OLYMPIA – A man who lived in an underground bunker in a wooded park before his arrest for investigation in the rape of an 11-year-old girl was behaving so irrationally Wednesday that authorities could not transport him to a scheduled court appearance.
David Lukas Lynch, 23, was held in the Thurston County Jail.
“He’s just not able to be controlled enough to be able to be brought to court,” Thurston County deputy prosecutor John Skinder told reporters.
Lynch was assigned a public defender but that lawyer was not immediately reached for comment.
Lynch, who had been living about half a mile from the house where the girl was attacked, told investigators he became a transient after leaving a rental house he shared with some roommates in December, police Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said.
An attacker armed with a knife entered the girl’s home through an unlocked back door early Monday, raped the child in her bed and fled, police said.
An officer on patrol spotted a man acting furtively near a church early Tuesday about two blocks from the girl’s home. When the patrol car passed, the man ducked as if trying to hide, Bjornstad said in a statement.
The officer stopped and talked to the man, discovering he matched the physical description of the rapist except for a lack of facial hair.
Lynch was subsequently arrested.
In a search of Watershed Park, police found a boxlike underground bunker fortified with wood and about 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 12 feet long with a wood stove and several books.
“He’s got some survival-skill knowledge. … He built this,” detective Lt. Steve Oderman said, noting that living on city property is considered trespassing.
Police found a knife that corresponded to the general description the victim gave after the attack.
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