SEATTLE — The first murder of the year in Seattle happened in Seward Park on Thursday morning. A jogger found the woman’s body near the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard South and South Orcas Street.
Police have released scarce details but said they believe the death is suspicious and are calling it a homicide. Officers said Thursday evening they arrested a 23-year-old man for the murder after contacting him for a traffic stop but did not say how the victim died.
The woman’s death comes after homicides jumped 61% in Seattle last year.
Seattle police Chief Adrian Diaz said 50 people were murdered in Seattle in 2020. That’s compared to 31 murders in 2019.
(A Seattle Police Department spokesperson said the Crime Dashboard on the city website was not updated yet. As of Thursday, it still indicated 47 cases of “murder and non-negligent manslaughter.”)
“This was the highest number of murders in 26 years. This is unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate this level of violence,” Diaz said.
FACT CHECK! You might’ve seen the chart (pic3) about Seattle murder rates on social media.
— Deedee Sun (@DeedeeKIRO7) January 15, 2021
The city data they used was wrong & from old sources.
Real info is in pic1 & 2!
Homicides DID jump 61% last year and it is awful - but per capita, Seattle is still among the lowest. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/johgeyTvuF
Time and time again last year, KIRO 7 heard the heartbreak from families impacted.
Eighteen-year-old Conner Dassa-Holland was gunned down outside his house on Mother’s Day.
“He was everything,” his mother, Alicia Dassa, said in a vigil held shortly after his death. “But I got to hold my baby. I got to tell him that I love him and that he wasn’t alone,” she said through tears.
In October, a mother was stabbed to death near the Northgate neighborhood.
In late May, two people were shot and killed in the Rainier Beach neighborhood — one of the shootings was in the neighborhood’s Safeway parking lot.
“I’m trying my hardest not to cry right now,” said Edward Perryman, a friend of one of the victims.
These are loved ones suddenly ripped away in stories that are just a few of many.
Seattle’s murder rates held fairly constant over the past decade before the sharp spike in 2020.
“There is no one clear explanation. But I do know the department is working to decrease the violence,” Diaz said.
Jeff Asher with AH Datalytics, who is also a former CIA analyst, compiled homicide data in major cities nationwide.
He said murder rates on average are up about 36%.
“That’s one tragedy on top of a whole host of tragedies that was 2020,” Asher said.
He attributes the spike to pandemic stresses, economic and mental stresses, plus tensions over policing and social justice.
“It’s too coincidental to not make sense. Exactly how that fits is still a matter of uncertainty,” he said.
Why Seattle’s murder rate went up so much more than the average isn’t clear — though the smaller base number means any change brings a larger percentage change. For perspective, Detroit, which is a smaller city by population than Seattle, saw 275 people murdered in 2019, as compared to 31 in Seattle.
Diaz added, “2020 was a year like no other. For that reason, I’m not putting a lot of stock in most of the crime numbers.”
Cox Media Group
