DNA from mask in robbery leads to arrest of Terrace man

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A mask made famous by a 1996 horror film has led to the arrest of a Mountlake Terrace man in connection with a two-year-old robbery.

The victim of the November 2014 home invasion told police that one of the three suspects wore a “Scream” mask, also known as “ghostface.” The frightful symbol was based on an 1893 painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch and has become commonplace around Halloween.

Shortly after the crime, police recovered a Scream mask in some grass in front of an apartment building in the same complex where the robbery occurred. The victim had been robbed and beaten at gunpoint by three assailants. He told police that the suspect who hit him on the head with a handgun was the one wearing a Scream mask.

The mask was sent to the Washington State Crime Lab in Tulalip. In May, DNA results came back. They were a match to a Mountlake Terrace man, who had been a juvenile when the crime occurred.

The man, now 18, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree robbery.

It took time to track him down, said Pete Caw, Mountlake Terrace assistant police chief.

“The problem was locating him,” Caw said.

The victim reported in 2014 that the trio who robbed him barged into his apartment and took an expensive watch as well as a cellphone and computer. He said they kept a hand over his eyes and a gun in his ribs.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@hearldnet.com.

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