With new DNA technology, a 30-year-old cold case has been broken wide open. A killer, who has been on the run since the murders of two Canadian teens, was finally caught, but the fight has now just begun…
Bizarre Disappearance
In 1987, Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg were heading from Canada to Seattle Washington to purchase parts for Jay’s fathers business… They never returned.
Jay and Tanya
Jay and Tanya went missing on November 18th. Tanya was found on November 24th in the rural Skagit County, Washington. Jay was found just two days later, but 60 miles away from Tanya’s body…
A Confident Killer
The circumstances of the killings stumped the police. The fact that the bodies were so far apart made it seem like the killer was intentional. The mysterious killer also left some clues behind…
Misdirections
At one of the crime scenes, although investigators did not disclose which one, a pair of white, plastic gloves were left in plain view… It was as if the killer was saying, “You can’t catch me, I left no fingerprints.” That wasn’t all that they heard from him…
More Taunts
Months after the murders, both families of the victims began receiving taunting ‘greeting’ cards in their mailboxes. Each card was riddled with gruesome drawings of the murder scenes.
A True Psychopath
The letters were postmarked all over the country: From Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. It was confirmed that it was all written by the same person after investigators analyzed the handwriting. As it turns out, they ended up finding this person…
Not the Killer
The person writing the letters was actually a 78-year-old Canadian man who had a history of mental health issues. The police thought that they had a lead on the killer, but this man had no ties to the killings. Things were looking grim until new technology made this possible.
DNA Testing
Naturally, the first thing the police did on both of the crime scenes was to look for any sort of DNA samples. Unfortunately, at the time of the crime, they couldn’t match the DNA in their criminal database, but more time was all they needed…
31 Years Later
Thanks to new technology, investigators in the case were able to make some waves. They decided to use genetic genealogy with the public website GEDmatch.
The Golden State Killer
This website is the same one that caught the notorious Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo. They were able to match 10-20 distant relatives of DeAngelo and were able to narrow down the results. Using this technology, investigators came up with a sketch of the killer based solely on his DNA…
He Thought He Got Away With It
On April 11th, 2018, the police released a composite sketch of the suspect that was solely based on the DNA collected. After more than a month of investigating, they were able to track down a real suspect…
The Suspect
The suspect was William Earl Talbott II, 55. He was arrested on May 18th, 2018 for the murder of Tanya Van Cuylenborg since his DNA was found on her. But it was harder than they thought it would be to charge him for Jay Cook’s murder…
Getting Justice
Just a month later, investigators were able to charge Talbott with the murder of Jay Cook with aggravated first-degree murder. Talbott pleaded not guilty to both of the charges, which isn’t surprising… He really thought he was smarter than the cops, as was evident from the beginning.
Not Testifying
Despite his not guilty plea, he decided to not testify for himself and used character witnesses as his defense. He did not, and could not, provide an alibi…
So, What Happened?
During these trials, a lot of information was released about the case of Jay and Tanya. They were on a trip to Washington to get things for Jays’ dad’s business, that we knew, but it actually wasn’t as simple as that…
A Real Witness
After driving for a bit, the couple missed their exit toward the Hood Canal Bridge. They stopped at a mini-mart and bought some snacks. They asked the clerk, Judith Stone, a question…
Judith’s Encounter
In her testimony, she said, “They wanted to know how much further the bridge was,†She remembered saying to them“Oh, you’re a little past that. A long way past that.â€
The Last Person To See Them
After the two left the gas station, they headed to the Kitsap Peninsula and pulled over for gas. Kara Hopper, who was working the counter at Ben’s Deli, was the last person to see them. She remembered them distinctly because Cook had been the only person to try and pay for gas with Canadian traveler’s checks, which was odd to her…
Gone Missing
The two were supposed to arrive back home to Canada on November 19th. When the family hadn’t heard from them by November 20th, they were finally declared missing by the police.
Days Later…
Then, the bodies were found. The prosecution noted that Jay had been deceased for only 36-72 hours prior to him behind found, which means that he could have been alive for three days after going missing. But why?
Brutal Attacks
When Tanya was found, she was partially dressed and bound by zip ties. She had also been shot in the back of the head. Jay had been beaten and strangled with twine and a dog collar. There was also tissue and a pack of cigarettes shoved down his throat…
Testifying For Talbott
Talbott did not testify for himself, but he did have a couple of character witnesses show up. A long-time friend had said Talbott was never aggressive, never showed interest in guns, didn’t smoke cigarettes and didn’t even own dogs. Something didn’t add up…
It Didn’t Make Sense To Him
His friend couldn’t believe that this was happening to Talbott. They did recall that he was extremely strong and could possibly exert the force in the killing of two people, but his gentle mannerisms swayed them from reaching that conclusion…
He Was Familiar With The Area
One of his former roommates claimed that Talbott was familiar with the area that Jay’s body was found. It was only six miles away from his parent’s house…
The Defense
The defense claims that Talbott had no run-ins with the law and passed a federal background check. The prosecution was not convinced that that should mean he was innocent…
Another Claim…
During the testimony, it was clear that the defense was trying to pull from anything. They even said that Talbot rented a room from a cop in the 1990s, and claimed a man guilty of murder wouldn’t do that. The prosecution all but rolled their eyes at that bizarre defense…
Her Camera Was Missing
Another thing that was bizarre about the case was that Tanya’s Minolta camera was missing. The body of the camera never turned up, but the lens was found at a pawn shop in Oregon in 1990. Perhaps this was the break they needed…
No Weapon Recovered
After all of this time, the gun that was used to shoot Tanya was never recovered. There was also no evidence that the gun was either Tanya’s or Jay’s, and the same goes for Talbott…
The Cigarettes
Although Talbott did not smoke cigarettes and many people could attest to that, it still didn’t make him not guilty. The Camel Lights were the same brand that was found in the van that Jay and Tanya were driving in. He could have simply used this against them in the fight…
What Could Have Happened?
The investigators believed that the couple possibly picked up their killer as a hitchhiker on one of the ferries they had to take on their way to Seattle. Was that Talbott?
The Verdict
On June 28th, 2019, Talbott was found guilty of the murders of Tanya and Jay thanks to DNA found at the scene. Originally, he was sentenced to death but Washington State Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in the state. He now faces a maximum of life in prison.