Herald Newspaper in Everett Reveals Arrests-Charges in Berry and Brazzel Murders

November 16, 2012

Everett, Police Blotter

Heraldnet

The Herald has been following this story from the beginning.

Reporters at The Herald in Everett have long followed and extensively reported on the murders of Patty Berry and Tracey Brazzel. Today The Herald is reporting on the arrest and charges against a prime suspect. Click here to see the story.

Below is the press release from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office on the arrests but My Everett News would urge you read the Herald articles and links to past stories. It’s truly a first class job of reporting spanning nearly two decades by Scott North and many others at The Herald.

Today, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested 44 year-old Danny Ross Giles for the 1995 murders of Patti Berry and Tracey Brazzel.  He is expected to be charged with one count of 1st degree murder and one count of 1st degree murder with a deadly weapon.  Giles, who has been an inmate in the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, has been a suspect for more than two years in the murders.

Giles is expected to be booking into the Snohomish County Jail later today, having been transferred today from McNeil Island.  He will be held on $4 million bail.

Both Berry and Brazzel’s family have been notified of the arrest.

“I am proud of the great work done by our detectives,” said Sheriff John Lovick.  “Today my heart goes out to the families of these young women. We know we cannot provide closure to this painful chapter in their lives, but I hope that we can at least provide some answers.”

Tracey Brazzel was 22 years-old when on May 26, 1995 she was seen leaving a bar in South Everett.  She has been missing since that day and is presumed dead.

Patti Berry was the 26 year-old mother of a toddler when she was reported missing July 31, 1995.  Her body was found about a week later in a wooded area near the Everett Mall. She had died from multiple stab wounds.

Both Berry and Brazzel disappeared within blocks of each other.  Because of the similarity between the victims, location and nature of the crimes, detectives believed them to be committed by the same suspect. At the time, detectives collected evidence from various locations and conducted an extensive investigation into Brazzel’s disappearance and Berry’s murder. They followed leads and interviewed several persons of interest, but were not able to successfully identify a suspect in either case.  They sent collected evidence, including DNA samples, to the Washington State Crime Lab.

In 2008, SCSO detectives were alerted by the Crime Lab that the DNA samples from the case matched the DNA profile of prison inmate Danny Ross Giles. He became a suspect at that time in Berry’s murder.  In 2010, Giles was also linked to Brazzel’s disappearance from DNA evidence that had been collected from her home.  For the past few years, detectives have been reexamining the evidence, taking new witness statements, and following up on leads to build their case and solve the crimes.

“Even though it took 17 years, through the dedication and hard work of our detectives, we finally got our man,” said Sheriff’s Office Chief Kevin Prentiss, who has been involved in the investigation since 1995.

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Link to additional information about the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case “Playing Card Deck” .

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