Mia Zapata

Mia Katherine Zapata (August 25, 1965 — July 7, 1993) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and lyricist for the punk rock band The Gits. After gaining praise in the emerging grunge scene, Zapata was raped and murdered in Seattle in 1993 while walking home from the Comet Tavern at the age of 27.^[1] The crime went unsolved for a decade before her killer, Jesus Mezquia, was arrested in 2003. The following year, Mezquia was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 36 years in prison.^[2]

Shortly after 2:00 a.m. on July 7, 1993, Zapata left the Comet Tavern, a dive bar in Capitol Hill that was a popular hangout for the Seattle music community.^[3] She stayed at a studio space in the basement of an apartment building located a block away and briefly visited a friend who lived on the second floor. This was the last time Zapata was seen alive. She may have walked a few blocks west, or north to a friend's apartment, or may have decided to take the long walk south to her home. Her body was discovered at 3:20 am. near the intersection of 24th Avenue South and South Washington Street. Zapata was beaten, raped, and strangled, and it is believed she encountered her attacker shortly after 2:15 a.m. Her body was not initially identified as she had no identification on her when she was found. An episode of the cable television show Forensic Files revealed that she was identified after the medical examiner, who was a fan of the Gits and had been to their concerts, recognized her. According to the medical examiner, if she had not been strangled, she would have died from the internal injuries suffered from the beating. According to court documents, an autopsy found evidence of a struggle in which Zapata suffered blunt impact to her abdomen and a lacerated liver.^[4]