Perfectly Executed
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You don't know exactly what you're going to be finding up there. And so just driving up there in itself, you're kind of walking into the unknown. I believe I was a little nervous. I would describe it as being absolutely savage. This was someone who used a baseball bat to kill the family. What I see is an attack that is not only calculated and carried out with

There was blood all over the room, on the ceiling, on the floor. I also see a crime scene that smacks of the murderer having a very, very personal vendetta. Somebody just went off the deep end, and once they started killing, they either enjoyed it or they couldn't stop themselves. In an upper middle class neighborhood of an upper middle class community,

Three unsuspecting and undeserving human beings were savagely beaten to death. There's blood. They're not breathing. I don't think it's safe here. By somebody who they knew. Perfectly executed. Tonight's 48 Hours Mystery. It was a plan, a well-rehearsed, well-thought-out plan.

What happened in this house on a hot summer night in 1994 brought tragedy and mystery to this quiet neighborhood in Bellevue, Washington. Just after 2 in the morning on July 13th, police were called to a crime that would take them 10 years to bring to justice. Had you ever seen anything like it? Never. James Jude Conant is a senior deputy prosecutor in King County.

He and a team of detectives have been haunted by this crime and the killers who got away. They think that they are smarter than other people in the world. And I know that sounds just kind of a broad statement, but I really believe they believe that. The search for the truth would lead police to another country through a web of intriguing clues. Could this screenplay that described a murder unlock the mystery?

And in the end, would a sophisticated undercover operation set in a make-believe world of crime catch the real killers? The story begins with a call for help. Sebastian Burns and his friend Atif Rafai had stumbled on a horrific scene.

Atif's parents had been murdered. There is nothing that I can imagine about my parents that could have justified anyone to do what was done to them. Sultana Rafe, Atif's mother, was the first to be killed. Sebastian, what did you see when you walked through that door? We saw Atif's mom lying on the floor. Tariq Rafe was the next to be murdered. We could see there was blood around him.

and it was clear that he had been attacked. - Why do you think that they're dead? - There's blood, they're not breathing. There's blood all over his face. - It was basically an overkill. - Detective Bob Thompson has been on the case since the night it began. - It just looked like someone had hit him.

40 or 50 times please fast okay they're on the way okay they're on the way we'll be outside okay go ahead as the boys waited for help to arrive a third victim atif's autistic older sister basma was clinging to life moaning in her bedroom the third victim was autistic it would make sense that she's murdered last because everybody knows that she can't make a 911 call

Basma died a few hours later at the hospital, taking with her the secret of who killed the Raffae family. The Raffae's had just moved to Bellevue from Vancouver, Canada. Sultana had a doctorate in nutrition, but devoted her life to raising her gifted son and disabled daughter. I think she was certainly an extraordinary person. Do you miss your mom? I do. What do you miss most about her?

Well, the mere presence is enough, but she knew me in a way that I suspect that no one ever will. She was always able to look right through the adolescent sort of pomposities that I might have had and remind me that I was just a silly kid at times. Tariq Rafay was a structural engineer who had worked on buildings around the world.

In a sense, we were all like kids around him, or like my mom was too, and we were all, I guess, sort of in his orbit. He was a brilliant person, probably a far better mathematician than I will ever be. No one could understand who would take the lives of this quiet family and spare their only son.

Detectives began to look more closely at the crime scene. What's the problem there? There's been some kind of break-in. Sebastian had used the words "break-in" to report what had happened. Is it locked? It's unlocked. It's unlocked. Just looking at that room, you started realizing this looks like someone set it up. Boxes were tipped over, drawers were opened, but nothing appeared to have gone through.

That night, when police asked what was missing, Atif said two things: his disc man and a VCR. Someone came in, murdered three people, and took his Walkman and a VCR. I mean, it makes no sense. Detectives probed deeper. Who were these teenage boys who reported the crime?

The 1992-93 school year... Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafae had been best friends since high school. What did you like about high school? I liked being a kid. I liked having free time and I liked hanging around with other kids and I just liked being young. The boy shared a sarcastic sense of humor and an interest in reading and debate. What would you guys talk about? What were you interested in? You know, it was things like...

Shakespeare and philosophy and Camus and things like that. They had a lot in common. They became very good friends because they were both precocious, they were both intelligent. Sarah Isaacs is Sebastian's high school sweetheart. He went to parties, he was athletic, and he became friends with Atif and sort of showed Atif how to dress. He'd introduce Atif to girls. He sort of helped Atif be a stud like he was.

There. That's going back a bit. Sebastian was raised in a loving family with English roots. There was a lot of respect in our household. I mean, you didn't...

Talk back to my parents. You didn't swear in the house. Sebastian's sister, Tiffany. We both grew up playing classical cello. So we had music lessons and we had to practice every day after school. In 2005, Tiffany was a TV reporter at the CBS station in Cleveland. She can't say enough about her little brother. He's very smart. I mean, he's definitely what you would call an intellectual.

He's so well read. He's got so many fascinating things to say. Sebastian became a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and was given an award by Prince Edward. Atif made it to the Ivy League, attending Cornell University. It was the summer of their freshman year in college when their lives took that unexpected turn. It sort of is like a jigsaw puzzle where you just take that piece and you put it here and you start fitting it together and pretty soon you get a picture.

Police took Sebastian and Atif to the station and examined them for traces of blood. They found nothing. When asked where they had been that evening, the boys provide a full account. At 8:30, they drove to a restaurant for a bite to eat. Then they went to a 9:50 showing of The Lion King. Why do you remember them? They were acting annoying, obnoxious.

Everywhere they went, the people who came into contact with them remembered them. After the movie, they stopped at another restaurant and left the waitress a $6 tip on a $9 tab. They don't usually do that, especially young guys. Young guys don't tip very well. But something else troubled police. How could the boys remember so much detail about where they'd been that evening and yet not recall key moments at the murder scene?

the police decided to interview Sebastian and Atif again, and detectives recorded the conversation. I found my mom. What did you do? I may have gone after her. I can't remember. I don't know what I did. I can't remember. Did you go walk over to your dad? I don't think so, no. Did you touch your dad? I don't think so. Well, you'd know, though, wouldn't you? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

Cops became even more suspicious when Sebastian and Atif were spotted at a local video store renting movies the night after the murders. The behavior wasn't what you would expect victims

or witnesses to be. So the police kept pressing the boys. They wanted to know what happened in that house. See, I don't understand this, Atif. Your sister is moaning. She's hurt. Yeah. And you don't want to help her. Detectives wanted to know why Atif didn't help his dying sister, even though he heard her through her bedroom door. How hurt is she?

Sebastian and Atif were witnesses. By the time they left, at the end of these statements, were they suspects? Yes. Definitely sus-- By the time they left, they were suspects.

You know what, I think you know who it is. Who did it? I would tell you. I would tell you if I knew who did it. And investigators thought they not only knew who, they also knew why. Three to four hundred thousand dollars is about to slip through his fingers if she lives. Are you saying Atif didn't go to the aid of his sister because he didn't want to save his sister? Atif didn't go to the aid of his sister because unless she died, the whole plan came crumbling down on them.

Three days after the murders, relatives gathered in Bellevue to bury the Raffais in a traditional Muslim ceremony. But the only surviving member of the immediate family was nowhere to be found. They were wondering, where's the teeth? Where's the son? On the day of the funeral, the Raffais' only son was on a bus headed across the border to Canada. And with him was his best friend, Sebastian Burns.

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Sebastian and Atif were now in Vancouver, Canada, out of reach of the Bellevue police and an investigation that targeted them for the murders of the Raffae family. Did the boys go to Vancouver or did they flee to Vancouver? From our perspective, they fled back to Vancouver. He didn't flee. He went home.

Their sudden bus trip across the border only raised more suspicion, even though both boys were Canadian citizens. How do you flee a country getting on a Greyhound bus? In fact, a representative from the Canadian consulate informed the Bellevue police of their trip in advance. She contacted the Bellevue Police Department to say these guys are leaving, they're going home, if that's okay with you. She was told, quote,

Sure. She then tells the boys it's okay to go and they leave. That is not fleeing. It is not fleeing?

I think it's... To ask permission? Atif and Sebastian both had my numbers. They knew I was even in the process of getting them a pager so we could keep in contact. And they're gone. They don't tell me where they're at. They know I'm investigating the murders of their parents. And they're gone. Detective Thompson was a veteran cop. This is the other. His gut told him that the boys were guilty, but he just didn't have the evidence to prove it.

Investigators kept combing the house. They found no forced entry. There was, however, an eerie clue. A forensic tool, luminol, showed blood on the shower walls. The killer had used the shower before leaving. The person was so comfortable and calm and collected that he or she might then decide perhaps they'll have a shower before they go. It is inconceivable.

Could that be the reason why the boys who had discovered the bodies at that bloody crime scene didn't have a trace of blood on their hair, their hands, or anywhere on their bodies? - Are you a killer, Sebastian? - No, absolutely not. - Did you hold that bat in your hands and kill those three people? - No, I didn't. - You're not lying to me. - No. - Would you have ever done anything, Atif, to hurt your parents? - No. The single most distressing

thing about this entire experience is the fact that I would even have to speak out and say, "Yeah, no, I did not do that." Even without physical evidence, detectives were determined. They began to build a case against the boys based on their odd behavior following the murders. They cooperated. They did everything that was asked of them. However, when they did things, they

they had this air or this attitude about doing it they honed in on their demeanor at the crime scene and questioned why they sat in front of the house if they believed an intruder might still be there he's out on the curb you know 20 yards away from the front door where this supposed killer might be in the house and he's waiting for the police on the curb well the t7 is cigarette i'm not sure that anything that we did made any sense i i was not

thinking in a normal way police also couldn't make sense of why atif would notice that his disc man and vcr were missing he's walking around the house claiming to discover the fact the vcr is missing and ultimately while his mother and father and sister lay in a state of carnage let's not mince words here it is carnage he claims to have discovered that the walkman

was missing from his bedroom. And they've decided that my son and his friend are the guilty parties. They've decided that. I believe him to be totally innocent, as is Atif, and they have been damned. Sebastian's family and friends rallied around him and Atif. I remember sitting on those steps with Sebastian. I remember sitting on that field.

Sebastian's former girlfriend, Sarah Isaacs, says she knows his character better than anyone. Have you ever thought to yourself, maybe there was something I missed about Sebastian that I just didn't see? There's nothing that anyone could tell me. There's never a moment when someone could tell me something that made me think honestly, maybe he did it. I never had to face that moment, ever. I know Sebastian.

He was and is my very, very good friend. Did the cops investigating this just need to get home to dinner? I mean, why didn't they follow up the leads that came their way?

And there were other compelling leads. Within days of the crime, police received a tip from a reliable informant that someone had offered $20,000 to kill an East Indian family that had recently moved from Vancouver to Bellevue. There's no physical evidence that links Atif and Sebastian to the crime. Their alibis check out. And now you get this lead from an informant in Canada that somebody had been

bragging about a hit on an East Indian family in Bellevue, Washington. Tells me that's the direction now you should be focusing your investigation since there's no evidence against these boys. Well, there is evidence against those boys. There was a lot of evidence against those boys and it was all circumstantial. It wasn't evidence to convict them, certainly. Is it fair to say that you didn't properly check out this lead in Vancouver?

You know, it may be fair to say that that lead was not fully checked out. You get all kinds of tips that come in and you have to weigh them, but the leads didn't go that direction. The leads went directly to Canada and we followed those leads to Sebastian and Atif. Atif, why don't you talk to police? But on the advice of a lawyer, the boys decided to stop cooperating with Bellevue authorities.

The minute we went to Canada, Burns and Raffaei wouldn't talk to us at all. They were telling other people not to talk to us. So Thompson kept digging and found what he thought was a disturbing clue from their past. We started looking through their high school yearbook and Sebastian Burns was in a high school play called "The Rope" about two kids who commit the perfect murder.

These are words that Sebastian's character said on stage. Do you mind reading it? "An immaculate murder. I have killed. I have killed for the sake of danger and for the sake of killing.

Arianna McGregor performed in the West Vancouver High School production of "Rope," along with Sebastian. The character in the play is somebody who's arrogant and believes he's better than everybody else. And Sebastian had a quality of being superior. He knew he was intelligent, knew he was good looking. What was "Rope" about? The gimmick of the play is that there's somebody is murdered at the start of the play, and the villains put him into a box, and then they invite guests over.

everybody's at this party wondering when the last guest is going to show up and nobody knows that actually he's in the box at the front of the play. And so there's lots of suspenseful giggles all the way through because everybody in the audience knows that there's this person, this

This thing in the box. Your character on stage says, "We've always said, you and I, that moral concepts of right and wrong don't hold for the intellectually superior. The only crime we can commit is a mistake." There's some people who believe those are words that the real Sebastian Burns might say. Wow, that's ridiculous.

There was no time ever during any performance or any rehearsal that anybody was ever thinking anything serious about any of the supposed intellectual philosophies in this play or anything like that. But detectives believed the fictional murder story did inspire the real-life crime. Even more chilling, the weapon was the same: a baseball bat.

Well, that's just a huge coincidence. I think Sebastian was actually mortified when he realized that he was a suspect in the baseball bat killings of the Ruffeys because he said, "Cripes, what's going to happen when they find out about the play?" How does the play end? Their superior figures them out. Someone who is actually more intelligent than they are figures it out and they get caught. As the investigation continued in Bellevue, the boys were living well in Vancouver.

With some of the money Atif inherited from his parents' estate, they bought a convertible and rented an apartment together with another high school pal. I think I'll stay here forever. Jimmy Miyoshi. Behind drawn curtains, they hid from the media, who were constantly in pursuit of them and their story. Hello. Is Atif there?

But while they weren't talking to the police, the police were listening to them. Every word they spoke at home or in their car was being recorded. How are you doing? Um, okay, I guess.

The boys had no idea they were now the targets of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP. The RCMP applied for and ultimately obtained authorization to do wiretaps. On April 10th, 1995, RCMP investigators intercepted this phone message.

This is Quimper's Hair Salon calling for Sebastian to confirm his appointment with Gregory tomorrow, Tuesday, April 11th. Sebastian could never have imagined that he was about to fall into a trap set by one of the most sophisticated undercover operators in the world. There was no doubt in my mind that yes, Sebastian Burns was responsible for this and we were in fact going to get a full confession from him.

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Now streaming. Hi again. TV's quirkiest crime solver. I'm Elsbeth Tassini. I work with the police. Is on the case. I like my outlandish theories with a heavy dose of evidence. And ready to go toe-to-toe with a cavalcade of guest stars. Are you saying that this is now a murder investigation? It's starting to look that way. Don't miss a moment of the critically acclaimed hit Elsbeth. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and return CBS Fall. That sounds like fun. Obviously murder's not fun. ♪

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By April of 1995, Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafai were Canada's most famous teenage murder suspects. I remember a time when we were at a bus stop and someone drove by and rolled down the window and yelled, "Murderers!" That was typical. They were pariahs. They were hated. I was unable to go to college. I was unable to get a job. But the boys had a plan to make their fortune and live out a lifelong dream.

they started work on their very own screenplay about two best friends accused of murdering a family. - The movie was going to be about Sebastian Behrens and Atif Rafay and the injustice that was heaped upon them as a result of the suspicion about their involvement in this triple aggravated murder case in Bellevue. - They called it "The Great Despisers."

We were worried that it would sound a bit nerdy because having the word great in the title sounds, it makes it sound kind of nerdy. And if we'd called it, for example, just The Despisers, that would have been more unimpeachably cool. However, we...

decided to have the courage to stick with this nerdy title. While the boys worked on what they say is their fictional story about two friends falsely accused, they had no idea the real-life plotline was about to take an astonishing turn. This is Grimper's Hair Salon calling for Sebastian to confirm his appointment with Greg... That simple message from a local hair salon was the moment the RCMP was waiting for.

I think they were very vulnerable to whatever the RCMP had in store for them. These were kids who lived pretty sheltered lives. When Sebastian was finished at Krimper's salon, a stranger was waiting. And when Mr. Burns comes out of the salon, the undercover operator just approaches him, what they call the cold approach. He seemed to me like some kind of an entrepreneur. He walks up to him and says,

"Hey buddy, can you give me a hand? I seem to have locked my keys in the car." So he asked me for a ride to his hotel and I gave him a ride. The stranger took Sebastian to a bar and bought him a drink for his trouble. I was impressed by that and I was also sort of intrigued, I guess, or excited about the way that he seemed so ready to be interested in me.

Sebastian told his new "friend" that he and his buddies had written a screenplay, but he didn't have a job and needed financing. The friend said he knew someone who could help. Ultimately the goal was to get Sebastian to meet with the next guy up the chain, and it worked perfectly.

Sebastian thought he was about to meet a connected businessman, but it was this man. Sergeant Haslett of the RCMP. We cannot show you his face. I don't think there's an undercover team like this anywhere in the world. And I say that very seriously. The best of the best. The best. The RCMP spent months preparing to manipulate their target. They had access to fancy cars.

Posh hotel suites, weapons, false international documents, beautiful women. Posing as professional mobsters, the RCMP set up the first meeting with Sebastian at a strip club. How important was this movie to Sebastian Burns? It was just about his whole life. The crime boss told Sebastian he did have cash to invest in his screenplay, but Sebastian would have to earn it.

Sebastian had no idea he was being offered work in a make-believe world of crime. Jobs were also promised to Atif and their pal, Jimmy Miyoshi. I hope these guys are solid, man. These guys are never going to betray me, ever. All right? Never. Sebastian's first assignment: transport a stolen car for the crime boss. He had nothing. And then he was offered something.

He was offered something that was criminal, something that he probably wouldn't have thought was a good idea had he had something else going on in his life. He was only paid $200 for the job and he wasn't happy. He was disgusted. He made it clear he wasn't happy. He told us he could make more money than that stealing his videos out of stores.

It was essential to the undercover operation that Sebastian continue working for the organization so the next staged crime is easier for more cash. What do you want you guys to do, which is no big deal? It's pretty straightforward. Sebastian and Jimmy Miyoshi go from one bank to another.

laundering money. Cash is here, just taking deposit into this account. What do you guys want to do the first time? Next time, we've got to go to a different bank. This time, for a day's work, they get paid $2,000. I couldn't help but be excited about having $2,000 put in my hand, and I hardly had to do anything for it. Months go by.

The undercover operators take Sebastian to posh hotels trying to build trust and draw him out. Did you sense that Sebastian felt he was smarter than you? Oh, there's no doubt he made it clear, told us that on more than one occasion.

Slowly, the undercover operators bring up the investigation in Bellevue. Haslett tries to get Sebastian to confess by telling him he already knows what happened. How did I know that?

Sebastian doesn't admit guilt, but he confides in the mobsters that if the police did find something to tie him to the crime, he might want them to destroy it. And he has a very practical theory. As one of the best known murder suspects in Canada, he is confident that his movie would make millions if he is suddenly proven innocent.

And a film with that kind of promotion, because the things as it is right now, it's like, ooh, controversy, right? Which in itself promotes, right? But this is like, oh, you're heroes. Somebody goes up to 25, 30 million. Taking their cue again from their target, the businessmen raise the stakes. They tell Sebastian that the Bellevue police have physical evidence tying him to the crime. Well, I'll tell you, they're coming to lock you up, so...

- Here's your friends. - To make it seem real, Haslett shows him this phony memo on Bellevue Police letterhead detailing the evidence linking Sebastian to the murders. - Just read this piece of . - The mobsters offer to destroy the so-called evidence, but they need Sebastian to tell them exactly what happened in the Raffaele house the night of the murders. - Well, I wanted your help. - You need my help.

So, tell me what went on down there and I'm going to tell you how I'm going to take care of your problem. Finally, on July 18, 1995, one year after the murders, Sebastian meets the crime boss, Sergeant Haslett, at the Ocean Point Resort. And the cameras are rolling. He walks into this hotel room and takes off his shoes.

He stretches out on a love seat. It's only then that Mr. Burns lets his guard down and the dirty little secret that he's been protecting for the last 12 or 13 months starts to unravel on video for the whole wide world to see. It has taken three months of undercover work to get to this moment. And he told me the details immediately.

how him and Atif Rafe did commit the murders in Bellevue. - How did you do three people at once? - Not at once, I don't wanna hear that. - Extremely, extremely cold individual. It's phenomenal. - The next day, Sebastian brings Atif to the crime boss to tell his story. - How does it feel killing your parents and your mother and sister? - Pretty rotten, but...

That's all the police needed to hear. Those were solid, strong confessions that only the individuals that were responsible for that murder would be able to sit down and tell it like it was. Cheers.

Sebastian, Atif, and Jimmy Miyoshi are all arrested. But this case is just beginning. Sebastian says he's lying, that undercover officers intimidated him into making a false confession. - I believe that if I'd crossed them, that they would have me killed.

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Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafae, best friends who once dreamed of making it big in movies, were now behind bars. But no sooner were Sebastian and Atif arrested than the same Canadian government that set a trap to catch them led an international battle to spare their lives. We should not

be sending anybody back. The case went all the way up to Canada's Supreme Court. Persons who leave the country and commit offences outside of the country should expect that they will be punished under the laws of the jurisdiction in which they committed the crime.

Sending the boys back across the border to Washington meant they would face the death penalty if convicted. A punishment Canada had long since abolished and considered inhumane. We never knew when we were going to be leaving for the United States. And every time we heard, "Oh, there may be a trial, you know, next year," then it became the next year. And that lasted for about four years where we thought that we were a week away from extradition.

After six years of legal wrangling, the King County prosecutor in Seattle agreed to Canada's demands not to seek the death penalty. Sebastian and Atif, now 25-year-old men, were finally extradited to face murder charges. Mr. Raffaele, you're charged... Mr. Burns, you're charged in the cause numbers that I just read with three counts of aggravated murder in the first degree.

If convicted, the penalty would now be life with no parole. That goes with the motion to dismiss. They were appointed a team of attorneys. Representing Sebastian was Teresa Olson, an ardent, if eccentric, public defender who believed in the boys' innocence. Of course they didn't do the killings. The evidence is clear that they didn't do the killings. Olson worked tirelessly on the case, running down leads and witnesses.

But in the summer of 2002, the case took a bizarre turn. Guards at the King County Jail reported seeing Olsen having sex with Sebastian during an attorney-client meeting. Shut up! The well-publicized scandal even caught the attention of late-night comic Jay Leno. A female lawyer in Seattle is in trouble for having sex in jail with her client, who is a murderer. How creepy is that?

Huh? Sex with a lawyer. And brought the trial to a grinding halt. No choice but to appoint new counsel. Sebastian's new attorneys were a dream team. Ivy League trained Jeff Robinson and Song Richardson. There is a lot at stake for Sebastian Burns.

and we will be fighting till the end. 187's a retired artist. They were among Seattle's best and most expensive criminal defense lawyers.

Along with Amanda Lee, they staunchly believed in the boys' innocence and agreed to take the high-profile case at a public defender's wage. They have been essentially judged and treated as though they were guilty from the beginning when the evidence just isn't there. What kind of pressure is on all of your shoulders as we approach this trial? Nothing more or less than the rest of Sebastian Burns' natural life.

They were up against two of the most seasoned and respected prosecutors in Seattle. Roger David Heiser would be joining James Conant on the case. It's not just justice, it's the truth. What we're after here is the truth. And I would submit to you that's what separates our side from theirs.

By September 2003, Sebastian and Atif had been in jail for more than eight years, charged but never convicted for the Raffae family murders. You have to recognize that these are human beings and they have had their lives stolen from them. And to make it worse, they've had their lives stolen from them to somehow resolve a murder that they didn't commit. The case would turn on those controversial confessions.

Make-believe mobsters extracting confessions from teenagers. Is that allowed in the state of Washington? It's not allowed in the state of Washington, and I don't think it's allowed

anywhere else in the United States under the circumstances that it was done in this case. Are you comfortable using the results from an illegal undercover investigation by U.S. laws in your case? This investigation was not illegal because it was conducted in Canada by Canadian authorities targeting Canadian citizens. It was an investigation that they undertook separate and apart from the Bellevue investigation.

This case, it's not only about the lives of my two friends. It's about the responsibility of police and prosecutors to do their job properly and to act in good faith. And they have not done that in this case. It would be up to Superior Court Judge Charles Murtell... Well, please be seated, everyone. ...to decide if Sebastian and Atif's chilling confessions caught on tape would be allowed to damn them in an American court.

Other prosecutors in other cases with evidence just like that have told jurors, just like the ones that will sit in our case, that it's a slam dunk. And those jurors very comfortably have convicted people and sentenced them to die. And they've been wrong. Judge Murtell was about to make the most controversial ruling of his career. The boys' lives would depend on what he was about to say.

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I hope one day he will. Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafaei should have been celebrating at the West Vancouver High School 10-year reunion. Instead, they had become the class of '93's most infamous graduates. Prosecutors say just one year out of high school, these brilliant best friends tried to commit the perfect murder.

It was a brutal crime that shocked the upscale suburb of Bellevue, Washington. Atif's mother, father, and sister bludgeoned to death. The motive: insurance money. The boys got away and were living in Canada until undercover police officers caught them on tape boasting about how they did it. How did you f---ing do three people at once? Not at once.

Now, on the eve of their murder trial, a judge would decide if a jury would get to hear those chilling confessions. I do not find the undercover officers' conduct in this case shocking or outrageous. Although they were deceitful, persistent and aggressive. They engaged in tricks, but not dirty tricks.

It was a controversial ruling allowing the boys' own words to be used against them. And would set the tone for the whole trial. Just how powerful is the impact of this video of these two boys confessing to murders? It's incredibly powerful. When I first saw it, I was taken aback. I was shocked.

There are two young men seemingly laughing about slaughtering three people and saying, "I did it." And while the confessions may be shocking, the defense says they're not true. This case is about what happens when a presumption of guilt, when a gut feeling that you have the right suspects takes over from logical and objective evaluation of the evidence.

This case is about what happens when you pursue individuals as opposed to pursuing the truth.

Finally, in November 2003, more than nine years after the Raffae family murders, Sebastian and Atif get their day in court. The jury's going to finally hear the story of what really happened to the Raffae family, and they'll hear the story of Sebastian and Atif's innocence. But prosecutors had a very different story to tell. Sebastian Burns is...

young, thoughtful, charismatic, manipulative, and most importantly, a killer. A brutal killer. You've been portrayed as a monster. Yeah. Yes. Maniacal, plotting, a murderer. Are you those things? No.

The state's theory is we want to make the jurors hate these two young men. Essentially, they make it a test of character as opposed to a test of evidence. And character is at the heart of the prosecution's case. The Superior Court is now in session.

The defendants were two young men who believed they could commit the perfect murder. Roger David Heiser opened for the state. Ladies and gentlemen, what you will hear in the end is that it was this very hubris that sealed their fate and their arrogant and unrealistic belief that they were smart enough to achieve mastery over the police and their investigation.

He zeroed in on the piece of evidence that launched the case and for the first time revealed a startling flaw in the boy's plan. There's a... I need an ambulance. They made that 911 call too quickly. We think they're dead. My belief is that they just walked straight into the house and made the 911 call. The timing was critical.

So we asked Detective Thompson to retrace their drive home from downtown Seattle, where they were last seen that night. -18 minutes. -What does that tell you? And 18 minutes would give them three minutes in the house.

And three minutes, said the prosecutors, was not enough time in the house to find the bodies and do all the things Sebastian and Atif told the police they did. Think about what they had to do in that three minutes. Three minutes to arrive home,

pull the family car into the garage, enter the home through the garage, discover and comprehend that Sultana, Tariq, and Bosma have been brutally attacked and laid dead in three different areas of that house.

The revelation startled the defense, but Song Richardson was thinking on her feet. How long does it take to walk into a house and see these two brutally butchered bodies of Atif's family and then run downstairs and call 911? And turn the prosecution's argument on its head. How long is three minutes? Well, let's see. That was about a minute and a half.

But remember, it wasn't just the murders. In that three minutes, the boys also had to figure out there'd been a burglary and that a VCR and disc man were missing. There's been some kind of break in. I hear the voice of a person who has contrived a story that can only be explained

by somebody who knew very well what had happened in the Raffae family home. I was out of my mind at the time. I was totally in shock, totally

staggered and confounded and was almost totally hysterical. In a case where every minute matters, the defense bolsters their claim of the boys' innocence by playing up statements the neighbors on both sides of the Raffaei house gave to police in the days following the murders.

The neighbors initially said that they heard pounding coming from inside the Raffae house at a time when the boys have an airtight alibi. You were standing in this driveway... Mark Seidel lived right next door to the Raffae's. How loud were the bangs you were hearing? Um, they're pretty hard hits.

A little bit harder than you'd hang a picture. Seidel says back then he didn't think a murder was taking place next door and figured the Raffaes, who had just moved in, were probably unpacking. I sort of thought about going over and helping them so they could go to sleep, but...

Luckily that night I didn't. The Raffaele's other next door neighbor, Julie Rackley, testified that she also heard sounds. Initially I thought it just sounded like hammering. It had sort of an odd resonance to it. The neighbors who heard these sounds described them in great detail and verified what they were for the police all heard them well before 10 o'clock at night.

And at 10 o'clock, Sebastian and Atif were still seen at the movie theater. If the jury believes these initial reports that Mark Seidel and Judy Rackley gave to police, your case could be in trouble. Absolutely. You can't be in two places at one time. There's no debating that point. There are two independent neighbors who separately heard the murder happen at the end of twilight before 10 o'clock.

And we were known to be on the other side of town when that happened. It was impossible for us to have committed this crime. Prosecutors contend it is possible. Even though the boys were seen going to the 950 movie, there's no proof that they stayed. Is there a way for these two boys to exit the theater without drawing attention to themselves? Say, during the movie. Jose Martinez sold the boys movie tickets that night.

and he showed us how they could sneak out from this theater. - Got this exit behind the curtain or the other one over there. - If they slip through this curtain, you're not letting any light into the theater. - Correct. - And up these stairs. - And out this exit door. - Two doors outside.

The defense protested that even though it could have happened that way, there was no proof that it did, and that prosecutors were grasping at straws to get a conviction. They sifted through Sebastian's history and his life, and Atif's history and his life,

and tried to find anything that would make them look like bad people. In fact, months into the trial, prosecutors brought this intriguing surprise witness from the boy's past who said she had evidence that could turn the case. But first, they would have to convince the judge to let the jury hear what she had to say.

NASGOL SHIFT DAY WAS A FRIEND FROM THE BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL DAYS WHO HAD DATED SEBASTIAN. What was this comment that Sebastian Burns made that stood out at you?

He said, "I want to try to kill someone one day to see how it would feel because I think I would find it enjoyable." She claimed a late night conversation she'd had years ago with the boys in her bedroom had planted the seeds for murder. Did you think he was serious?

He wasn't laughing and he said it in a serious tone. Sebastian doesn't deny having the conversation, but emphatically says he wasn't serious. It's a one line.

paraphrase of a sarcasm from a hippy-dippy 3 a.m. conversation 10 years ago and I can't remember enough about it to defend myself against it. If anyone would reflect on that and think imagine if the worst parts of my personality, maybe the worst moments when I was 18 years old that I would be reminded of them for the next nine years of my life and that's that

in the public's eye would be the person that I'd become, I think people would really shudder. It's a nightmare. Thank you for your time and your testimony. It was certainly damning testimony, but the jury would never hear it. There is no question had I known about this last spring, I would have admitted this. Four months into this thing, I can't stop this process and let everyone dash to the four winds to try and research this.

The judge's decision flustered prosecutors. But there's another witness more powerful and much more damning. You swear or affirm that the testimony about... The friend the boys swore would never betray them. Do you recognize Mr. Burns and Mr. Raffaei in the courtroom here today? Yes, I do. It had been years since Jimmy Miyoshi had seen his high school buddies Sebastian and Atif.

Jimmy had moved to Japan and was living under another name when prosecutors forced him to return to Seattle and face his friends at their murder trial. He was, in no uncertain terms, conflicted. In fact, he spent the last two or three years of his life trying to avoid the eventuality of being compelled to come to court and testify against his two best friends. Jimmy could have easily been sitting next to his best friends, charged with a crime,

Back in 1995, during the undercover operation, Jimmy was also a target of the RCMP. The RCMP believed Miyoshi helped the boys plan the murder of the Raffae family. And they wanted him to give a full confession on tape, just like his friends had done. You know what I'm down there in that house?

- It went on? - Yeah. - But no matter how much he was pressed for details, Miyoshi refused to implicate his friends in the murder. - Okay, do you know who killed the parents? - Yeah. - Who? - Is that what you want? - Yeah. - And I just want you to explain to me exactly the purposes of you wanting to know is that so we can establish this kind of totally for trust, totally for trust? - Totally. - In some ways, was Jimmy Miyoshi the smartest of them all? - He's not in jail.

In fact, Jimmy was arrested with Sebastian and Atif and interrogated by authorities in Canada. He was told that he might face the death penalty himself.

He was told that his family, his job, his future would be ruined unless he said that Sebastian and Atif confessed to him. Back then, Jimmy told the police that his friends were innocent. At the time of your arrest on July 31, 1995, were they honest answers?

They were answers that I guess the intention of a lot of those answers was to protect Sebastian and Atif. At that point on July 31, 1995, why is it that you gave answers that were designed to protect Sebastian and Atif? I guess it was also in a way to protect myself.

but in general because I didn't want Sebastian and Natif to get arrested and potentially convicted. But under increasing pressure, Miyoshi eventually agreed to cooperate. And in exchange, he was granted immunity from charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Suddenly, he began to reveal more to the police about what he knew. But now the question loomed.

Would Miyoshi betray his best friends? Have this subject ever come up before, the notion of Atif Rafe killing his family? No, this was the first time. In a halting voice that often dropped to a whisper, Jimmy told the court that it was during a drive from Seattle to Vancouver when Atif first brought up the idea of killing his family. What was your response to the notion of

Hatif's notion of killing his family. I guess I was listening and I mean, he was my friend at the time and I guess in a way I was neutral on that notion. On the stand, Jimmy recounted a discussion about how the boys would commit the crime. Do you remember which methods were discussed? I remember something about gassing the house.

And I remember discussion about, I guess, using a baseball bat. What do you remember about why a baseball bat could or should be used? I guess a quick and painless way of killing someone. I don't think there's any question that he was a sounding board for them. The prosecution says Jimmy consulted on an especially chilling part of the plan.

Sebastian and Atif stayed here at the Rafae family home during the five days before the murders, and it was no coincidence. It was part of the plan, prosecutors say, to commit the perfect crime. If they had been living in the house previously, that any kind of hair or whatever samples that were collected after wouldn't necessarily mean anything.

that they had done it. By virtue of their being in the house for several days, any fingerprint that would be found or could be found could be explained as a result of their being there, having been there for several days. Any hair evidence that might be found could be explained for them having been in the house for several days prior to the murders. It's diabolical, but it's pretty clever. Damn clever.

Finally, Jimmy gave the prosecution what they needed. He said that Atif watched while Sebastian bludgeoned the family. I remember hearing about how, I guess, Atif was pretty distraught and that from the moment that Sebastian had struck his mother that it was kind of a, there's no going back. How hard was it to sit and listen to Jimmy Miyoshi's testimony?

it was enormously difficult i think it was difficult for him as well um as i say i i am outraged that he did it um but at the same time i i think i i reserve my real outrage for the people who forced him to do it did you discuss a plan to murder the rafae family with jimmy mioshi no we didn't never why did jimmy mioshi testify that you did because he had

a life sentence held to his head. And if he didn't say what the police and the prosecution wanted him to say, that life sentence was gonna go off. It's the first time in eight years that you have ever said anything like that. Isn't it, sir? I'm not sure.

The defense tried to hammer back. Jimmy once lied to save his friends, so he could be easily lying now to save himself. You're making it up as you go along, sir. That's why you're saying things for the first time yesterday. No, I don't believe I am. Do you believe that Jimmy Miyoshi is a liar? Jimmy Miyoshi is a self-admitted liar. Jimmy Miyoshi acknowledges that he has lied.

The question will be, how many lies does Jimmy Miyoshi get to tell? Mr. Miyoshi, this conversation was on September 26, 19... The defense needed to come back with something strong, and they had an arsenal of forensic evidence that flew in the face of Miyoshi's testimony. They told the jury that there were three killers in the house that night.

Experts analyzed the patterns of blood on the wall and found drops everywhere except this area where there was no blood, indicating another killer may have stood there during the attack. They also said a pillow was moved during the bludgeoning.

So we have killer number one moving the pillow. We have killer number two bludgeoning Dr. Raffae with the bat. And then we have killer number three who has to remain in the exact same place throughout the entire duration of the attack on Dr. Raffae. And there was even more tangible evidence, a single hair on Tariq Raffae's bed. According to the police officers there, this was an important hair.

because this hair, according to the Bellevue Police Department, would tell them who committed this crime. Did it match Atif? No. Sebastian? No. Sultana? No. Basma? No. Tariq? No. We don't know whether that hair originated from someone who sat in the same seat that Sebastian Burns sat in at the movie theater, or whether it was picked up by Dr. Raffaei at his workplace, or how it got on that bed. Or if it was a hair from the killer. Or if it was a hair from the killer.

Prosecutors also added DNA evidence needs to fit a pattern and appear in more than one place at a crime scene. That DNA profile appeared nowhere else in that house. There was absolutely no other pattern of trace evidence that could even be remotely suggested to be related to that hair. That was an isolated hair.

So with the forensic evidence inconclusive, the case comes down to whom the jury would believe. You're saying the testimony of one of my best friends, don't listen to that. My own words on the videotape, don't listen to that. Just take my word for it, we didn't do it. Defense calls Sebastian Burns.

More than 100 witnesses would take the stand in the State v. Burns and Raffaei. Could you kill again? Circumstances are right. Finally, Canada's most secret undercover operation would be exposed before the jury. And so would the question that had lingered for so many years. Why would you confess to a murder you didn't do? At that point, it seemed like the only safe choice. It seemed like the best choice.

Why on earth would anyone confess to a murder they didn't do unless they were petrified that they were actually going to be killed themselves or people they loved were going to come to some type of harm? The defense set out to prove that the scales were tipped from the beginning. Professional liars

1975, I was first trained in undercover work. Against teenage boys. Have you worked as the primary undercover operator before? Yes. I am frightened by the fact that this kind of undercover operation can be used ostensibly to search for the truth when it is built in whole on lies and manipulation and threats. Mr. Burns, come on forward.

Sebastian would have to convince the jury to believe him now and not to believe what he said on those tapes. I was in way over my head and I did not want to be involved with these guys. I was upset with myself for having agreed to drive the car. Sebastian began his side of the story

with the first assignment from the crime box: transporting that stolen car. What was your reaction when you heard that they wanted you to drive the stolen car? Pretty quickly, I felt that I'd been tricked. Sebastian, why didn't you just look at him and say, "I am out of here. Walk away." No, but there is no walking away. You want to know what I did my time for? I told the guy. When it came time to court, the person that could finger me, they're not around anymore.

Sebastian says he couldn't walk away from criminals whose power seemed to be so far reaching. I believe that I'd cross them or if they weren't happy with me or if they thought that I was going to betray them that they would have me killed.

I just assume that you know you with your connections that if I were to be around okay I would just assume that I would wake up one day with a bullet in my head. On the stand Song Richardson pressed Sergeant Haslett about his scare tactics. Sebastian could easily very easily have believed that you and your organization would hurt people if they crossed you right?

He could have believed it, yes. And that you would kill people if they ever crossed you, right? Well, I've never said that. It goes to Sebastian Burns' imagination. Let him sit back when he goes home at night and imagine whatever he chooses to. Is there any time in which your character directly threatens Sebastian Burns? No, never. The idea was not to frighten Sebastian, but to make him comfortable talking about murder to other murderers.

Could Sebastian Burns have walked away from his relationship with you at any time he chose to do so? Without a doubt, he didn't have to return our calls. Hey, it's Sebastian leaving. Message number three. Sebastian stayed, the defense argued, because he believed the Bellevue police were fabricating evidence against him.

That phony memo detailing the evidence that the cops had against the boys. The undercover operators only offered to destroy the evidence if Sebastian confessed. You don't say to Sebastian, look, Sebastian, if you didn't do it, just say so. We'll still deal with that evidence for you.

We'll deal with it so you won't get convicted. But if you didn't do it, just say so. We'll still help. You never said that, right? No, I didn't say that because, not until this time, Sebastian Burns had never denied the involvement in the murders to me. Going into the meeting on July 18th, what was your plan? My plan was to claim to be...

the murderer that they insisted that they believed that I was. And to be convincing, Sebastian says he studied newspaper accounts so he'd know details of the murders. What did you do first? The mother. Then? Then dad and then sister. As the cameras rolled, Sebastian confirmed the police theory that the weapon was a baseball bat. Was it a medal or a wooden bat? A medal.

And the eerie notion that the killer had showered before leaving. And that wasn't the only reason why detectives found no blood on the boys. You do it.

Sebastian pointed out how he and Atif would profit from the crime. Whatever f***ing money we get, it's like we would invest it in our film, I guess. And he gave up the most sought-after clue, the loophole in the alibi. What you f***ing do to the dirty deed? Dirty? Oh, yeah. I'm going to get you out of the trouble you're in.

- I'm flattered. - Huh? - I'm flattered by your attention. - Atif explained that while Sebastian killed his family, he staged a break-in. - What did he do in the house? - Sit around, break down the VCR. - You told Haslett, am I correct, that you committed these murders of the Raffais, the Raffais family, during the movie, am I right? - Correct. - That the VCR was taken to also contribute to the simulation of a breaking and entering?

That's right. You had the alibi of the movie. The prosecution had another bombshell ready to drop on the defense. It wasn't the first time Sebastian used a movie as an alibi. You got into a car collision, didn't you? Yes. You were driving your family car at the time. That's correct, yes. You hit a pole in a parking lot.

Did you own up to it at the time? No, I did not. When he was 16, Sebastian staged an elaborate cover-up to conceal the fact that he had wrecked the family car. Mr. Burns, the reality is what you said about doing was very similar to what you told Haslett you did in this case. Isn't that correct? I told Haslett that we committed a murder, which we didn't do. Well, Mr. Burns, let me stop you there for a moment. Roger David Heiser drew a haunting parallel

between the accident scene and the murder scene. Back in high school, Sebastian went to great lengths to make it seem like someone else did the damage while he was at the movies. But the insurance company caught him in the cover-up. And in March of 1992, albeit with this stupid little car crash, what you decided to do was to pick up the pieces of evidence that were at the scene of this collision. Am I right?

- Correct. - You put those back in your car, am I correct? - Correct. - You took them to an entirely different location in North Vancouver, am I right? - Correct. - And you staged a scene in a parking lot, am I right? - Basically. - You manipulated the evidence to appear as though it was something that it wasn't, am I right? - Yes. - And the reason you did that, sir, was so that you could say that this accident occurred

while you were at the movies. Am I right? Correct. Sir, you weren't at the movies when that accident occurred, were you? No. The difference is that the first one is a car accident and the second one is a homicide.

that's correct mr burns that is a difference and the difference is also that in the first case i was responsible for the car accident and in the second case i had nothing to do with this homicide david heiser wasn't about to let that statement go in front of the jury he had more of that damning tape you know i felt like you know i was capable and

And on July 18th of 1995, after you told him that you had in fact killed the Ruffet family, you told him that you did it because you felt capable of killing, right? Correct, yes. Did you see it happen? Yeah. All three? No, only one.

Which one? I'm, uh... The demeanor with which they deliver this message of what they accomplished that night in Bellevue is chilling. They didn't fight.

You can hear a teeth giggling in the background and kind of like, "Oh God, oh God!" Basically, the father was nothing and

The sister who basically, yeah, was standing up and walking around or whatever. Network. Your behavior on that tape, when there's some laughing, did you think that the murder of the Raffae family was some sort of a comedy? No, absolutely not. But we were lying and I was not thinking about it.

the murder of the Raffae family when I was talking. - To a certain extent, I had essentially put the real events out of my mind entirely so that I was really only thinking of the story that I was selling to Mr. Haslett. - That's not part of a story that two scared individuals come up with because they think it's what two mafia characters wanna hear. That's the truth.

That's the truth coming from the mind of Atifur Faye and Sebastian Burns. It's a challenge to...

Sum it all up in a couple of hours. Six months of testimony comes down to one final argument. There is no gray area. There is nothing in between. Either you must believe what Sebastian Burns says and every single thing he says, or you must convict him. James Conant will speak for the state. You like your odds? Very much. Are you ready? Absolutely.

Jeff Robinson knows this is his last chance in front of the jury, and he will have to counter with everything he has. How many times does the evidence have to tell us it's not Sebastian and it's not Atif before we listen? Please listen. He points to the bloody scene in Tariq's bedroom and evidence of three killers. Three people went into Dr. Raffaei's room.

And there are three unknown DNA profiles. Robinson reminds them that there is no forensic evidence linking the boys to the crime. And the question that you're required to ask yourselves is, what has the state shown me to make me believe that he is guilty without having one reason to doubt it? Mr. Conant, the floor is yours. Thank you.

there can be no doubt in your mind that these two are the killers. The prosecution insists it is Sebastian's own words that leave no room for doubt. And ultimately, the words that came out of Sebastian Burns' mouth led to his demise. His hubris led to his demise.

What would be most compelling to the 12 jurors? Would it be the neighbors who thought they heard the murders that night when the boys were spotted at the movie theater? Or would they be haunted by Jimmy Miyoshi's words damning his two former best friends? Would the jury believe that Sebastian was scared of those undercover operators? Or is this the picture of a young man who thinks he's about to get away with murder?

For the last time, the jury is asked to envision the last moments in the Raffae family home. This is the horror.

that they left behind, ladies and gentlemen. This is what we must not lose sight of. Finally, it is up to the jury to make its decision. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, if you're retired, you'll deliberate your verdicts. In the script for The Great Despisers, two boys are wrongfully convicted and executed.

After four days of deliberations, ten years after the murders, the final act in the real-life plotline. Rise for the jury. We the jury find the defendant, Glen Sebastian Burns, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree as charged in count one, verdict form 1F. We the jury find the defendant, Teef Ahmed Raffaei, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree as charged in count three. I did not believe

that they didn't have reasonable doubt. I just didn't believe it. - I'm afraid of him, I think he's very scary. I looked at him a few times and he was glaring at me personally and anybody that committed a crime like that is a frightening person. - I was looking at individual jurors just to see if they, I don't know, I guess I was looking for some kind of an answer. - I wonder how they sleep at night.

I wonder how they came to that decision. With the verdict that was given, can you sleep well at night now? Yes. No second thoughts? No. No way. Not with anyone? Not a doubt. I personally myself, to the very day of the end of the trial, wanted them to be innocent. And in the end, I was totally overcome by the evidence, obviously. But I think all of us were wishing that

some suspect would be guilty so that we could not convict these two young men.

On October 22nd, 2004, five months after the verdict, Sebastian and Atif were back in court. This time to hear their sentence from the judge. Send Mr. Burns a very clear message that he has been found guilty. Send him to prison for the rest of his natural life times three, three consecutive life sentences. Mr. Burns. Thank you, Your Honor.

Sebastian had his own message for the court. With all due respect to the jurors, the verdict was wrong. In the audience were jurors who had convicted him and the undercover operators who had sealed his fate. I certainly feel sorry for the victims. I feel sorry for their surviving son. This was his only expression of sympathy in a speech that went on

And that's what our jury was made to have. I want to insist today on the truth that we are innocent. Atif never took the stand during the trial. And I love my parents. I review their memory to this day. He used this moment to admit he was ashamed. Your Honor, the impersonation that I gave on those videotapes. Yes.

There's no relation, it's alien to everything that I've ever felt or thought. I truly admired my father. I was probably closer to my mother than to any other person that I ever will be. And the memory of her wit and her charm and her keen human sympathy are dear to me to this day. Mr. Raffaei, thank you. Unlike your colleague, I find you genuinely remorseful, Mr. Raffaei.

I think the tragedy for you and ultimately your family was a meeting, a fateful meeting at probably a school cafeteria or a school ground. I don't know where it occurred with Mr. Burns. Judge Murtell saved his harshest words for Sebastian Burns. Mr. Burns, you're not immoral. You're amoral. You are an arrogant, convicted killer. You are not a kid, as you so often refer to yourself.

You're an adult and you will be held responsible as an adult for your premeditated, naked, vicious massacre of this family. It is therefore the conclusion of this court that you should be sentenced on count one to life without possibility of parole, count two

to life without possibility of parole, and on count three to life without possibility of parole. Those three sentences to run consecutively. - It has taken nearly a decade, but prosecutors will send the Raffaele's only son and his best friend to prison. Three consecutive life terms, one for each life that was taken.

Justice has been done for the three victims and our community has held the two individuals responsible for this accountable for their conduct. There is a great deal of satisfaction in being part of that, a great deal of satisfaction. Burns and Raffae remain in separate prisons in Washington state and both maintain their innocence. In 2017, Raffae married a volunteer with Innocence International, which continues to advocate for both men.

You want to play a real life game of Clue with me? Yes, indeedy. Now streaming on Paramount+. We are pursuing the leader of a network of serial killers. It's the new season of the psychological thriller Criminal Minds Evolution. The hunt is on.

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