Tagged: crime

TACOMA, Wash. — The voyeurism and child pornography trial of missing Utah mother Susan Powell's father-in-law is under way with jury selection in Washington state, and Powell's parents are hoping the case sheds some light on her disappearance.

Authorities say vandals have destroyed eight recently planted trees in Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum.

LONGVIEW, Wash. — A suspected shoplifter pulled a small sword on a security officer who tried to stop him at the same Fred Meyer store in Longview where a guard's ear was cut with a hatchet in December in another shoplifting confrontation.

A fight over unwanted sexual behavior may have led to the apparent murder of a patient at Washington’s Western State Hospital. Prosecutors have not yet filed charges in connection with the death last Friday.

It was around 3 o’clock last Friday afternoon that staff at Western State found the victim, 28-year-old Paul Montefusco in another patient’s room. Lt. Chris Lawler of the Lakewood Police Department describes the scene.

“The victim that was on the floor had a pen shoved into one of his ears and he had like some shaving cream on his head. So it didn’t look like an expected death or a natural death.”

The former treasurer of a charity affiliated with the Ronald McDonald House has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for embezzlement.

RENTON, Wash. — The Washington State Patrol says a trooper fired a shot at a fleeing car after it ran over his foot during a traffic stop on Interstate 405 Monday morning at Renton.

Trooper Julie Startup says the shot missed. The car crashed nearby and the driver was arrested.

New information has been found in the investigation of Susan Powell, the mom who disappeared from her home in Utah two years ago.

Her father-in-law called in sick to work right after her disappearance.

If you  threaten to blow up an airport, you'll  face jail time. According to the Washington State Court of Appeals, that's true even if you're mentally ill and the threat is not considered credible.

Back in 2009, James S. Ballew called 911 and, after asking to speak with a specific officer with the Port of Seattle Police, told the dispatcher he had five friends who had placed bombs in and around Sea-Tac Airport.

The call was traced to Harborview Medical Center’s psychiatric ward. 

A sex offender accused of breaking into a house in Seattle's University District and threatening six women with a knife would face a life sentence if convicted of the latest charges.

Robert D. Hitt is charged with burglary, robbery and kidnapping with sexual motivation, which makes the 34-year-old subject to Washington's "two strikes" law for repeat sexual offenders.

The Seattle Times reports he pleaded not guilty Wednesday at his arraignment.

He had been released from prison in January after serving time for a 2001 rape in the University District. He was classified a Level 2 sex offender.

Drunk drivers who cause deadly accidents in Washington rarely spend more than two years in prison. A bill working its way through the state legislature would increase the maximum sentence to eight years.

Prosecutors and people who've lost loved ones to accidents caused by drunk drivers say it's about time.