Background
GoFundMe for Kathy Mouser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-an-old-school-hacker
On October 14, 1995, 14-year-old Genna Gamble was grounded. She called a few friends, put off doing her chores, and then – after her mom Kathy went off to teach aerobics, and her stepdad Doug went to grab some training disks and check a couple of servers at work – she snuck out of the house. Her body was found later that day in a wooded area thirty minutes from her Modesto, California home.
Despite other suspects and several reported sightings of Genna later in the afternoon, after Doug had already returned home, Modesto police targeted Genna’s stepfather. Without physical evidence connecting Doug to Genna’s death, the police and district attorney built their case with bad science, lazy theories, and conveniently-omitted facts.
Using junk science, evidentiary loopholes, and abhorrent digital forensics, the Stanislaus County District Attorney secured Doug’s conviction. Doug has been eligible for parole since 2011. He’s been denied every time – not because he is a danger to the community, or because of any misconduct in prison – but because he continues to maintain his innocence.
Doug is 63 years old. He has served over twenty-three years in prison. He will die in prison unless he admits guilt or proves his innocence.
In 2023, as I was investigating cold cases in Canada, I discovered Doug’s case. What caught my eye was the use of photographs to achieve precise measurements from human skin, which was the only link used to put Genna in Doug’s car. I was incredulous. The use of forensics by the district attorney was so exotic and unusual, there’s even a Forensic Files episode on it.
I read on, through thousands of pages of court documents, pleadings, transcripts, and news articles. And I understood that not only was the trial unfair, and the science bad – the result was wrong.
And I learned about Doug as a person. I learned that Doug was like me. He was a systems administrator, a coder, and loved science fiction and astronomy. He even ground his own telescope lenses by hand.
He was a hacker.
A maker.
A nerd.
One. Of. Us.
The more I read his case the more upset and angry I became. This was an innocent man in prison. So Doug and I got in touch, we started talking about his case, his family and his work. We bonded over coding, hacking and cybersecurity. He worked at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, one of the coolest facilities in the 80s and 90s that a hacker could dream of.
I learned why Doug had been denied parole, and about the backwards rules that require an inmate to admit guilt in order to be released. Doug refuses to take responsibility for a crime he didn’t commit and one committed most egregiously against his own child.
Instead of choosing freedom, Doug chooses the truth.
Now our phone calls or “Sundays with Doug” are a weekly occurrence for me and my friend in Valley State Prison, Chowchilla. After Doug spent years trying to prove his innocence with a pen and paper, he now has pro bono attorneys on his side, who will take up the fight for his life and his freedom.
Wrapped inside this tragedy is a beautiful love story. Kathy and Doug Mouser celebrated their 38th year of marriage in 2023 with over 700 visits to see Doug in prison. They are all that each other has. And Kathy needs help. Kathy faces medical bills, vehicle repairs to be able to travel to see Doug, and household bills that are now climbing to levels that are not sustainable.
Too often, society is unaware of the lifelong damage caused by wrongful convictions, both to the wrongfully convicted and to their family members. From the indignities, surveillance, and expense of prison visits, to the loss of financial support, communication, and intimacy, families endure decades of pain and heartache. Without recognition and support, these innocent men and women are left to bear the burden of the criminal justice system's mistakes alone. This is why we are standing up to fight for Doug Mouser, who has been serving time in prison for over 23 years for a crime he did not commit.
We believe he deserves justice and we are calling on my community of hackers, forensicators, DJs, journalists, short-sellers and fighters to join us in this battle to bring Doug home.
I want to make sure that when this fight is done, everyone lands on their feet and we can open our arms to Doug in our hacker and OSINT community and welcome him to where he belongs.
So he can go home to Kathy.
Please donate, share, make noise, call a journalist, write your local representative, call a friend, or post it to your Instagram, Snapdizzle or whatever other crazy platforms the kids are using these days.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Let's go get ‘em.
Justin Seitz
Twitter: @jms_dot_py
Help an Old School Hacker’s Family