Can DNA Solve the Decade-Old Murder of Jodine Serrin? The Valentine's Day Tragedy | Forensic Files

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. >> And I'm Brit. >> And I have a story that is going to stay
with you. And be warned, it is not for the faint of heart. What was done to the victim and how she was [music] found is
truly one of the most haunting images that I've had to convey in over 600 cases, I think. But I'm going to walk
you through it all. From the night of the murder on Valentine's [music] Day 2007 to the brand new forensic
techniques used to identify the killer and ultimately to the chilling realization that our suspect was living
a double life. On one hand, he was moving about the world like you and I, acting out the part of father, partner,
and friend. He lived and worked [music] in the very town where he also took the role of monster, a man who set up a
crime scene [music] in a way that allowed him to watch as he desecrated the corpse of a young woman he killed in
her own apartment. This is the story of Jod and Sarah. It's Valentine's Day 2007 and even after
53 years [music] of marriage. Art and Lois Sarin don't skip out on a chance for a romantic date night of dinner and
a movie to celebrate. They try to plan a day just for themselves. Because like many parents, decades of their lives
have been consumed [music] with taking care of their six kids. And even more so for them because their 39-year-old
daughter, Jodine, who goes by Jodie, she had developmental disabilities that we're told gave her the mental capacity
of a girl in her early teens. And Jod lived on her own, but in many ways, she was still [music] dependent on her
parents. They checked in on her every day. They helped her get from place to place because she didn't drive. But on
this day, they hadn't been [music] able to get a hold of her. 72-year-old Lois tried pushing it out of her mind, like
just one day where she and her husband could just focus on themselves. [music] It wouldn't be the end of the world. But
all through dinner, it was like nagging at her. [music] And as she sat in the dark of the movie theater, she just
couldn't focus on the screen. With every scene change, she just grew more and more anxious till she couldn't take it
anymore. Like, what's the point of being there if she can't actually enjoy it? whatever feeling was crawling under her
skin, she like just had to give in. So midmov, she and Art leave the theater. It's around [music] 1000 p.m. when the
Sarens get to Jod's condo. At first, they knock and wait, expecting to hear their daughter's footstep, see
the knob turn, but there's nothing. So Art pulls out his spare key, unlocks the door, and tries to push it open, but it
barely budges. The chain is [music] latched from the inside. And this stops them cold because Jodie
never chains her door. And now the Sarens are starting to panic. So at 77 years old, Art throws himself [music]
against the door and breaks it down. Now the lights are on inside the condo and the Sarins [music] head straight for
their daughter's bedroom. Art opens the door and even though the room is dark, in the shadows he sees two people in
bed. It looks like Jodie with a man and it looks like they're having sex and he's obviously taken aback, probably a
little embarrassed, probably mad at whoever this man is. So, he quickly shuts the door and calls out is
basically like, "Listen, you need to get [music] decent. You both need to come out to the living room. We are going to
be here waiting for you." >> And honestly, I would probably be stewing a little bit. But a few minutes
go by and then some more and no one comes out to join Art and Lois [music] in the living room. Not even Jodie. So,
I don't know if it's stewing as much as it is just like something's wrong. Like they're getting curious, something's
going [music] on. So, Art gets up to check again just to like nudge the two along.
>> But this is when everything shifts. Not just like his perception of things, but
it's like Art's whole world flips on its axis in this moment, and forever his life is going to be changed. When he
opens the door, the man isn't in Jod's room anymore. It is just his daughter laying naked and lifeless on the bed,
covered in blood. She's not breathing. She's actually cold to the touch. All of which Art tells to a 911 operator in a
frantic call. Based on their recommendation, he moves Jod from the bed to the floor to begin CPR, [music]
but there is no saving her. And when first responders get to the scene, it is quote immediately clear to them that Jod
is dead. And given the state of her body, she has likely been dead for several hours, way before the Sarins
even got to her condo. So, it's not like Art could have stopped anything. >> No. The medical examiner will end up
determining that Jod died around noon that day. So almost 10 hours before they got there, which I imagine has to be
some relief. Like I mean to even for a moment think that you were just sitting [music] feet away as someone killed your
daughter would be mental torture. >> But then like there's that relief for a second, but you also then have to
reconcile what it was you actually walked in on, >> which was this man desecrating Jod's
corpse. >> And and in that moment, I don't know how much relief there is in [music] that.
>> Yeah. And they were all in the apartment like at the same time. Did this guy escape through a window or something?
>> No. So, the way that Jod's condo is laid out, it's kind of split down the middle
by a dividing wall. So, when you walk in the front door, you can either turn one
way and go to the bedroom or you can turn the other [music] way and get to the kitchen and living room.
>> Oh. >> So, with the sirens sitting in the living room, this guy [music] could run
right out of the front door without them actually even knowing. And investigators
used blood hounds to track the man's scent from the condo out the front door down Jod Street all the way to a main
road where he tossed his sweatshirt into a bush. But then that's where the scent
stops. Their man is long gone, but he did leave plenty behind at the scene. [music] And not just physical evidence.
There is evidence of how devious and methodical this man [music] was. I mean, it is clear that he took his time
setting up this crime scene in exactly the way he wanted. Sheets and [music] blankets had been placed over the
windows in Jod's room, and a fulllength mirror was moved next to the [music] bed
so this guy could see what it was he was doing to Jod. He had beaten her over the head,
strangled her, but she must have fought back because she had defensive wounds and bruising all over. And along [music]
with sexually assaulting her corpse, the man also inflicted at least one cut, a laceration across her throat that likely
happened post-mortem. This guy clearly had a plan around what he was doing to Jod. But her parents busting her front
door down was obviously not part of the plan. And in his hurry to leave, he made
some mistakes. First of all, there is blood all over Jod's room and in the bathroom, on the walls, the carpet, the
linens. I mean, it's everywhere, as is his DNA and tons of partial fingerprints. And in his rush to sneak
out without being seen by Jod's parents, he'd even left his sneakers behind. And
these sneakers actually end up being a major clue because they weren't just like kicked off randomly. They had been
taken off and neatly placed next to the rest of Jod's shoes by the front door, which is where Jodie always instructed
her guests to remove and place their shoes before coming inside. Like Jod was like super neat and tidy, especially
when it came to her place. So, this tells investigators that whoever killed Jod must have been invited in.
[music] >> [music] >> Aside from Art's own work on the condo door, there were no signs of forced
entry to Jod's place, and there were even dishes for two in the sink, which made it seem like things had started out
friendly with whoever this person was before they took an unthinkable turn. >> Well, and it is like Valentine's Day,
like dishes for two. Seems kind of like a date >> dateish. But whatever this started off
as, like given the [music] state of the condo and the story that the evidence told, it seemed like like almost in an
instant [music] things switched from good to bad. The change from neatly arranged shoes and dishes placed [music]
in the sink to ragefilled violence in the bedroom suggested to detectives very early on that drug use may have been a
part of the picture. But it would only have been on the part of the offender because Jod's parents were clear she did
not use drugs and her autopsy would later confirm that. Now, I know it was dark and like obviously traumatic on
multiple levels, but was Art able to see what this guy looked like at all when he
first saw him in Jod's bedroom? So, in initial interviews, he actually claims to have gotten a good look at the
suspect, like enough to [music] say that he was 5'8 to 6 feet tall, a little chubby, and I think his brain was trying
to fill in the gaps because early on, he was even convinced that it was someone Jody knew, someone specific named Robert
Burns. This was a guy that had similar developmental disabilities as Jod. They used to have some sort of relationship
at some point, which would have put them together, maybe on Valentine's Day, but
investigators quickly rule Robert out [music] because of his alibi, and they would later confirm it definitely wasn't
him because his DNA did not match what was left at the crime scene. And with him ruled out, then all they've got is
like a description of a kind of chubby guy who's about 6 feet tall. Well, and like you said, like all this DNA
>> and that, but any hopes of a quick slam dunk get crushed because even though they had the DNA and DNA that's good
enough to go into the state and national databases, >> this dude is a ghost. He's not in any
database because like this is a case where we don't have a lot of these where it's like what 2007 you can put it in.
The database is there. The database is populated. People know how it works. And still [music] he doesn't exist.
>> Which seems bonkers to me because of how, like you said, methodical this was.
It doesn't feel like a first time. Like how >> it's a shock to everyone. I mean, the
only thing I think they assume is that like whatever this guy has done, he just hasn't gotten caught for it because
nothing about this, like you said, is giving like first time offender. >> Yeah. But also, like I kept thinking, I wonder
what the crime scene would have looked like had this man not been interrupted. >> Was he planning on cleaning up? Would he
have even left Jod there? Like, we usually talk about Mo based on what's been left behind.
>> But maybe he wouldn't have left anything behind if he had had enough time. [music]
>> Exactly. Jod's dad could have completely changed the trajectory of things. Like,
dude didn't even have time to put on his shoes. So, what else did [music] he not
have time to do? So, they've got to find someone who's [music] not in a database
who Jod either knew or recently met and would willingly let into her home. They start by building out the timeline of
her last known movements. The last confirmed contact Jod had [music] with anyone was a phone call with her mom on
the 13th, so the just the day before. and she'd actually told her mom on the phone that she was planning to go to a
Valentine's Day party on the 14th, but we know she never made it to that party. There were several voicemails from
people wondering where she was. Do they think that she met up with this guy on the 14th, or I mean, is it possible that
he was actually there on the 13th? Like, her time of death is noon on the 14th, but I mean, I have to wonder how long
they were together before that happened. >> Yeah, that's the big question. When did
she meet him and where? Now, interestingly, they come to learn that while Jod didn't have a full-time
job, she was very involved in volunteer work. She would help out at nursing homes or facilities for people with
similar developmental disabilities. And [music] one of the facilities that she would go to was colllocated with a
substance [music] abuse treatment place, which considering their early theory that the offender was on drugs, they
begin to wonder if maybe she crossed paths with someone around there. And not even necessarily that day because she
wasn't volunteering on the 14th, >> right? But maybe someone saw her, had been following her, had had some contact
before. >> Yeah. Or even just like ran into her another time and then on this day was
like, "Yeah, hey, remember me?" Whatever. Because the other thing about Jodie, she was trusting very overly
people say, trusting of strangers. She was the kind of person who saw everyone as a friend and was so innocent [music]
in her thinking. So, detectives actually hear that Jod would have let anybody into her home,
>> which makes those like neatly placed shoes and dishes a little less like they
they mean less. Right. >> Right. It just had to be in my mind someone that was like nice to her,
right, to start out. But we know that switch from good to bad happened really quick. And knowing this now makes
narrowing down a suspect pool early on nearly impossible. So, detectives spend the first weeks of their investigation
making a Hail Mary list of anyone and everyone who could possibly be responsible. People in the area, people
Jod was associated with or might have crossed paths with, people they're tipped off to. I mean, there are over 50
men on this list and they go out and knock on all these guys' doors. They swab every single one of them [music]
and send each and every swab to the lab for comparison. But there are no matches. And when they reach the bottom
of their list, there really aren't any other obvious directions for investigators to go in. By this point,
the case has been highly publicized as the quote Valentine's Day murder. Tips are coming in by the hundreds, but like
nothing is panning out. So, at one point, detectives even reach out to the VOC [music] society, and that's a group
of retired like detectives, FBI agents, forensic experts. Like basically they bring together anyone who's like an
expert in their field. >> Um they're located in Pennsylvania and they take on some of the coldest most
baffling murder cases that no one else can crack. [music] They'll like come in and consult for you. You have to present
your case or whatever. But even they don't have a magic wand. I mean [music] they can suggest what type of offender
this guy is. >> Maybe confirm that some of the theories [music] police had are probably right,
>> but they can't make this guy materialize. And it's so much more frustrating when you have all this DNA
on file and >> like no like I want to say no one but no one else, right? Like they've already
tested it against 50 guys >> and the database and like >> and nothing is hitting.
>> I know. So this is the same story that [music] we know and hate. weeks turn into months and then turn into years.
And then with every day that passes, they just hope and pray that their guy will slip up and his DNA will get
collected. Until then, this case just kind of ends up looming over Carl's bad PD as it gets passed from one detective
to the next and [music] the next, and it becomes sort of the departmentwide white
whale. Everybody wants to see this thing get solved, and they try everything. a $52,000 reward, please. To the media.
Per the San Diego Union Tribune, Jod's family even puts her cold case information on display in public buses
just in case there's someone out there with info. Like, if there is someone out there with info though, they are holding
on tight to their secret. But lucky for police, we are about to hit an era of investigating where DNA can do all the
talking. In 2016, so 9 years after Jod's murder, a new detective takes over the case.
Lieutenant Eric Co. and this is just after the PD decided to tap Parabon Nanolabs in Virginia to do forensic
phenotyping with the DNA sample they have. And I know we've touched on this before, like this is something that's
come up in a lot of cases, but for our new crime junkies, would you mind? >> Sure. The phenotype composits can
predict [music] a suspect's like eye color, hair color, skin tone, even sometimes the facial structure based on
the DNA makeup. There are obviously several other factors that play that can make someone look different,
>> right? Like facial hair or somebody's weight or >> Yeah. substance use can change your
appearance, but this gives them like a baseline of some key characteristics [music] that they can use to at least
help rule people in or out. Like eye color is like pretty cut and dry. >> Exactly. So Jod's case was actually the
first time that Carl's bad PD ever used this kind of technology. And Lieutenant Co says he's sort of treating the
composite as a filter. It might not look exactly like the suspect, but if a person of interest pops up with, like
you said, a different eye color, different hair color, skin color, he can at least like rule people out much
quicker, right? So they get this composite back and Lieutenant Co literally says it looks like every other
surfer dude out there right now, which >> I've seen a lot of the Parabon composits
and they kind of do just look like a guy. They all blend into the [music] same person. They It was like very cool
the first couple of times we saw it and >> they're like it's just the same dude.
>> Yeah. Eventually we're like got to So truly you are just looking for like color of like eyes, hair, something like
that. So yeah, they end up getting this sort of nondescript white guy with bluish green eyes, dirty blonde hair,
fair skin, and [music] some freckling. But the trick is they do have the ability to make some tweaks [music]
using the information that they have or based on their theories like substance use, right? you said was a part of the
profile and substance use usually alters someone's appearance. So Coanda had the
lab increase the composite's BMI had him age him a little bit adding like deeper
creases a 5:00 shadow. So that's the photo that they released to the public on the 10th anniversary of Jod's murder.
And they do this on the steps of the San Diego courthouse. And immediately tips start pouring in. Tips that they
probably had like not in a way that they've seen in a long time. >> But even with this influx of new
information, nothing pans out. Still, this new technology has really gotten Lieutenant Co's wheels turning. He's
made a lot of connections by that point with people in like the DNA science world. And he's learning about all of
the other ways that they can use DNA to get more info. Info like a suspect's name with something called YSTR
profiling, which [music] that's a method used to analyze DNA on the Y chromosome.
And that is what's passed down from father to son, virtually unchanged. And since last names are also typically
[music] passed down the paternal line, Yprofiling testing can be used to predict a person by their last name by
[music] comparing their Y profile to entries already in DNA databases. But you have to remember that there are
certain [music] limitations when it comes to this kind of testing, things that can break the pattern like
infidelity or genetic mutations >> or adoption >> or adoption. Right? That's actually one
of the most common. But listen, take what you can get, right? and then we'll figure out the next steps from there.
So, this again is like a first for Carl'sbad PD. This is the first time they're ever using this kind of
technology as well. And they do get a last name after all the YSTR work. Miracle, which of course is like a
detective right out of CSI Miami taking off his sunglasses and like squinting into the sun. You can like see it,
right? >> Oh, yeah. For sure. >> These detectives could not help themselves. They begin saying it's going
to take a miracle to solve this one. Detectives spend the coming year looking for their miracle. But it turns out
there was no one they could find with that last name who also fit the composite sketch. So it was looking more
and more like one of those pattern breakers happened in this family line. Infidelity, adoption, [music] something.
But in the year or less that it's taken to feel pretty sure of this, guess what happens? 2018 is upon us.
>> Oh, and with all this science talk, you're talking about the Golden State Killer.
>> Golden State Killer gets caught using the most current version of what we all
now know as [music] IGG, investigative genetic genealogy. >> You know, Golden State dude left his DNA
all over crime scenes, but he like this one wasn't in a database. So instead of looking for the offender himself, GSK
investigators decided to look for distant family members whose DNA might be on file in public databases like Jed
Match and then create this extensive [music] family tree that might connect back to their suspect. Now when they
started down this path, it took them 4 months to catch a serial killer and rapist who eluded them for decades. So
when Lieutenant Co sees this, this gets his gears spinning. Forget turning. They
are like almost smoking, right? Like here he is working on another case where the offender's DNA is all over the crime
scene and a full profile is in Cotus, but [music] they just keep striking out. So Coanda starts doing his homework
trying to figure out if he could make use of the same techniques. And it just so happens that around the same [music]
time, this is May of 2018, the lab that did the initial phenotyping for Jod's case, comes back to [music] Carl'sbad PD
and basically says like, "Hey, by the way, we've still got your offender's DNA on file [music] from that test that we
did last year. Do you want us to evaluate it using IGG?" >> Uh, yes, please. >> Yes, please. Exactly. Like, you do not
have to ask twice. >> Yeah. So they do this, they get the blessing and just two months later, the
lab [music] reaches back out. Lieutenant Co says he literally gets on a Zoom call
with them where they share their screen. They're showing what he calls a hasty family tree, which basically shows the
closest connections [music] and the most recent common ancestors associated with the DNA sample.
>> Now, it's not one name. There are a few possibilities, but now it's up to Carl'sbad PD to run each one of these
down. >> Okay. And of these names, like are any of them miracles like the YSTR suggested?
>> Surprisingly, no. Lieutenant Co actually said that the lab wasn't really focusing
on the miracle last name. And you know, when they got a few of them back, they there were some that they discounted
pretty quickly, [music] like um there was one last name, Mabrio, that they just kind of brushed aside for a couple
of reasons, like they they told the detective, A, Maburo is of Italian origin, and the offender's DNA [music]
suggested someone of Northern European descent, and B, they're like, this guy is dead. So,
>> dead before 2007? >> No, he was alive in 2007. But this is why it is always good to gut
check yourself, not to get too tied up in what you expect something to be. Because basically, investigators get all
the way to the end of the list of all these last names and people that the lab really thought it could be, and they
still have nothing to show for it. But Lieutenant Co is not willing to give up [music] just yet. If you want to get
something solved, like the GSK case, why not go to the exact person who helped solve it? And that is Barbara Ray
Venter. Barbara isn't a cop. She's not a detective. She's a retired 70-year-old [music]
patent lawyer who just happens to be really, really good at genealogy, which she only discovered after retiring, by
the way, when she started mapping her own heritage as a hobby. And that hobby quickly turned into volunteering as a
search angel. [music] That's someone who helps adopes find their biological parents by creating family trees from
DNA. And when she got really good at that, police department started calling. So, Lieutenant Co gets a hold of
Barbara's number. And while he's in Northern California [music] trying to get some more reference DNA samples for
Jod's case, he calls her up and invites her to breakfast with him and this other
investigator from the DA's office named Tony [music] Johnson. She says, "Sure." So, they go to breakfast together in
what Barbara describes as this total hole in the wall. And they're eating eggs and pancakes [music]
and talking about genealogy. And Lieutenant Co says it's just like mind confetti for him because all the labs
he'd spoken to before had basically just told him how much he should pay them and
how long it would take. But here is Barbara totally like pulling back the curtain, explaining her entire process
and and does she agree to take on the case? >> Yes. Yes. After this meeting, Lieutenant
Co gives Barbara access to the offender's DNA profile in Jed Match and she goes to work.
>> So, is her process [music] different than that original lab? >> It's the same. She's just better at it
because interestingly, Barbara actually comes [music] back to Go with a name that was on the first lab's list.
>> Wait, Mabrio. >> Mabrio. [music] That's the one that the other lab had totally discounted. But Barbara is
saying this, she believes is where Carl's bad PD needs to spend their time because this last name actually does
have a connection to, get this, the miracle last name. What? Yeah. Cuz when Barbara looks deep into the genealogy,
she sees a double adoption in the Miracle family. So basically at some point a man [music] with the last name
Miracle had a son named Robert who was adopted and took on the Italian last name.
Robert then has two sons of his own. Steven who gets adopted and David who carried on the Mabrio [music] last name.
>> So it could potentially be Steven or David >> or even their dad Robert. Co is going to
need DNA from all three to be sure. But he is feeling so confident. In a matter of like a year, he went from an endless
pool of suspects to three. Now, as it turns out, both Steven and David were deceased at this point. They both died
after Jod's murder, so that doesn't rule them out, but it does make getting their
DNA slightly more challenging, >> or at least [music] it might have. You see, Steven passed away in an accident
in 2017, which meant that his DNA was actually still on file [music] at the medical examiner's office. So, they get
it, they run it, and it's not Steven. As for the dad, Robert, he was totally estranged from his sons and living in a
different area at the time [music] of the murder. Plus, just looking at his age and capability, like they didn't
think they were necessarily compatible with the specific manner of the crime, >> which really like if they're going to
look at anyone, their next person they want to look at is David. Now, they find out he passed away in
2011, and his DNA is nowhere to be found, but he does have an ex-wife [music] and an 18-year-old son that are
both still living right there in Carl'sbad. So, Co gets this idea to have the lab do a sort of paternity test
where they could use the ex-wife's DNA, the son's DNA to basically reconstruct David's. But obviously like he's going
to need permission for that. >> And at this point, no one in the Mabrio family even knows that police are like
going down this road. >> Can you imagine like the police showing up at your door and being like, "Hey, we
think your ex-husband did this absolutely horrific thing 10 years ago if you knew about it."
>> Every time there's an IG solve, yes, I do imagine this specific thing. Exactly.
But they in at least in this case, they're a little like more surreptitious than that. So on the evening of October
26th, 2018, Lieutenant Co and Tony Johnson, they show up at the home of David's ex, Marissa Marrio.
It's actually Marissa and David's son who answers the door. And we're going to use a pseudonym for him and call him
Dan. So Dan answers the door. He goes to get his mom who is out in the backyard having an afterwork drink. And he says,
"There's some Carl'sbad detectives here and they want to talk to you." And of course, mom's first thought is like, "Oh
my god, what did my kid do?" You know what I mean? But right away when she goes inside and talks to the detectives,
they put that thought out of her mind. First thing they say is, "Nobody's in trouble. We're here to investigate
[music] a cold case." Now, Marissa's totally confused, but she agrees to sit down with them. [music]
And that's when they start explaining the details of Jod's case. Now, because Jod's story got so much coverage,
Marissa [music] sort of remembered hearing about it. But in her mind at this point, she's like asking the
question, right? Like, what does any of this why are you here with me? Right? And this is when Lieutenant Co starts
explaining all of the genetic genealogy work that he's been doing. >> But the way that they were explaining
it, I think it maybe seemed like they were looking for either a cousin or an uncle or a relative. Yeah. A relative of
David's dad, even not even David. So, she's not thinking in this moment that her ex-husband has anything to do with
this crime. And so, Marissa starts giving investigators David's whole family history. She says that his
heritage was actually somewhat complicated, >> which they obviously kind of know
already. >> Yep. And she confirms the double adoption stuff, the miracle last name.
She eventually tells them that David took his own life unexpectedly [music] in 2011. That's how he died. And when
she's done laying everything out, they're like, "Okay, well, would you and your son be willing to give your DNA to
rule you out of like this whole situation?" And obviously both Marissa and Dan are like, "Yeah, totally." But
investigators want to use this DNA to confirm David's involvement. >> Yeah. And it's not totally clear to me
if they're like trying to skirt around the truth a little bit or if Marissa doesn't totally understand the gravity
of why they're asking this. Because I I do know that like when they first brought up David's name during the
visit, Marissa got really upset and she straight up says, "If you think David did this, you need to get the f out of
my house. You're out of your mind." So after that, investigators focused a lot of their questions on like David's
family [music] and stuff kind of backed off. But looking back, you can see why they might have wanted to use any means
necessary to get her to talk. Because every suspicion they had, every DNA clue led them to the right David. And when
the results came back on Dan and Marissa's DNA, the [music] lab says they are confident David is their guy. David
murdered Jodine Sarin. But before Coanda is going to tell this to Marissa, before
he even tells Jod's family, he wants to be 110% certain. >> I mean, this information is going to
totally upend both families lives, right? So, he wants to go back to Marissa one more time. [music] And this
time around, his questions are a bit different. They are more pointed. He wants to know about Marissa's
relationship with David. He wants to know about their sex life. and he's got Jod's case file with him and he's taking
everything down in a notebook. >> And Marissa in this second one, she's starting to get really frustrated. She's
like, all of these questions are about David and not his family. Like, do you think he did this?
>> And the reality must be setting in because she starts hyperventilating and that's when she sees it. One of the
[music] images Coanda brought with him from Jod's file is visible. It's from the crime scene and it's not anything
graphic, but it makes her sick to her stomach nonetheless because it's a photo of the suspect's sneakers of David's
sneakers. And Marissa was sure of it because she was the one who bought those sneakers for him. Investigators
obviously noticed Marissa's reaction to the [music] sneakers and so they asked her, "Do these look familiar?"
And in that moment, she says, "No, it's a lie." But I mean, she can barely process what's going on. And her mind
just immediately goes to her son. She's like, "How in the world am I going to [music] tell this to Dan?" And so, she
really just says no to buy herself some time. Like, she has a ton to digest. [music]
And even though she's totally flustered, she doesn't kick investigators out of her house or anything. She continues
answering their questions about her and David's life together, their separation,
[music] and then David's untimely death in 2011. And as she's telling them this story of
the days and events leading up to his death, something clicks for both her and police kind of at the same time. You
see, she had never known why David took his own life. He didn't leave behind a note, nothing.
I mean, his poor son is the one who found him when he and his [music] mom came back from a trip. David was
actually staying with them at the time, sleeping on the couch, and Dan [music] found his dad dead of an overdose that
ends up getting ruled a suicide. They never knew why, but now she's realizing maybe this was why because
Marissa tells investigators that a week before David took his own life, there was this incident that happened. He was
driving in Oceanside, which is just the town over from Carlsbad, when his truck broke down. [music] So, he's behind his
truck trying to push it when an officer from Oceanside PD stopped him and said that he matched the description of a
suspect that they had in an Oceanside bank robbery. So, the officer [music] asks him, "Would you be willing to give
your DNA?" And David consented to that. Officer took an oral swab, got a photo of David, let him go. And it's after
this that David began to spiral. Marissa says, I mean, he spent the next week freaking out, acting super strange. And
I don't mean just like general anxiety. He was losing it. At one point, he was like even rubbing spices all over his
face. What? Yeah. And at the time, he tried to say it was like helping him with headaches or like fine lines or
something. But even then, Marissa knew that something was off. Like this isn't normal behavior for him or for anyone,
>> but at the time she's not connecting it to anything. >> No, I mean like she knew about the stop
and the DNA swab and like she knew that that happened, but I guess she really didn't think anything of it at the time.
I mean, it's not like she's thinking David's DNA is going to connect him to the brutal murder.
>> Yeah. >> From a couple of years before. And she didn't even make the connection after
[music] his death. Because by the way, the whole bank robbery thing, that really had nothing to do with David.
And because of that, guess what? They never had to run David's swab or put it into Cotus, which is probably the very
thing David feared so much that it drove him to suicide. So, it's not till now sitting with Lieutenant Kanda in her
house, seeing the photo of David Sneakers at the crime scene that Marissa is starting to put the pieces together.
And so is Lieutenant Kanda. But his mind is spinning [music] for a different reason. Because if Oceanside PD still
has David's DNA from that 2011 swab, he might be able to do a direct comparison with the DNA found at Jod's crime scene.
And sure enough, by some miracle is the magic word for this episode. Oceanside PD has it.
>> Oh my god. >> So on November 7th, Coz sends the sample to the lab to be tested for the first
time since it was taken 7 years ago. It takes 2 days for the results to come back and when they do it is a match
which means that now Kov is 110% sure. He can finally tell the Sarens that after 11 years the wait is over and they
were so close to losing hope. But finally they know who that man was in Jod's room that Valentine's Day back in
2007. Now, detectives can't give [music] them every answer, like where Jod might have
come into contact with this guy or why he even attacked her. >> Well, that was going to be my next
question. Did David have any connection to her? There was nothing. >> None that they can find. Like so many of
the IGG solves that we've seen over the years. His name never so much as came up
in the case file from even a random tip. Like, this guy was not on their radar at
all. Now, they did find out that in the past he'd abused drugs. Marissa thought he'd been clean and sober like her for
years when they were raising their son together and even after they split up. She was like letting him stay at her
place on her couch. >> But it's very possible he was using again. Also, I think about that
substance abuse clinic that was [music] next to the place that Jod volunteered. So, like
>> had he been there? >> So, this is the thing, right? So, this is how it all got teed up. I don't know
if we know he used or used to use drugs. We know this clinic was there. So, I was
going to say this could be somewhere that they would have met. And I don't know because it never really got run
[music] down. And like we see this all the time. That kind of stuff like making those connections is [music] all stuff
that you learn when you're like building a case against someone >> like for trial.
>> Yeah. But I'm seeing this all the time with these IGG cases when you work backwards and especially when the person
is deceased. Like you don't have to go back and figure out the like where and whatever to like
>> all the little details to build the full puzzle out. You kind of have the picture
at the beginning. >> Yeah. And so investigators just don't. >> And listen, on one hand, I get it.
[music] Like there's a hundred other unsolved cases like Jod's that they need to focus on. They don't need to be
creating work for themselves. But it still kills me because we talked about this at the top. We know how devious
this crime [music] was. Was this really a one-off? >> Yeah. >> What if he did commit other crimes?
>> Yeah. I mean, we know his DNA in the database hasn't matched anything [music]
else. But like we said, the MMO, what if he would have cleaned up? What if there's nothing left? What if by
tracking him we can figure out where they met and then that shows an emmo to like other missing people or something
like >> again I have a zillion questions after a case [music] like this especially
>> like who was this guy? How did he have a wife and a kid and just live a normal
life? Did he actually live a normal life or were there red flags? >> Could anyone have seen this coming? And
normally these are questions that you and I spiral on and we get left with and then we have to move on to the next
case. But not this time. Because this time our reporter Nicole Kagan traveled out to California and met with the one
[music] person who had all the answers that I'm looking for. The one person who could give us insight into who David
Mcabrio was in 2007. Can you [music] say and spell your name for us? >> Marissa. M A R I S A M A B R I T O. He
was my family. He's my son's dad. Gave me the best thing in the world. [snorts] Um, and did the most horrific thing to
somebody in the world. I don't know how to reconcile those two. >> But Marissa has tried. She's gone back
over every moment since meeting David on the beach in 1995. And she's had to rewire her brain to understand how he
could have been capable of such a vicious crime all along. And yes, there were potentially signs, but how do you
know what to look for if no one talks about it? In the interview, there was a moment where Nicole, our reporter, is
like, "Are you sure you're good with all of this being on the record?" And Marissa's like, "Yes, this is my
truth, and this is David's truth as I know it." And you guys, this is a side of the story we almost never get to tell
you, [music] and I didn't want to cut it short by trying to squeeze it all into one episode. More importantly, I wanted
you to hear it directly from Marissa in her own words. So, because Jodine Sarin is the seven of diamonds on a cold case
playing card deck before her case got solved, we dedicated a full episode of the deck to Marissa's attempt at solving
her own mystery. How could this man she loved and trusted have committed this unthinkable crime? That episode of The
Deck, which is the other weekly true crime show that I host, if you didn't know, you know. It's available right
now. You can listen to that episode of The Deck wherever you get your podcasts. You can find all of our source material
on our website, crimejunkkeypodcast.com. And then [music] for more episodes like
this one, bonus episodes we've never released, and all of our episodes adree, be sure to join our fan club. You'll
also get [music] early access to new episodes every week. >> And you can follow us on Instagram,
CrimeJunky Podcast. >> We'll be back next week with a brand new episode, but in the meantime, don't
forget to check out the deck.

Today, we unravel the haunting case of 39-year-old Jodine Serrin who was brutally murdered inside her Carlsbad, California condo on Valentine’s Day 2007. When Jodine’s parents arrived at the condo that night to check on her, they interrupted a horrifying scene and a killer who was able to slip away.

For over a decade, investigators were unable to solve this case, publicized as “The Valentine’s Day Murder.” Jodine was even featured as the 7 of Diamonds on a cold case deck. With DNA evidence, a detailed crime scene, and multiple leads, detectives continued to come up empty…until cutting-edge forensic genealogy, IGG – Investigative Genetic Genealogy, cracked the case wide open.

Join us as we take you inside the investigation and reveal shocking facts about the killer and his double life, the technology that finally exposed him, and the devastating truth that took 11 years to uncover.

To hear more about Jodine's case, listen to The Deck: swap.fm/l/FCSRwJSQLuwpgGn9fVkq

For even more stories like this one, join the Crime Junkie Fan Club today: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=episode_description&utm_campaign=signupfanclub

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About Ashley Flowers Ashley Flowers is the top female podcaster in the U.S. and the host of Crime Junkie, the #1 podcast among women and the #1 true crime podcast globally. As the Founder of audiochuck, she has built a top-tier podcast production company that has garnered over 2.6 billion downloads, captivating audiences with its gripping storytelling through 10+ chart topping podcasts. Ashley and her team are dedicated to creating responsible true crime content that respects victims and their families.

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Check out these other great crime channels: @kallmekris The Disturbing Dating Game Serial Killer | Rodney Alcala https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8hcMC9KzdU&t=3s @rottenmangopod Woman Gets FB Message From Old College BF After He Killed His Rapist - This Is Her Response https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcJsr3VSoU @bellafiori The Twisted Case of Dr. John Schneeberger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ2_nrz0Z0I&t=3s @KendallRae She Served Her Country & They Failed Her: Justice For Angelina Resendiz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPapvrDg8xY&t=1s

Brief Summary

Jodine Sarin was murdered in 2007; David Mabrio was identified as her killer through advanced DNA techniques.

Key points

Valentine's Day Horror. On Valentine's Day 2007, Jodine Sarin is found dead in her apartment, leading to a chilling investigation.
A Father's Nightmare. Art Sarin breaks into his daughter's condo, only to discover her lifeless body.
The Methodical Killer. Investigators uncover the meticulous planning of Jod's murderer, revealing a horrifying crime scene.
The Golden State Killer Caught. Investigators use investigative genetic genealogy to catch the Golden State Killer after decades.
Barbara Ray Venter's Involvement. Lieutenant Co seeks help from Barbara Ray Venter, a genealogy expert, to solve the case.
DNA Match Confirms Guilt. DNA from a past swab matches the crime scene, confirming David's involvement in Jod's murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Art's whole world flips on its axis in this moment.

Art discovers his daughter.

4:01WatchAug 28, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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