West Seattle, Washington
05 Monday
4:31 PM: With two-plus weeks until Halloween, vandals went on an early rampage:
(Photo courtesy Nicole)
We’ve received multiple reports today of vandalism including pumpkins taken from doorsteps and yards and smashed in the street, and decorations (such as the headless skeleton, above) stolen and dumped, along streets both east and west of California, from at least 42nd SW to 49th SW, between roughly Hinds and Genesee. The skeleton, we’re told, has been claimed, but a few more items are still waiting to be found by their owners – Lara sent these photos of a metal pumpkin and Seahawks wreath that turned up on her block, near 42nd and Charlestown:
If you’re missing something, let us know so we can add it.
ADDED 5:44 PM: The photo and report are from Stephanie:
I wanted to add a photo to your article in regards to vandalism that occurred on Genesee Hill last night. Looks like they snatched a stroller to use for pumpkin transportation. There is a pumpkin stem in the seat. Hopefully someone will recognize this Bob stroller abandoned mid block on the west side of the street on 45th between Andover and Dakota. It is a faded lavender color.
FRIDAY P.S. Don’t miss the comments – in which the culprits are reported to have apologized.
One brief West Seattle Crime Watch reader report … we’ve heard from another recent burglary victim. Sorayah in Morgan Junction reports, “My roommate and I had our house burglarized (Tuesday). They came in through our living room window, completely trashed the place, and stole a bunch of items. We live on the 6500 block of 42nd Ave SW.”
Just got the photo via text from Aaron:
My “new” 1986 Toyota pickup I just bought and restored was just stolen from in front of my house at 44th and Dakota. License #C09191E.
If you see it – call 911 and refer to incident # 15-359078.
In West Seattle Crime Watch today – another burglary report:
I’d like to get the word out that my home on Fairmount Ave SW was burglarized yesterday during the daytime while my roommates were at work. I arrived home from a trip to see they broke a window in the kitchen & had stolen items from each of my roommates.
David says his house is toward the water end of Fairmount Ave. With reports of three other burglaries in recent days, we took the occasion today to check the SPD Police Report map, sorted for burglary reports, showing nine:
You can sort the map by crime type via controls on its left side (click the image above to go to the live map, where you can also see the locations of these and other crimes, plus time/date reported, by clicking each icon). But as we’ve noted in the past, the map has some omissions – for example, it’s not showing the business break-in in the 3400 block of California SW that was part of our coverage on Saturday. It’s not caught up with yesterday yet, so David’s break-in isn’t shown. And from Tweets by Beat (you can see the West Seattle sectors’ tweets any time on the WSB Crime Watch page), we also have these four:
-Reported this morning, 3200 block SW Morgan
-Reported last night, 9600 block 47th SW
-Reported Monday afternoon, 4400 block 42nd SW
-Reported Monday morning, 2nd SW/SW Michigan
So, by our compilation, that’s 15 burglaries reported in the past week, up from where things were trending at the last West Seattle-wide briefing.
As promised, we’ve followed up today on Sunday morning’s burglary in the 8200 block of California SW, with a nearby resident seeing it happen and calling it in, but police not arriving until after the burglar was gone.
The 911 call was made at 11 am, as we reported on Sunday – the witness has record of that on a cell phone screen. The first officer to arrive at the house was shortly after quarter past – we happened to see it firsthand, because we are based a few blocks south and happened to be heading out on an errand at the time.
Here’s what SPD told us happened in the meantime.
*The dispatch went out at 11:03. An officer was headed to the house by 11:09.
*Before arrival, police got word the burglar(s) had left (11:14, the witness said), and so instead of proceeding immediately to the house, they tried to find the vehicle, using the description and plate (Washington AWB5824 – here’s a photo from the witness):
As the witness told us, they spotted a car they believed to be the vehicle, and they tried to pull it over – but the driver didn’t stop, and proceeded “in an unsafe manner,” as SPD put it, so officers were told to terminate the pursuit, which is SPD policy if it’s believed to be a threat to public safety. From the SPD pursuit policy, which you can read in full here:
…3. Officers Will Not Pursue Without Justification
The circumstances justifying the decision to pursue an eluding vehicle must be articulable at the time the officer initiates the pursuit.
Officers will not pursue solely for any one of the following:
– Traffic violations / Civil Infractions
– Misdemeanors
– Gross misdemeanors
– Property crimes
– The act of eluding alone4. Officers Will Cease Pursuit When the Risk of the Pursuit Outweighs the Danger to the Public if the Suspect is not Captured
Following up on one other point from our original story – the SPD spokesperson with whom we spoke hadn’t seen anything about the mention of “shift change” and did not think that was related. The case is open, SPD verifies, and detectives have “good information” to follow up on.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:
GATEWOOD BURGLARY: For at least the third time this weekend, there was a burglary on California SW. We reported Saturday on two business break-ins, in The Junction and South Admiral; today, burglars hit in Gatewood, in the 8200 block of California SW. A neighbor reports seeing the burglars break in and carry out “duffel bags and TVs” while the victims were away on an errand; the neighbor called 911, but the burglars were gone before police arrived. The neighbor called 911 at 11 am; she says police arrived after the burglars left at 11:14. (We happened to see the first car pull up, as this is a couple blocks away from WSB HQ and we were passing by.) The neighbor says the 911 operator mentioned “shift change” as a complication; we don’t know what else was happening in the sector at the time, as we were away from the scanner, but we’ll be following up with SPD tomorrow.
CAR PROWL: Karen e-mailed today to say that “our car was broken into Friday night. It was in front of our house on Hanford St SW, near 36th Ave. They smashed the passenger side window but we didn’t have anything worth taking, luckily.”
ORIGINAL REPORT, 11:32 AM: An unpleasant surprise for the proprietors of Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) as they arrived this morning to get their shop ready to open for the day – someone broke in overnight. “Not very much” was stolen, Click! proprietor John Smersh reports; they’ve been cleaning up to get on with the day – and the night, since, as noted in our daily preview, this is Click!’s 11th anniversary and they’re planning a 5-8 pm party. That’s definitely still on, John says, so they hope to see you there.
P.S. Because of the cleanup, they’re not opening for the day until 1 pm.
ADDED 3:39 PM: John had said a police officer told them another business, in South Admiral on California SW, had been broken into early today as well. We couldn’t find it on the SPD map or in Tweets By Beat at the time but have since learned via a reader tip that it happened at the live-work offices in the 3400 block of California SW.
4 PM: We have since heard directly from the burglarized business, Guenther Group, confirming theirs was the business broken into by someone who smashed through the front door (in Click!’s case, it was the rear) early this morning.
Nine months ago, 33-year-old Emanuel Kozma was found in a treehouse, where he’d tried to hide from police searching for him in connection with package and mail thefts in Alki. He subsequently was charged with three felonies and has been in jail since his original arrest on January 8th. Last month, a jury found him guilty of theft; today, he was sentenced – and is about to go free, having been sentenced to what amounted to time served.
In addition to the theft case, Kozma also had pleaded guilty to two other charges – one, a plea bargain that brought the burglary charge in the Alki case down to criminal trespass, the other in a case for which he had a warrant out for his arrest when caught in Alki. In that case, he pleaded guilty to felony harassment. Charging documents in that case say he had threatened to shoot and kill an 18-year-old woman who was described as a friend, when she avoided responding to his requests to drive him to a probation appointment. The threat happened near Kozma’s home in White Center in the summer of 2014.
Court documents say Kozma’s criminal record – with three and a half pages of convictions – goes back 20 years, to age 12, with what’s described as “numerous misdemeanors and felonies” along the way, including harassment, assault, indecent exposure, and weapons charges. Today, Judge Dean Lum sentenced Kozma to a year in jail, suspended while he is monitored for two years, plus what amounted to the time he’s served since the January arrest, 274 days. He’s still on the King County Jail Register right now, but court documents say the judge signed the order for his release (a drug warrant from Everett is still listed on the register, and it’s not clear whether that’s been resolved, so we’ll continue checking on his post-sentencing status). The photo above, by the way, is the most recent one the state Corrections Department had when we requested it after his arrest.
(WSB photo from Saturday)
The 18-year-old arrested in connection with last Saturday’s house fire on 31st Place SW is now charged with second-degree arson. Ezekiel M. Hoskins was arrested blocks away from the scene of the fire, less than two hours later. Charging documents include the same details we reported the day of his bail hearing, that his girlfriend said they had argued earlier in the day and that he had threatened to set the house on fire. Police say he told them he was smoking in the house that afternoon and that his discarded cigarettes might have ignited the fire, but he denied deliberately setting it; court documents say he was seen walking away from the house before an explosion that preceded the fire. While his girlfriend was quoted as telling investigators that Hoskins lived in the house, which had belonged to a relative, charging papers say he told police he had been living elsewhere with his aunt, but that they were unable to verify it. Also, while we couldn’t find a criminal record for him in previous checks, the court documents say that as a juvenile, Hoskins had two robbery convictions in the past two years. Before SFD cleared Saturday’s fire scene, a firefighter suffered a hand injury and had to be taken to the hospital. Damage to the house and its contents is estimated at $105,000; Hoskins remains in the King County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
This marble bench graced ARK Park at 42nd SW and SW 102nd in Arbor Heights, in memory of a little life lost, until a heartbreaking discovery: Someone has stolen it. They had to have known it was a memorial, given this plaque:
Allexandra Ramona Kimball is the park’s namesake and inspiration; as noted here in 2009, the first anniversary of her birthdate was the day ground was broken for the park. While the land is owned by neighboring Arbor Heights Community Church – which also operates ARK Preschool in her memory – it was created for the entire neighborhood, and has been the site of block parties and other celebrations. The bench is described as “irreplaceable to those who were affected by her short, sweet life.”
(Screen grab from SPD police-report map, filtered to show car prowls)
CAR PROWL TURNS TO BURGLARY, PLUS, THE STATS: Those are all the car prowls on the Seattle Police report map for West Seattle right now – 16 of them, dated from last Wednesday (September 30th) to last Sunday (October 4th). The default map view is supposed to show the entire past week, but we usually notice a few days lag, and indeed, checking Tweets by Beat (which we aggregate automatically on the WSB Crime Watch page), we see three more from the past two days, so that’s 19. And that’s not even counting the one reported to us this morning by Paul from the 3800 block of 34th SW (map) – that would be the 20th in one week – which he says preceded a burglary:
At approximately 4:05 am today, our dog started barking and we heard someone getting in a car and heading down the alley behind our house, between 34th and 35th. I went into our attached garage and found the garage door to be open and some items were missing. We quickly discovered that the burglars had broken into our car which was parked in the alley and gained access to the garage door remote.
If you could, please ask readers if anyone on or around the 3800 block of 34th SW or 35th SW saw any people or cars around 4 am today, or if they have any security camera footage that they could review. A car prowl is one thing, but a break-in while we’re at home is pretty brazen and unnerving, and any help would be appreciated.
Police did respond and investigate, Paul says. Meantime, another reader report from the queue:
ONE MORE CRIME WATCH NOTE: You might call this one a drive-by theft. It happened Sunday evening, Barry reported – “… a black backpack with wallet, cell phone, and medicine was stolen from the end of the blind alley off Walker between California and 44th. Construction crew working on our house were preparing to leave and were collecting their equipment when a SUV drove down to the end of the alley snatched the backpack and backed out of the alley very quickly.” It was a black Billabong backpack and has been reported to police.
NEXT WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL MEETING: 7 pm Tuesday, October 20th, at the Southwest Precinct – come hear crime updates and bring your concerns for Q/A with police.
Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: 20-year-old Alicia J. Goemaat is now charged with second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend’s 17-month-old son, Drue Lehto. The allegations are the same as described at the time of her bail hearing last week – that she kicked Drue in the abdomen twice, then put him in his crib, and that’s where the child’s father found his son dead after returning from a trip to the store; court documents say she later confessed to kicking Drue after becoming angry when he and her son, a few months older, fought over a toy. Goemaat remains in the King County Jail, now awaiting arraignment, with prosecutors asking that her bail remain set at $1 million.
As shown here last night, neighbors have started a sidewalk-side memorial for Drue; his father’s family is raising money online for his funeral, and gave us permission to use the family photo shown above.
(Police and fire investigators at scene on Saturday)
An 18-year-old man is in jail, suspected of setting the fire that damaged a house in the 9200 block of 31st Place SW on Saturday afternoon. SFD confirmed on Monday that the fire had been ruled arson, but we weren’t able to confirm until this morning that a suspect is in custody. Court documents say he is the boyfriend of the 18-year-old woman who was found outside the house, “screaming and crying,” as it burned. She is reported to have told investigators the suspect lived inside the house, and that when they had argued earlier in the day, he had threatened to set it on fire. She also said the house, described by SFD and in an online complaint as “vacant,” had belonged to a relative of her boyfriend and that he had been staying there because he was otherwise homeless. A neighbor told police he had seen the man walking away from the house just before an “explosion” that preceded the fire. The suspect was found “on a pathway near the Roxhill Park entrance,” according to the probable-cause document, and recognized by officers “from prior contacts” (he does not, however, appear to have a criminal record, either felony or misdemeanor). He was booked into King County Jail on Saturday night; on Monday afternoon, a judge set his bail at $25,000. Prosecutors have until tomorrow to file charges.
As they had promised in the note published here this morning, neighbors created a sidewalk-side memorial tonight for 17-month-old Drue Lehto, who died eight days ago of internal injuries that police say his father’s girlfriend confessed to causing by kicking him. They told us other community members had stopped by to add small tributes – stuffed animals, candles, flowers. It’s in a tree well along the sidewalk in the 6500 block of California SW, just south of the Morgan Junction apartment building where Drue died; you are welcome to add to it, they said. Meantime, the accused killer remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail; we’ll likely hear from prosecutors tomorrow about charges.
(Family photo, taken the day Alex left Harborview)
That’s Alex, who survived a crash on Fauntleroy Way north of Lincoln Park four weeks ago. His mother Katie e-mailed to say that investigators are still looking for the driver who left the scene:
On 9/8/15 around 9:30 pm my son was involved in a hit-and-run accident on Fauntleroy and Othello. He was admittedly going over the speed limit when a white truck pulled out in front of him, cutting him off. The driver of the truck then stopped in the middle of my son’s lane, causing my son to hit the back driver’s side quarter panel. The impact threw him off his motorcycle and into two parked cars. The motorcycle slid for quite a ways in the middle of Fauntleroy. The driver of the truck then backed up, looked at my son, and then drove off … leaving my son screaming in pain, asking for help.
Two followups this morning in the case of 17-month-old Drue Lehto (family photo at right, republished with permission), who died eight days ago in a Morgan Junction apartment, with his father’s 20-year-old girlfriend in jail for investigation of homicide:
First, neighbors invite you to join them tonight in an informal memorial. Alexa told us via e-mail, “There will be a few of us neighbors setting out a small memorial for baby Drue, the baby killed last week, (tonight) at 8:30 by the building [6533 California SW]. Just some flowers, candles, and stuffed toys, no formal event, but others are welcome to come join to pay their respects or stop by the next day to add to the memorial.”
Also, Drue’s aunt Samantha shares word of this crowdfunding page raising money for funeral expenses.
In the criminal case, meantime, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has until tomorrow to file charges against the suspect, who, according to court documents, had lived for about half a year with Drue, his father, and her own toddler from an earlier relationship. She remains in King County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
ORIGINAL SATURDAY REPORT: From Jenny, who says this happened in the Whale Tail Park area:
My car was stolen from out front of my condo on Alki last night after around 10:30 PM, plate number NP06983, black 2011 Honda Element with upgraded wheels. Please keep an eye out for me; my hopes of recovering it are slim, but any help is greatly appreciated.
This is also on SPD’s @getyourcarback Twitter feed.
SUNDAY UPDATE: Jenny confirms that (as reported in a comment) the Element has been found. Missing a few things – including those wheels – but she has it back.
Earlier this week, one of our West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports featured video of a package thief, carrying the loot down the street. So what can you do to prevent, or at least deter, someone like him? The newest newsletter from the Southwest and South Precincts‘ Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon answers that question (ADDED AT END – a new reader report of local package theft):
Package thefts are crimes of opportunity. Thieves will follow or watch for FedEx, UPS, US Mail and other delivery trucks and then target a home after a delivery is made. Often packages are simply left at the doorstep of the home and in plain view of the street. Package thefts from doorstops and front porches during the day usually increase between the months of October and January. There are steps you can take to be proactive in keeping your package safe from theft. To reduce the chances of being victimized by package delivery thieves, we offer the following advice:
Tracking and Delivery
Last night, we published Laura‘s reader report about would-be car thieves who tried repeatedly – and failed repeatedly – to get away with her classic all-original 1972 Chevy Malibu. She now has the video from her Harbor Avenue building’s surveillance camera. First, they pull up to “assess the scene,” as Laura puts it:
Then, this clip is a compilation “a compilation of three trips to the car. And they’re in order. On the last one he’s trying to hotwire it. You can see the dome light flickering.”:
It all happened, Laura says, between midnight and 1 am this past Tuesday. If you have a tip for police, the incident number is 15-341205.
P.S. You might have seen Laura and her car at last month’s West Seattle Car Show:
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports: First, off Harbor Avenue, two people tried to steal Laura‘s 1972 all-original Chevrolet Malibu Monday night/early Tuesday morning. She got this image from the building surveillance system:
Here’s what Laura found inside the car:
She continues, “They made three different passes at the car between 12 and 1 am but inevitably could not start it due to a bad carburetor. … As you can see there is substantial damage. With classic cars, even if insurance covers the cost of damage, you can’t always restore the value once something has been repaired.” She’s hoping to get clearer images from the system soon, but for now, she wanted to get the word out and warn others.
The second report is from Westwood, where another Laura reports her car was broken into:
This morning I discovered my car had been prowled in my driveway near 22nd Av SW and SW Barton. No forced entry, kids probably forgot to lock it. A red bag with a Chinese design was taken. Motion sensor lights did not deter this thief, and the dog must have slept through the whole thing.
Maybe you’ve seen some of what car prowlers stole from Ashley last night?
My car was broken into last night on the corner of 48th Ave SW and Dawson St. My work badge from Seattle Children’s Hospital was stolen as well as a large pink beach tote with our last name on it full of beach toys, towels, and spare clothes and diapers, and my son’s school tote with his coat. I am certain that none of this is at all meaningful to the thieves but it is to me!! I wonder if they threw it out after looking through it. If anyone finds it, I would so appreciate getting it back!!
After receiving Ashley’s e-mail, we checked online SPD records for the past week.
Above is what the SPD Crime Reports map shows right now, dating back to last Tuesday – the car prowls on the map, north to south, are: Alki/61st, last Tuesday morning; 45th/Hinds, last Friday morning (reported here); 2900 block of Avalon, last Friday morning; 4000 block of 42nd SW, last Tuesday night; 5600 block of 35th SW, last Tuesday night; last Friday night, 2800 block of SW Barton; last Wednesday evening, 9400 block of 16th SW. To doublecheck the files, we also reviewed Tweets by Beat (which continually update on the WSB Crime Watch page), and found six others that hadn’t made the map yet, besides what Ashley reported above:
*4000 block of SW Brandon, reported this morning
*4000 block of Admiral Way, reported this morning
*3000 block of 38th SW, reported Monday morning
*1600 block of SW Roxbury, reported Monday morning
*4000 block of SW Concord, reported Sunday afternoon
*3000 block of SW Orleans, reported Friday night
(Also not listed, we noticed while checking the archives, the 8800 block of 40th SW car prowl reported here on Sunday.)
P.S. – PROWLED LATELY? Some “found item” listings turn up in the WSB Forums, like this one, so be sure to check there.
Three West Seattle Crime Watch notes this evening:
PACKAGE-THEFT VIDEO: This reader video is from 34th and Morgan, 6:43 pm this past Thurdsay:
Two people go through a gate, come back out, enter the next one, and when they emerge, the first person is carrying something extra – which the person whose system recorded the video says is the bag delivered to their doorstep from Macy’s. Let police know if the people in the video look familiar.
CAR BREAK-IN: In Upper Fauntleroy this morning, 4 am in the 8800 block of 40th SW, a car window was broken and “some sports gear of minor value stolen.” The victim says a neighbor’s security camera recorded it (we’re asking if they have any images to share) and that the “video showed that the people who did it looked into several cars with a flashlight before breaking into ours. Definitely a good lesson to not leave anything in your car (even though in our case it was just two small bags)!”
SPEAKING OF BAGS: The person who found this one thinks it’s probably discarded loot from a home or car break-in – it wasn’t far from what’s been a burglary/car-prowl hotspot lately – so take a look:
The finder says, “My husband found this backpack in the alley behind our house. (Between 35th & 36th, Findlay & Brandon). All of the zippers were open. There are some workout clothes and shoes still in it. I know there have been quite a few break ins lately. Would love to get it back to
its proper owner.”
A reader e-mailed this alert for others who use the Alki Trail:
I wanted to share an incident I witnessed yesterday (Thursday, 9/24). At about 4:30 PM I was walking on the bike path in the 3000 block of Harbor Ave [map] and saw a man in the driver’s seat of a white pickup truck parked facing northbound with no pants on, masturbating. I didn’t stop or slow down, but called 911 as I kept walking. They said they’d send someone out. Once I got about a hundred yards down the path I looked back, but he was gone. I doubt the police were able to find him. I wish I was brave enough to try and get a video or photo for police, but didn’t want him to know I noticed what he was doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy does this regularly, so a heads-up to the other walkers, joggers, and bikers to be on the lookout. I didn’t get a good look at his face, but he was white, had a bit of a belly, and was wearing a white t-shirt (and nothing else). His truck was a little older, maybe 1995-2000, possibly extended or crew cab.
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