GUILTY WA - Linda Robinson, 36, stabbed to death, Spanaway, 6 Feb 1993

[OkieGranny]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/08/07/3320774/man-arrested-in-1993-fatal-stabbing.html

A man suspected of fatally stabbing a woman while she babysat two young children in her Spanaway apartment was arrested Thursday after DNA linked him to the 1993 slaying.

James Edward Mitchell, 60, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals in Leesburg, Florida, where he’d been living. He is expected to soon be extradited to Pierce County, where prosecutors have charged him with first-degree murder in the death of Linda Robinson.

The night Robinson, 36, was killed she was looking after her 7-year-old niece and a 6-month-old nephew at her home at 127 162nd St. S. It was Feb. 6, 1993.

http://q13fox.com/2014/08/07/florida-man-arrested-in-21-year-old-spanaway-cold-case-killing/

The case was intensely investigated for years, but remained cold until May 2013 when the girl, now 27, and the victim’s father called the cold case unit at the county to ask about the investigation.

According to a report, a Cold Case Unit Detective reviewed the case file and identified several unusual blood droplets at the scene. The detective located the blood-stained evidence and sent it to a Washington State Crime Lab for DNA testing.

The DNA matched James Mitchell, sheriff’s officials said, a childhood neighbor and schoolmate of the victim and her family.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jury returns guilty verdict in 1993 Spanaway murder

The 1993 murder of Spanaway resident Linda Robinson is no longer unsolved.

Wednesday, jurors in Pierce County Superior Court found James Edward Mitchell, 52, guilty of first-degree murder in the once-cold case, resurrected in 2013 by a detective’s reassessment and improved DNA technology. Mitchell’s sentencing is set for March 25.

“I’m glad the jury came back with the verdict they did,” said deputy prosecutor Steve Penner, who handled the case.

Following the verdict, Robinson’s relatives praised Kobel’s investigative efforts and said they were pleased with the verdict, though they still don’t know why Mitchell killed their sister.

“We didn’t get the why,” brother Christopher Robinson said. “But we got this today.”

Cold case closed: Man convicted in brutal 1993 stabbing death of Spanaway woman

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Man convicted in 1993 Spanaway murder gets 37 years

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article68341467.html

Faced with a standard range of 30 to 41 years, Stolz picked 37, saying Mitchell, 52, was likely to die in prison no matter what part of the range she gave him.

The sentence brought a bit of closure to Robinson’s loved ones, who’d wondered since her death if her killer ever would be caught.

“I’m relieved justice finally has come,” Gloria Elliott-Harris, Robinson’s sister, told Stolz before the sentence was handed down.