Post Mortem | The Detective and the Chewing Gum Sting
In the season premiere of “48 Hours Post Mortem”, correspondents Anne-Marie Green and Peter Van Sant discuss the brilliant undercover operation that used chewing gum to catch a killer in two cold cases. They reveal how Detective Susan Logothetti and her colleagues developed the ruse, what it was like to confront the murderer, Mitchell Gaff, and why he spent over two decades in a treatment center for sexually violent predators.
- Duration
- 26m
- Broadcast on
- 20 Oct 2026
- Audio Format
- other
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[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to a new season of "Post Mortem." I'm your host Anne Marie Green, and I'm so excited to be back in the studio, taking you behind the scenes of every 48 hours episode. With me is 48 Hours Correspondent, Peter Van Sant. And today we're discussing our season premiere. It is moving. It's an emotional roller coaster. It is maddening at times. It is a wild story of a cold case detective who used an undercover chewing gum roost to solve not one, but two decades-long murder cases. Welcome, Peter. It's really good to have you here. Hey, I'm Rick. Great to see you again. A reminder, of course, for everyone. If you haven't watched or listened to this episode, it's called "The Detective and the Cuing Gum Sting." Go check it out now, and then come on back for our conversation. So let's take you back to 1984 on the evening of June 1. 42-year-old Judy Weaver and her fiancé, Bill Richards, they are out with friends celebrating the sale of a bar that he owned, called the Bellness, in Everett, Washington. As she had been drinking, Judy decided, you know, she was going to walk home alone. Bill stayed behind at the bar to continue celebrating. Back at her apartment, she was attacked by an unknown assailant. She was sexually assaulted, bound with electrical cords, and strangled. Her bedroom was then set on fire in what investigators believe was an attempt to destroy evidence. Bill Richards became the prime suspect, and Judy's daughters immediately suspected him as well. Peter, why? Well, Judy's daughters, they didn't like Bill very much. They had described Bill Richards as verbally and physically abusive toward their mother. Now, they never witnessed Bill hitting their mom, but they saw bruises on her. And one of Judy's daughters, Kathy, told me that Bill was her only suspect in this case, and it never occurred to her that it could have been a random act by someone else. But investigators never had enough evidence to charge Bill Richards or clear him either.
Transcription truncated.
In the season premiere of “48 Hours Post Mortem”, correspondents Anne-Marie Green and Peter Van Sant discuss the brilliant undercover operation that used chewing gum to catch a killer in two cold cases. They reveal how Detective Susan Logothetti and her colleagues developed the ruse, what it was like to confront the murderer, Mitchell Gaff, and why he spent over two decades in a treatment center for sexually violent predators.