Suspect in Greenwood abduction, rape believed to be in U.S. illegally

Bar manager tells of seeing the susepct

By CASEY McNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM
Updated 06:11 p.m., Wednesday, June 29, 2011


The suspect who police say abducted and raped a woman last week in Greenwood is believed to be in the country illegally, and jail records show he's being held without bail on an immigration hold.

The 24-year-old man was arrested Tuesday night after a manager Goofy's, a Crown Hill bar, noticed he looked like a man in surveillance pictures distributed last week by police.

Officers, including one who had responded to the Greenwood attack, went to the bar in the 8500 block of 15th Avenue Northwest about 10:45 p.m. and had the man step outside. Police arrested him and reported finding a loaded pistol in his waistband. One of the men in the Greenwood attack had a gun.

He claimed to not be able to speak much English, so officers showed him one of the surveillance photos. He said that he is the man in the photo, according to police.

Police said the suspect's car matched the description of the car used in the Greenwood attack. It was impounded for processing.

Kris Samp, the bar manager, spotted the suspect drinking a Corona and went to Google to find the surveillance images distributed by police. The suspect had been in before, Samp said, but had left by the time Samp said he determined it was the same person.

"I was waiting to see if he came back," said Samp, 24, "and he was dumb enough to do it."

On Wednesday, reporters were waiting for him when the bar opened at 2 p.m., and Samp, who grew up in Lynnwood, received congratulatory messages all day. One was from a young woman who said the suspect robbed her last night.

"She said, 'Hey, give me a call if you find my bag,'" Samp said.

He didn't, and police didn't have details on a Tuesday robbery the suspect might have committed.

The suspect has not been charged, and seattlepi.com does not typically name suspects until they're charged. He was booked into King County Jail Wednesday and has his first court appearance in the case at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Charges are expected later this week.

In the attack, two men abducted a 20-year-old woman off a street early on the morning of June 21. A 19-year-old woman who was with her managed to get away.

The men dropped off the 20-year-old in the 7900 block of Densmore Avenue North about 2:30 a.m.

She was bleeding from a head wound, and police say she had been sexually assaulted.

On Tuesday night at the bar, police found another possible suspect with the 24-year-old man. But police said he didn't match the description of the second man in the Greenwood attack. Police released him.

The 24-year-old suspect on the immigration hold does not appear to have a criminal history in Washington.

Investigators have asked that anyone with information on the second suspect or the incident call (206) 684-5575.

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