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Today’s case brings us back to a summer night in 1994, when a young man and his friend returned home to a scene of unimaginable horror. Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns, two college students on a visit to Bellevue, Washington, walked into a house that was saturated with blood after Atif’s parents were bludgeoned to death, his autistic sister barely clinging to life.
What followed was a tangled investigation, a controversial sting operation & a case that still divides opinions decades later. Did these two teenagers orchestrate a brutal family murder for money, as authorities claim? Or were they scapegoats in a rush for justice while the real killers slipped away?
On the night of Tuesday, July 12, 1994, 18-year-old Atif Rafay was home visiting his parents in the Somerset area of Bellevue, Washington after they’d recently immigrated from Vancuver, British Columbia. Atif was preparing to enter his sophomore year at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York & that night, he was hanging out with his high school friend, Sebastian Burns, who was currently a student at Capilano University in North Vancouver.
That summer, Atif had been staying with Sabastian & his family in West Vancouver, but during the first week of July, they took a bus to Bellevue so they could visit Atif’s family. The pair arrived very late on Thursday, July 8 & had been there for less than five days at this point.
At about 8 pm, Sebastian & Atif headed out in the Rafay family car for dinner at the Keg Restaurant in Factoria for dinner before going to the 9:40 pm showing of The Lion King at the Factoria Cinema. Theater employees recalled their interaction with Sebastian who reported a curtain issue after the movie began. Beyond 10 pm, no one could recall seeing Atif or Sebastian at the theater.
When the movie ended, Atif & Sebastian drove to Steve’s Broiler in downtown Seattle, a 9 mile drive, arriving at about midnight. When they left the restaurant, they tried to get into the nearby former nightclub known as The Weathered Wall, but they’d arrived too late. They headed back to Steve’s (Daniel’s?) Broiler so they could use the restroom before making the drive back home. Their presence at these locations were later verified by employees & other witnesses.
When Atif & Sebastian came back to the Rafay home, it was just about 2 am, now in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 13. As they entered the lower level of the home, the boys discovered Atif’s mom, Sultana & then Tariq, Atif’s father’s body upstairs. They could hear his sister, Basma, moaning from her bedroom. All three victims had been bludgeoned; Sultana & Tariq were deceased while Basma was barely clinging to life.
Sebastian called 911 at 2:01 am & told the dispatcher there was some sort of break-in as he requested an ambulance to the home at 4610 144th Pl SE. He was gasping for breath & stammering as he told the dispatcher that he believed that his friend’s mom & dad were dead & in a much clearer voice he said, I don’t think it’s safe here, we’ll be outside. He asked that help be sent as quickly as possible.
Investigators responded to the home within five minutes & as they entered the home, it was clear that the family had only just moved in based on the boxes stacked around the perimeter of the rooms. Sultana Rafay was face down on the floor of the downstairs family room with a bloodied shawl over her head covering the blunt-force trauma she’d sustained.
Dr. Tariq Rafay was in his bed with blood spatter & brain matter all around the room while 20-year-old Basma was in her room, laying face down on the floor behind her bedroom door. The young girl was autistic & hadn’t spoken a word since childhood. Sadly, she died later that morning at the hospital from severe head wounds. There were holes in the wall above her bed, likely from blows that missed their intended target while her arms were covered in bruises.
Investigators believe an aluminum bat was used as the murder weapon which has never been located. It’s likely that Sultana had been the first victim who was attacked while she unpacked boxes down in the basement family room. Because she was preoccupied, she probably didn’t even know what hit her as she was struck twice in the head.
It’s likely that Tariq had been the next victim; he had been upstairs, asleep in bed at the time he was repeatedly struck in the head & face. He was wearing pajamas & had been beaten so severely that he was basically unrecognizable. According to Detective Bob Thompson, the violence was overkill as he’d likely been struck 40-50 times.
Basma would have been the final victim since everyone was aware of the fact that she was non-verbal & unable to call for help.
After Atif & Sebastian gave their initial statements at the scene, they were driven to the police station in order to give a second statement.
During this time, Sebastian indicated that his friendship with Atif began during high school; both were Canadian citizens. Right off the bat, investigators found their interaction with the boys to be odd. They described Atif as nonchalant about what had happened to his family as he recounted the events from that night. After he found his mom downstairs, he ran up to find his dad & realized there was nothing he could do to help him. When he told authorities that he could hear his sister’s moans from her bedroom, he indicated that he didn’t go in to check on her which they found strange. He argued that it was unlikely he would be able to help her & elaborated, I can’t even put on a Band-Aid.
Atif reported that his Walkman was missing from a shelf in his room as well as a VCR from the family room. Once again, detectives found it strange that he would take the time to mention these items after witnessing the horror of his family having been annihilated.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Burns was described as being very put out at even having to talk with the police. They did recognize that the boys were exhausted on top of having been traumatized at the events of the night so they were sent to rest at a Bellevue motel & provided with contact information for the investigators. On the afternoon of Thursday, July 14, the boys gave their third statement to police.
Sebastian eventually called his parents at about 9 pm on Wednesday to let them know what had happened to Atif’s family. Dave Burns wanted to drive down to pick his son & Atif up, but Sebastian let him know that investigators didn’t want them to leave town. However, on Friday, July 15, Atif & Sebastian boarded a bus & returned to Vancouver, B.C. without telling police.
Once in Vancouver, the boys stayed with Sebastian’s parents for several weeks until they moved into a North Vancouver house with their friends, Jimmy Miyoshi & Robin Puga.
A few days after the murders, Bellevue police traveled to Vancouver, but they weren’t successful in arranging further contact with Atif or Sebastian. With this, they asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for assistance in obtaining financial information about the boys as well as their DNA samples.
Sebastian’s former high school girlfriend, Sarah Issacs, described him as a good, but lazy student who loved to talk, debate & share how he felt while Atif was an achiever, much like his parents. Sultana had her master’s degree in nutrition, while Tariq had a doctorate in engineering. Sultana devoted her life to raising her gifted son & disabled daughter. Despite the fact that most people wouldn’t have paired the two together, Atif & Sebastian had been best friends since high school.
Both Atif & Sebastian were highly intelligent young men. Sebastian was raised in a loving household with English roots & grew up playing classical cello. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets & was given an award by Prince Edward.
As authorities took a closer look at the case, they reviewed the 911 call & found it strange that Sebastian initially referred to what they came upon at the Rafay home as a break-in rather than immediately reporting the murders. Investigators also felt that the break-in appeared to be staged. Legal boxes that were stored in the room where Sebastian had been staying had been only overturned, but not really rummaged through.
When employees from The Keg Restaurant where the boys had dinner were questioned, they told investigators that they distinctly remembered them since they ordered a salad as well as wine, despite the fact that they were under 21. Authorities believe this was intentional so they would be asked to show their IDs & servers would recall seeing two Canadian boys.
A waitress in the all-night diner said they ordered a Coke & French fries & left a $6 tip on a $9 tab. The nightclub bouncer recalled refusing their entrance into the club since it was 1:40 am, only 20 minutes before closing. These stories compiled together gave investigators the impression that they created an organized plan to establish an alibi while they went on to commit a triple murder.
As investigators continued to dig into the boys’ past, they discovered that Sebastian had taken part in a high school play called Rope about two kids who commit the perfect murder using a baseball bat. However, his father insists that this was nothing more than a coincidence.
After investigators arrived at the motel where Atif & Sebastian were staying, they realized they weren’t there & had gone back to Vancouver, something that was reported to the media as them having fled to Canada. However, authorities admitted that they were technically free to go since they weren’t under arrest. According to a later appeal, on July 15, the Canadian consulate obtained permission from the Bellevue police to return the boys to Canada.
While Atif was staying at the Burns’ home, he saw coverage of his family’s funerals & was outraged that no one had told him it was being held that day. On the other hand, authorities indicated that it was a well known fact that within the Muslim community, the dead must be buried in three days, something they were sure Atif was fully aware of. However, it cannot be overlooked that Atif had suddenly lost his entire family in an act of extreme violence & witnessed their bodies & the brutality they’d been subjected to. With this, he would likely have been in a state of shock & not thinking clearly.
Another memorial was held in British Columbia months later where Atif was asked by the media why he wasn’t speaking with the police. His behavior was seen as odd when he turned with a smirk on his face & ran away toward a waiting car that drove him away.
Since witnesses confirmed seeing Sebastian & Atif out that night their alibi seemed airtight, but regardless, authorities believed that they had enough time between the movie & the trip downtown to commit the murders. They believe the motive was financially driven as Atif stood to inherit a half-million dollars. With the money he received, the boys went on to purchase a Mustang convertible & headed out for a road trip.
The RCMP opened their own investigation as to whether Atif & Sebastian were involved in a conspiracy to commit murder & went on to obtain judicial authority that allowed them to place wiretaps in their home & car. With this, they obtained over 4,000 hours of recordings. As they listened to their conversations, there was no denying that these were highly intelligent boys. They believed they would need to be creative in finding Atif & Sebastian guilty of the murders & decided to use an undercover investigative technique that isn’t legal within the U.S.
The Mr. Big Technique was created by the RCMP in British Columbia with the first documented case having taken place in March 1965. It’s typically used in cold murder cases where there’s a suspect but not enough evidence to make an arrest. Police officers disguise themselves as underworld figures & tell their suspect that they have a meeting with Mr. Big, the head of the criminal organization. This is where they hope to build a relationship & trust in order to get their confession, a process that normally takes months. As of 2008, the Mr. Big tactic has been used in more than 350 cases across Canada & of the cases prosecuted, about 95% result in a conviction.
With the house where both Atif & Sebastian were living now wired, the undercover officers were able to track the boys’ movements & begin their interactions in April 2015, beginning with Sebastian. Gary Shinkaruk, the undercover officer, pretended to lock his keys in his car as Sebastian was coming out of a barber shop & asked if he could give him a ride back to his hotel, something he’d pay him $100 to do. On their way, he convinced him to swing by a local bar so they could have a drink together. As they chatted, Sebastian mentioned that he needed $200,000 for a screenplay he & Atif were planning to write called The Great Despisers about two best friends accused of murdering a family.
Gary & another man named Al Haslett, who was acting as Mr. Big, interacted with Sebastian over the next four months & presented themselves as wealthy members of the mob with the goal of securing a confession as well as DNA samples. Al was the apparent head of a fictitious organization while Gary was his subordinate. Sebastian began doing supposed illegal tasks for the men, such as driving a stolen car from Whistler back to Vancouver.
It was clear to investigators that Sebastian was the better target over Atif, as he seemed much more likely to interact & participate. As trust was gradually built, Sebastian mentioned that he & his friend were suspects in the Rafay family triple homicide. During many of their conversations, Sebastian denied having anything to do with the murders.
In the days that followed the Rafay family murders, the Bellevue PD received three tips through law enforcement agencies. A confidential RCMP informant told Constable Gelinas about a man who was offered $20,000 to kill an East Indian Family who previously lived in Vancouver, Canada & had relocated to Bellevue. The informant was told this information two days before the murders.
There was also a suggestion that the Rafays were murdered by a fundamentalist Islamic person as Tariq took a more moderate rather than conservative stance on Islam, something he’d given speeches about. As an engineer, he’d also discovered a miscalculation & had a theory about True East & felt that it was a degree or two different from what practicing Muslims believed to be correct. With this discovery, Tariq suggested that the prayer mats be shifted slightly.
RCMP were also told of an ordered hit on a Pakistani family living in Bellevue who had originated from Vancouver, B.C. Another tip came from the Seattle police who contacted the Bellevue PD about an organization called al-Fuqra, a terrorist organization based mostly in Pakistan & the U.S., who were involved in the Rafay’s deaths. Police felt this was a very far-fetched theory as they didn’t believe that the family would be wiped out over a degree or two difference on the compass.
However, the FBI noted that this group of terrorists were likely responsible for the deaths of an East Indian family living in Washington in 1984 who were close friends with the president of Alpha Engineering, the same firm that Tariq was working for at the time of the murders. Because this case took place years before 9/11, the police never delved into this theory.
The FBI went on to contact the Bellevue PD about the fact that their informant had information about the Rafay murders. This FBI informant came forward to tell the police that he personally knew an imam or a person who leads prayers in a mosque, who lived locally. This person had been responsible for ordering the murder of Dr. Rafay & his family. He also knew the two men who went to the family’s home & carried out the murders. He explained that he’d been with one of these men when he saw the aluminum baseball bat in the trunk of his car only days after the murders. At the time the Bellevue PD were given this information, they didn’t yet know that the family had been killed by an aluminum bat. The FBI informant provided the police with specific information, including the names of the men responsible as well as their addresses, phone numbers & places of employment. However, all of this information was basically dismissed.
A hair was located in Tariq’s room that didn’t belong to any of the victims nor Sebastian or Atif. There were also blood stains located in the garage of the home that didn’t match. When investigators spoke with neighbors, one indicated they’d heard a hammering noise while she was up reading while another thought a construction project was going on in the Rafay home. Both witnesses pinpointed the same timeframe, somewhere between 8:50-9:35 pm, a time when Sebastian & Atif were confirmed to be at the movie theater.
There was no sign of forced entry. Use of luminol showed an enormous amount of blood in the downstairs bathroom shower that proved the killer showered before leaving. There were 22 hairs found in the shower, all of which belonged to Sebastian. His & Atif’s clean underwear were located in the washing machine; when these items were sent in for testing, they didn’t come back with any evidence linking to the crime.
In the meantime, the RCMP continued to interact with Sebastian, hoping to get a confession. As Sebastian & even his friend, Jimmy Miyoshi, continued to get paid for supposed illegal tasks, Sebastian continued to ask the men what he knew about the Rafay murders. Toward the end of June 1995, just under a year after the murders, Al mentioned that the police had DNA evidence that had been collected from the crime scene that was highly incriminating & would likely result in his as well as Atif’s arrest, something that was untrue.
While Sebastian was with Gary & Al at the First Point Hotel in Victoria, Al showed him a fake Bellevue Police Department memorandum that stated that charges would be filed against Sebastian & Atif as soon as DNA testing was complete. Al told him things were coming down on him quickly & he would be locked up. Sebastian read through the report & said that a lot of the evidence could have potentially innocent explanations.
Sebastian told Al that the DNA they found in the shower could have been days before the murders when he utilized it.When he read about bloodstains found in the garage in the memo, he said he didn’t know anything about that. Al was adamant that Sebastian had to confess now & he would ensure that he wasn’t arrested.
Al explained that he could have an associate destroy all of the incriminating evidence against he & Atif if Sebastian told him the complete details of the murders. At one point, Sebastian even voiced his concern that Al could be an undercover officer. Al stayed firm on the fact that he couldn’t help them unless he had all of the details of the crime. With this, he eventually told him specific details about his & Atif’s role in the murders while his confession was being filmed by a hidden camera.
Al told Sebastian that Atif would also have to come to Victoria & when he arrived the next day, Al went over the details of the Bellevue memo & emphasized the importance of trust. This was the first time Atif had met Gary & Al. He went on to give the details of his participation in his family’s murders. He said that he watched Sebastian kill his mom while he removed the VCR from the house, but otherwise didn’t participate in the murders.
When asked why they killed his family, Atif said to become richer & more prosperous & more successful. Sebastian elaborated that when Basma was being killed it took a little more bat work than he expected. These confessions were also being recorded.
When Al asked where their bloodied clothing was, Sebastian said there wasn’t any because they’d been naked when they committed the murders, but he went on to clarify that he was wearing underwear at the time which he discarded into a random garbage can.
Atif later indicated that when he came in for the conversation with Gary & Al, he was fully convinced that the police were framing them & these men were their only saving grace from being arrested. Both boys were only 19-years-old at the time, the youngest ever involved in the Mr. Big Operation.
Atif & Sebastian indicated they’d stashed the weapon as well as the missing Walkman & VCR in various dumpsters around Seattle. They told Al that their roommate & friend, Jimmy, was aware of what happened. When Al went on to have a conversation with Jimmy about the fact it was impressive that he hadn’t ratted his friends out, he said that there was nothing to rat out. Although with ongoing coercion, Jimmy finally admitted that he knew that his friends were responsible.
With the taped confession secured via Operation Mr. Big, Sebastian & Atif were arrested on July 31, 1995 & charged in King County with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder. On this same day, the RCMP arrested & charged them as fugitives.
After their arrests, Sebastian said he was lying to the men during his confession since he believed that if he crossed them, they would have him killed.
The duo were eventually extradited back to the United States in 2001, six years later after Canada agreed only because the U.S. took the death penalty off the table. Atif was offered a plea deal for turning against Sebastian, something he turned down, indicating he couldn’t because it wasn’t the truth.
Jimmy Miyoshi was threatened with being a co-conspirator & was granted immunity if he testified against his friends, something he agreed to do. He indicated that after Sebastian & Atif returned to Canada, they told him details about the murders. In August 2003 he participated in a videotaped preservation deposition that was played during the trial.
U.S. defense attorneys wanted the confession tapes to be thrown out since the RCMP used techniques that were not legal within the U.S., but because Canadian law was being followed, the judge would allow it under international treaty, a major victory for the prosecution.
In an insane twist, before the trial, Sebastian’s lawyer, Theresa Olson, was seen having sex with her client on August 10, 2002, within a conference room at the King County Jail by three corrections officers, something that ended up delaying the trial for about two years. Olson ended up being suspended from practicing law for two years. She was 43-years-old at the time & married while Sebastian was 26.
Opening statements began on November 24, 2003 when both boys were 27-years-old & by this time, they had already been in jail for more than eight years. The jury listened to the confession tapes, which was the foundation of this case despite the fact that the entire procedure is illegal in the United States.
Tips regarding the potential for a terrorist group being responsible for the family’s murders was prohibited from being presented during the trial as well as the information provided by the FBI informant who had seen the baseball bat murder weapon prior to this fact being released.
According to their recorded confessions, Sebastian had gone around the house & clubbed the three family members to death while Atif sat in the living room & disconnected the VCR. This was something that blood spatter in Tariq’s room was not consistent with since the wall showed an outline of a person who had been present at the time he was bludgeoned to death.
As the tapes were reviewed, the boys’ stories changed; Sebastian indicated that the bat was just laying around somewhere while Atif said they’d purchased it together. When asked about the clothing they’d been wearing, Sebastian indicated each article had been scattered in a different dumpster while Atif said he threw the socks & gloves out the window.
The prosecution indicated that Sebastian had placed the 911 call too quickly as the drive home from downtown Seattle should have taken 18 minutes & 18 minutes would have allowed the boys only 3 minutes in the house before calling 911. They did not feel this was enough time to go through the house & do all the things Atif & Sebastian said they did while the defense argued that in a state of panic, they could have easily run through the house, ran outside & called.
The prosecution argued that they would have needed time to realize that a VCR & a discman were missing in regards to Sebastian telling the 911 dispatcher that there had been a break-in. He argues that when he placed that call, he was in absolute shock, out of his mind & in a state of hysteria.
The defense discussed neighbor’s accounts of hearing sounds that could have been thuds from a baseball bat from the Rafay home somewhere between 8:50-9:35 pm on the night of the murders, during a timeframe that Sebastian & Atif were confirmed to be at the movie theater.
The jury heard about an unknown fingerprint that was found on the shower door as well as an unknown hair in Tariq’s bed. There was another unknown fingerprint on another door as well as blood in the garage from an unknown person. The bloody scene in Tariq’s bedroom pointed toward three killers being present.
There was no forensic evidence linking Sebastian or Atif to this crime & when the investigation began, Atif & Sebastian provided authorities with the clothing they’d worn that night & no evidence of blood was found on them after they were submitted to an alternative light source test.
Jimmy Miyoshi testified against his friends & at the time, he was working for an American company in Japan. He was told by his employer that he had to travel back to the U.S. to cooperate & make things right. The defense team fully believed that the only reason he chose to testify was out of fear of losing his job. Jimmy acknowledged this fact as well as the fact that had he not cooperated, he was at risk for being arrested. He’d been threatened with 99 years in prison as well as suggestion of the death penalty.
The judge did not allow Richard Leo, an expert on false confessions, to testify as the jury is qualified to decide who is guilty of lying & telling the truth.
On May 26, 2004, after four days of deliberations & nearly ten years after the murders, Sebastian & Atif were each convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. While Sebastian went on for nearly two hours about his innocence during the sentencing on October 22, 2004. While Atif, who never took the stand during the trial, indicated that he could not believe that the shoddy lie they told the undercover investigators went on to mislead the real evidence in the case. He spoke of his love for his family & said, I am tormented by the fact my parent’s killers walk with impunity. They were each sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, one for each life taken.
Their appeals have thus far been unsuccessful. In 2017 much attention was brought back to the case after it was featured on Netflix’s The Confession Tapes in the two part episode titled, True East. The creator, Kelly Loudenberg has been outspoken about the fact that she believes that they are innocent of the murders & provided false confessions.
Tiffany Burns, Sebastian’s sister, made a documentary in 2007 titled, Mr. Big, about the undercover operation that led to her brother’s confession. The judge ordered that neither Sebastian nor Atif can profit from any screenplay about their case.
Three innocence projects have now taken up their case, believing there is not enough hard evidence to have convicted Sebastian & Atif. To many, Sebastian had readily spoken to these two mobsters he was desperately trying to impress. Being a teen, he was impressionable, earning money for them & when faced with a false document indicating he would be arrested, he falsely confessed. Fearing they’d been framed, Atif went along with the plan. A challenge for a new trial or acquittal would be unearthing & testing all of the evidence in this case.
References:
- CBS News: Lawyer punished for jail sex-romp
- Rafay-Burns Appeal: Statement by innocence international on the King County prosecuting attorney’s office attempt to impugn the validity of the Netflix series the confession tapes (The “True East” episodes)
- Rafay-Burns Appeal: What happened
- Stalking Seattle: The Rafay Family murders
- Casetext: State v. Rafay
- Wikipedia: Mr. Big (police procedure)
- Justia U.S. Law: State v. Rafay
- LawNow: Extradition in Canada: United States v Burns, then & now
- CBS News: Perfectly executed
- CBC News: Rafay & Burns: 3 innocence projects now believe men innocent
- Netflix: The Confession Tapes: Season 1 – Episodes 1 & 2
- V lex: State v. Rafay
