SEATTLE — Seattle police are asking for the public’s help identifying the man they say attacked an elderly woman last month and bit her finger off.
Surveillance footage released by SPD shows the suspect in Rainier Beach just before 6 p.m. October 13. He wore all black and carried a backpack.
He was first spotted walking behind some houses. Around 15 minutes later, a different camera spotted him running.
A close friend said the victim has been released from the hospital and is recovering.
“She’s just a well-loved person,” Eddie Rye, Jr., a friend of the victim, told KIRO 7. “She would do anything for anybody.”
Rye said he has known her for decades. He described her as a beloved longtime member of Mount Zion Baptist Church, where she ran the senior ministry.
“It’s just really brutal,” he said. “No one can really believe that someone that sweet could be attacked and harmed like she was.”
According to SPD, the woman was working on her back porch when the man walked up to her and robbed her of her jewelry, dragging her into her garage, beating her and biting her finger off.
“The first thing he did was hit her in the face,” Rye said. “She said, ‘I’ll give you anything you want.’ He said, ‘I want all your jewelry.’ So she did that, and he still bit the tip of her finger off to remove the last ring.”
Rye is hopeful the release of the surveillance footage will bring the suspect to justice.
“Hopefully anyone who sees this video will turn this guy in because he deserves to be behind bars for a long time,” he said.
Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call SPD’s violent crimes tip line at (206) 233-5000.
©2025 Cox Media Group
