The Cup That Cracked A 30-Year Murder Case: Mandy Stavik's Story

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000
She was home from college, excited for Thanksgiving break, running the same route she'd taken hundreds of times before.

2
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,000
Her dog came home, she didn't.

3
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:16,500
For nearly 30 years, her killer walked free, living in the same small town where everyone knew her name.

4
00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:23,000
Until one woman decided to risk everything to get justice for a girl she'd never even met.

5
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:33,000
Living in a small town has its perks and its problems.

6
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:43,000
The perks?

7
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,000
Everyone knows you're not a big deal.

8
00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:56,500
Living in a small town has its perks and its problems. The perks? Everyone knows your name, your business, and probably what you had for dinner last Tuesday.

9
00:00:56,500 --> 00:01:05,000
The problems? Well, Target is probably a 45 minute drive away, and sometimes that sense of security can become dangerous.

10
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000
You start believing bad things happen to other people in other places.

11
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,500
Unfortunately, evil doesn't check zip codes before it strikes.

12
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:29,000
Amanda Teresa Stavick, or Mandy, was an 18 year old college student who disappeared on November 24, 1989, the day after Thanksgiving, while jogging near her home in Acne, Washington, with her German shepherd, Cairo.

13
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:37,500
She was home for Thanksgiving break from her first year at Central Washington University, probably looking forward to her mom's cooking and sleeping in her own bed again.

14
00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:45,000
She'd thrown on her running gear, clipped on Cairo's leash, and headed out for what should have been a routine afternoon run.

15
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:52,500
The route was familiar territory, down Strand Road where she lived, over to the Nooksack River, then back home.

16
00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:59,500
The kind of predictable path that felt safe in a town where people still left their keys in their cars and their doors unlocked.

17
00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:05,500
She made it to the river and was spotted on her way back, but she never walked through her front door again.

18
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000
Two hours passed, then Cairo showed up at home alone and agitated.

19
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,500
No Mandy. In a town of fewer than 250 people, this was immediately alarming.

20
00:02:17,500 --> 00:02:22,500
When someone goes missing and act me Washington, everyone knows about it within the hour.

21
00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:26,000
The search began immediately, and police were called in to help.

22
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:32,000
The tight-knit community in the uppermost part of Washington State was devastated, and why wouldn't they be?

23
00:02:32,500 --> 00:02:40,000
Police remained unsolved for nearly 30 years until advancements in DNA technology led to an arrest and subsequent conviction.

24
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,000
But back then, in 1989, nobody knew they were looking at a decade's long mystery.

25
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,500
Every television station and newspaper in the state covered Mandy's disappearance.

26
00:02:50,500 --> 00:02:55,000
The Stavick family was thrust into a nightmare they knew too well.

27
00:02:55,500 --> 00:03:03,000
Years earlier, Mandy's older brother had been found dead while hunting in Alaska with 17 bullet wounds in his back.

28
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,500
The circumstances of his death remain a mystery to this day.

29
00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:11,000
The Stavicks had already buried one child under horrific circumstances.

30
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,000
They were praying they wouldn't have to bury another.

31
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:20,000
Like any missing person case, police wanted to speak with Mandy's boyfriend, Rick Zinder.

32
00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:25,000
The whole operated fully, eager to answer any questions that might help find her.

33
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:33,000
After speaking with him, investigators were satisfied that Rick had nothing to do with her disappearance and could focus their efforts elsewhere.

34
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,000
On day two of the search effort, expert trackers were brought in.

35
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:43,500
They followed Mandy's trail to a point where her tracks stopped abruptly, as if she'd gotten into a vehicle.

36
00:03:43,500 --> 00:03:47,000
By day three, searchers were combing the Nook Sack River.

37
00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:51,000
The bend in the water caught in some debris. They found her.

38
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:59,500
Her body was discovered three days later in the Nook Sack River. She was faced down in shallow water, wearing only her socks and running shoes.

39
00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:02,500
Initially, there were no obvious signs of trauma.

40
00:04:02,500 --> 00:04:07,000
After the autopsy, the medical examiner determined that she had drowned.

41
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:13,500
She also had a hematoma on top of her head that wouldn't have been fatal, but it was sufficient to render her unconscious.

42
00:04:13,500 --> 00:04:16,000
She had also been sexually assaulted.

43
00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:21,500
Even though this was 1989 and DNA testing wasn't as advanced as it is today,

44
00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:27,000
samples were collected and a profile was created of an unknown male perpetrator.

45
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,000
But the FBI had no one to compare it to.

46
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,000
Police were steadily receiving and investigating tips, but there was another complication.

47
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,000
A serial killer known as the Green River Killer was active in Washington at the time.

48
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,000
Gary Ridgeway would eventually confess to 71 murders.

49
00:04:44,500 --> 00:04:51,000
His victims were typically vulnerable women, and he'd strangle them, dump their bodies sometimes in rivers.

50
00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,000
But did the Green River Killer claim Mandy as a victim?

51
00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:05,000
She fit certain aspects of his victim profile, but the FBI's Green River Task Force examined the evidence and determined it did not align with Ridgeway's methods.

52
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,500
Tips continued pouring in, but they led nowhere concrete.

53
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,500
A man named Paul Malik, a neighbor of the Stavix, became a person of interest.

54
00:05:14,500 --> 00:05:20,500
He was one of the last people to see Mandy alive, claiming she jogged past as he backed out of his driveway.

55
00:05:20,500 --> 00:05:25,000
He also mentioned seeing a dark pickup truck following close behind her.

56
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,500
Investigators suspected that he might be inserting himself into the case to gauge what they knew.

57
00:05:30,500 --> 00:05:37,000
This behavior pattern is a red flag law enforcement recognizes, so they asked him to submit a DNA sample.

58
00:05:37,500 --> 00:05:44,000
He refused. A court order was issued. The sample was taken, and it did not match.

59
00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,500
Paul Malik did not kill Mandy.

60
00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:56,000
Fast forward to 2009, police took a different approach, implementing a DNA sweep inspired by a true crime book called The Blooding.

61
00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,000
About a similar case in England where this tactic had been used to solve a crime.

62
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000
They asked every male within a certain radius of the Stavix home to volunteer a DNA sample.

63
00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:13,500
Police established a list of a couple hundred potential suspects going door to door asking for cheek swabs.

64
00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:17,500
This methodical approach would eventually pay off.

65
00:06:17,500 --> 00:06:26,000
In 1989, a man named Timothy Bass lived on Strand Road, the same street as Mandy, with only a few houses in between them.

66
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,000
Nearly every day she would jog past his house.

67
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,500
Tim was a few years older than Mandy and knew her through his younger brother Tom.

68
00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,000
Neighbors described Tim as something of a loner, socially awkward.

69
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:46,000
A few months after the murder, Tim suddenly moved out of the area and asked his girlfriend, who was still a high school senior, to marry him.

70
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:55,500
She said yes. Their marriage was troubled. She later reported that he was physically and verbally abusive, eventually prompting her to obtain a restraining order.

71
00:06:55,500 --> 00:06:58,500
She also revealed something that would prove prophetic.

72
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:03,000
Tim loved watching true crime television shows and documentaries.

73
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,000
But he would make comments about how stupid the perpetrators were to get caught.

74
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,500
He wouldn't be that careless, he'd say. He was smarter than that.

75
00:07:12,500 --> 00:07:19,500
When police went to Tim Bass' house to discuss the case and request a DNA sample, his initial reaction was telling.

76
00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:24,500
At first, he acted as if he had no idea who or what they were talking about.

77
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:30,500
In a town of 250 people, if your neighbor is murdered, you don't forget something like that.

78
00:07:30,500 --> 00:07:36,000
Eventually he said, "Oh yeah, I remember now, but no, you can't have my DNA."

79
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,500
He claimed he didn't trust the police.

80
00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:41,500
Which honestly, kind of valid.

81
00:07:41,500 --> 00:07:45,000
But police didn't necessarily need his permission to obtain a sample.

82
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:52,500
A coworker of Tim's suspected him of having involvement in Mandy's murder and told police she would get them what they needed.

83
00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:57,500
Tim picked up a plastic cup, drank from it and threw it away.

84
00:07:57,500 --> 00:08:01,500
His coworker Kim Wagner retrieved it and delivered it to the police.

85
00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:03,500
The cup was tested.

86
00:08:03,500 --> 00:08:11,500
Jackpot. It was a match, not a partial match, not a close match, a one in 11 quadrillion match.

87
00:08:11,500 --> 00:08:14,500
They were absolutely certain they had their man.

88
00:08:14,500 --> 00:08:21,000
On December 12, 2017, Timothy Bass was arrested in Watcombe County, Washington

89
00:08:21,500 --> 00:08:23,500
in connection with the Stavick murder.

90
00:08:23,500 --> 00:08:29,500
The jury delivered a guilty verdict on the first-degree murder charge against him in November 2019.

91
00:08:29,500 --> 00:08:37,500
Once arrested, Tim did a complete about face, from barely remembering Mandy to suddenly claiming they were in a secret relationship

92
00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:40,500
that nobody knew about except for his father.

93
00:08:40,500 --> 00:08:44,000
That's why his DNA was found on her body, he claimed.

94
00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:51,000
Conveniently, his father had passed away by this point, so this alleged cooperation was impossible to verify.

95
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:56,500
Timothy Bass was convicted of killing 18-year-old Mandy Stavick in 1989,

96
00:08:56,500 --> 00:09:00,000
with sentenced to 26 years in prison in Watcombe County.

97
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:05,000
He received the maximum sentence and bass to this day maintains his innocence.

98
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,500
The case that haunted Acme Washington for three decades was finally closed,

99
00:09:09,500 --> 00:09:17,000
thanks to advances in DNA technology and the courage of a coworker who risked her safety to help solve her murder.

100
00:09:17,500 --> 00:09:24,500
Kim Wagner's decision to retrieve that discarded cup ensured that Mandy Stavick finally received the justice she deserved.

101
00:09:24,500 --> 00:09:31,500
This is a case that demonstrates that cold cases can be solved years later through technology and community cooperation.

102
00:09:31,500 --> 00:09:38,500
It also serves as a reminder that evil can lurk anywhere, even in the smallest seemingly safest communities.

103
00:09:38,500 --> 00:09:42,500
Mandy was special, she really was, her mother Mary said.

104
00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:49,500
Through the dedication of investigators and the bravery of ordinary people like Kim, Mandy's memory was honored,

105
00:09:49,500 --> 00:09:52,000
and her killer was finally brought to justice.

106
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:58,500
For nearly 30 years, Timothy Bass lived freely in the same community where he had taken a young woman's life.

107
00:09:58,500 --> 00:10:06,000
He watched the investigation, attended community meetings about safety, and probably felt quite clever about evading capture.

108
00:10:06,500 --> 00:10:14,000
But in the end, justice prevailed, proving that sometimes the most important evidence comes from the most unexpected places.

109
00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:30,000
Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories.

110
00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:39,000
I'm Joe, the host, and I appreciate you listening today. If you're new, hit subscribe wherever you're listening, and you can go to 10minuteMurder.com for more information about the podcast.

111
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:47,000
Also, if you check the links in the episode notes of this episode, you're going to find links to where you can follow the podcast on social media.

112
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,500
I encourage you to do that. You'll see photos that I post that go along with the story.

113
00:10:51,500 --> 00:10:57,000
Since never anything gross or graphic because frankly, I don't want to see that myself, and I assume that you don't either.

114
00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:03,500
Now, if you are a weirdo and you want to see that kind of stuff, that's out there. I'm not going to tell you how to get it, but it's out there to get got.

115
00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:08,500
Quickly, let's read an email from one of you that listens, "Subject, book, or podcast."

116
00:11:08,500 --> 00:11:18,000
Hi, Joe. If someone told you that you could only consume true crime stories through books or podcasts for the rest of your life, which would you pick and why?

117
00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:19,500
Kevin from Chicago.

118
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:29,000
Kevaux, that's a tough one, man. I love books. I love the smell of them, like the hold them. I like to read them, but they're not convenient.

119
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:36,500
I'm a pretty active person. Plus, I drive places here and there, and doing all those things, like even just mowing the grass, mowing my lawn.

120
00:11:36,500 --> 00:11:46,000
I listen to stuff. So, if you forced me to pick, I would choose podcasts, because I can consume the most that way.

121
00:11:46,500 --> 00:11:51,500
I can't read while I'm driving, and I can't read while I'm mowing the lawn or out for a hike and things like that.

122
00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:55,500
So, by default, I think that wins, but I do really enjoy reading a book.

123
00:11:55,500 --> 00:12:01,000
I appreciate the email, Kevin, and thank you for listening. That's going to do it for this episode. See you next time.