SEATTLE — Seattle police arrested a suspect Wednesday who they say carjacked a beloved 80-year-old dog walker who died after she struggled to protect the dogs, was pushed out of her car and was struck by the vehicle as the suspect fled.
The 48-year-old suspect was identified after someone reported a man hurting a dog in a park about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away. Officers responded and found Ruth Dalton’s car nearby and were able to get fingerprints from her cellphone, Seattle police Deputy Chief Eric Barden said during a press conference announcing the arrest.
The suspect, who had stabbed the dog to death, was later arrested near his home by a SWAT team, Barden said. He was carrying a knife that had blood on it and the keys to Dalton’s Subaru, he said.
“This is a tragic and horrific incident,” Barden said, adding that Dalton was “participating vibrantly in her community … and that was snatched from her and from her family and her friends and the community by virtue of this senseless violence.”
The suspect has eight prior convictions, including a vehicular homicide in 1993, and a history of mental health issues, Barden said.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said late Wednesday that they had not yet received the investigation from the police.
“Charging decisions can be made when a case is referred by police to prosecutors, and those referrals typically happen days after a first appearance hearing,” spokesperson Casey McNerthney said, adding that more information should be available Thursday.
Police responded to reports of a carjacking in the Madison Valley neighborhood at about 10 a.m. Tuesday and found a bystander performing CPR on a woman in the middle of the street, Barden said. Dalton was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dalton was in the driver’s seat when the man got into her car. She fought back as he tried to push her out, Barden said. Several bystanders tried to help her, including one man who approached the car but backed up when the suspect raised a knife, Barden said. The man returned with a bat or stick, but the suspect drove away, hitting several cars and killing Dalton, he said.
Two dogs were in the car at the time, Dalton’s and another, Barden said. The dog that was killed in the park had a tag with Dalton’s name on it, he said. It’s unclear where the other dog went, but Barden said he believed it was safe.
Witness Laura Dynan told The Seattle Times that she was in her house when she heard the sound of screeching tires. She came out and saw Dalton outside her car, struggling against someone inside. Dynan said many people came to the woman’s aid, including one person with a baseball bat. The attacker then backed over Dalton and sped away.
“He did not need to back up,” she said. “This woman was fighting for other people’s dogs and her own dog in this car. Like it wasn’t about the car. It was about the dogs.”