GUILTY WA - Jay Cook, 20, & Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, Skagit County, 24 Nov 1987

Gotta love how some guy completely deleted all references to William Earl Talbott II on the Wikipedia article.
 
Conviction for murder of young B.C. couple reversed due to juror’s bias: court ruling | Globalnews.ca
''In 2019, Talbott was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

However, he stated numerous “evidentiary and constitutional errors occurred at trial” including a biased juror.

In a ruling, the Washington State Court of Appeals found that under questioning a juror indicated she might have “difficulty with the topics and evidence of the trial, due to past traumatic experiences and as a new mother, such that she was unsure if she could be fair.”

The ruling states “since seating a biased juror is reversible error, we need not reach his other various challenges argued in briefing or the issues Talbott raises in a pro se statement of additional grounds for review. We reverse.”

At the time, Talbott’s lawyer moved to have the juror removed but the trial court denied the motion and the woman deliberated on the case.''
 
Upsetting news:

Conviction overturned for U.S. man whose DNA linked him to B.C. couple’s 1987 killing - Cowichan Valley Citizen

"Cold-case defendant William Talbott’s aggravated murder convictions were reversed Monday due to a juror’s bias, more than two years after a high-profile trial in the 1987 killings of a young Saanich couple, Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg."
Uh, excuse me? The DNA doesn’t lie. Genetic genealogy hasn’t up before. CeCe Moore put her heart into this.
 
Washington man's conviction reversed in 1987 murders of Vancouver Island couple
"I’m an emotional person as it is, and I try to be very, very logical and methodical in decisions I make in my life and, you know, trying to see both sides of everything," the juror told the lawyers during the selection process, according to the appeals court ruling.

"But like I said, if it’s a case involving violence and women, it’s just something that I’ve already experienced in my life, and I fear that I will always inherently have as a mother, so that’s just the one thing that I probably couldn’t get past," the juror said.

She added that seeing graphic photos – like the kind that were later presented at trial – might "cloud my judgment."

The three judges on the appellate court panel wrote in their decision that after "her clear, repeated expressions of actual bias as to the precise nature of the allegations at the heart of this trial and evidence which would be introduced, we cannot conclude that juror 40 was sufficiently rehabilitated such that Talbott was provided a fair and impartial jury."
 
Okay, so what I’m getting is that one of the jurors was biased. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the other 11 find him guilty?
 
There are cases that I check in on from time to time to see if there are any updates.

While I didn’t know this case, I’m glad someone has been found guilty through DNA for a brutal double murder - even so many years later.

I was looking for updates on the Mineral Washington killings of the two couples - possible three couples - killed on old trails in Washington State in 1985.

Especially the murder of Diana Robertson and Mike Reimer on December 12, 1985 along an old logging road. It caught my eye that Jay Cook was initially thought to have been involved since his body was found so far away.

Mike Reimer was considered a suspect in Diana Robertson’s murder for a long time since his body wasn’t found until 2011.

The case always stuck with me since their 2 year old daughter was found wandering in a Kmart 30 miles away. She could have only gotten there by the killer driving her 30 miles to drop her off after the killings.

Probably, the stabbings in the Mineral Washington murders rule this guy out - since he seems to have preferred a gun in this case. The Reimer/Robertson case was also on Unsolved Mysteries.

While DNA was mentioned when police recovered Mike Reimer’s body in 2011, nothing more has been updated to the public.

Hoping the police at least have talked to this guy about other possible crimes, I doubt this couple were his only victims.


Years later, I know, but I just caught wind of this case recently. I can't find anything about this guy, but I keep thinking there is no way that this is the only crime he has committed. They say he was 24 years old at the time of the murders... someone above said he was born in 1963.

Tell me authorities enter his DNA into the system in case he can be linked to the evidence of others? I know DNA wasn't always preserved before it was useful, but... why can I find nothing about this guy? Nobody asking these questions? But here, of course.

Just up thinking. ha.
 

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