By Denver Pratt

The Bellingham Herald

Thirty years after Amanda “Mandy” Stavik was abducted, raped and murdered over Thanksgiving weekend, CBS News’ “48 Hours” will take a look at what it took for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office to find her killer in a feature set to premiere tonight.

The hour-long special, called “Mandy Stavik: The Case No One Could Forget” will air at 10 p.m. today on CBS, according to a CBS News press release.

“What was really striking to us was how vividly and emotionally everybody in that community we spoke to remembered Mandy Stavik and what happened to her,” said Alec Sirken, a producer for the special. “Thirty years later, the tough cops we spoke to were shedding tears about this case. They get choked up talking about Mandy, which is kind of incredible and speaks to the impact she had on that small community.”

Stavik disappeared Nov. 24, 1989, while jogging near her home on Strand Road in Clipper, near Acme. Three days later, the 18-year-old’s nude body was found in the south fork of the Nooksack River.

In December 2017, now 52-year-old Timothy Forrest Bass, of Everson, was arrested in connection with Stavik’s 1989 death. Bass’ coworker, Kim Wagner, had collected a plastic cup and Coke can Bass drank from and discarded. Wagner turned the items into sheriff’s detectives.

Bass’ DNA was a match to the suspect profile, leading to his arrest and eventual conviction.

A jury found Bass guilty May 24 of first-degree murder for Stavik’s death. The jury also returned special verdicts for Bass of first-degree rape, attempted first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and attempted first-degree kidnapping after his three-week trial.

Bass was sentenced to nearly 27 years in prison on July 2. He maintained his innocence and appealed his conviction days after sentencing. His appeal is still pending, according to court records.

Bass is currently incarcerated in the Clallam Bay Corrections Center on the Olympic Peninsula, according to the Washington State Department of Corrections. He has not had any infractions since he was transferred to the prison in early July, a DOC spokesperson said.

Greg Fisher, a development producer for the special, said he first became aware of the case after he noticed an article about Bass’ arrest that was flagged in CBS’ weekly round-up of possible stories. A few months later, Fisher sought out a detective with the sheriff’s office whom he was referred to ask about the case. Since then, they’ve been following the story, Sirken, the producer, said.

The “48 Hours” special will feature the first network television interviews with two women, Merrilee Anderson and Heather Backstrom, who came forward to detectives in 2013 about “creepy encounters” they had with Bass around the time of Stavik’s murder.

The women were chatting while at a water park while their kids played, and the conversation shifted to Stavik’s murder. Both women turned to one another and said they knew who killed the young woman, the release states.

After sharing stories with one another, Anderson decided to speak with detectives. It was at that point that Bass became a suspect.

The special also has interviews with Wagner; Stavik’s mother, Mary; Bass’ ex-wife, Gina Malone, who testified against him at trial; as well as Bass’ defense attorneys and more, the release states.

Sirken said their show differs from the ABC “20/20” special that aired on the case in late September in the way they tell the story. In addition to the interviews with Anderson and Backstrom, Sirken said the production team did many of the interviews on the scene or out in the community where the events of the case took place. He said it helped to tell the story vividly.

“Our style is just very different,” Sirken said.

Sirken said the team behind the special hopes to highlight the “incredible investigative work” by the sheriff’s office, as well as from community members who never forgot the case. The photographs and things people say about Stavik make it apparent how special she was, Sirken said.

“Thirty years later they’re still feeling how special Mandy is. I think that’s the thing that will come out from our story,” Sirken said. “Mandy Stavik, she only lived 18 years, but she will never be forgotten in that community. I think her story will really reverberate with viewers all over the country when they see it.”