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May 25, 2023 · A jury found Patrick Nicholas guilty of murder with sexual motivation on May 10 for the 16-year-old’s death. Yarborough was strangled while she was waiting outside of her school to go to a...
May 25, 2023 · Patrick Nicholas was free for nearly 30 years after murdering Sarah Yarborough while trying to rape her. He was sentenced Thursday to over 45 years in prison.
Apr 17, 2023 · The King County Sheriff's Office announced in 2019 an arrest in the case of a Federal Way teenager who was strangled while on her way to a drill tournament. Patrick Leon Nicholas, 55, was booked into the King County Jail on a homicide charge.
Nov. 18—It took 28 years for police to solve the homicide of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough, who was killed outside her Federal Way, Wash., high school in December 1991. Her assailant, Patrick...
- Overview
- A HORRIFIC DISCOVERY
- IN SEARCH OF A DNA MATCH
- TECHNOLOGY CATCHES UP WITH THE INVESTIGATION
- A CRIMINAL PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR
- SARAH'S LEGACY
- "48 HOURS" POST MORTEM PODCAST
Sarah Yarborough was a 16-year-old honors student on her way to drill team practice, when she was found murdered on the campus of her high school. Investigators had DNA evidence and eyewitnesses, but it would take almost three decades to identify Sarah's killer. As "48 Hours" contributor Natalie Morales reports, this case had a big impact on her fa...
Natalie Morales: How often do you think about Dec. 14th, 1991, and what happened on that day?
Drew Miller: Quite a bit. It's a very traumatic thing to go through.
It's been over 30 years, but the details of that day have never faded for Drew Miller.
Drew Miller: I had my friend spend the night at my house. We woke up that morning … watched cartoons, ate cereal, left to go skateboarding.
Miller, who was just 13 at the time, lived down the street from Federal Way High School near Seattle, Washington.
Natalie Morales: The school grounds have changed quite a bit, right?
In early June of 1993, a year-and-a-half after Sarah Yarborough's murder, local media were there as students gathered in the courtyard of Federal Way High School to honor her.
KOMO/ABC NEWS REPORT: Bill Fuller, a family friend who helped spearhead the move for a memorial to remember Sarah unveiled it with help from Sarah's younger brother Andrew.
Bill Fuller: It was quite a day. … A lot of tears as they looked at it. You could see Sarah in that bench.
Bill Fuller has known the Yarboroughs for years, and his daughter was in Sarah's class.
Bill Fuller: Sarah … she was fun to be around … probably what we missed the most is she was fun to be around.
The bench reads "Carpe Diem" — "Seize the day" — a mantra Sarah lived by. Encased in bronze are some of her favorite possessions — ballet shoes, a replica of Sarah's beloved dog "Gibby" and books.
Colleen Fitzpatrick: From the beginning it was very promising. And the story took some really bizarre twists.
In 2011, 20 years after Sarah's murder, when forensic genetic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick started working the Yarborough case, she traced Sarah's killer's family tree back to a man named Robert Fuller, whose family had come to America on the Mayflower.
Colleen Fitzpatrick: I found numerous matches to the name "Fuller."
When Fitzpatrick gave the name "Fuller" to the King County Sheriff's Office, they immediately knew of one person with that last name. Bill Fuller — the Yarborough's close family friend who helped get that memorial bench built for Sarah.
Det. John Free: Naturally, that piqued our interest.
From the beginning, Sarah's family and friends believed Bill Fuller had nothing to do with Sarah's murder.
On a quiet morning in June 1983, eight years before Sarah's murder, 21-year-old Anne Croney was sitting by her car along the Columbia River in Richland, Washington, when a man approached her.
Anne Croney: He seemed normal. … kind of friendly, actually, just friendly … I had asked him if he'd done any water skiing yet because he said he had just moved to town and he said he couldn't swim. … And he said, "my name is Pat Nicholas."
After a few minutes of small talk, she became uncomfortable.
Anne Croney: I noticed his voice was getting shaky and I told him I had to go. … I went to close the door and he put a knife to my throat. … Everything kind of stopped at that moment. … He told me to take my clothes off.
Nicholas stuffed Croney's underwear into her mouth to prevent her from screaming, forced her out of the car, and led her to the riverbank.
Anne Croney: We got about halfway down the bank, and he told me to stop … I ran … and dove in the river because I was thinking he couldn't swim … swam as hard as I could.
Sarah Yarborough's loved ones had waited over 30 years for this moment, but then — shock.
"… not guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree, premeditated …"
Patrick Nicholas was found not guilty of the first charge: premeditated first degree murder.
Shannon Grant: I remember dropping my head to my hands … I was angry. I was in disbelief.
Amy Parodi: When that first one came in not guilty, I closed my eyes.
But there were other charges, and there was still hope of a conviction.
Correspondent Natalie Morales along with producers Chris Young Ritzen and Lauren Clark discuss how a man who'd been in and out of prison for crimes against women was able to slip through the cracks for decades, and that forensic genetic genealogy ultimately connected him to Sarah's murder.
Produced by Chris Young Ritzen and Lauren Clark. Greg Fisher is the development producer. Michael Loftus is the associate producer. Gary Winter, Joan Adelman and Doreen Schechter are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
Nov 23, 2023 · According to People Magazine, Patrick Nicholas stood trial earlier this year. A jury found the 59-year-old guilty of felony first-degree murder and second-degree murder on May 10, 2023.
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Oct 6, 2024 · Had Patrick Nicholas served his full sentence of 10 years for a previous attempted rape of another woman he would not have been free to strangle 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough.
