Seattle cop’s gum trick leads to arrest in 36-year-old murder case
Oct 17, 2012, 6:54 AM | Updated: 8:22 am
This booking photo released Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 by the Maine State Police shows Gary Raub, formerly of Maine, who was arrested in Seattle Monday, Oct. 15 2012, for the 1976 stabbing death of a 70-year-old woman after DNA linked him to the crime. (AP Photo/Maine State Police)
(AP Photo/Maine State Police)
A Seattle detective’s chewing gum trick has led to an arrest in a 36-year-old Maine murder case.
Seattle police report they arrested 63-year-old fugitive Gary Sanford Raub without incident in the University District on Monday.
Raub was wanted in connection with the stabbing death of 70-year-old Blanche M. Kimball in Augusta, Maine in 1976.
Maine newspaper The Portland Press Herald reports an undercover Seattle officer located Raub in Seattle’s University District, and managed to get a sample of DNA from the man via chewing gum.
The officer reportedly asked Raub to participate in a chewing gum survey, and tests from the DNA in the gum were found to match samples from the 1976 murder case.
Sergeant Sean Whitcomb with the Seattle Police Department says authorities from Maine contacted them some time ago about the case.
SPD eventually located Raub on University Ave.
“You almost have to wonder how many hundreds of people walked past this guy not knowing he was a fugitive.”
The Maine paper reports Raub was also accused in a 2011 stabbing in Seattle, involving another homeless man.
Raub is set to make his first court appearance on Wednesday.
KIRO Radio Reporter Kim Shepard contributed to this report.
