Case overview
Mandy Stavik, an 18-year-old college freshman home for Thanksgiving, went for a jog near her family’s Whatcom County, Washington home on November 24, 1989, and never returned. Her body was discovered three days later in the Nooksack River, showing signs of sexual assault and homicide. For nearly three decades, the case remained unsolved until a breakthrough in DNA technology and strategic investigative work led to the 2017 arrest and eventual conviction of a local resident who had been questioned early in the original investigation.
The disappearance
Mandy Stavik left her home around 2:30 p.m. on the day after Thanksgiving to go jogging along rural roads near Acme, Washington, a small community roughly 100 miles north of Seattle. She was a freshman at Central Washington University, visiting her family for the holiday break. When she failed to return home that evening, her parents reported her missing to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.
Search teams began working immediately, focusing on the roads and wooded areas surrounding the family’s property. Mandy’s running shoes were found on a rural road the following day, but there was no other immediate evidence of what had happened to her.
Discovery of the body
On November 27, 1989, three days after she disappeared, Mandy’s body was found in the Nooksack River by a local resident. The medical examiner determined she had been sexually assaulted and drowned. Her death was classified as a homicide. Evidence collected at the scene included DNA samples that would later prove critical to solving the case, though forensic technology at the time was limited in its ability to identify suspects through genetic analysis.
Investigators interviewed dozens of people in the small community, including local residents who had been in the area at the time of Mandy’s disappearance. Among those questioned was Timothy Bass, a local truck driver who had delivered a Christmas tree to the Stavik family earlier that year. Bass told investigators he had been out driving on the day Mandy disappeared but denied any involvement. With no physical evidence linking him to the crime at that time, the case went cold.
The DNA breakthrough
The investigation remained open but largely inactive for years, as detectives lacked the forensic tools to make meaningful progress. That changed in the mid-2000s as DNA analysis technology advanced. In 2013, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office partnered with a genetic genealogy expert to re-examine the DNA evidence collected from Mandy’s body.
Investigators developed a strategy to obtain a fresh DNA sample from Bass without alerting him to their suspicion. In May 2017, a female coworker of Bass was recruited to assist. She collected a cup and napkin Bass had used and discarded at work, which were then submitted for forensic analysis. The DNA recovered from those items matched the DNA profile from the 1989 crime scene.
On December 12, 2017, Timothy Bass was arrested at his workplace and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the death of Mandy Stavik.
The trial and conviction
Bass’s trial began in May 2019 in Whatcom County Superior Court. Prosecutors presented DNA evidence linking Bass to the crime, as well as testimony from witnesses who placed him in the area on the day Mandy disappeared. The defense argued that the DNA evidence had been mishandled and that Bass had no clear motive to harm Mandy, with whom he had no known relationship.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning a guilty verdict on both counts. On June 24, 2019, Bass was sentenced to nearly 27 years in prison, the maximum allowed under sentencing guidelines at the time of the crime.
During the sentencing hearing, members of Mandy’s family addressed the court, describing the decades of grief and uncertainty they had endured. Bass declined to make a statement and has maintained his innocence.
Unresolved questions
While the conviction brought resolution to a case that had remained unsolved for 28 years, several questions remain unanswered. Investigators never determined a clear motive for the attack, and Bass has not provided any explanation. The relationship, if any, between Bass and Mandy prior to her death remains unclear. Bass had no known criminal history of violence, and no evidence has surfaced to suggest he targeted Mandy specifically.
The case is frequently cited as an example of how advances in DNA technology and investigative persistence can solve cold cases, even decades after the crime occurred. The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office has credited the successful resolution to collaboration with genetic genealogy experts and the willingness of a civilian to assist in the covert DNA collection.
Where to look next
- Documentary: “The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes” (Oxygen)
- Podcast: “Suspect” (Wondery)
- Podcast: “RedHanded” (Independent)
