Many Carlsbad residents tuned in to “Dateline NBC” over the weekend to watch the special “The Woman Who Couldn’t Scream,” which focused on the murder of graduate student and Carlsbad native Katie Sepich in Las Cruces. The episode also covers the efforts of the Sepich family since to get laws on DNA collection changed. The episode originally aired on Feb. 21, 2020. You can login with your television provider and view it here: https://www.nbc.com/dateline/video/the-woman-who-couldnt-scream/9000204559.

In 2008, Jayann and Dave Sepich formed an organization called “DNA Saves,” which is committed to working with every state (and some other countries) to pass laws to expand the DNA database. If a DNA sample had been taken from Katie’s murderer upon his arrest for an unrelated crime, the Sepich’s would have discovered who killed their daughter only three months after her death.  As it was, the murderer pleaded guilty in 2007 and received a 69-year prison sentence. A DNA database can also prevent future crimes from taking place. For more information on DNA Saves, please visit www.dnasaves.org/. Hopefully, the recent airing of the Dateline NBC episode will continue to call more attention to this effort.

From the office of Mayor Dale Janway