Suspect in Everett rape on the run

Published 7:03 am Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A rape suspect is being sought by police after investigators learned Tuesday that the man’s DNA reportedly matches genetic evidence gathered in the Aug. 19 sexual assault of a teenage girl in south Everett.

A court-ordered arrest warrant seeking $1 million bail was issued Tuesday for Larry Donnell Baker, 33, of Everett. DNA from Baker matched evidence found at the rape scene, according to charging papers filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.

Baker is charged with first-degree rape of a 17-year-old girl while armed with a box-cutter knife.

He was arrested Sept. 26 and freed after posting $25,000 bail. Prosecutors said they planned to argue for higher bail when Baker appeared in court, but he posted bail before that happened.

Since his release from jail, Baker reportedly moved out of his apartment. He was being sought Tuesday night by Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives, according to charging papers filed by deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson.

Baker also is a suspect in an unsolved 2004 rape in Waterloo, Iowa, documents say.

It was the Iowa case that gave Snohomish County investigators a break in the Everett assault. A computer matched DNA that was collected in Everett with genetic material from the unsolved Iowa rape. Baker had been questioned by police in the 2004 attack.

The match was made through a national database that allows detectives to compare genetic evidence collected at crime scenes with samples from convicted offenders or gathered at the scenes of other unsolved crimes.

The victim in the Everett attack had been walking to work about 7:30 a.m. when a man grabbed her and dragged her into the parking lot of an apartment complex in 12600 block of Fourth Avenue W., police said.

The assailant told the girl he would “slit her throat if she made any noise,” according to the charging documents filed Tuesday. Before he left, “he stated he would see her again,” papers said.

Baker lived in the 800 block of 112th Street SE in Everett, about a dozen blocks from where the 17-year-old girl was attacked.

A composite sketch done with the help of the victim is similar to a photo of Baker taken in Iowa, Matheson said.

After getting a search warrant last week, police took DNA samples from Baker. The samples were sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for comparison with evidence collected at the Everett rape scene.

At his apartment, investigators found a box-cutter similar to one left where the girl was attacked, Matheson said. In addition, police confiscated clothing similar to that described by the victim, Matheson wrote.

Baker denied the rape when detectives questioned him last week.

According to documents, Baker told detectives: “Why would I have to rape anyone? I can get girls anytime.”

Baker has lived in Washington for about a year, papers said. When he moved out, Baker left his mother’s Everett apartment as his forwarding address, Matheson said.

Reporter Diana Helfley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.