An eight-time Seattle felon allegedly carjacked and killed a beloved 80-year-old dog walker in broad daylight on Tuesday before he fatally stabbed her precious pup.
Jahmed Haynes, 48, is suspected of carjacking Ruth Dalton, 80, near the intersection of Martin Luther King Junior Way East and East Harrison Street in the Madison Valley neighborhood, 2.8 miles northeast of Downtown Seattle, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, according to Seattle police.
SPD Deputy Chief Eric Barden says Haynes had gotten into the passenger side of Dalton’s blue Subaru SUV and attempted to push her out of the driver’s door while at least two dogs were inside the vehicle.
Dalton was dragged outside of the car during a struggle with Haynes while the felon veered off the road, striking a planter and grass patch.
“That is when citizens stopped their cars in the road to come and assist (Dalton),” Barden said at a press conference Wednesday morning.
“One of the citizens came up to the car to engage with the suspect and (Haynes) produced a knife.”
The witness backed off and grabbed a “large stick or a bat” to confront the carjacker.
Haynes reversed the vehicle into two parked cars, where Dalton was run over and left to die.
Haynes fled the scene in Dalton’s car as witnesses attempted live-saving CPR.
Dalton was remembered as a lovely neighbor following her death.
“She is somebody that people really loved, and she’s been a neighborhood fixture in the Madison Park neighborhood for a long time,” said Susan Lindsay, Dalton’s friend told KOMO. “She (is) going to be so missed, and people really loved her.”
“I hope she’s at peace. We all love her, everybody loves her, and I know she’s looking down,” Melanie Roberts, Dalton’s granddaughter, told the outlet. “She was feisty. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that she would try to make sure her client’s dogs were safe. She wouldn’t have thought two seconds about herself.”
At around 3 p.m. Tuesday, police received a report of a man “hurting a dog” at the Brighton Playfield in the Hillman City neighborhood, approximately 5.5 miles from where the carjacking occurred.
“An animal-control officer was dispatched to that scene found a dog stabbed to death,” Barden said.
The dog’s collar indicated the dead canine belonged to Dalton.
Family identified the dog as one of Dalton’s named Prince, told the outlet.
Seattle police arrested Haynes for Investigation of Homicide and Animal Cruelty.
Police are unsure how Haynes escaped from the Brighton Playfield, where they found Dalton’s car abandoned nearby with a cracked windshield and damage to the rear.
Detectives later connected Haynes to both crime scenes using a fingerprint discovered on Dalton’s phone.
A SWAT team arrested the suspected killer near his residence in Capitol Hill.
Following the arrest, police recovered a bloody knife and the keys from the stolen vehicle.
He was booked into King County Correctional Facility.
Homicide detectives are expected to request charges for Murder in the 1st Degree under the felony murder rule, and Animal Cruelty in the 1st Degree.
Haynes has a “history of mental health concerns,” Barden said.
He was convicted of vehicular homicide and hit and run in 1993, plead guilty to a controlled substance on school ground charge in 1995 and convicted of 1st Degree Robbery in 1999, according to court records viewed by The Post.
His most recent arrest was in 2005 for an undisclosed case, according to Barden.
