Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Titled “The Woman,” Dateline: Unforgettable‘s upcoming episode will follow the investigation of Katie Sepich’s murder. The episode will be aired on Oxygen on Thursday, February 1, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET.
22-year-old graduate student Katie Sepich was found dead near a Las Cruces landfill in New Mexico. She was reportedly strangled and sexually assaulted by Gabriel Avila, a 23-year-old married man. Before her murder, she was last seen leaving a local house party, which she attended after visiting several bars over the Labor Day weekend in 2003.
Katie Sepich’s roommate had reported her missing when she didn’t return home that night. The case took a dramatic turn after authorities found Katie Sepich’s shoe outside her window. Her then-boyfriend, Joe Bischoff, and a few of her friends accompanied her at the party before she left the place early on August 31, 2003. Bischoff and Sepich allegedly had a heated argument before she left the party. He told authorities they were planning to get married after he gave her a ring, Oxygen reported.
Authorities found that Gabriel Avila assaulted and murdered Katie that night. He reportedly sexually assaulted her and strangled her before putting her in the back of a pickup truck. He dropped her body off at a landfill. Avila attempted to burn the remains and destroy all evidence but only managed to burn parts of her body while the rest of the remains were found unburned.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that Katie Sepich had left her keys and purse at the party that night and decided to climb her bedroom window to avoid disturbing her roommate. Gabriel Avila had been following her home after he almost ran over her while driving his truck. He allegedly claimed that he was only following her to make sure she got home safe before he impulsively attacked, raped, and murdered her.
How was Katie Sepich’s murder solved?
Oxygen reported that after Katie Sepich’s body was found, the DNA samples found in Katie Sepich’s fingernails and other parts of her body were updated in the national forensic database. Avila’s truck’s tire tracks were another major piece of evidence. They led up to the exact location where Sepich’s remains were found.
On November 13, 2003, Gabriel Avila was arrested for breaking into an apartment with a knife. The two women who lived there managed to avoid getting attacked by locking themselves in the bathroom and calling 911. As per the Albuquerque Journal, the following year, Avila was convicted of aggravated burglary and intent to commit aggravated assault.
However, he managed to escape authorities until November 2004. Avila was caught again and sentenced to nine years in prison. The sentence was for the burglary and assault as well as the refusal to return leased property, which he was charged with in April 2004, when he rented a Sedan and failed to return it. Authorities then took his DNA, which was now available in the forensic database.
Two years into his prison sentence, the DNA sample matched the DNA found at the crime scene. Investigators then searched the truck Avila used to move Katie Sepich’s body and found Katie’s ring in the vehicle. Gabriel Avila pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping, murder, and tampering with evidence.
Following the introduction of the Katie’s Law in New Mexico in 2006, anyone arrested on a violent crime is required to submit a DNA sample, Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
Watch the upcoming Dateline: Unforgettable episode to learn more about Katie Sepich’s murder case.
