In a bizarre piece of police work, a deck of playing cards that is being used to try and help solve 52 cold cases dating back to the 70’s, has led to the arrest of a Seattle man for murder, as reported by Q 13 Fox News Daily.
G.J., 58, recently pleaded guilty to the 1979 murder of his ex-wife’s friend, S.S., as the woman had allegedly opposed to the couple reuniting. He is due in Snohomish County Superior Court on March 23 for sentencing and his bail has been set at $5 million.
G.J. was arrested in April 2011 after detectives received a tip from a prison inmate who looked at the 52-card deck that depicted photographs of victims in cold murder cases and missing persons.
Those that are able to assist detectives in a tip leading to an arrest are offered a reward.
S.S., pictured on the queen of hearts card, was strangled to death in her home on October 22, 1979.
Three Snohomish County sheriffs worked together to track down G.J.: Jim Scharf, Patrick Vander Weyst and Joe Dunn.
G.J. had been interviewed following the murder and had remained to be a suspect for years.
Of the timing of the arrest sheriff Vander Weyst said, “After 31 years, we end up finding a person that was an eyewitness to the murder.”
The witness to the murder, per Vander Weyst, “was so frightened by the incident that she was fearful in revealing what she saw.” The tip was just what she needed to speak to detectives again after 30 years.
Vander Weyst said that she “was basically in fear for her life if she ever came forward with information. In fact, this was really a weight off her shoulders — finally being able to get it off her chest.”
Detectives were able to determine that S.S. had been a friend of G.J.’s ex-wife. When G.J. wanted to reconcile with his wife S.S. talked her out of accepting him back. S.S.’s stance against G.J. incited him to kill her. Vander Weyst added, “They were in the midst of getting back together and (S.S.) urged this woman not to get back with him, which upset him.”
When G.J. had been questioned in the past he was able to get away with giving differing accounts of what he knew of the murder. But either because of the new evidence presented against him, or the number of years that have passed, G.J. appeared comfortable being questioned this time and was no longer just a suspect.
After booking B.J. into the Snohomish County Jail, for investigation of first-degree murder, detectives felt rewarded from their efforts and said, “We’ve all worked hard looking at these cases and to be able to solve one that happened almost 32 years ago, we’re very excited about.”
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