EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic details of a crime. Reader discretion is advised. Names of minors have been witheld from this story.
Prosecutors will be asking for the 15-year-old Renton teen, suspected in the rape and assault of a woman in Liberty Park on May 29, to be charged as an adult. Documents stated there was probable cause for 1st degree rape and 1st degree robbery.
A discretionary decline hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m., July 10 in King County’s juvenile courtroom 4, where it is determined whether the suspect will be tried as an adult.
According to details in the report, the survivor got on a bus from downtown Seattle to Renton on her way home around 10 p.m.. Video footage identifies the suspect getting on the bus behind her, and sitting nearby at the back of the bus, with no other interaction.
When they arrived at the Renton Transit Center at around 10:40 p.m., the suspect gets off the bus first. The survivor also gets off the bus, where police state she was “obviously impaired due to her staggered, uneven gait,” according to documents provided by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
Then they appear to have a brief conversation, and head towards South Second Street with the suspect holding the survivor’s bag. Surveillance footage then follows the two walking most of the way to the crime scene, arriving at around 10:51. Charges state the footage appears to show the survivor either pass out or be assaulted. The attack then starts around 12:24 a.m.
Footage shows the alleged rape, assault and repeated kicks and punches to the survivor, who is also repeatedly dragged and then left after almost an hour. Police found the survivor around 3 a.m., two hours after the attacker is shown leaving the premises.
The survivor caught the attention of an officer driving by with a device that acted as an alarm and flashlight, according to court documents. She told the officer she was hurt and needed help, and couldn’t remember the attack. She had been drinking that evening, she stated according to the charging documents.
She was treated at Valley Medical Center and is now recuperating at home. There’s a Facebook donation page for the survivor here to help with bills while she’s off work.
From there, police collected video, phone tracking and ORCA card data. The publication of stills from surveillance footage led to the eventual arrest.
Records from the survivor’s stolen cell phone and ORCA card corroborated the story of the bystander who was with the suspect dropping off the stolen phone at the Fred Meyer. The bystander, who was originally the main suspect, stated he knew nothing about the alleged rape, and spoke to officers after seeing his face on the news, according to the documents.
In the first interview, the suspect told detectives he received a text from an unknown friend to hang out at Liberty Park, and then went to drop off the phone. There’s no footage of a third male, police stated in the charging documents, at the Fred Meyer when the phone was dropped off.
The suspect then came in a second time, where officers showed him photos of the survivor and he admitted to talking to her, and some sexual contact. He was afraid her boyfriend would beat him up, so he thought if the survivor “had a concussion she would not remember him.”
A DNA swab has been taken for the suspect.
The teenage suspect faces possible adult charges next month.
If you have experienced sexual assault and need support, or if you would like more information about sexual violence, call King County Sexual Assault Resource Center’s 24-hour Resource Line at 888.99.VOICE or visit www.kcsarc.org/gethelp.
