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

Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office:

Duane E. Starkenburg, 46, was charged this afternoon with assaulting three women in West Seattle’s Lincoln Park. Prosecutors charged Starkenburg with two counts of Indecent Liberties for allegedly attacking a woman in August and another in December. He is also charged with one count of Attempted Indecent Liberties for the January 25 assault. The defendant was released from jail yesterday after posting bail totaling $175,000. Starkenburg is scheduled for arraignment on February 10 at 8:30 a.m. at the King County Courthouse, courtroom 1201.

Arraignment is when he will enter pleas to the charges that have been filed against him.

ADDED 3:06 PM: We’ve just reviewed the charging papers, and the information is the same as in the “probable cause” documents from Thursday. Prosecutors asked for bail equivalent to what he had already posted – the $175,000 is the sum of the $150,000 ordered yesterday and the $25,000 ordered in Municipal Court the day before – and he remains on order to stay away from the victims and to stay out of Lincoln Park.

EARLIER COVERAGE:
Suspect’s TV interview after getting out of jail Thursday night
Thursday afternoon’s court hearing (with video)
Thursday noontime report of more possible charges
Wednesday night report with police sketch related to December attack
Wednesday afternoon hearing (with video)
First report, from Tuesday evening, with info on suspect’s criminal record

Four hours after we reported here that jogger-attack suspect Duane Starkenburg was getting out of jail, with bond posted by his parents (10 percent of the $150,000 bail), TV crews caught up with him outside the jail. KING 5 has just posted the unedited video of their interview, which you can see above. We watched an edited version at 10, in which he repeated what he was quoted as saying in the court documents mentioned here earlier – that he went to Lincoln Park to exercise and would watch women run, because they’re “half-naked.” He also insists he’ll never go to “any park, anywhere, ever again.” And he says he was the victim in the 2005 road-rage case that’s on his record. Prosecutors are expected to decide tomorrow whether to file more charges against him.

EARLIER COVERAGE:
This afternoon’s court hearing (with video)
Noontime report of more possible charges
Wednesday night report with police sketch related to December attack
Wednesday afternoon hearing (with video)
First report, from Tuesday evening, with info on suspect’s criminal record

Two quick West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the WSB inbox tonight. First, from Susan:

My car was stolen today from my work at the Harbor Marina Office Park at 1001 Klickitat Way. It is a 1998 Blue Subaru Outback wagon license plate 324 ZOR. Please post on the blog in case anyone sees it.

And from K:

We are in the 3200 block of 48th Ave SW near Hinds. Car prowlers were out last night. Neighbor’s car door was open this morning and the entire vehicle ransacked. Kind neighbors found the contents of the glove compartment and placed it in their mailbox. Had to happen between 11 PM and 5 AM this morning. Just a warning to keep doors locked and your vehicles empty of anything important.

Alert neighbors can make a difference – as police reminded us again today with this burglary-busting success story.
ADDED: One more report arrived late tonight, from Mark:

Just wanted to let WSB readers know there was a burglary today in the 9300 block of 31st PL SW. Happened sometime between 1:30 and 6:00 pm. Thieves shattered the back sliding glass door and took off with a laptop and 3 video game systems. Not very smart individuals as they left behind their cell phone and one of their gloves, both taken into evidence by the SPD. Officers also dusted for fingerprints. Hopefully this will lead to their arrest and prosecution.

(WSB photo from January 9th)
The day after we reported that the driver in the 47th/Charlestown crash, Mohammad Nema, was out of jail but shouldn’t have been (here’s our story), we just got word from King County Jail Commander William Hayes that he is now behind bars:

I have had an opportunity to obtain more information regarding Mr. Nema. Our Department never took over guarding him from SPD on January 16th. One of our officers understood that we were to guard him so he booked Mr. Nema into our system. An hour later, it was determined that Mr. Nema was not at the hospital prior to us taking possession. Because we could not take custody of him, we could not book him, and it was coded as an error in the system. However, today Mr. Nema was scheduled for a hearing in court today at the MRJC. He was arrested by the King County Sheriff’s office when he arrived and booked into jail. He is now in our custody.

We just verified that via the jail register – he was booked at 2 this afternoon, bail set at $100,000. We’ll continue to watch the case as he progresses through the system.

(Quick recap if you don’t recall the story: Nema was driving the car that hit a pole at the bottom of the steep Charlestown hill early the morning of January 9, cutting power for hours to more than 2,000 West Seattle homes and businesses. He and his passenger, a woman described as his estranged girlfriend, who had protection orders against him, were cut out of the wreckage by rescuers. Both wound up in the hospital. She got out before he did. He is charged with vehicular assault/domestic violence; investigators believe he was driving drunk.)

(ADDED 6:25 PM: Final 2 1/2 minutes of this afternoon’s hearing; you’ll hear the defense lawyer and judge)
2:57 PM REPORT: We’re at the King County Jail, where Lincoln Park attack suspect Duane Starkenburg has just returned to court.

(ADDED 9:25 PM: Seattle Times photo by Jim Bates, used with permission)
As noted earlier, additional charges are under consideration against him. Besides the two potential cases of “indecent liberties” we reported here around noontime, a third was mentioned in court – a possible case of attempted indecent liberties. Starkenburg’s parents, with whom he lives in Gatewood, were again in court, and addressed the judge, saying they could vouch he would stay out of trouble. His lawyer characterized the alleged grabbing incidents – while not confirming his client had definitely been responsible – as “an inept attempt at meeting people.” The judge cited potential danger to the community in setting bail at $150,000 – less than the $250,000 requested by the prosecutor. He has another court date scheduled tomorrow afternoon, which is also the deadline for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to file official charges against him (he is already formally charged in the Tuesday Lincoln Park grabbing incident, but that is filed with Seattle Municipal Court as a misdemeanor). More to come.

3:23 PM UPDATE: A bail bondsman has told reporters (including us) outside the jailhouse that the Starkenburg family is posting bond to get him out of jail. (The jail register has yet to show that, or the increased bail amount.) We also have just received paperwork to clarify what he’s being investigated for, in addition to the Tuesday incident. The two others happened on August 11th and December 8th – near Colman Pool and near a Lincoln Park stairway. The documents we’ve just received from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tell the story of what victims and police say happened – we will transcribe excerpts here shortly.

3:36 PM UPDATE: In light of word that Starkenburg may be out of jail, we should note that the judge at today’s hearing also ordered him to stay out of Lincoln Park. It was also mentioned that he has a problem with alcohol. Notes from the “probable cause” documents, ahead:Read More

Another burglary arrest confirmed by Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen:

We just arrested a subject for Investigation of Burglary in the 8400 blk of 18th Ave SW.  Big kudos to the observant citizens  who reported suspicious activity in the neighborhood.  Our officers were able to quickly respond and apprehend the suspect.  The suspect will be booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Burglary.  Thank you West Seattlites for taking good care of your neighborhoods. Your willingness to call 911 helps us catch criminals!

46-year-old Gatewood resident Duane Starkenburg is now booked for investigation of 2 counts of indecent liberties, in connection with attacks in addition to the one in Lincoln Park for which he was arrested two days ago (first WSB report here). His bail status is currently “denied” – a change from the $25,000 set at yesterday’s hearing (WSB coverage here) – but the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says he has a bail hearing set for this afternoon. This comes hours after Seattle Police released a sketch they say is related to a December attack in the park (see it here), and urged anyone who might have been a victim of “unwanted touching” anywhere in West Seattle to come forward.

ADDED 12:58 PM: According to KCPAO spokesperson Dan Donohoe, the attacks involved in the new potential charges were in August and December. We reported on an August incident here; December is the time frame mentioned in the SPD sketch release last night. We’ll have more details after this afternoon’s bail hearing.

(WSB photo from 47th/Charlestown investigation scene, January 9th)
The driver charged with vehicular assault in the 47th/Charlestown car-vs.-pole crash earlier this month is out of jail – but wasn’t supposed to be, and a warrant is out for his arrest. So confirms Commander William Hayes of the King County Jail, though he tells WSB they are still investigating how the mistake happened. You might recall that after the crash on January 9th, 23-year-old driver Mohammad Nema and his passenger – an estranged girlfriend who had a protection order against him – both wound up in the hospital. She got out a few days later, but he was still in the hospital when we followed up on January 14th – that’s when we reported that, after investigators determining that he had been driving under the influence, prosecutors charged him with vehicular assault/domestic violence. We kept checking the King County Jail Register for signs that he was out of the hospital and in jail – and then suddenly discovered a few days ago that he was listed as having been in jail for about an hour on January 16th, with the release reason listed as “error”:

Trying to find out who could tell us how that happened, we finally spoke this afternoon with Commander Hayes, who says he doesn’t know – in situations like this, patients are supposed to be transferred to county custody before getting out of the hospital, and apparently Nema wasn’t – the arrest warrant filed yesterday says simply that he “left Harborview.” (The brief notation from January 16th was apparently a mistaken “booking in absentia”). Cmdr. Hayes hopes to have more information on the investigation by the end of the week. We’ll be checking on that, and we’ll keep watching to see if Nema turns up in custody; at the time of the crash, he had a Burien address.

New development tonight in the wake of yesterday’s Lincoln Park attack and arrest. Tonight police have gone public with that sketch they say was made because of an attack in the park last December. They want to hear from anyone and everyone who not only might have had a suspicious encounter in the park, but anyone who might have been subject to “unwanted touching” elsewhere in West Seattle. As we reported earlier today, the man arrested yesterday, 46-year-old Duane Starkenburg, is currently charged only in one incident – and police are working hard to see if there are others he might be responsible for. Here’s their full update.

MONDAY MORNING NOTE: Starkenburg’s entry on the jail register now suggests he’s being held without bail – we’re checking on that – and adds “investigation of indecent liberties.”

Thanks to everybody who called/texted/e-mailed to ask about a police response earlier this afternoon in the Lafayette Elementary/West Seattle High School area. It’s taken a while to assemble the information from multiple sources, but now the Southwest Precinct has filled in the blanks. From Lt. Ron Smith: The original call went out as “man with a gun” in the WSHS vicinity just after 12:30 pm. The accompanying description matched someone officers saw walking with others on SW Lander (near Lafayette). They saw one person putting something behind a recycling bin; police stopped the group and found what appeared to be a black handgun behind the bin. Lt. Smith says, “The handgun was a pellet gun painted black to appear like a handgun. When questioned, the suspect observed placing the weapon admitted to hiding the weapon.” The investigation didn’t stop there – police discovered that suspect and “another male” were believed to have robbed someone at a nearby bus stop, asking for a cell phone and a wallet, and taking a pack of cigarettes from a victim’s pockets. Lt. Smith says they found evidence of more victims – and now they are investigating to see if this has anything to do with car prowls and a stolen vehicle that was foundin the same general area. For now, two male juveniles are in custody, for investigation of robbery.

P.S. Here’s the SPD Blotter version of all this, published a few hours after our story.

(added 12:56 pm, :30 from this morning’s hearing; this courtroom has glass between defendants and spectators/media)
We are at the King County Jail, where 46-year-old Duane Starkenburg has just pleaded not guilty to an assault charge stemming from the Lincoln Park jogger attack first reported here yesterday afternoon. Because of his criminal history, as noted in our story from last night, the judge agreed with the city’s request to set his bail at $25,000. His lawyer says Starkenburg just accidentally tripped the victim and tried to apologize, “but she sprinted off.” Also defending him, in a brief interview outside the courtroom with us and multiple TV news crews, his mother Lois Starkenburg, who said her Army-veteran son, currently unemployed, wouldn’t do something like that. His next hearing is set for early February; if he does post bond, he is under orders to stay away from the victim – “I don’t know her,” he assured the judge – and out of Lincoln Park. As for other charges, that will be up to city and county lawyers to review; right now, he is charged only in connection with what happened yesterday, though a similar recent incident was mentioned briefly when the city was arguing for the $25,000 bail.

Side note that we discovered while researching this story; the family is connected to a tragic crime that made regional news 20 years ago. Duane Starkenburg’s parents, longtime West Seattleites, are also the parents of Kimberly Starkenburg, shot dead in 1990 in a multiple-shooting case for which an already-convicted killer named Charles Corliss was found guilty. That case was NOT discussed in the courtroom – it came up while we were researching Duane Starkenburg’s background last night.

Back to this case: The judge allowed video in the courtroom and we will add ours as soon as we are back at headquarters.

We have two accounts of this incident early today in which a watchful neighbor is being lauded for alerting police to a crime in progress – first, from Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Rasmussen:

At about 5:30 this morning a neighbor noticed a white box van parked in the driveway of a vacant house in the 5400 block of 18 SW and also saw what they thought were flashlights flickering inside the house. The neighbor call the police and our officers responded and contacted two subjects, a husband and wife from South Seattle. Officers were able to determine that the suspects didn’t live in the house and were attempting to take the woodstove from the home. The officers also noticed a large number of what appeared to be new items in the van that had Home Depot stickers on them. When the suspect’s story about the items didn’t add up, the officers were able to contact the manager of the West Seattle Home Depot. He identified the two individuals as persons who had tried to take the same items from his store yesterday. He was able to verify that the items were now missing from the store and had not been purchased. Both subjects were arrested for the burglary of the house and the theft from Home Depot.

We’d like to recognize the neighbor who noticed something out of place and called the police and encourage folks to do the same if they notice things that are out of place in their neighborhoods.

ADDED 12:07 PM: Here’s a neighbor’s account, received a bit earlier – the neighbor asked to be anonymous:

A crime report hot on the heels of your good reporting of Benjamin Kinlow and his send-off last night: (reporting this in case anyone e-mails you to ask you why there were 5 police cars at a house in the Puget Ridge neighborhood this morning:)

This morning, around 5:30 or so, 911 was called when a van backed up the driveway to the garage of a house that has been vacant for the last month. the 911 call was made when people were observed walking through the house with flashlights. after a quick description to the 911 dispatcher of what was happening, 3 police officers arrived within minutes. after a little while, 2 more police officers arrived to assist, and according to one officer, items stolen elsewhere were identified in the van. …

Obviously this is proof that reporting suspicious activity is effective and the police are responsive- thank you to SPD.

And thank you to everyone who shares crime reports – whether an arrest happened or didn’t – with WSB and therefore with tens of thousands of your peninsula neighbors. Here’s how to contact us, 24/7. (But when it’s crime, always call the police first!)

ORIGINAL 5:43 PM REPORT: A suspect arrested this afternoon after an attack in Lincoln Park may be responsible for other attacks, according to Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen. He says the female jogger assaulted this afternoon was not physically hurt. After police set up containment, they caught a suspect, and Capt. Paulsen says detectives will be following up for possible ties to other incidents – including previous cases at Lincoln Park. The arrest happened around 4 pm, according to a WSB’er who says his son saw police “tackling someone” at the park around that time. (Checking our archives, an incident last August is the most recent one we’d heard about.)

6:55 PM UPDATE: There’s now a short summary on SPDBlotter, with a few more details:

On January 25th at approximately 3:50 p.m. a 27-year-old female was jogging on the waterfront trail in Lincoln Park (8000 block of Fauntleroy Way SW) when an unknown male suspect ran up behind her and attempted to tackle her by throwing his arms around her legs. The victim was able to break free and get away. The suspect fled eastbound through the park toward Fauntleroy. The suspect was apprehended by responding officers as he attempted to cross Fauntleroy. The victim positively identified the 46-year-old male suspect, who was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for misdemeanor assault.

Sexual Assault Unit detectives are handling the follow up investigation. It it unknown at this time if this suspect is responsible for any other attacks.

According to the jail register, the suspect was booked just before 6 pm; public records list him at a Gatewood address, less than a mile from Lincoln Park. We’re checking on his record.

7:08 PM UPDATE: The suspect, who we will not name until charged, has a 2005 assault charge on his record. The charge says he attacked a woman in Highland Park in what appears to have been a road-rage incident that started on Highway 509; he followed her to her home, where he pulled over, reached inside her car and hit her in the face before grabbing the cell phone she was using to call 911, and ran off. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to 3 months in jail (with work release), according to the documents in that case, which also show he had prior convictions for assault, property destruction, and reckless driving in the mid- to late ’90s. He is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow morning.

9:32 PM UPDATE: A WSB commenter says she’s the victim from this afternoon’s incident, and writes:

West Seattle- I am the jogger who was attacked this afternoon. I was running on a trail along the upper part of the cliff. I was also surprised by the attack in broad daylight, and I had passed many people out walking their dogs. This is the only time I have ever ran with my cell phone, I recommend everyone to do this, it’s the only reason they were able to catch him. I called within seconds of it happening.

From WSB’s Katie Meyer at the King County Courthouse: Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque has just agreed to push back the trial of the remaining defendants in the Steve Bushaw murder case to June 1st. The delay was requested given what defense lawyers characterized as dramatic changes in the case once the two people who actually shot Bushaw in The Junction in February 2009, Danny O’Neal and John Sylve, struck plea bargains (as reported here earlier this month) – plus, senior deputy prosecutor James Konat also is leading the case against South Park murder/rape defendant Isaiah Kalebu, which has caused some conflicts. More details from this morning’s court session will be added here later.