King County detectives have suspect in custody in Marymoor assault case
Published 11:30 am Tuesday, February 7, 2017
King County Sheriff’s Office detectives revealed on Tuesday that a DNA hit has led to the identification of a male suspect in a violent assault on a woman that occurred on the Marymoor Park Trail last August.
The suspect is in custody.
“Due to the continued investigation, the prosecutor’s office has requested that no further information be released at this time,” said King County Sgt. Cindi West in a press release.
An earlier Reporter story noted that the suspect jumped out of the bushes and grabbed the 42-year-old woman while she was walking her dog on the trail on Aug. 5, according to West in August.
Redmond police and other law enforcement officers responded to the reported assault near the 5100 block of Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast at about 7 p.m.
According to West, the woman, who received serious injuries to her face and a dislocated elbow, was taken to a nearby Overlake Medical Clinic for treatment. West said the woman was admitted for a day or so.
“A man walking on the trail nearby heard her yelling and went to investigate. The suspect fled on foot into the bushes,” West said. “She aggressively fought back, which may have saved her life.”
On Aug. 16, Redmond-area residents and community members gathered at Marymoor for a Walk for Safety to show their support for the woman, according to a Reporter story.
Sharon Ilstrup, a Redmond resident who lives on Union Hill, was one of the event’s organizers and said she and a friend came up with the idea of a walk to celebrate the woman — who people at the event called a survivor, not a victim — and her strength and courage.
“This is a walk for her,” Ilstrup said, adding that the survivor and her family would have attended if the attacker had been caught.
While the survivor, who grew up in the Redmond and Kirkland area, did not attend, she did give Ilstrup a written statement to be read to the crowd. In that statement, the survivor voiced her and her family’s support for the event. She also described her attack, stating that her attacker attempted to strangle her to death. The survivor’s statement encouraged people to look for the attacker, and she also thanked the witness who came to her aid.
“My family and I are so grateful to him and I truly owe my life to him,” her statement read.
Members of Elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu also gave a demonstration featuring some self-defense tactics people could employ if they found themselves in a similar position as the survivor.
During the walk, attendees walked along the Marymoor Park Trail and stopped near the area where the survivor was attacked. When they reached that point, the group sent a unified message to her to “Be strong,” which was met with applause.
Following is a public statement from the victim, which the Reporter obtained from the victim’s sister via Ilstrup:
First I want to thank the King County Sheriff’s office and the King County Prosecutor’s Office for their continued work, diligence and support over the last six months. Many other local police departments, FBI, Crime Stoppers and the media did their part in getting the word out, assisting in the investigation and trying to keep the public safe from this man.
I want to thank my family, friends and community for your continued support.
My focus has been on recovery, protecting the public from this man and on making a strong case for the prosecution. I continue to recover physically and mentally. The public is safe with the man identified and in custody. Now I want to focus on what I can do to ensure he is in prison and off the streets for as long as possible.
I have faith in and support the prosecutor’s plan and reasons behind not releasing additional information at this time. I hope and ask that the public and media give them the time needed so they can do their part preparing the best possible case.
It is not over yet, we still need to put him in prison for a very long time so that he is not able to hurt anyone else ever again.
