Mia Zapata
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Mia Zapata
- Genres: Rock
Biography
The Seattle rock scene of the late '80s/early '90s is strewn with musicians whose promising careers were cut short. But one of the most tragic stories was that of Gits leader Mia Zapata, who was murdered just as her band seemed to be receiving the attention it deserved. Zapata was born on August 25, 1965, and grew up in Louisville, KY, where she picked up the guitar and began singing early on. But it wasn't until college that Zapata became heavily interested in music, as she formed the Gits in Ohio during 1986. The group, which featured Zapata on vocals, guitarist Joe Spleen, bass player Matthew Fred Dresdner, and drummer Steve Moriarty, would relocate to Seattle in 1989, just before the "grunge" movement exploded. The group issued its debut album in 1992, Frenching the Bully, and also managed to tour outside Seattle, including a European tour. But the events on the evening of July 7, 1993, would change everything. Zapata left the Comet Tavern after hanging out with friends, and was supposedly going to look for a former boyfriend. A few hours later, Zapata's body was found on a deserted street, roughly two miles from the Comet Tavern -- she had been brutally raped and strangled to death. The album that the group was working on at the time of Zapata's death, Enter: The Conquering Chicken, was issued posthumously in 1994. Sadly, Zapata's murderer could not immediately be found my police. This led to Gits fan Joan Jett (who once compared Zapata's talents to those of Janis Joplin) fronting the band for a live album, 1995's Evil Stig, in hopes of bringing additional attention to the case and hopefully solving the murder. In the ensuing years since Zapata's death, the ex-Gits members issued remastered versions of their two studio albums, and put together an odds-and-ends collection, Seafish Louisville, in 2000. Finally, in December 2002, through DNA evidence a Seattle detective was able to locate Zapata's murderer, who was later sentenced to 36 years in prison. Interest in Zapata and the Gits remains high, as a documentary was issued in 2005, The Gits Movie; an awareness group was formed in Zapata's memory, Home Alive (www.homealive.org); and 7 Year Bitch issued an album as a tribute to Zapata, 1994's Viva Zapata! ~ Greg Prato, RoviRelated Videos:
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Mia Zapata
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Mia Zapata
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| Mia Zapata | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mia Katherine Zapata |
| Born | August 25, 1965 Louisville, Kentucky, United States |
| Died | July 7, 1993 (aged 27) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | Punk rock |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1986–1993 |
| Associated acts | The Gits |
Mia Katherine Zapata (August 25, 1965 – July 7, 1993) was the lead singer for the Seattle punk band The Gits.
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Contents
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Life and career
Zapata was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Zapata learned how to play the guitar and the piano by age nine, and influenced by punk rock as well as jazz, blues and R&B singers such as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, Hank Williams and Sam Cooke.
In 1984, Zapata enrolled at Antioch College located in Yellow Springs, Ohio as a liberal arts student. In September 1986, she and three friends formed the punk rock band The Gits. In 1989, the band relocated to Seattle, Washington. The band released a series of well-received singles on local independent record labels from 1990 to 1991. In 1992, the band released its debut album Frenching the Bully. Their reputation progressively increased within the grunge scene in Seattle, before the band began work on their second and final album Enter: The Conquering Chicken, released in 1993.
Murder
At around 2:00 a.m. on July 7, 1993, Zapata left the Comet Tavern in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. 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 she was seen alive. She may have walked a few blocks west, north to a friend's apartment, or may have decided to take the long walk south to her home.[1]
She was beaten, raped and strangled in the Central District of Seattle. It is believed she encountered her attacker shortly after 2:15 am. Since an employee at the Comet remembered her wearing her headset as she left, it is believed she was listening to music from her walkman and thus was unaware of the attacker approaching.[2]
According to the cable television show Unsolved Mysteries, a man two blocks from the Comet Tavern heard a scream around 3:00 a.m. A woman discovered her body in the street at around 3:30 a.m. near the intersection of 24th Avenue South and South Washington Street in the Central District. According to the medical examiner, if she had not been strangled she would have died from the internal injuries suffered from the beating.
Mia Zapata is interred at Cave Hill Cemetery in her hometown of Louisville.
Legacy
In the aftermath of her murder, friends created a self-defense group called Home Alive, which disbanded in 2010. Home Alive has organized benefit concerts and CDs with the participation of many of Seattle's music elite, such as Nirvana (one of lead singer Kurt Cobain's final public appearances), Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Heart, and the Presidents of the United States of America. Joan Jett also recorded an album with the surviving members of The Gits called Evil Stig ("Gits Live" backwards). The Home Alive group's instructors offered a range of courses, from anger management and use of pepper spray to the martial arts.[3]
In 2005, a documentary The Gits Movie was produced on her life, The Gits and the Seattle music scene. Its first showing occurred at the Seattle International Film Festival in May of that year. Another version of the film appeared two years later at the 2007 SXSW (South By Southwest) Film Festival, and the final cut of the film was released theatrically in over 20 North American cities on July 7, 2008, the 15th memorial anniversary of Zapata's death. The following day saw the film released on DVD along with a Best of the Gits CD (both from Liberation Entertainment).
Following Zapata's death, Joan Jett and Kathleen Hanna wrote a song called "Go Home" that was later released on Jett's 1994 album Pure and Simple. Later a video for "Go Home" was released which depicts a woman being stalked and attacked but is then able to defend herself against the attacker.
The murderer
Florida fisherman Jesus Mezquia was linked to the crime in 2003 when a DNA profile was extracted from a saliva sample left on Zapata's body. It had been kept in cold storage until technology was developed for full DNA extraction. An original entry in 2001 failed to generate a positive result, but Mezquia's DNA entered the national databank CODIS after Mezquia was arrested in Florida for burglary and domestic abuse in 2002.
Mezquia was born in Cuba and lived in Seattle at the time of the murder; his home address was about three blocks from where Zapata's body was discovered. He had a history of violence toward women, including domestic abuse and assault and battery. A report of indecent exposure had been filed against him in Seattle within two weeks of Zapata's murder. However, there was no known prior link between Mezquia and Zapata.
Mezquia never testified in his own defense and still maintains his innocence. A jury convicted Mezquia of Zapata's murder on March 25, 2004, and sentenced him to 36 years in prison. The case was featured on Investigators; Forensic Files; Unsolved Mysteries; American Justice; City Confidential; I, Detective; and 48 Hours. His sentence was overturned by the Washington Court of Appeals but, in 2009, Mezquia was again sentenced to 36 years.
See also
Notes
- ^ Tizon, Alex. "Who Murdered Mia Zapata?" -- No Arrests, Few Clues 5 Years After Slaying." Seattle Times, Sunday, August 23, 1998.
- ^ "Who Murdered The Rock Star?". CBS News. February 11, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/05/48hours/main706348.shtml. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- ^ Seattle Weekly Website; February 18, 2009 issue Retrieved March 5, 2012
www.facebook.com/TheGitsTributeBand
References
- Johnson, Tracy. "11 years later, justice for slain singer Zapata". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. March 26, 2004.
External links
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Mentioned in
Evil Stig
(Rock Band, '90s)
Frenching the Bully
(1992 Album by The Gits)
Evil Stig
(1995 Album by Evil Stig)
Seafish Louisville
(2000 Album by The Gits)
Enter: The Conquering Chicken
(1994 Album by The Gits)
» More