Sebastian and Atif’s false confessions are, in fact, evidence of innocence. They expose Atif and Sebastian’s true motive for providing false confessions: to convince Al that they would not be arrested for the Rafay murders. This is the only way they could convince Al that they (Atif and Sebastian) were not a liability to Al and his criminal organization.

These “confessions” contain many of the hallmarks of a hastily constructed lie:

  • They are inconsistent (both with one another and over time);
  • They are factually inaccurate;
  • They do not contain realistic detail;
  • They are based entirely on media reports and various prompts and suggestions from Al;
  • Most importantly, they contain absolutely no hold-back evidence (information only the killer would know).

The Rafay Burns Appeal Committee has reviewed the RCMP transcriptions of the undercover scenarios that took place on July 18 and July 19 of 1995. What follows is a piece-by-piece analysis, with quotations, which demonstrates that these phony ‘confessions’ are completely false.

These quotations are from the RCMP transcription of the undercover operations of July 18, 1995 and July 19, 1995.


Sebastian’s Clothing:
Sebastian’s first explanation to Al is that he disposed of the clothes he wore when he murdered the Rafay family. This is false. Police confirm Sebastian wore the same clothes before and after the murders were committed.

Al: Blood on your clothes? Why not?
Burns: Because um, they’re, they’re gone.
Al: Gone where?
Burns: They’re disposed of, I guess.
Al: Well where, tell me ‘cause they could have ‘em.
Burns: Um, in uh, like a dumpster downtown.
Al: Okay, good. And uh, whatever you used to fuckin’ do it with?
Burns: In a dumpster.

Later, Sebastian changes his story and tells Al he killed the Rafay family without any clothes on.

Al: So what’s this about the shower?
Burns: Took a shower to clean off, you know blood and that kind of stuff. Um, yeah I just…
Al: And they’re not gonna find your clothes, ‘cause they’re gonna, is there blood on your clothes?
Burns: No there wasn’t, those clothes are gonna be gone now anyhow, but no there was no blood on them.
Al: There was no blood on ‘em?
Burns: No.
Al: How do you fuckin’ uh, hit someone with a baseball bat, have to shower and have no blood on you.
Burns: You do it naked.

Later, Sebastian changes his story again, saying he had underwear on when he murdered the Rafay family. He doesn’t remember what he did with the bloody underwear.

Burns: Okay. Actually, I just remembered one detail, sorry. Um, I had a gonch on.
Al: Great, where are those gonch?
Burns: They went in a garbage can or something.
Al: They’re not the fuckin’ boxer shorts that are in the dryer or whatever they’re talking about there?
Burns: No, definitely fuckin’ not.


Discarding the evidence:
Al is concerned about police finding incriminating articles, like bloody clothes and the murder weapon. Can Sebastian assure him they won’t be found? Sebastian tells Al he put each incriminating article into a different dumpster in downtown Seattle.

[This is both factually inaccurate and inconsistent: 1. police photos prove Sebastian did not throw his clothing away; 2. Sebastian said the murders were committed without clothing; and 3. Al and Sebastian do not know about or discuss the second murder weapon – a sharp, possibly metal, object – so they cannot discuss how this object would have been eliminated after the murders.]

Al: Okay how’d you know they didn’t find it [the baseball bat]?
Burns: They, they kept saying they hadn’t, in the press and stuff and whatever, they kept saying they hadn’t found the murder weapon yet. And like it could be just a front or something but I, I figure that um… you know, it’s in a dumpster or something downtown how the fuck they can get it.
Al: Yeah if it’s in a dumpster, as long as they empty the dumpster right away. What day of the week did this happen?
Burns: A Tuesday night.
Al: Hopefully they don’t empty the dumpster on Tuesday morning that’s all I’m thinking. And yours and your friend’s clothes were both in there?
Burns: In dumpsters.
Al: In different dumpsters all over? Not, not like, yours and his aren’t together?
Burns: Each article was in a different one [dumpster].
Al: It [blood] wasn’t on your shoes or nothing, you, what’d you do with your shoes?
Burns: Hucked ‘em away.
Al: Okay. And the fuckin’ the bat, like that bat’s got a lot of blood on it?
Burns: Yeah but it’s, it’s long gone.
Al: How’d you wipe it off?
Burns: In the shower.
Al: In the shower?
Burns: Mmm hmm. It’s long gone.
Al: So if they ever did found it, it can’t come back to any blood on it?
Burns:  Well…
Al: Well…
Burns: Well…it’s long gone.
Al: Okay

Sebastian continues to attempt to convince Al that the evidence will not be found by telling him that he and Atif entered the dumpsters and buried each piece of incriminating evidence deep into the garbage.


The VCR that was stolen from the Rafay home:

Al: What’d you do with the V.C.R.?
Burns: Uh, went and fuckin’ buried it in some dumpster they won’t find it in there.
Al:  Well like…
Burns: Just well, fill, filled with garbage basically dug down right, stuck it in there sort of thing…


The baseball bat (the only publicized murder weapon):

Al: Did you put it in the same dumpster as the bat?
Burns: No man, all different.
Al: The bat’s gone, ‘eh?
Burns: Yeah.

While with Al, Atif asks Sebastian if they discarded the evidence in three dumpsters. According to Sebastian’s story from the previous day when Atif was not present, each article was in a different dumpster, meaning evidence would have been discarded into over a dozen dumpsters. (During the story the dumpsters also transform into trash cans.)

Rafay: Um, may-maybe it was thrown out down to the road or something. I-I don’t know, I can’t remember. Uh, how many-how many things did we visit, three?
Burns: Trash cans?
Rafay: Yeah.
Burns: More than that I think…

Al asks Sebastian if the clothes were thrown away in bags. Sebastian says they weren’t thrown away in bags.

Al: Put the clothes in bags or just turf, turf ‘em without bags?
Burns: Uh, mostly just without, but I just mixed it with all this other crap and like some garbage and fuckin’…
Al: Garbage from the house?
Burns: No I mean there’s all this garbage in all those fuckin’ dumpsters.
Al: Oh…Oh…Whose car were you using to get rid of this?
Burns: Atif’s parents, it’s the car we have now.
Al: They’re spread around? Okay, we won’t have to worry about that.

The next day, when Atif is present, the story changes and Atif and Sebastian tell Al that they carried the evidence around in a bag, but neither Sebastian or Atif can tell Al where they found the bag.

Rafay: Bat in a plastic bag, right. Um, it had been washed. Um,….
Burns: The plastic bag we used to carry all the crap in like the bat just in case…make sure there’s nothing on the ground.
Al: Where’d you get that from?
Burns: Some fuckin’ Glad bag or something like that, I don’t know if we….
Rafay: It-it was, I think it was just a regular handy, dandy plastic bag.
Burns: From like the house or something.
Al: From the house?
Burns: I think it was from the house, man. …

Sebastian tells Al he discarded each piece of evidence in a different dumpster and that he mixed each article of clothing, shoes and the murder weapon with the garbage. In order to do this he would have had to climb inside dumpsters (over a dozen dumpsters) and would have stunk of garbage and filth when he entered Steve’s Broiler at midnight. He would not have had a chance to bathe before meeting with police at 2 am. There is absolutely no evidence and no possibility of Sebastian climbing into dumpsters.

Sebastian also told Al he and Atif transported these bloody items from the Rafay home to the various dumpsters in downtown Seattle in the Rafay’s car. This car was seized by the Bellevue Police, was thoroughly searched, and was in the police’s possession for weeks. No victims’ blood or DNA was found in the car. This is impossible considering the amount of blood at the crime scene.

Sebastian told Al he and Atif threw Atif’s clothes away along with his own, even though Sebastian maintained Atif didn’t participate in the killing and didn’t have any blood on his clothes. Sebastian cannot remember which of Atif’s articles of clothing were thrown away.

Al: Okay. And Atif was naked too?
Burns: No he was just standing far away.
Al: But he threw his clothes away too?
Burns: Um…no he didn’t, so that’s why uh…
Al: See – hold on for one second, back up here. You told me you threw different articles of clothing in different fuckin’ dumpsters. You and Atif?
Burns: Yeah.
Al: Whose clothes went in the dumpster?
Burns: Uh, mine and I think like some of his but I, I, I seem to remember something about him perhaps having worn like one article of clothing throughout and I don’t, I don’t know what it was.
Al: Then why would you throw the clothes away if there’s no blood on ‘em?
Burns: Just, I don’t know…
Al: Huh?
Burns: I don’t know, just I thought it prudent to do so.

In contrast, Atif tells Al he and Sebastian threw the evidence out of the window of the car.

Rafay: Uh, hucked out the window with it. Those-those ones there at least, uh, the socks and we had gloves, they got hucked out the window there and, uh, (laughter).

At this point, Sebastian says the clothes may also be in trashcans.

Al: So all the clothes go into a dumpster or out the window.
Burns: Everything went into like trashcans or dumpsters…whatever.

Even though Sebastian has assured Al that all the evidence has been eliminated, and that there would be no fingerprints because he wore gloves, Al continues to express concern that the bat may be located and that Sebastian’s prints will be on the bat. At this point Sebastian tells Al the bat was shrink-wrapped in plastic during the murders. [This is impossible as pieces of the bat were lodged in the wall at the scene of the murders].

Burns: …there’s a, there’s a plastic wrap that, that was on the bat and that was removed. And um…


Gloves:
Sebastian says that in addition to throwing all the articles of his and Atif’s clothing, their shoes and the known murder weapon away in different dumpsters all over downtown Seattle, he wore gloves while he murdered the Rafay family, as an additional precaution. This is also false. The state’s fingerprint expert testified that if the assailant wore gloves he would have found glove marks. The state’s expert didn’t find any glove marks—he found fingerprints.

Burns: I, I also had uh, gloves, and so there’s no prints on the bat, the gloves, are gone.
Al: With your clothes, or separate?
Burns: I can’t…( INDECIPERABLE NOTED)
Al: What do you mean stop (INDECIPERABLE NOTED).
Burns:  …but you uh…
Al: And you say you had gloves on when you did that?
Burns: Yeah.
Al: Okay. Well we take care of it eh. What kind of gloves you have on?
Burns: Kind of um, thick like sort of garden type gloves.


False confession does not incorporate the incriminating DNA
the killer left in the garage:
Al questions Sebastian about his movements in the Rafay home. Sebastian was only in the garage when he and Atif returned home from the movie at 2 a.m., long after the Rafay family was murdered. However, Tariq Rafay’s blood was found in the garage, literally mixed with an unknown person’s DNA. Sebastian doesn’t pick up on Al’s cue to incorporate the garage into his false confession.

Al: … this blood in the garage, concerns me, why would there be blood in the garage? You didn’t walk through the garage carrying your clothes or nothing?
Burns: No.
Al: How’d you go out of the house?
Burns: Uh, upstairs.
Al: Well is there a hall in there?
Burns: Sorry uh, that doesn’t make any difference uh, up-up the stairs like uh, through a, a sliding door, there’s a door upstairs.
Al: It goes right outside? So you just had a change of clothes there or what?
Burns: Um, yeah.


False confessions contains numerous mentions of a false clothing changes:
In the previous section, once again Sebastian tells Al he had a change of clothes for after the murders. This is false. Police photos confirm Sebastian wore the same clothes before and after the murders occurred.


Timing of the murders:
Al asks Sebastian when he committed the murders. Sebastian tells him it was during the movie, The Lion King.

Al: So when’d you fuckin’ uh, do the dirty deed?
Burns: Uh, during the movie.

This timing, although consistent with official police theory, is inconsistent with the testimony of two reliable state witnesses—witnesses testifying for the prosecution. Neighbors on either side of the Rafay home heard the murders. Each independently participated in sound-recreation tests conducted by the Bellevue Police Department. Entirely independent from one another, these two neighbours identified the murder weapon and the same time frame. One neighbor told police he heard the noises between 9:45 and 9:50 p.m., and when it was just starting to get dark, but was still light out (end of civil twilight was 9:44 p.m. on July 12, 1994) 1. The other neighbor told police she heard the noises at 9:56 p.m. Both neighbors were certain they no longer heard the noises by 10:15 p.m.

Because of this time frame, it’s impossible Atif and Sebastian could be responsible. Atif and Sebastian were seen at the movie theatre until after 10:05 p.m.: the curtain malfunctioned at the beginning of the movie and Sebastian complained to the manager after Atif and Sebastian ran up and tugged at the curtain.


Obtaining the Murder Weapon and gloves:
Sebastian cannot remember where he and Atif obtained the baseball bat, which was the only publicized murder weapon.

Al: Where’d you guys get the baseball bat from?
Burns: Um…I can’t fuckin’ remember. I think it was like just kicking around or something.

The baseball bat was not the only murder weapon; forensic evidence confirms that the Rafay family was also attacked with a sharp object. Sebastian doesn’t know about the sharp object that was used in the killings because he is not the murderer and because information about this second murder weapon was not released to the public.

Sebastian cannot remember where he purchased the gloves or the murder weapon and he cannot remember when they were purchased. [Remember, the state’s fingerprint expert testified the murderer did not wear gloves and forensic evidence shows there was an additional murder weapon].

Al: Where’d you get them [the gloves] from?
Burns: Um, um…I can’t remember, I think we bought them either in uh, Vancouver or Bellingham, but no where around Seattle or anything like that.
Al: Just for this?
Burns: Yeah.
Al: You didn’t buy them in Seattle?
Burns: No, we didn’t buy shit there.
Al: And the bat wasn’t bought in Seattle you say?
Burns: No.
Al: Where’d that come from?
Burns: I think Bellingham or something.
Al: Were those bought too?
Burns: That’s, I think it was bought in like Bellingham or something like that. But…
Al: By you guys?
Burns: Yeah, I’m trying, I think by me but um, it’s totally like uh, cause…I, I was [(INDECIPHERABLE) noted in transcripts].
Al: How soon before this?
Burns: A few days before.

Sebastian cannot remember who (Atif or Sebastian) chose the baseball bat.

Al: Who chose the bat.
Burns: Uh, I can’t remember.
Rafay: We mutually did…I assume…most of the, this was mutual and-and-and…. [ellipses in RCMP transcript].


Location of the get-away vehicle:
Sebastian cannot tell Al where he and Atif parked the car.

Al: When you guys did this where’d you park your car?
Burns: Um, like um, just like a different street kind of like and then there’s like just basically waiting, you know walk discreetly and that and then we’re there.


Motivation for bludgeoning, as opposed to other methods of murder?
Atif and Sebastian provide a ridiculous explanation as to why they didn’t use firearms to murder the family.

First, they didn’t know where to buy a gun:

Al: All you need is a fuckin’ twenty-two, pop-pop-pop.
Rafay: We didn’t know where to get firearms.
Burns: We had no one to tell us where to buy it back then…

Second, they thought the gunshot residue would be too difficult to wash off, even though they didn’t know about the existence of gun-shot residue tests until after the murders. [Remember, the real murderer would have been bathed in blood, tissue and bone, which would have been difficult to impossible to wash off completely—much more difficult than gun-shot residue. Both Sebastian and Atif were examined with blood-detecting lamps following the murders and neither had even trace amounts of blood on their skin.]:

Rafay: Plus they did a [gun-shot] residue test immediately after. It was brutal. Yeah.
Burns: Yeah, I guess, you may know, they know about that but, you know, at the time I-I was fuckin’ introduced to it when they did the test.
Rafay: Yeah…and uh…
Burns: Maybe luckily if we would have you know gone, washed up or whatever but…
Rafay: But apparently those-those residue tests are pretty minute. Like, we’d have to really wash up. Like, I-I wouldn’t trust it.


Why didn’t their co-accused, Jimmy participate in the murders?
Sebastian also provides a ridiculous explanation as to why Jimmy didn’t participate in the killing of the Rafay family.

Al: Why didn’t he [Jimmy] help you?
Burns: I don’t know, he was busy.

These scenarios help us understand Al’s source of control, Al’s goals and why these undercover tactics are known to elicit false confessions. Al is convinced Sebastian will be charged for the murder of the Rafay family, and proves this to Sebastian using fabricated evidence, including the phony Bellevue Police Department memo. Al has made it clear he doesn’t trust Sebastian or Atif in prison: Sebastian knows Al is a murderer and is in charge of an underworld operation. This knowledge is a prized commodity that can be traded for freedom.

Al will destroy this evidence if Sebastian and Atif tell him the story and show Al they are solid. Instead of providing the truth, the purpose of these confessions is to make Al believe Sebastian and Atif are both reliable, competent and ‘solid’ (solid = murderers). Atif and Sebastian need Al’s help and Al is only willing to give it on his terms, and his terms are the confession.

The RCMP is believed to have conducted about 200 of these undercover sting operations during the last decade. In this case and many others, operations are launched when all physical and circumstantial evidence points away from the accused.

Canadian law does not prohibit undercover officers from staging beatings with fake blood (most recently staging beatings of female officers), falsifying evidence, threatening murder, pretending to have murdered, and giving the target thousands of dollars in return for his/her dependency and loyalty.

1 U.S. Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.p
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