West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
5:27 PM: A suspect was booked into King County Jail this afternoon for investigation of homicide – and Southwest Precinct commander Captain Steve Paulsen confirms it’s a suspect in the Fauntleroy murder early this morning (here’s our previous coverage). He will not comment on whether it’s the person that WSB commenters mentioned seeing in the area, but he does say – as he has said in connection with other recent arrests – thanks to watchful residents for reporting suspicious circumstances and sightings. More to come; we’re researching the background of the person who’s been booked into jail.
6:16 PM UPDATE: The suspect is 19 years old, according to SeattleTimes.com (WSB partner). There is no one in Washington state/county/city criminal records with the name that’s listed on the jail roster (also, to answer another question that’s been asked, the suspect’s surname is not the same as that of anyone listed in public records as living in the household where the stabbing happened). We should have a lot more information through the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office after an anticipated bail hearing tomorrow. Meantime, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet announced the victim’s identity, and we won’t publish an ID, either in a news story or comments, until it has been made public either by authorities or by the victim’s family.
6:48 PM UPDATE: SPD Blotter also has just noted the arrest, but no additional information.
(This story will stay atop the home page TFN – please scroll beneath it for other, newer stories. Latest update, 5:24 pm, working to find out whether a suspect booked into jail for investigation of homicde is linked to this case)
(Police car in Endolyne business district, as part of search/containment following nearby stabbing)
12:20 AM: Police are on the way – and you may hear a helicopter soon too – to a reported stabbing in the 9300 block of 44th SW (map).
12:28 AM UPDATE: We have a crew on the way. What we’ve heard from scanner so far: Victim is a man about 60 years old. Multiple stab wounds, CPR under way.
(Photos and video added from here, all by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
12:57 AM UPDATE: Search continues, with K-9, but no suspect found so far. WSB’s Christopher Boffoli is there; he’s been told the victim is believed to be around 65. Scanner indicates no suspect description available so far but the suspect “may be injured.” (If you think you see or hear anything or anyone suspicious anywhere near there, call 911 immediately.)
1:16 AM UPDATE: SeattleCrime.com cites Seattle Fire sources as saying the victim has died. We can tell you that the aid unit in which he was getting CPR never left for the hospital – then, a few minutes ago, left without lights/sirens.
1:35 AM UPDATE: Media have been allowed to leave their vehicles. A briefing is expected shortly. We’ll have details as soon as they’re available.
(iPhone video added – briefing, unedited)
2:02 AM UPDATE: Here’s what Christopher says the media was told: SPD Captain Greg Schmidt briefed reporters, confirming that the victim, in his early 60s, is dead. The 911 call came from the victim’s wife, who was in another room of the house and heard her husband talking with someone, then arguing; when she went out, she found her husband stabbed, apparently in the chest, though SPD cannot confirm number of wounds. The man could not give police any information about the attacker; the wife didn’t see him and didn’t recognize the voice, but it’s believed he was “known” to the victim. This is West Seattle’s first homicide in almost five months; the previous ones were on two successive days, September 22nd and 23rd of last year – first the man killed in Roxhill Park, then the quadruple murder-suicide shootings in southeastern West Seattle.
5:31 AM UPDATE: Still no arrest reported.
8:35 AM UPDATE: Same status; police have posted a short item on SPD Blotter, without new details, except that it mentions a single stab wound to the chest, and asks that anyone with information on the case contact them. Photos added above and below – crime tape across the front of the property, and unmarked (except for the letters/numbers in the back window) Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) vans on the street.
12:23 PM UPDATE: We’ve just checked with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, and they have NOT yet released the victim’s identity. If they DO confirm it – which doesn’t appear to have happened yet, according to the person with whom we spoke – and finish required notifications, the public announcement would likely be late this afternoon.
1:32 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Det. Mark Jamieson from the SPD Media Unit to ask if anyone’s been arrested or is being questioned. “Nobody in custody,” he replies, and no other news to report as “very active” investigation continues.
5:23 PM UPDATE: The King County Jail Register lists a suspect as having been booked into jail this afternoon just before 3 pm for investigation of homicide. We are working to confirm whether this is indeed a suspect in the Fauntleroy case.
(SPD’s Lt. Pierre Davis (left) and Lt. Darin Chinn talk with community members at the SW Precinct)
Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
West Seattle residents and Block Watch leaders gathered Tuesday night at Southwest Precinct for the monthly meeting of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, to hear positive news about recent crime trends – but also to hear a presentation that served as a sobering reminder of ongoing drug problems facing communities as a whole.
SW Precinct Lt. Pierre Davis (pictured above, at left) reported that in the past month, there has been a “39% decrease in property crimes” in West Seattle, following a “spike in activity” in January in which burglaries and car prowls were more frequent.
Lt. Davis said that SPD “mobilized more patrols” in response to that spike, and worked closely with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and community members to identify troublesome individuals and “basically take them off the streets.” He cited yesterday’s arrest of an “active car prowl suspect” as a major success story in these ongoing efforts, which include a crackdown on catalytic converter thefts from parked cars.
A major goal, Lt. Davis said, is to build strong cases against the repeat offenders to keep them behind bars longer – more like “25-50 months” versus much shorter sentences.
In recent reports on crime trends and crime-prevention meetings, we’ve heard it from local police leadership again and again – car prowls (break-ins and attempts) are the crime category that continues to be hard to get under control. But Southwest Precinct Lt. Pierre Davis says there’s good news this afternoon: SWP officers “arrested one of our more active car prowl suspects in West Seattle. (At about) 12:33 PM, the suspect and others were in the area of Erskine Wy SW & SW Hudson street engaging in suspicious activity. Our officers, who responded to the initial call, located the suspects with goods in hand and made the arrest.” (We’re still following up to find out more about the “active” suspect and whether they were booked into jail, and will add that when we find out.)
A Genesee-area cancer patient’s family, hit by a car theft last Mother’s Day (here’s the WSB story from last year), says it’s happened again – this time early Valentine’s Day – and this time, the car had a packed trailer attached, so they are missing a lot more than just a vehicle. It’s a gray 1991 Subaru Legacy Wagon, with DP plates, 02112, and a 4×8 utility trailer with Arizona plates. (Police have already sent it out on their Twitter feed for stolen-vehicle reports – here’s the tweet.) Their firsthand story after the jump:Read More
Collected from the inbox in recent days, seven West Seattle Crime Watch reports – two with photos of loot to be on the lookout for (one of those photos is related to a burglary already reported here). It’s all after the jump:Read More
One week ago, we reported the likelihood of a plea bargain for the second defendant in the Highland Park hate-crime attack on a teenager (the first defendant, 23-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced last month) – and today, that’s exactly what has happened. 21-year-old Jonathan Baquiring pleaded guilty this morning; details from our partners at the Seattle Times. Baquiring will be sentenced on March 11th; he has remained in jail since his arrest last September.
65-year-old Gregory Paul Hess is now charged in the videotaped stickup at Roxbury Shell that brought him the nickname “Polite Robber” – eight years after, as we first reported early Tuesday, he gained infamy as the “Transaction Bandit.” The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Hess with one count of first-degree robbery for last Saturday’s heist. The charging documents reveal a few new details about what happened after the videotaped robbery: First, the station owner didn’t just stand there – he called 911 and then walked out into the parking lot to try to get the license-plate number of the vehicle the robber got away in. The King County Sheriff’s Office (which has jurisdiction because the gas station is outside city limits) got “several tips” on the Monday after the robbery, all identifying the man on the video as Gregory Hess. A detective looked up the name and found it belonged to a 65-year-old man on probation after serving time for bank robbery; federal probation authorities had an address for him in the Top Hat area, and investigators got a search warrant (after the robbery victim identified Hess in a photo lineup). When they found him there, the charging papers say, he told them, “I’m the one you’re looking for.” He also is reported to have pointed them to the pellet gun used during the robbery. While being questioned, authorities say, Hess confessed, saying he got $200 from the robbery and used it to buy food and gas and to pay a cell-phone bill, then depositing the remaining $90 in his bank account. Tonight, he remains in jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, and his arraignment is set for two weeks from today. (Photo: Washington Department of Corrections)
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*On Monday afternoon, a ongoing beef between two groups of teens came to a peaceful end when the heads of the two groups shook hands. Witnesses described the genesis of the disturbance to an officer who, in the report, states, “There was a stand-off much like the one between The Sharks and The Jets, but without the finger snapping.”
*Two juveniles had a verbal argument last week, but the victim of threats told officers he wasn’t too concerned: For one thing, the suspect claimed the incorrect gang affiliation for his part of town. (“He doesn’t live there. He should have claimed “xxxx” gang instead.”) And with street lingo favoring the word “cap” for “shoot,” the victim was apparently reassured when the suspect threatened, instead, to “clap” him.
Ahead, six more summaries, including the forger-turned-nanny and the case of the misplaced car keys:Read More
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
Thanks to Blake for the tip on this: For the second night in a row, Seattle Police officers (including what appeared to be SWAT/undercover officers) showed up in force at a West Seattle location. This time, it was in the 6700 block of California SW. No word if anyone was arrested; before Christopher Boffoli got there for WSB, tipster Blake said it appeared nobody was home when police arrived. Christopher talked with officers, who said they could only say they were there serving a search warrant and conducting an investigation. The trucks shown in our photo towed multiple cars (according to Blake, they were checked out first by K-9). We’ll see if more information is available later this morning.
SIDE NOTE: No indication so far if this has anything to do with last night’s arrest of a man at 41st/Edmunds, but there’s a followup detail on that; the King County Jail Register shows that suspect got out around 9:30 last night after posting bond for $50,000 bail.
THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Seattle Police spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson says it was a “narcotics search warrant served by the (Anti-Crime Team),” no further details at this point.
(Starkenburg at left)
Here at the King County Courthouse, 46-year-old Duane Starkenburg has just appeared for arraignment on the charges he’s facing in connection with three attacks on women in Lincoln Park. He has been out of jail since two days after his January 25th arrest; he arrived at court in a suit and tie. With King County Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler presiding, Starkenburg pleaded not guilty to the two indecent-liberties charges and one attempted-indecent-liberties charge against him. Prosecutors asked not only that he continue to be prohibited from being in Lincoln Park, but also that he be prohibited from being in any public park or “marked walking or jogging trail” in King County, “for the safety of the community.” The judge agreed. Starkenburg’s bail status has not changed; he remains free on $175,000 bond. Next up in the case: A hearing on March 28th. (Photo credits: Top, Tracy Record/WSB; right, Mike Siegel/Seattle Times, republished with permission)
(Updated Wednesday morning with new information from Seattle Police)
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB, added 11:07 pm)
10:16 PM: Breaking right now – what appear to be SWAT officers making arrests in the 41st/Edmunds vicinity (map) on the south side of The Junction. Christopher Boffoli is there for WSB and says what he’s been told so far is that it’s a narcotics operation. The intersection’s blocked off, so steer clear TFN. More to come.
10:39 PM: Christopher says police at the scene confirm narcotics/SWAT officers involved, and that two people have been arrested. A car is being towed away. The intersection has just reopened.
11:30 PM: No additional details – and there may not be any before morning, if then (we’ll be checking the jail register, among other places to harvest info) – but also of note, both Christopher and WSB contributor Katie Meyer report that from observation in The Junction and from radio traffic, this was the result of a planned stakeout, with support units standing by for blocks around until the operation was over. (Christopher adds that Gang Unit detectives were seen participating, too.)
WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: New details from Seattle Police spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson: He says this was part of a “pretty extensive ongoing undercover narcotics operation – involving Gang Unit, Southwest Anti-Crime Team, and members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force.” Over the past month or so, he says, “they had been buying on several occasions from a pretty prolific drug trafficker and gangster … and yesterday they decided to do the ‘order up take down’.” They had just “concluded a transaction and moved in to make the arrest.” The suspect they were seeking is a 40-year-old with a felony criminal history; Det. Jamieson didn’t have information on what kind of drugs he allegedly was dealing, but says he was armed with a “stolen handgun” so he’s been booked into King County Jail on weapons charges as well as drug charges.
We just checked – he’s still in as of 8:30 this morning. (A quick check of his court record reveals a long list of cases, including a Court of Appeals case in he appealed his convictions for “multiple counts of driving while license suspended and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle,” challenging the terminology “immediately” rather than challenging the violations themselves. He lost.) Det. Jamieson says a 48-year-old woman was in the car with him, but she was released after being questioned at the Southwest Precinct.
An update this morning in the case of accused Lincoln Park attacker Duane Starkenburg, the 46-year-old Gatewood man out on bond after being charged in connection with three incidents in which women say they were tackled and assaulted, most recently two weeks ago, the day he was arrested. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says Starkenburg’s arraignment has been moved up a day. Instead of appearing this Thursday, he is now scheduled to appear tomorrow at 8:30 am in King County Superior Court downtown, room E-1201. (For those who have asked about the process – arraignment is usually a fairly short hearing at which a suspect enters a plea, though multiple defendants are usually scheduled in that courtroom simultaneously, and it could be some time after 8:30 before he appears.) KCPAO spokesperson Dan Donohoe says the charges against him remain the same ones filed week before last – two counts of indecent liberties, one count of attempted indecent liberties.
WSB policy is usually not to identify crime suspects until they are charged. But there are a few exceptions – same ones we had while in citywide media – including cases in which the person is photographed/videotaped actually committing the crime. So with that said, we are reporting that 65-year-old Gregory Paul Hess is the man arrested in Top Hat and then booked into King County Jail late last night on suspicion of being the so-called “polite” robber who was videotaped (here’s KING5‘s original story) holding up the Roxbury Shell last Saturday morning.
Announcing the arrest on Monday afternoon, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart mentioned that the suspect had been previously convicted of armed robbery. Researching Hess’s background last night and this morning, we discovered that his criminal past brought him media coverage before: In 2003, he was arrested after a string of bank robberies (none in West Seattle) attributed to the “Transaction Bandit.” As was the case in the videotaped Roxbury heist, the robber in those cases waited until the till was open and then changed from customer to robber. Not only that – the “need money” story told by the Roxbury robber echoes the “Transaction Bandit” saga. Charges against Hess were detailed in this 2003 Seattle Times (WSB partner) story, which began:
Gregory Paul Hess hadn’t worked in months, and he had rent to pay and groceries to buy, federal prosecutors say in court documents filed yesterday charging Hess with bank robbery.
The 58-year-old Seattle man had quit his job steaming lattes at a Starbucks in Madison Park before Christmas, and he was sure his unemployment benefits would dry up any day, according to charges filed against Hess in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
According to federal court dockets we reviewed online this morning, Hess struck a plea bargain in 2004, pleading guilty to three of the five counts with which he was charged. He was sentenced to 4 years, 9 months in prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons website, he was released in July 2007. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says he’s due for a bail hearing at 2:30 this afternoon.
3:38 PM UPDATE: Hess’s bail was set this afternoon at $250,000. Prosecutors have until Thursday to file formal charges.
Two reports to share this morning – one, a car break-in that netted the thieves religious items as well as more common loot, so the victim’s hoping you will keep an eye out in case they were discarded; the other, an attempted car theft. Both after the jump:Read More
Thanks to Kim for pointing out this KING 5 story. The robbery at the Shell station at 2805 SW Roxbury happened Saturday morning in King County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction, not Seattle Police, so it wasn’t on our radar till now. The robber looked to be 60ish and apologized profusely to the storekeeper, as you’ll see in the video; if you recognize him, call 911.
SUNDAY EVENING NOTE: We checked this afternoon with KCSO; no word of an arrest so far.
This morning’s West Seattle Crime Watch update starts with good news before we get to a new crime report. Last time around, we included Shay‘s report about her stolen car. She e-mailed last night to say a WSB’er found it!
Because of you, we got our stolen car back SO MUCH FASTER than I ever imagined. One of your faithful readers read about our incident today, called us, and we found our vehicle! There was damage and my skateboard was stolen, but we can’t be more appreciative of the service you provide for our community. When you have your property violated by strangers, it’s very reassuring to know that there are a whole lot more strangers that actually care.
There was rope left in our trunk and the back bumper looked as though it pulled something along (maybe someone ON my skateboard?). If anyone SAW an old Accord pulling anything (Thursday) night, please let us know.
Now, the burglary report – it happened yesterday afternoon in Arbor Heights, 9800 block of 42nd SW (map):
They kicked in the back door between 12:45 pm and 3:00 pm. They stole our Mac desktop, iPad, and iPod touch, plus my jewelry. The police came and we filed a report. If anyone knows anything please let us or the police know.
Thanks again to everyone whose watchfulness helps catch suspects or at least find stolen property. P.S. Got a Block Watch? Be sure it’s linked up with the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network – currently conducting a survey, too.
Two weeks after the sentencing of one defendant in the Highland Park hate-crime attack (WSB courthouse coverage here), there’s word the second suspect might also enter a plea instead of going to trial. A hearing scheduled today for 21-year-old Jonathan Baquiring was instead postponed till next Friday, and a new document in the online court files explains the delay as: “Parties likely have reached a plea bargain.” A hearing is now tentatively set for next Friday morning; Baquiring’s trial had been set for February 22nd. He is charged with robbery and malicious harassment in the May 2010 attack on Shane McClellan, the teenager beaten and tortured for hours on a Highland Park staircase. The other defendant, 23-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, admitted with his guilty plea that he “maliciously and intentionally … caused physical injury” to the victim because of his race; Mohamed was sentenced to almost six years in prison.
Several West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the WSB inbox – a stolen car to watch for, a stolen car apparently found, and two hit-and run cases, one unsolved – (update: a newly reported roof-rack theft added) – after the jump:Read More
A note from Brendan reminded us that today marked 2 years since 26-year-old lifelong West Seattleite Steve Bushaw died, hours after being gunned down on California SW. If not for a last-minute twist, the trial of his accused killers would likely have been starting testimony about now – but, as reported here last month, two of the four suspects pleaded guilty just as the trial was about to begin, and gave statements that the other two suspects’ lawyers say completely changed the case, which has been described by prosecutors as a revenge plot related to a robbery for which the suspects blamed Bushaw, though police say they had no evidence he was involved. So now , as reported last week, the trial is delayed until June 1st. We just checked the case files; since the last official court proceedings last week, various motions have been filed by lawyers for one of the two remaining defendants, Bryce Huber, including one to grant him two public defenders, on the grounds that the case against him is so complicated he needs two. Nothing has changed in the case of the other defendant, Brandon Chaney. Meantime, the two defendants who struck plea bargains, Danny O’Neal and John Sylve, both are scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Three months ago, we reported on charges filed against Admiral resident Juanita Wright, found to have a blood-alcohol level of .29 after driving into seven pedestrians in SODO. Today, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Wright “pleaded guilty … to three counts of Vehicular Assault and one count of Reckless Driving … The sentence range is 22 to 29 months in prison.” She is scheduled for sentencing February 18th.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the WSB inbox today. First, what appears to be a random case of car vandalism (though the victim’s wondering if it happened to anyone else in the area); second, a report of garage break-ins. Both after the jump – plus a third report that *might* involve a stolen car:Read More
Before the Lincoln Park jogger-attacks case even came to light earlier this week, we had already been planning to visit the King County Jail courtrooms this afternoon. On the docket, a “sentence-revocation hearing” for 20-year-old Skyelar Hailey, the repeat offender sentenced to prison for burglary and theft in fall 2009 (WSB coverage here). He had been in jail since police picked him up in West Seattle on a warrant January 20th. Read More
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