5 men sought in two kidnap assaults
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, May 24, 2001
By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
EVERETT — An Everett woman carrying groceries to her car was kidnapped from a store parking lot Thursday and sexually assaulted by two men before they abandoned her in eastern Snohomish County, Everett police said.
The 28-year-old woman was beaten and suffered substantial bruising, but was treated at Providence Everett Medical Center’s Colby Campus and is recovering, police Sgt. Boyd Bryant said.
"She’s fairly well shaken and bruised, but she did very well," he said.
Police also are investigating a second kidnapping and sexual assault that occurred when a 21-year-old Everett woman who was hitchhiking home accepted a ride from three men in a van. The men drove her to an Everett industrial area, where one of them sexually assaulted her and the men robbed her before abandoning her, Bryant said.
Police don’t believe the two cases are related.
The first incident occurred about 1:45 a.m. in the Albertson’s parking lot in the 6700 block of Evergreen Way. The woman was carrying groceries to her car when a man approached her and struck her on the head with a blunt object. She dropped her groceries, and the attacker forced her into a car driven by another man.
A store customer who witnessed the attack hurried toward the woman’s car in an attempt to help her, but the kidnappers drove away before he could cross the parking lot, Bryant said.
The kidnappers drove the woman to a rural part of east Snohomish County, where the sexual assaults occurred. The men left her about an hour after they abducted her.
The woman went to a nearby house to seek help.
The man who witnessed the kidnapping went inside Albertson’s and told employees what had happened, assistant manager Andy Matriotti said.
The incident caught store employees by surprise, he said.
"We don’t have very many incidents at all reported in the store at night. It’s a real unfortunate incident, and we all feel bad that it happened. It’s one of those things that could have happened anywhere and, unfortunately, it happened here. It’s not the kind of thing you like to be associated with," Matriotti said.
The kidnappers were described as Hispanic and in their early 20s. One had black hair about 3 inches long and wore a long, white T-shirt (not tucked into his pants) and black nylon pants. The second had shoulder-length, wavy brown hair and wore a light-colored nylon jacket. Both spoke only in Spanish.
The car was a white early-1980s model Asian import with four doors and dark-tinted windows.
In the second incident, a woman left a tavern on Hewitt Avenue with friends and went to a nightclub. Afterward, she was hitchhiking home and accepted a ride from three men in an older, white van, Bryant said. They drove her to a building in the 1600 block of 75th Street SW, and one of them sexually assaulted her behind the building, he said. The men stole her purse and fled, leaving her in the parking lot.
The woman suffered scrapes and bruises, Bryant said. She walked to a phone to call for help, and was treated at Providence Everett Medical Center’s Colby Campus.
"She struggled with them over her purse. And she took a pretty good fall," he said. The woman said she understood the men to be Filipino. They spoke only in Spanish.
She described one kidnapper as about 26 years old, with a chubby build and short, dark brown or black hair. The second was about 18 years old, with short, dark brown or black hair and a white baseball cap. The third was about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a thin build.
Police ask anyone with information on either case to call the Everett Police Department tip line at 425-257-8450.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437 or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
