was microscopic and wasn't necessarily a match, it just couldn't be excluded. According to court documents, Johnson called Jinaga around 3 a.m. but did not mention that to the police during his interview. He made calls to a few friends, including apparently pocket-dialing Potts. Maybe they were running out of time (had to be somewhere? Goldsmith said evidence found at Jinagas apartment and produced during the investigation pointed to one of her neighbors as the likely killer. He assumed Jinaga was either vomiting or having sex. Ben Goldsmith and Katharine Edwards advanced a straightforward theory about why Emanuel Fair should be acquitted in the murder of Arpana Jinaga, whose body was found in her Redmond apartment on Nov. 1, 2008. A few guests got rowdy, arguments broke out and a couple of people were asked to leave. Johnson also said that he had driven to Canada on the day after the Halloween party and that he had been denied entry. He was staying with Potts in the mostly white neighborhood that weekend, and his attendance at the party was impromptu. I didnt know how to answer, so I just told her the truth: Im depressed. The lawsuit also says Fair threw garbage in the dumpster where the robe and other items were found while helping with party clean up. Some guests were rowdy, but nothing out of the ordinary, it says. Jinaga was. It was the second time Fair had been tried in connection with Jinagas killing: The first time, in 2017, the jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. . The neighbor, who later hired a lawyer and stopped cooperating, subsequently scrubbed his phone of call and text data, the suit states. I may be misremembering but I seem to remember there being explanations for Fairs DNA on those items? Her removed tampon alone had three separate unidentified male DNA profiles on it, according to Rolling Stones investigation. According to court documents, a neighbor who did not attend the party reported seeing a man with olive complexion and light stubble standing in Jinagas doorway, talking to someone inside around 3 a.m. Fair went inside Potts apartment between 2:30 and 3 a.m. after listening to music with Jinagas immediate neighbor Cameron Johnson. The medical examiner estimated Jinagas time of death was 8 a.m. When residents of the Valley View Apartments in Redmond, Wash., decided to host a Halloween party nearly 13 years ago, nobody expected that it would end with murder. There was forced entry into Jinaga's second-story apartment, signs of trauma to Jinaga and the apartment was in disarray. Emanuel Fair: He was not a resident, but he was staying in the apartment of Leslie Potts. Its just another day. Fairs lawsuit includes many of the same facts that his public defender, Ben Goldsmith, used to poke holes in the prosecutions criminal case. So its kind of messed up. Host Matthew Shaer and and reporter Eric Benson go to the scene of the crime in an effort to discover if police identified the right suspect. 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. Her father, a head professor of engineering in India, encouraged he to move to the US to attend Rutgers University. Brian Bundridge was in a motorcycle club with Jinaga. When asked about the calls, Johnson reportedly said, oh crap, but he could not remember why he called Jinaga. At his second trial, a jury found him not guilty. He and Jinagas next-door neighbor who became a suspect in her slaying discovered her locked door had been kicked in and found her nude body on her bedroom floor. This is the last known independent witness sighting of the pair. Arpana Jinaga was a 24-year-old computer programmer, who had moved to the Pacific Northwest in March of 2008. or felt they were? Potts covered for Fair because he had a warrant out for not updating his address with his parole officer. He assumed Jinaga was either vomiting or having sex. His phone records revealed that he had called Jinaga at 3am on the night of the murder, but he stated he did not remember making the calls. Just hours after that party ended, in the early morning of Nov. 1, 2008, one of the hosts of the Halloween party a 24-year-old software engineer and Indian immigrant named Arpana Jinaga . It was like the movies, coming down slow.. Source. Jinagas phone and digital camera were missing from the scene and never recovered. Maybe they realized only at the last minute that they should get rid of the sheets and empty oil bottle and without anyone seeing them do it? The Seattle Times is not naming Jinagas neighbor because he has not been charged. According to court documents, Johnson called Jinaga around 3 a.m. but did not mention that to the police during his interview.