West Seattle, Washington
02 Wednesday
Two reports of vandalism in West Seattle Crime Watch today, including one at a P-Patch that trashed not just gardeners’ hard work, but also crops destined to feed local food-bank clients. From Tiffany, who shared the photo:
I’m writing to let you know that the West Genesee P-Patch (SW Genesee & 42nd Ave SW) was vandalized last night. It happened sometime between 7pm last night and 9am this morning. The vandals overturned our picnic table, threw one of the benches in one of the plots, uprooted plants and tomato cages, and smashed plants. There wasn’t a single plot that escaped damage, though some suffered more than others. We all finally had nice gardens going after a slow start to summer, so needless to say, we’re pretty bummed out. Most disappointing though, is the damage they did to our food bank plot. The vandals completely destroyed all our squash plants, broccoli, and some of the kale and we won’t be able to save those. We will all be salvaging as much of the destroyed plants as we can however, from both our food bank plot and our own plots, and donating it to the food bank so it won’t go to waste.
The silver lining here is that the damage was confined to plants and we won’t have to replace any of the structures. Also, many of the uprooted plants will survive if we can all get them back into the ground soon. It just stinks because we all work hard on our gardens and are happy to be a part of a community garden that brightens up the neighborhood and helps provide fresh food for those in need (so many great comments from people walking by to the Summerfest this weekend!). It’s a blow to have someone come in and try to ruin that.
Anyway, I hope you can post this information on the blog and ask people in the area keep an eye out to help us prevent this from happening again. For now we’ll do our best to get our garden back in shape!
Another vandalism case not far away, after the jump:Read More
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*An alert citizen called 911 early Tuesday to report a suspicious male with a flashlight peering into car windows near the 4000 block of 34th SW. Officers arrived and encountered one of the community’s more prolific thieves. He was carrying a backpack that held two GPS devices, and his jacket pocket contained a large amount of change. The 18-year-old Delridge-area resident was booked into King County Jail.
*Just after midnight Saturday, a taxi driver picked up a fare downtown and drove her to the 6700 block of Delridge. She started to leave without paying. He threatened to call 911. Her response? “Then I’ll shoot you.” The driver called her bluff (and 911) and continued driving until he saw patrol cars approaching in the 6900 block of Delridge. Officers questioned the woman, asking if she had a gun. She opened her purse, which contained a loaded five-shot Smith and Wesson. She was booked into King County jail for investigation of assault.
After the jump, four more summaries, including one with more information on a story covered as breaking news earlier this week:Read More
Two notes in West Seattle Crime Watch today – but first, two notes from nearby communities: Our partner site White Center Now is covering the WC raid that is reported to be linked to a federal sweep today regarding illegal cigarettes. The story’s here. Also, police are asking for help with solving a South Park hit-and-run – details here. Meantime, in West Seattle, we’ve been asked to alert the wider community to an alert that the Arbor Heights Swim & Tennis Club has reported to police about a suspicious stranger, a man reportedly seen hanging around by the back gate of the club three times in the past week (110th/32nd), white, long dark hair, in his 40s, associated with a red Chevrolet Silverado truck, plates have changed (one number given to police turned out to have expired 10 years ago).
Second note: Tom reports his blue Santa Cruz mountain bike was stolen from his garage at California/Raymond on Sunday or Monday, “an older full-suspension model with curved handle bars (not the typical straight handle bars you see on mountain bikes) and boxy looking chain stays.” He’s filed a report, so let police know if you see it.
(May 1, 2011, WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
One morning back in May, we published a short story with two photos (including the one above) of Seattle Police investigators on the “low bridge” – which they had shut down for a short time to gather evidence. No one would comment about which case they were investigating.
This afternoon, we know what case it was: They were investigating the disappearance and death last winter of 24-year-old West Seattle resident Jeremy Peck. You will likely recall the huge search for him in early January, and then the discovery of his body on a Bainbridge Island beach:
(January 2011 photo by Tristan Baurick/Kitsap Sun; used with permission)
He was reported to have been last seen the morning of December 24th at the Admiral Pub.
Seattle Police picked up the investigation, which has been classified only as a “suspicious death.” After doing an autopsy, and receiving toxicology reports weeks later, the King County Medical Examiner told WSB they might never know how he died, unless new evidence emerged.
But now, SPD confirms that a search warrant has been unsealed, and we have obtained the documents including that search warrant, which was for a West Seattle residence. The narrative accompanying the search warrant details why police have reason to believe that Peck may have been killed, including a tip about two men seen putting something heavy into the water from the “low bridge” not long after the time that Peck was last seen. Police tracked down a car linked to that sighting. After it was tested for blood, the documents say, DNA testing matched it to Peck’s blood.
The search warrant was sought in early June. Police tell WSB no one has been arrested, and our check of both court records and the jail register for the two men mentioned in the warrant, so far, does not indicate any charges have been filed either. (WSB policy is to generally not identify suspects until they are charged.) “We have been investigating from day 1, and we continue to investigate,” SPD Sgt. Sean Whitcomb tells WSB. He reiterated that for now, this remains a “suspicious death” and has not so far been classified as a murder.
(Photo by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
Two West Seattle Crime Watch items – this first one, from within the past hour. We received a note asking about a big police response to the Junction QFC. WSB contributor Ellen Cedergreen was there and says some kind of argument/confrontation was involved, apparently involving someone known to frequently hang out outside the store. He had to be subdued, Ellen reports, and a woman who was with him was yelling at officers; Ellen says the two were taken away, as were the dogs they had with them, and that SPD says they’ll be considered to be trespassing if they return to the store. We have an inquiry out seeking more information from police. No injuries reported.
1:18 AM UPDATE: Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams says, “At about 8:07 p.m. officers were dispatched to remove a group of six trespassers from the QFC … At least one of the trespassers also made some threats against the complainant who had called 911. One of the trespassers, an adult male, was uncooperative and threatened the officer’s life. The officer placed him under arrest but had to struggle with the suspect in order to take him in to custody. A second suspect, an adult female who was part of the group of trespassers, obstructed the officer while he was making the arrest so she too was arrested by back-up officers. In addition to the threat charge and resisting arrest, the male suspect will be booked on an outstanding felony warrant. The female suspect will be booked for obstructing the officer. No medical attention was required by anyone involved.”
(back to original 9:12 pm story) Second item:
As reported here on Friday, police say car thieves have been busier than usual lately. Here’s another theft. From J:
My blue 1965 Volkswagen Beetle was stolen from in front of my house … in Fauntlee Hills between 10 pm and 6 am Sunday night/ Saturday morning. If you see this car anywhere else, it is not where it is supposed to be. If anyone does see it give a call to the SPD. They have been contacted and a report has been filed. License plate is 062 zvk. Thank you.
If you see or hear anything suspicious in your neighborhood – particularly around vehicles – don’t hesitate to call 911. That’s the message from Southwest Precinct police, because of what Lt. Ron Rasmussen confirms is “a palpable increase in auto thefts in West Seattle.” We’d noticed the trend and mentioned it as a side note on this unrelated crime story just yesterday, noting that the city police-reports map showed nine auto-theft cases here just from this past Monday through Thursday, and then talked with Lt. Rasmussen today at West Seattle Summer Fest. He says the stolen cars are “mostly mid-’90s Honda products with a tendency toward the Civics. It appears to be occurring mostly between 10 at night and 5 in the morning.” He says no particular neighborhood is getting targeted – it’s all over West Seattle.
(Video of entire sentencing hearing, about 25 minutes, added 5:23 pm)
We’re at the King County Courthouse downtown, where West Seattle catalytic-converter thief and repeat offender Joel Lund, 28, has just been sentenced by Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer. 
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, represented by senior deputy prosecutor Shaya Calvo, had asked for the top of the range available – 29 months in prison; Lund pleaded guilty last month to the charges filed in the case, including malicious mischief for a February incident involving converter theft, and malicious mischief/stolen-property trafficking, related to a variety of cases (including a theft at the Boren School site), but the case discussed most at the sentencing was the one reported here, in which the converter was taken from a vehicle belonging to an disabled 78-year-old woman. Judge Shaffer read a letter written by the victim, saying the theft deprived her of transportation for more than two weeks. “She could have starved,” said the judge, admonishing Lund.
While Judge Shaffer described herself as “notorious” for sentences that included less prison time and more drug-treatment time – the defense had asked for that kind of a sentence – she said that Lund’s repeated crimes in the West Seattle community were, among other things, “callous.” Speaking to her in the courtroom, Lund claimed he wanted to turn his life around now because of his daughter, who is four. But the judge noted that he had repeated convictions every year since her birth, saying it didn’t seem like fatherhood had been a “motivating factor” thus far. (We recorded the entire hearing on video and will upload it to add to this story when we are back at headquarters.) And she ordered the 29-month sentence.
Despite his lengthy history, this will be the first time Lund has gone into the state prison system. His most recent arrest was in April; he had been allowed into a community work-release type of program after the February arrest but violated its terms by getting arrested again, as we had reported here.
If you routinely drive along Fauntleroy near 35th, just west of the entrance to the West Seattle Bridge, you might have noticed a more-visible-than-usual burst of tagging vandalism earlier this week. Part of it is shown above (with the tags themselves blurred, as is WSB policy). Tagging is always a double crime – not only has someone’s property been vandalized, but the owner is usually expected to clean it up, and that can cost. Bob Heinemann knows this firsthand, since the vandalized building is the place where he’ll soon be moving his SIMA Martial Arts studio (it’s currently in the 42nd/Alaska building that will come down when the Conner Homes project starts going up). Just after we took the photo, we met him there, talking to someone about getting it painted over. (By the way, the city has a new paint-out program this summer – check it out here.)
Christina shared that photo of police checking for prints after a burglary at her home on Wednesday:
I came home (Wednesday) to find my house (in the 9400 block of) 14th Ave SW had been burglarized. They broke the lock on my bathroom window and entered through there. They were able to get 2 laptops, 2 digital cameras and a handgun. None of our neighbors saw or heard anything and I happen to have 3 dogs that were kenneled at the time. Once they got what they wanted from the house, they left through the side door. This happened between 11 am and 430 pm. The police were able to life several fingerprints from the window screen that they removed.
Side note: Checking the city online map (which lag at least several hours after incidents are reported), while this does not seem to be a prolific week for burglars so far, nine car thefts have been reported in West Seattle since Monday alone.
Court documents reveal more information about the arrest reported here last week in connection with the attack on a 65-year-old Fairmount Springs woman two months ago – an attack so alarming, it led to a community meeting with a city councilmember in attendance. A neighbor of the victim, 48-year-old Monty Richardson, is charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, and unlawful imprisonment. “The victim in this case easily could have died,” prosecutors write, asking for $250,000 bail and detailing the vicious attack Richardson is charged with carrying out.Read More
September 26th was set today as the trial date for Duane Starkenburg, the Gatewood man arrested in late January and charged in connection with three attacks on women in Lincoln Park. His court appearance today was a brief “status conference”; if nothing changes in the case between now and September, he will appear for a September 9th hearing to confirm whether both sides are ready to go ahead with the trial later that month. (More backstory on the case is in our previous report, from his last court appearance in May.)
The usual place to post lost/found on WSB is the Forum – unless it’s a pet, since they have their own page (several reunions already today!) – but two unusual reports have come in, possibly crime-related, so we’re spotlighting them here – a found safe and a missing/stolen volleyball net (whose owner is offering a reward):Read More
James hopes you will be on the lookout for his car, stolen early today:
We live down on the 5600 block of 17th Ave. My wife and I were up until 2:30 am watching a movie in our living room and I know my 1997 Honda Accord was still sitting in front of our house. About 9:30 am on my favorite holiday (July 4th), I noticed my neighbor’s car sitting in front of my house. At that point I realized my car was gone. My neighbor said they moved their car there about 7 am to do yard work. So sometime between 2:30 and 7 am on July 4th, my 1997 beige Honda Accord was stolen. It has a little Japanese sticker on the gas tank panel. There is nothing fancy about this car. No high-end stereo equipment. No crazy muffler or rims. Just a plain old car. The police responded within minutes and filed a report.
2 West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the WSB inbox, an attempted burglary and a case of vehicle vandalism – read on:Read More
Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: Charges are now filed against 40-year-old John C. Siegel, the man arrested Tuesday night in connection with the fire that investigators say was set that morning at the Gatewood home he co-owns. The charges are 1st-degree arson/domestic violence and domestic violence/violation of a court order. Siegel remains in jail, awaiting arraignment on July 14th; he was arrested after being treated at Harborview Medical Center for a wrist injury that has been described as self-inflicted. Prosecutors have asked that his bail be set at $1 million. More after the jump:Read More
From our partners at the Seattle Times: Isaiah Kalebu has been found guilty in the 2009 South Park murder/rapes case. The woman he killed, Teresa Butz (right), had heroically taken action that saved her partner’s life, before losing her own. His sentencing in August is a formality, as the aggravated-murder conviction automatically means life in prison with no chance of parole, since the death penalty was not sought because of his mental-illness history. Details in the Times report here.
Just got word from Southwest Precinct that there has been an arrest in connection with the May 8th attack that left a Fairmount Springs woman badly hurt. The case raised so much concern, there was a special neighborhood meeting about it a few days later, with precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen and City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen in attendance (here’s our coverage). Precinct operations Lt. Pierre Davis tells WSB an arrest was made just before 5 pm yesterday: “Our detectives did a fantastic job with this case. The arrest warrant was served on the suspect without incident.” We are working to get more details about the arrest, the suspect, and the circumstances of the case, which were all something of a mystery back in May.
ADDED SATURDAY MORNING: Inquiries with police and prosecutors on Friday afternoon didn’t yield much, but overnight we did get a bit of extra information from SW Precinct Lt. Alan Williams, who says the information he could access shows that the suspect (whose name we still don’t know, so we can’t check his/her status through the jail register, and there are way too many people booked for assault/burglary type charges for anyone to stand out as the likely arrestee) “was located in the 1000 block of 4th (Avenue) South and taken into custody without incident.” Because of government closures for the Monday holiday, we don’t expect to be able to get more information before Tuesday.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports out of the WSB inbox. First, another stolen pickup to keep an eye out for – from Rachel:
Stolen 1994 4X4 Nissan pickup, dark gray, turquoise line detail on sides. License Plate: B66561E. American flag sticker in back driver window. Stolen from North Admiral neighborhood 6/30. Call Seattle Police with any information: 206.625.5011
After the jump – a car-prowl case that led to arrests, and the odd item the suspects left behind:Read More
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*Around 6:30 Friday night, a man entered a Junction business, grabbed a purse from a display, tucked it under his jacket and ran down the street. An employee gave chase, yelling at the suspect and finally catching him near California and Alaska. She was able to grab the purse back while the man kept traveling southbound. He was white, aged 30-49, approximately 5’8” and 140 pounds. Several teeth were missing; he wore a black t-shirt, and appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
*After visiting Alki a couple of weeks ago, a Kent resident packed up his beach gear and headed for home. One piece of gear inadvertently left behind was his gun: He assumes it fell from the edge of the truck bed where he had absentmindedly placed it.
10 more summaries (including a string of business break-ins, and the saga of how a dog helped a man get home) ahead:Read More
We’re just out of the King County Jail courtroom again, waiting for a potential appearance by Gatewood arson suspect John C. Siegel. Again today, he didn’t appear (no reason given, but suspects do have the right to waive an appearance), and the judge ordered that he continue to be held without bail. King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe tells us that Siegel will only be slated to appear tomorrow if they have not filed charges by afternoon. If they do file charges tomorrow, his next appearance would be for arraignment. Here’s our original report on his arrest Tuesday night, which links back to our earlier coverage of the Tuesday morning fire that did $100,000 damage to the home he co-owns on 39th SW near Orchard Street Ravine.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
One week ago, a sizable police response at Admiral Chevron caught a few eyes, and brought in a few tips. Getting info on what happened wasn’t easy, even though the topline turned out to be fairly simple: Police spotted a car that turned out to have been stolen, and arrested the man they found at the wheel. But it turns out there’s a lot more to this story, because of who that man is.
You might remember the name Skyelar Hailey (February 2009 mug shot at right), who first made news here for a burglary case two and a half years ago in North Admiral, downgraded to a trespassing conviction, with sentencing in April 2009 that mostly involved community service. That was by no means his first or last brush with the law. He is in jail right now, status “bail denied,” on three issues. Besides the arrest last week, there is a probation hold that traces back to the trespassing case, and a White Center stolen-car case from May that’s still pending. Read on:Read More
Two reader reports tonight – one a stolen truck to keep an eye out for, the other, another encounter that left someone “creeped out” – read on for both:Read More
We’re on our way out of downtown, after a very brief King County Jail courtroom hearing in the case of 40-year-old John C. Siegel, arrested (as reported here last night) for investigation of arson in connection with the fire yesterday at the Gatewood home for which county records list him as co-owner. Siegel did not appear; lawyers told the judge he was “too sick” to come to court today, so the bail hearing is delayed until tomorrow, but they did need to ask the judge if she found “probable cause” to hold him till then. She reviewed documents containing the police report in the case, and said she did. According to those documents, he was found at the burning home, and told investigators he was asleep and woke up to find the house on fire. (His “last known address” is listed on the police report as Mercer Island.) The report says investigators determined the fire was “intentionally set with a hand-held flame to available combustibles,” started in the northwest corner of the house (shown above in our post-fire photo from last night). More details from the report after the jump:Read More
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