Transient charged after DNA on shoelace links him to Marymoor … – The Seattle Times

When the victim asked the defendant why he was doing this, he responded he had to do it and that he was going to kill her, according to charging papers filed in King County Superior Court.

DNA found on a shoelace used to choke a woman who was viciously beaten in Redmonds Marymoor Park in August has been matched to a 33-year-old transient who is a patient at a state mental hospital after an unrelated crime, according to King County prosecutors.

Charles Stockwell Jr. was charged Wednesday with first-degree assault in connection with the Aug. 5 attack on a 43-year-old Redmond woman who was walking her dog in the park.

Stockwell is accused of hiding out in bushes, then attacking the victim from behind. He threw her to the ground next to the trail and immediately began punching her in the face and head, and pushing his thumbs into her throat, according to charging papers.

When the victim asked the defendant why he was doing this, he responded he had to do it and that he was going to kill her. At that moment, the victim thought she was going to die, Senior Deputy Prosecutor William Doyle wrote in charging papers.

As the victim tried to fight back, Stockwell grabbed her arm and wrenched it behind her, causing her elbow to pop out of its socket, the charges say.

With the victim screaming on the ground in pain, the defendant took a shoelace out of one of his shoes, put it around the victims neck, and began strangling her with it, Doyle wrote.

As the woman began to lose consciousness, she used her fingers to pull the shoelace from her neck and screamed for help. A man walking in the area heard her screams, ran over and scared the attacker away, the charges say. The attacker fled, leaving behind a pair of white tennis shoes.

That night, a King County sheriffs sergeant went to Overlake Medical Center to interview the woman, who was being treated for her injuries, the papers say. During her medical exam, the shoelace was found in her hair.

The victim met with a police sketch artist, who came up with a sketch of the suspect, the charges say.

The victims DNA was found on the shoelace along with DNA from at least two others, but no matches were found.

Then in December, during a routine scheduled search, the DNA from the shoelace was run through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database of DNA profiles, and hit on Stockwell, the charges say.

Detectives learned Stockwell was in the Thurston County Jail after his arrest in connection with a residential burglary in Tumwater three days after the Marymoor Park attack, say the charges.

Detectives met with Stockwells parents, who said their son had been injured while working as a tree trimmer, then got addicted to pain pills before moving on to heroin and methamphetamine, the charges say. His mother told detectives Stockwell has a violent temper and both parents are afraid of him, say the charges.

The parents said Stockwell had shown up at their house the day before the Marymoor Park attack and his father gave him a pair of white tennis shoes, according to the charges. The father then drove Stockwell to the Port Orchard ferry and told detectives his son had then planned to take the Bremerton ferry to Seattle.

Stockwell called his parents on Aug. 8 from the Thurston County Jail, but they refused to bail him out, the charges say.

In September, Stockwell was sent to Western State Hospital for a competency evaluation and was found not competent to stand trial. In December, he was sent back to the hospital, where he remains.

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Transient charged after DNA on shoelace links him to Marymoor ... - The Seattle Times