(Image: Friends of Madison Park)

As the community is working to honor Ruth Dalton and raise funds for a memorial to the 80-year-old neighborhood dog walker slain in an August carjacking in Madison Valley, her alleged killer has been charged with assault, animal cruelty, and first degree murder.

Jahmed Haynes now faces charges of murder in the first degree plus second degree assault and a charge of first degree animal cruelty for allegedly killing Dalton’s dog in the Tuesday morning, August 20th carjacking.

CHS reported last week on his arrest blocks from his Capitol Hill apartment and early details in the case against the convicted felon.

The King County Prosecutor says the 48-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison under the charges. Prosecutors say Haynes’s criminal history is extensive and that he had been imprisoned for crimes including a 1993 vehicular homicide in Seattle and a 1999 armed robbery in Renton until recently following a conviction in 2003 during his incarceration that added 15 more years to his sentence through 2021 after Haynes attacked a Monroe prison guard with a crude knife fashioned from a 12-inch piece of metal.

In its charges, the prosecutor’s office says police recovered security video showing Haynes walk by Dalton’s parked vehicle multiple times before suddenly opening the passenger side door where witnesses said used a knife to threaten Dalton and people trying to intervene to stop the attack. Police say Dalton struggled with Haynes as he tried to push her from the blue Subaru Forester filled with her client’s pets and her own dog.

“The victim, 80-year-old Ruth Dalton, was simply doing what she was known around the community for doing: working as a dog walker.,” the King County Prosecutor writes:

The Defendant, as captured on residential security cameras, walked back and forth next Dalton’s vehicle, at multiple times looking at it, getting closer, until he finally made the decision to open and enter the front passenger door. Dalton tried to drive away, as witnessed by two bystanders in the road, and the Defendant attempted to shove Dalton out while also attempting to take control of the moving vehicle. He did this while armed with a knife and despite efforts from bystanders to intervene. According to one intervening witness, the Defendant also brandished the knife at him, causing the witness to retreat to his own vehicle to retrieve a bat in an effort to help. The Defendant continued to shove Dalton out of the vehicle until she was partially hanging out of the open driver’s door. With Dalton caught in this incredibly vulnerable and dangerous position, the Defendant gained control of Dalton’s vehicle, quickly reversing it into multiple parked cars, effectively knocking Dalton’s body out of the car and onto the roadway. He was then observed driving over her body as he fled the scene, stealing Dalton’s car, crushing and killing her in the process.

Police say Haynes drove the stolen car six miles south to Brighton Playfield where Dalton’s dog was left dead in a recycling can. Police also found the victim’s phone destroyed at the field. They say a fingerprint lifted from the device belonged to Haynes. A bloody knife and the victim’s key fob were found with the suspect.

A witness told police they saw a man matching Haynes’s description at the field where Dalton’s car was ditched and her dog was found stabbed to death. Haynes has a prosthetic leg making him easily identifiable.

Other dogs survived the incident and were found nearby including one tracked down in the Arboretum and reunited with its family.

(Image: Dalton)

Meanwhile, Dalton’s loved ones and community including the Friends of Madison Park group are organizing efforts to raise money for a memorial that will include a “Justice for Ruth” Candlelight Memorial Walk on Wednesday, September 4, at 6:30 PM beginning at the corner of Harrison and Martin Luther King Jr. Way where the carjacking took place. The walk will conclude at Madison Park.

A fundraiser organized by Dalton’s family is also underway “to create a memorial, celebrate her life and legacy, help to create situational awareness,” and support causes the much-loved dog walker held dear including Bread of Life, Mission Barnabas, Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, PAWS, and Best Friends Animal Society.

Ruth started Grandma’s Critter Care 35 years ago. She served the Madison Park area almost exclusively during those years. She might have started out as the dog walker, but soon became everyone’s friend, companion, advisors, and Grandma. She was adored by two and four-legged creatures alike! She was the most loving and caring person you would ever meet, but she was also full of fire and spice! Fiercely loyal and protective….. you were blessed to be part of her tribe. You couldn’t help but love her, as proven by the amazing display of grief and outrage at her senseless death. But Grandma was a Christian; she believed that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Haynes declined to appear for a court hearing in the case and is being held without bail. He is scheduled to enter his plea to the charges next week.

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