An 80-year-old Seattle woman who worked as a neighborhood dog walker was killed on Tuesday morning when a man got into her car, forced her out, struck her with the vehicle and drove off with her dog, which he later killed with a knife, the police said.
The woman killed in what the authorities said was a random attack was Ruth Dalton, a great-grandmother who the police said was “well-loved.”
She was in her Subaru in the Madison Valley neighborhood with at least two dogs inside just before 10 a.m. Tuesday when a man got in from the passenger side, officials with the Seattle Police Department said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. The two struggled, and the moving car went off the road onto a grassy area.
Nearby drivers stopped their cars and ran to help Ms. Dalton, the police said.
One bystander backed away when the man pulled out a knife, but he returned with a stick or bat to help Ms. Dalton, the police said. By the time the bystander had run back to Ms. Dalton’s car, the man had already forced her out. The carjacker put the Subaru into reverse, crashed into two vehicles, struck Ms. Dalton and drove off, the police said.
Others who were nearby rendered first aid to Ms. Dalton, and emergency workers with the Seattle Fire Department provided medical treatment, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
A suspect in the carjacking, Jahmed K. Haynes, 48, was arrested by the police on Wednesday. The police said that they tracked him down after they received an animal control report on Tuesday afternoon that a man was abusing a dog in Brighton Playfield, about five miles south of where the carjacking had taken place. Ms. Dalton’s dog, Prince Eric, was found dead in a recycling bin, and her unoccupied Subaru was parked nearby.
The police ran the fingerprints from Ms. Dalton’s phone, which was in the Subaru, and got a match for those of Mr. Haynes, officials said. When they arrested him, the police said, he had the keys to Mr. Dalton’s Subaru and a knife that they believe he used to kill her dog.
Mr. Haynes will be charged with first-degree murder and first-degree animal cruelty, the police said.
Mr. Haynes has eight prior felony convictions and a history of mental health concerns, the police said. His most recent arrest was in 2005, they said.
The Seattle community was left reeling on Wednesday by the news of Ms. Dalton’s murder.
At the news conference, Deputy Chief Eric Barden of the Police Department said that “it’s been relayed to us by citizens in the community that she was a well-loved 80-year-old woman who still was operating her dog-walking business.”
In a phone interview on Wednesday night, her granddaughter Melanie Roberts said that Ms. Dalton started her business, called Grandma’s Critter Care, in 1989 to help send her to a private Christian school. “Then she fell in love with the work and the people and the community, and she kept going,” Ms. Roberts, 40, said. The business’s name was a nod to Ms. Dalton’s roles as a grandmother and animal lover.
Friends and loved ones left a memorial of flowers, letters, pictures and candles for Ms. Dalton by a tree.
Ms. Dalton was often seen walking a fleet of dogs around the neighborhood or corralling them in and out of the car, said Don and Barbara Coyner, who have known Ms. Dalton for about seven years. She was funny, strong and tall and had distinctive curly gray hair, they said.
“She was everywhere,” Mr. Coyner said. “Everyone knew who she was even if they didn’t know who she was.”
Ms. Dalton took care of the Coyners’ cat, Charlie, whenever they traveled. When Charlie was nearing the end of his 20-year life, Ms. Dalton gave the Coyners a book to read to him. It “spoke volumes” that the book was meant for Charlie, not for them, Mr. Coyner said.
“She said read this book to him — it was very specific,” Mr. Coyner said. “That spoke to that connection I think she felt with animals.”
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