SEATTLE, Aug 25, (AP): A man accused of carjacking a beloved 80-year-old Seattle dog walker, running her over and later stabbing her dog to death has been charged with murder and animal cruelty. Jahmed Kamal Haynes, 48, was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree assault and first-degree animal cruelty, according to a document filed with the court. Prosecutors asked that he be held in the jail without bail and the judge agreed. Haynes is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 5.
It was not immediately known if Haynes had a lawyer or would be assigned one by the King County Public Defense office. Officials say they don't believe Haynes knew Dalton. Ruth Dalton was parked on the side of the road in Seattle's Madison Valley neighborhood at about 10 a.m. Tuesday when Haynes got into the passenger side, prosecutors said.
Dalton started to drive away while Haynes tried to take control of the vehicle, they said. He pushed her out and onto the road, backed into several parked cars before driving over her as he fled the scene, prosecutors said. Several bystanders tried to intervene, one carrying a bat or stick, but Haynes threatened them with a knife, prosecutors said. After he left, the witnesses attempted life-saving measures but Dalton died at the scene. After leaving the neighborhood, Haynes stabbed Dalton's dog to death in a park, prosecutors said. "The sheer brutality of the defendant’s actions that morning was only further demonstrated by how he disposed of evidence of his crimes: disposing of Dalton’s dog in a recycling bin and destroying Dalton’s phone,” Senior
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brent Kling said in his request for a no-bail hold. Seattle police identified the suspect after someone reported that a man was hurting a dog in the park. Officers responded and found Dalton’s car nearby and were able to get fingerprints from her cellphone, Seattle police Deputy Chief Eric Barden said during a press conference Wednesday. When police arrested Haynes near his home, he was carrying a knife that had blood on it and the keys to Dalton’s Subaru, Barden said. Haynes has an extensive and violent criminal history, prosecutors argued when asked that he be held without bail.
