THERESA BASTIAN

BOARD MEMBER

In 1986, Theresa’s 13-year-old sister, Jennifer, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Pt. Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA. Despite extensive searches, her case went cold for 32 years until 2018, when genealogical DNA evidence led to Robert Washburn’s arrest. He pled guilty in 2020 and received a 27-year sentence. Inspired by this breakthrough, Theresa and her mother, Pattie, advocated for expanded DNA legislation, contributing to Washington’s HB 1326 (“Jennifer and Michella’s Law”), mandating DNA collection for felony and indecent exposure arrests, and Texas’ HB 1399 (“Krystal Jean Baker Act”), which solved 236 crimes in its first year by enabling DNA matches. Theresa has appeared on Dateline, Cold Case Files, and local news, and authored Defiance, a memoir about her sister’s case. She owns a real estate brokerage in Austin, Texas, and is a proud mother to her son, a U.S. Marine, and her daughter, studying criminology and pre-law.