So much about this story reminds me of the Menendez murders. We have to go across Lake Washington because most of it took place in Bellevue, but it's so close to Seattle, I'm including it. Here's a shot of the Bellevue skyline from where I live.
In the spring of 1994, Tariq Rafay, his wife, Sultana, and their daughter, Basma moved to Bellevue from Vancouver, B.C. The couple's son, Atif, was a sophomore at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. During the following summer, Atif was visiting his friend, Sebastian Burns up in West Vancouver. The first week of that July, they both took a bus to Bellevue to visit Atif's family. They were there less than a week when, on July 13th, Sebastian called 911 from the Rafays' kitchen phone at 2 am. In a panic, he told the dispatcher there had been "some kind of break-in" and that his friend's parents were dead. When police arrived at 4610 144th Place SE they found what appeared to be a staged break-in.
 |
| Rafay Home today |
Sultana had been unpacking boxes in the basement and didn't even know what hit her. She was struck twice in the head with a heavy, blunt object and was found face down on the carpet with a bloody shawl over her head. Police figured she was attacked first. Tariq was in bed asleep when he was repeatedly struck in the head and face. He was beaten so badly he was almost unrecognizable. 20-year-old Basma was autistic and hadn't spoken a word since childhood. When police arrived, they could hear her moaning and found her lying against her bedroom door. Her arms were covered in bruises and the wall above her bed was crushed, apparently by blows that missed their mark. She died five hours later.
 |
| The Keg restaurant in Factoria |
The state crime lab later determined the three were most likely killed with an aluminum baseball bat. A murder weapon has never been found. The two 18-year-old's told police they left the Rafay home at 8:30 pm July 12th. They ate dinner at The Keg in Bellevue's Factoria neighborhood at 3500 Factoria Blvd. SE. They then watched "The Lion King" across the street at The Factoria Cinemas. (They were supposedly avid film buffs)
 |
| Cinemas at 3505 Factoria Blvd. SE |
From there, they headed to Seattle and stopped by the nightclub, The Weathered Wall at 1921 5th Avenue under the monorail. They were turned away because the club was closing. They said they then returned to Bellevue and found the bodies. Witnesses remembered seeing the two at all locations.
 |
| Former Weathered Wall Club (yellow) |
At first, police considered their alibis to be airtight but they later said the two had more than enough time between the movie and the trip downtown, to commit the murders. Their theory was that Atif and Sebastian wanted to cash in on the half-million dollars the Rafay's were worth. Considering what the house must have looked like, the police put the two up in a dingy Bellevue motel. Although they weren't suspects, the cops were growing suspicious. Three days later, with nothing for cops to hold them on, they went back to Canada and started spending the Rafay's money. On July 20th, a notice appeared in the Seattle Times saying, "Bellevue police would like to talk to anyone who saw the late show of The Lion King at the Factoria Cinema on July 12, 1994. Purely routine." It was six months before Bellevue police officially named the two as suspects. Then, in early 1995, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police gave help and began investigating the two on suspicion to commit murder and fraud. They launched "Operation Estate," an elaborate, five-month sting in which undercover detectives posed as high-rolling mobsters in an effort to gain confessions and DNA samples. Detectives worked to entice the two into a world of organized crime with the promise of two-hundred-thousand-dollars for a film they wanted to produce. The RCMP bugged the house Atif and Sebastian shared and stole their car to plant a listening device in it. The police recorded four-thousand hours of audio and video taped conversations, including what seemed to be confessions from both men. Canadian police made their arrest on July 31, 1995. King County filed murder charges that same day. Canada agreed to extradite the two only if the US took the death penalty off the table. After almost six years of legalities, they were finally booked into the King County Jail in March of 2001. The trial was delayed numerous times for various reasons, including one small controversy. On August 10, 2002, two guards outside a King County Jail conference room saw 26-year-old Burns standing behind his 43-year-old attorney, Theresa Olson, with his pants down and his penis erect.
 |
| Theresa Olson with her attorney |
Her long dress was pulled up around her waist, court papers said. She was removed as council and suspended from The Washington Bar Association for two years. The trial began on November 23, 2003. Prosecutors argued that while "defendant Rafay watched and disconnected the VCR, defendant Burns beat the victims to death with a baseball bat." They believed Burns did this in his underwear to avoid getting bloodstains on his clothes. He then took the bat into the shower with him. The defense argued undercover Canadian detectives coerced and threatened Rafay and Burns into making false admissions. They also said neighbors reported hearing sounds that could have been the thuds of a baseball bat from the Rafay home at a time the defendants were confirmed to be elsewhere. (I've been to the neighborhood and that seems very unlikely. These are large homes on big lots.) On May 26, 2004 (My birthday) Sebastian and Atif were each convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. At sentencing, Sebastian (who is incredibly pompous) rattled on for an hour and a half about how he was innocent. Atif said he couldn't believe "the shoddy lie" they told undercover Canadian police about how they were responsible for the murders - "has misled so many people and eclipsed the real evidence in this case." He also said, "I'm tormented by the fact. . . my parents' killers walk with impunity." They were each sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. Atif went to the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe where he teaches high school to inmates.
 |
| Sebastian and Atif after sentencing |
Sebastian's had a hard time of it at the Pen in Walla Walla. He's jailed with violent, long-term offenders where he's had many a crisis, including assaults by inmates and the force-feeding of food and anti-psychotic medications because of mental-health problems. In 2007, Sebastian's film-maker sister, Tiffany, produced the documentary, Mr. Big about her brothers arrest, trial, and her belief in his innocence. The Rafay's are all buried in Snohomish, Washington. RIP
In the spring of 1994, Tariq Rafay, his wife, Sultana, and their daughter, Basma moved to Bellevue from Vancouver, B.C. The couple's son, Atif, was a sophomore at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. During the following summer, Atif was visiting his friend, Sebastian Burns up in West Vancouver. The first week of that July, they both took a bus to Bellevue to visit Atif's family. They were there less than a week when, on July 13th, Sebastian called 911 from the Rafays' kitchen phone at 2 am. In a panic, he told the dispatcher there had been "some kind of break-in" and that his friend's parents were dead. When police arrived at 4610 144th Place SE they found what appeared to be a staged break-in. 
