Man admits to kidnapping woman in her car

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, April 21, 2005

All the 18-year-old woman wanted to do was vacuum her car. She didn’t expect a stranger to accost her with two baseball bats and a hunting knife Nov. 22.

The man grabbed her by the hair and smashed her face into the steering wheel. Then he forced her into the passenger seat.

While driving up and down Highway 99 for about an hour, he put the knife to her throat.

Now, the man has admitted second-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault in the incident.

Timothy David Walker, 39, of Lynnwood likely will spend almost seven years in prison when he’s sentenced May 10 by Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Cowsert.

Both deputy prosecutor John Adcock and public defender Marybeth Dingledy agreed to recommend the 70-month term.

Officers said the victim was shaken and had a visible bruise below her left eye when sheriff’s deputies arrived at her work place in Lynnwood, where she called police.

Walker was arrested at a home in Lynnwood soon after he released the woman. Officers told Walker why he was being arrested and he told them, “I kidnapped that girl, but I didn’t take anything from her,” Adcock said.

Then he said: “I feel bad about what I did at the Shell station. She was a nice girl, so I let her go,” Adcock added.

The woman left the Lynnwood store where she worked on a break and drove to the 14800 block of Highway 99 to clean her car at the Shell station. Walker drove up in a van and got out with the knife and baseball bats.

The victim told deputies that Walker had mood swings while driving. Sometimes he was threatening and agitated. Sometimes he was calm.

She eventually persuaded Walker to let her go.

He returned to the Shell station and got in his own van. She drove to her employer’s business to call for help.

Four hours before the kidnapping, Walker was involved in a road-rage incident in which he committed an assault, Adcock said.

Walker has previous first-degree robbery, theft, and possession of stolen property convictions, Adcock said.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.