Suspect charged with murder and animal cruelty in fatal carjacking of 80-year-old dog walker
SEATTLE — Prosecutors in King County filed charges Friday against a man they say forced his way into a vehicle occupied by a beloved 80-year-old Seattle dog walker and then he ran her over, killed her and later stabbed her dog to death.
Jahmed Kamal Haynes, 48, was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree assault and first-degree animal cruelty, according to a court filing. Prosecutors asked that he be held without bail, and the judge agreed. Haynes is expected to be arraigned on Sept. 5.
It was not immediately known whether Haynes had an attorney or would be assigned one by the King County Public Defense Office. Officials said they did not believe Haynes knew Dalton.
Ruth Dalton was parked on the side of the road in Seattle’s Madison Valley neighborhood around 10 a.m. Tuesday when Haynes got into the passenger seat, prosecutors said. Dalton began to drive away as Haynes tried to take control of the vehicle, prosecutors said. He pushed her out and into the road, backing her into several parked cars before running her over as he fled the scene, prosecutors said.
Several bystanders tried to intervene, one carrying a bat or stick, but Haynes threatened them with a knife, prosecutors said. After he left, the witnesses attempted life-saving measures, but Dalton died at the scene.
After leaving the neighborhood, Haynes stabbed Dalton’s dog to death in a park, prosecutors said.
“The sheer brazenness of the defendant’s actions that morning was only further demonstrated by the manner in which he disposed of evidence of his crimes: throwing Dalton’s dog in a trash can and destroying Dalton’s phone,” Deputy District Attorney Brent Kling said in his request for a no-bail period.
Seattle police identified the suspect after someone reported a man hurting a dog in the park. Officers responded to the scene and found Dalton’s car nearby and were able to obtain fingerprints from her cellphone, Seattle Police Deputy Chief Eric Barden said at a news conference Wednesday.
When police arrested Haynes at his home, he had a knife with blood on it and the keys to Dalton’s Subaru, Barden said.
Haynes has an extensive and violent criminal history, prosecutors argued when asked to hold him without bail.
He was convicted in 1993 of vehicular manslaughter for driving recklessly through Seattle streets and careening onto a sidewalk, striking multiple vehicles and killing one driver. After serving his sentence, he was convicted in 1999 of robbing a Safeway store with a BB gun and grand theft auto, Kling said.
While in prison for those crimes, he attacked two prison guards in 2003 with a 12-inch piece of metal that had been sharpened to a blunt point, Kling said.
“In short, the level of violence the defendant has demonstrated he is capable of, not only on the day the current charged crimes were committed, but also over the past 30 years, demonstrates a propensity for violence that conclusively demonstrates that he poses a danger to the community,” Kling said.
The judge agreed.