On Tuesday, Gary Hartman, 70, was found guilty of the 1986 rape and murder of 12-year-old Michella Welch.
Hartman, a former Tacoma, Washington, nurse, will probably die in prison for the 1986 killing that he was connected to through DNA.
DNA evidence helped convict Hartman of first-degree murder during a bench trial. He had requested the trial, and the verdict was handed down in less than two hours.
It is reported that Hartman cried and apologized in court. “I’m so sorry. God knows I’m so sorry. That doesn’t help. I’m just sorry.”
Hartman, who uses a walker, is likely to die while incarcerated as the judge ordered him to serve 26 years and six months in prison.
Prosecutors had stated that Hartman, who was in his 30s then, had preyed upon Welch after she was distanced from her relatives at a park. After being severely beaten and raped, her body was found in a ravine.
Many years after the occurrence, Hartman remained in the area and worked as a RN. He was employed at an in-patient psychiatric hospital that has a secured section for the criminally insane.
In 2018, DNA from the scene was tested again. It showed Hartman or his brother was the attacker. A DNA sample from a napkin left at a coffee shop, led to Hartman’s arrest.
“I say, ‘lock him up and throw away the key. And now, he will pay the price,” stated the girl’s mother, Barbara Leonard.
