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48 Hours follows a chewing-gum sting that solved two murders

Peter Van Sant reports on Detective Susan Logothetti's fictitious product pitch and the DNA evidence that connected decades-old cases in Everett, Washington.

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48 Hours Story of October 29, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? 1,073,663 views so far, and here is what is inside it.

The Detective and the Chewing Gum Sting | Full Episode

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3:20Logothetti reexamines Judy Weaver's murder, including the bindings and evidence recovered from her burned apartment.
18:42Detectives develop a fictitious energy-gum promotion to obtain a fresh DNA sample from Gaff.
20:13The undercover visit yields chewed gum; laboratory testing then matches Gaff's DNA to Weaver case evidence.
26:52Ken Vesey's message leads Logothetti to investigate his wife's unsolved murder, producing another DNA match.
34:39Gaff pleads guilty to both murders before trial.
39:49Judge Edirin Okoloko imposes a 50-year prison sentence.

The energy gum was fictitious. The DNA sample it yielded was not. Detective Susan Logothetti and her colleagues posed as promoters of "Zolt Energy Gum," offering samples to a man whose DNA they needed for a cold-case investigation.

"The Detective and the Chewing Gum Sting | Full Episode," on 48 Hours, explains both the undercover operation and the evidence behind it. Peter Van Sant follows Logothetti's reexamination of Judy Weaver's murder in Everett, Washington. Weaver, a cafe manager, had been found bound and strangled in her burned apartment decades earlier.

New DNA testing pointed investigators toward Mitchell Gaff. To obtain a fresh sample, detectives devised the product demonstration, complete with a branded green shirt. Gaff tried the gum, leaving investigators with saliva they could submit for testing. The laboratory matched his DNA to evidence from Weaver's murder.

The investigation subsequently reached another family. Ken Vesey contacted Logothetti about the unsolved murder of his wife, Susan. After comparing the cases, the detective submitted evidence from Susan Vesey's clothing and bindings for testing. That evidence also matched Gaff's DNA.

The episode has drawn more than a million views in its first week, but its central answer is a practical one: the gum supplied a fresh sample that investigators could compare with preserved evidence.

Gaff pleaded guilty to both murders. The report follows the case through survivors' statements and a 50-year prison sentence, ending with Logothetti personally handcuffing him for the escort into custody.

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