EVERETT — They didn’t have to live next door to be neighborly.
An Everett couple whose home police believe was invaded by a hatchet-wielding heroin addict May 15 is thankful for the help of strangers in helping catch him.
The suspect is accused of breaking into their Oakes Avenue home around 4:30 a.m. and holding a hatchet in a menacing manner while robbing the couple, who are in their late 70s. The husband, recovering from surgery, was sleeping in a hospital bed in the living room at the time.
Car and house keys, two phones, the couple’s red Volvo and the woman’s purse were taken.
Less than five hours after the break-in, Glen Miller spotted three pieces of the woman’s identification, including her driver’s license, in a hedge at the corner of Tulalip Avenue and Laurel Drive. Miller was walking his sons to the school bus stop at the time. He called the police and the couple who’d been robbed. They live about a mile away.
The quick recovery of the ID gave the couple and police a lead on where they might find the car. The couple’s nephew discovered it in the same neighborhood.
Police then alerted people living nearby.
“We did canvass the neighborhood, every house,” said Everett police officer Aaron Snell. “The neighbors were the ones who called 911 when the suspect returned to the car. They were the ones to ID him as the driver.”
The suspect, 21, was arrested for investigation of robbery, burglary and identification theft. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail. His bail was set at $500,000.
“The eyes and ears of the community, that’s really a help to law enforcement,” Snell said. “It makes a big difference.”
The crime victims didn’t want their names used in a news story, but they did want to share their appreciation to the police and the people who helped.
“It is a feeling of community, that we are not in isolation depending on the block where you live or the end of town where you live,” the woman said.
Miller, who reported finding the woman’s ID, said he’s glad others were willing to help.
“It was kind of a chain of events that all worked together, that everyone had a little piece of the pie,” he said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
