The Samurai Swordsman

Just after 11am on April 3, 1997 the city of Seattle experienced the strangest and most bizarre 11 hours I can remember. The day started off like any other but before lunch, one man with a sword shut this place down and pissed off everybody. 

Tony "Apollo" Allison

The story goes that an off-duty cop spotted a man in a leather jacket and camouflaged pants carrying a sword and “disturbing” passers-by. The copper followed the man through Pike Place Market where he took a left on Pike, and headed up to 2nd. 

South on Pike Place

East on Pike Street after turning left off Pike Place

There, the man took what the police report described as a "defensive stand" and refused to drop his sword. The cop called for back-up and the great Seattle Street Samurai Standoff began.

2nd and Pike. Scene of standoff.

I vividly remember thinking that the entire thing was blown way way out of control and even the news was reporting that the man, Tony “Apollo” Allison hadn’t acted aggressively toward anyone, including the cops. He was just packing a sword. Is that not his prerogative? I’m not saying the guy wasn’t weird but, aside from some overly dramatic poses and some unintelligible phrases, he seemed no more harmful or crazy than any of the other folks who lived with him in City Hall Park.

City Hall Park 450 3rd Avenue

I honestly thought I could handle the situation better than the cops were. (We all did) But it took a while to figure out what the situation was. Were the cops trying to get the sword from him? Was he not letting people walk by on the sidewalk? It was all confusing and the news reports were vague. The police cordoned off the streets and decided the best way to communicate with him would be via bullhorn. Thank goodness for that because the news cameras were able to pick up the sound and we all learned that yes, the cops just wanted him to put down the sword. 

Cops communicate with Apollo

They asked him nicely to put down the weapon and surrender; he refused. They offered him $50 for his sword; he ignored their bribe. They tempted him with a Big Mac; he held fast. They spoke fondly of his dead brother in hopes of changing his mind; he was unmoved. They tried reverse psychology on him, telling him Satan was preventing him from surrendering; he wasn't fooled by their lies. They shined bright lights at him; he wore shades. Rubber bullets were tried; he repelled them through sheer willpower. It seemed nothing could stop Apollo from standing his ground on the sidewalk.

Standing his ground

Seattleites were not happy. Traffic was brought to a stand-still and businesses were evacuated. Hundreds called 911 demanding action and offering advice on how to deal with this unexpected menace to civilization. Some suggested throwing a net over him (Couldn’t he just cut it with his sword?) and others said to shoot him with tranquilizer darts. After nearly half a day unbudged from his sidewalk post, Apollo was finally brought down using a tactic of tear gas, cold water sprayed by fire hoses, and exposure to a giant fan – advice from medical experts, to weaken his muscle control through hypothermia. They decided they’d follow that by pinning his body against the building with a 12-foot ladder. Even with these extreme measures, he showed high levels of resilience. The high-pressure hoses were only able to knock him down temporarily and it took nearly three minutes to finally get the sword out of his hand.

Apollo finally met his match with the tear gas and fire hoses

Assistant Police Chief Ferguson had this to say after the standoff: "I've never seen anything like it in my 30 years. I don't want to make an icon out the guy, but I simply had to marvel at his ability to withstand all of that." We learned that Tony had been released from Western State Hospital the year before the standoff after being there ten years. Not because anyone thought he was ready, but because he'd served his time. He was sent there after he pled not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of second-degree assault with intent to rape. Once out, he became a homeless alcoholic. He was also a loner who strutted along the streets in his fatigues and military beret. He usually carried a sword in a scabbard behind his back. But even on the streets, he was considered somewhat strange. He would sometimes talk crazy, sometimes he insisted he wanted to be left alone, sometimes he became belligerent and was kicked out of bars. After the standoff, he spent a few nights in the mental ward of Harborview Medical Center and from there, he was sent back to Western State. I have no idea where he is now. 

You must watch this, it's hilarious.

COPS

The Seattle Police Department is no stranger to police brutality accusations. As are many cities, I’m sure. But, I don’t live in those cities, I live in this one-and it concerns the hell out of me. Citizens armed with cell phone cameras have caught a lot of the brutality. Here are just a few of the stories that have happened recently. 2010 was an especially bad year. I also realize there are hundreds of officers on the force who don’t participate in this type of behavior. This post isn’t about those officers and I thank them for their service.
 

November 29, 2008

15 year-old Malika Calhoun and a friend were pulled over by King County Sheriff Deputies at 3:30 AM in Tukwila. Calhoun was operating her parents car, which they had reported stolen. She was arrested and taken to a holding cell at Sea-Tac City Hall at 4800 S. 188th St. A security camera shows Deputies Paul Schene and Travis Brunner as they escorted the girl into a cell. Schene asked her to remove her sneakers and, as she slipped out of her left one, she appeared to kick it toward Schene, who was standing outside the open cell door. Schene then lunged through the door and kicked her, striking either her stomach or upper thigh area. He pushed her against a corner wall before flinging her to the floor by her hair.

He then squatted down on her and made "two overhead strikes" although it's unclear where the blows landed. A detective who reviewed the video said it appeared Schene and Brunner had the girl under control when Schene decided to strike her. Schene is 6 feet 2 and weighs 195 pounds. He and the girl then exchanged words. Brunner said she was "real lippy" after being informed she was under arrest and called them "fat pigs." The Sheriff's Office policy manual says deputies should use physical or deadly force only when "necessary to effect an arrest, to defend themselves or others from violence, or to otherwise accomplish police duties according to law." Schene was also involved in a shooting in 2007 where he killed a suspect after shooting him 11 times. Paul Schene was fired, charged, and acquitted by two hung juries. He’s now fallen off the face of the earth.

Sea-Tac City Hall

  

April 17, 2010

The Seattle Police Department’s Gang Unit responded to a 911 call made by a man who claimed that he was robbed by four Latino men with a machete outside China Harbor Restaurant on Lake Union. One of the officers, Shandy Cobane, detained a Latino male suspect, and said " I'm going to beat the fucking Mexican piss out of you. You feel me, Homey?" and kicked him in the head as the man shouted that he was innocent. Female officer Mary Woollum, stomped on his leg. No ambulance was ever called for Martin Monetti Jr., even though he was bleeding badly from the head. He was later released after police confirmed that he had nothing to do with the alleged robbery. City attorney Peter Holmes said the head-stomping was not unreasonable. Cobane, 45, received a 30-day suspension for the racial slur and Woollum, also 45, was only given a written reprimand.  

China Harbor Restaurant at 2040 Westlake Ave. North

 

June 14, 2010

It all started when a cop stopped a man for jaywalking. Things escalated quickly from there as voices were raised and a crowd gathered. When two young women intervened, (For no reason) an onlooker pulled out his phone and started rolling. On the video, Officer Ian P. Walsh 39, is seen punching 17 year-old Angel Rosenthal in the face, after she expressed her outrage at the arrest of her friend, Marilyn Levias, 19, after Marilyn failed to comply with Walsh's orders to see her way out of the jaywalking situation. This all happened in front of Franklin High School. Both ladies already had criminal records. Officer Walsh was punished for punching Angel by being transferred to a police training section for a few days to review the tactics that he’d been taught. Then, he and Marilyn met at a North Seattle community center in a sit-down brokered by the Urban League. They apologized to one another. Marilyn was found guilty of obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to 24 hours of community service. To think all this could have been avoided, had that guy just used that perfectly good pedestrian overpass.

Pedestrian Overpass and Bus Stop at Rainier Ave. S. and MLK

 

August 17, 2010

A local man called the cops on Seattle officers when he felt a traffic stop was spinning out of control and the entire incident was captured on a police video that shows the man being yanked from his car and thrown to the ground. The video shows Seattle Police pulling a car over for speeding at Rainier Ave. South and South King St. Then, the officers approach the driver. Although the dashboard camera captured the incident, the officer wasn't wearing his microphone – a violation of department policy. Once stopped, the driver, Amanuel Gebreselassie, says the conversation went bad from the beginning. In their report, police said the driver was “extremely verbally aggressive.” But Amanuel denied that – and says the stop seemed so out of line, he called 911. An audiotape of the 911 call recorded the conversation between Amanuel and the  dispatcher.

“911. What are you reporting?”

“Uh, an illegal stop by an officer- you know, I just want to make sure he’s a real officer. There’s an officer here, but he’s talking crazy to me, and I’m not really wanting to deal with this guy.”

The conversation was cut short when a group of officers returned to the car.

“Get out of the car,” one officer can be heard saying on the tape.

“For what?”

“Get out of the car, man.”

Police say Amanuel resisted, so they yanked him to the ground.

In the video, one officer appears to deliver a sharp kick but it’s unclear where it lands.

The officers then performed an illegal search of the car and found 53 grams of pot in the trunk. The department reprimanded three officers for the illegal search but did nothing about the violence inflicted on Amanuel.

Rainier Ave. South and South King Street

 

August 30, 2010 

A partly Deaf Native American man, John T. Williams, was shot and killed by SPD Officer Ian Birk after Williams was seen crossing Boren Ave. at Howell St. with a folding 3-inch carving knife and wooden board. Williams was standing 9 to 10 feet away when Officer Birk, a rookie officer with just two years of experience, stopped his cruiser, got out, and shouted orders at him to drop the knife three times before he fatally shot Williams in the chest four times. The confrontation lasted less than 1 minute. Most of it was caught on Birk’s dash cam.

Williams is caught on Birk's dash cam just seconds before he was shot

After initial reports that Williams advanced on Birk, the Seattle Police Department said they could no longer be sure that occurred and decided that Williams had not moved threateningly towards Officer Birk. Birk later resigned.

Boren Ave. and Howell Street

Other Interesting Stories

 

 

The Aurora Bridge Bus Shooting

On November 27, 1998, Metro bus driver Mark McLaughlin and 34 passengers were cruising south down Aurora Avenue on an express route to downtown Seattle. They were coming from the Aurora Village shopping complex at N. 200th Street.

Looking South on Aurora Bridge

As Mark approached the Aurora Bridge, (aka Suicide Bridge) which crosses the Lake Union Ship Canal between the Fremont neighborhood and the north slope of Queen Anne hill, his accordion bus was reaching 50 miles per hour. It was mid afternoon on the day after Thanksgiving. For reasons still unknown to this day, 43 year-old Silas Cool, (He wasn't) a New Jersey native, approached Mark and pulled out a .380 handgun.

Point of impact and damage

He shot him in the abdomen and then shot himself in the head. The bus crossed two lanes of oncoming traffic, hit a van, and plunged 50 feet off the east side of the bridge. It fell onto an apartment building on 36th Street, kitty corner from the world famous Fremont Troll.

905 36th Street

(I walked past that building every day when I worked in Fremont and had no idea it was the building hit) It’s believed that once 44 year-old Mark lost control, he intentionally swerved the bus hard left, to avoid falling 167 feet into Lake Union. Had the bus fallen off the bridge not even 100 more yards south, everyone would have died. Only one other passenger was killed, 69 year-old Herman Liebelt. All of the 32 other passengers were injured, some permanently disabled. One of them lost an arm and a leg. Another, who was only 43, now lives in a group home and requires a caregiver.

The Fremont Troll

It was later learned that Un-Cool had been a petty thief, a Peeping Tom, part-time vagrant who ate at local missions, and an unemployed emotional wreck who wore sunglasses at night. (Corey Hart would be appalled) He lived in a run-down apartment which his parents in Jersey paid for and he slept on an air mattress. Just weeks before the shooting, he showed a handgun to a passenger on another bus and said he was getting a second gun to deal with the "mean people" who ride and drive buses.

Memorial procession down 4th Ave.

On December 8th, bus service was halted for four hours. A memorial service began with a procession of 80 buses and other Metro vehicles through downtown Seattle to Key Arena. They came from all over western Washington. A Metro wrecker led the way with a black wreath on the front. It was a very emotional sight. Those processions make me bawl every time. Fellow Metro drivers had cleaned, repaired and decorated Mark’s bus and it was taken to Key Arena.

Memorial plaque on bridge

His picture and jacket were placed on the driver's seat and purple ribbons were placed on 32 of the passenger seats. A black ribbon was placed on a seat for Norman Liebelt. Nothing was done for Un-Cool. The ceremony ended with a dispatcher's unanswered radio call for driver 2106. There is a memorial plaque on the bridge for Mark and the other passengers.

Mark McLaughlin

In late 2010 Lifetime interviewed a few of the survivors for a documentary called The Day That Changed My Life. RIP Mark and Herman.

The Rafay Family Murders

So much about this story reminds me of the Menendez murders. We have to go across Lake Washington because most of it took place in Bellevue, but it's so close to Seattle, I'm including it. Here's a shot of the Bellevue skyline from where I live.

In the spring of 1994, Tariq Rafay, his wife, Sultana, and their daughter, Basma moved to Bellevue from Vancouver, B.C. The couple's son, Atif, was a sophomore at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. During the following summer, Atif was visiting his friend, Sebastian Burns up in West Vancouver. The first week of that July, they both took a bus to Bellevue to visit Atif's family. They were there less than a week when, on July 13th, Sebastian called 911 from the Rafays' kitchen phone at 2 am. In a panic, he told the dispatcher there had been "some kind of break-in" and that his friend's parents were dead. When police arrived at 4610 144th Place SE they found what appeared to be a staged break-in.

Rafay Home today

Sultana had been unpacking boxes in the basement and didn't even know what hit her. She was struck twice in the head with a heavy, blunt object and was found face down on the carpet with a bloody shawl over her head. Police figured she was attacked first. Tariq was in bed asleep when he was repeatedly struck in the head and face. He was beaten so badly he was almost unrecognizable. 20-year-old Basma was autistic and hadn't spoken a word since childhood. When police arrived, they could hear her moaning and found her lying against her bedroom door. Her arms were covered in bruises and the wall above her bed was crushed, apparently by blows that missed their mark. She died five hours later.

The Keg restaurant in Factoria

The state crime lab later determined the three were most likely killed with an aluminum baseball bat. A murder weapon has never been found. The two 18-year-old's told police they left the Rafay home at 8:30 pm July 12th. They ate dinner at The Keg in Bellevue's Factoria neighborhood at 3500 Factoria Blvd. SE. They then watched "The Lion King" across the street at The Factoria Cinemas. (They were supposedly avid film buffs)

Cinemas at 3505 Factoria Blvd. SE

From there, they headed to Seattle and stopped by the nightclub, The Weathered Wall at 1921 5th Avenue under the monorail. They were turned away because the club was closing. They said they then returned to Bellevue and found the bodies. Witnesses remembered seeing the two at all locations.

 Former Weathered Wall Club (yellow)

At first, police considered their alibis to be airtight but they later said the two had more than enough time between the movie and the trip downtown, to commit the murders. Their theory was that Atif and Sebastian wanted to cash in on the half-million dollars the Rafay's were worth. Considering what the house must have looked like, the police put the two up in a dingy Bellevue motel. Although they weren't suspects, the cops were growing suspicious. Three days later, with nothing for cops to hold them on, they went back to Canada and started spending the Rafay's money. On July 20th, a notice appeared in the Seattle Times saying, "Bellevue police would like to talk to anyone who saw the late show of The Lion King at the Factoria Cinema on July 12, 1994. Purely routine." It was six months before Bellevue police officially named the two as suspects. Then, in early 1995, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police gave help and began investigating the two on suspicion to commit murder and fraud. They launched "Operation Estate," an elaborate, five-month sting in which undercover detectives posed as high-rolling mobsters in an effort to gain confessions and DNA samples. Detectives worked to entice the two into a world of organized crime with the promise of two-hundred-thousand-dollars for a film they wanted to produce. The RCMP bugged the house Atif and Sebastian shared and stole their car to plant a listening device in it. The police recorded four-thousand hours of audio and video taped conversations, including what seemed to be confessions from both men. Canadian police made their arrest on July 31, 1995. King County filed murder charges that same day. Canada agreed to extradite the two only if the US took the death penalty off the table. After almost six years of legalities, they were finally booked into the King County Jail in March of 2001. The trial was delayed numerous times for various reasons, including one small controversy. On August 10, 2002, two guards outside a King County Jail conference room saw 26-year-old Burns standing behind his 43-year-old attorney, Theresa Olson, with his pants down and his penis erect.

Theresa Olson with her attorney

Her long dress was pulled up around her waist, court papers said. She was removed as council and suspended from The Washington Bar Association for two years. The trial began on November 23, 2003. Prosecutors argued that while "defendant Rafay watched and disconnected the VCR, defendant Burns beat the victims to death with a baseball bat." They believed Burns did this in his underwear to avoid getting bloodstains on his clothes. He then took the bat into the shower with him. The defense argued undercover Canadian detectives coerced and threatened Rafay and Burns into making false admissions. They also said neighbors reported hearing sounds that could have been the thuds of a baseball bat from the Rafay home at a time the defendants were confirmed to be elsewhere. (I've been to the neighborhood and that seems very unlikely. These are large homes on big lots.) On May 26, 2004 (My birthday) Sebastian and Atif were each convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. At sentencing, Sebastian (who is incredibly pompous) rattled on for an hour and a half about how he was innocent. Atif said he couldn't believe "the shoddy lie" they told undercover Canadian police about how they were responsible for the murders - "has misled so many people and eclipsed the real evidence in this case." He also said, "I'm tormented by the fact. . . my parents' killers walk with impunity." They were each sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. Atif went to the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe where he teaches high school to inmates.

Sebastian and Atif  after sentencing

Sebastian's had a hard time of it at the Pen in Walla Walla. He's jailed with violent, long-term offenders where he's had many a crisis, including assaults by inmates and the force-feeding of food and anti-psychotic medications because of mental-health problems. In 2007, Sebastian's film-maker sister, Tiffany, produced the documentary, Mr. Big about her brothers arrest, trial, and her belief in his innocence. The Rafay's are all buried in Snohomish, Washington. RIP

Starvation Heights

This is one of the most disturbing stories I’ve ever heard. Linda Burfield Hazzard was an osteopathic nurse on the Kitsap Peninsula who referred to herself as a doctor.

Despite not having a medical degree, she was licensed to practice medicine due to a loophole in a law that grandfathered in practitioners of alternative medicine. She was also able to convince many patients that starvation could cure almost any ailment they might be suffering. She even wrote a book called Fasting for the Cure of Disease.
 

Not surprisingly, most of her patients died. At least the ones with money did. Her “sanitarium” in Olalla was nicknamed Starvation Heights by the locals, who sometimes came across skeletal escapees staggering down the road begging for food. Linda’s husband, Sam was a West Point graduate who ruined his career by stealing money from the Army. He was also a drunk and a swindler. Linda put him in charge of stealing money from her patients. This whole operation started back in Minnesota, where Linda was born and raised. After leaving her first husband and two children to pursue her dreams in Minneapolis, she opened her first clinic there in 1902 and started killing people. Linda said disease could be cured by fasting and allowing the digestive system to “rest” and be “cleansed,” “removing impurities from the body.” Fasting, she said, could cure anything from a toothache to tuberculosis. The real source of all disease was “impure blood” brought on by “impaired digestion.” She was obviously crazy, and more than likely an undiagnosed serial killer. Her regime included daily enemas that went on for hours and involved up to twelve quarts of water. Patients were heard crying out in pain during the procedure. The third part of her therapy was a massage that consisted of her beating her fists against the patients’ foreheads and backs. One witness reported her doing this while shouting “Eliminate! Eliminate!” Her first patient died around the time her divorce became final. After the coroner determined that death was caused by starvation, he tried to get her prosecuted, but since she wasn’t licensed to practice medicine, she wasn’t held accountable. When investigators asked what happened to the victim’s valuables, Linda was evasive. She met and married Sam later that year but he hadn't bothered to divorce his second wife.

Northern Bank and Trust Bldg

He did two years in jail for that and after he got out in 1906, Linda suggested they move out west to start over. She set up shop at the Northern Bank and Trust Building at 1500 4th Avenue and commuted across the Sound to their home at 12541 Orchard Avenue in Olalla. She purchased 40 acres and before the locals gave it it's moniker, she called it Wilderness Heights.

Hazzard Home in Olalla

She had grand plans to build a large sanitarium on the property. Her first known Seattle victim was Daisey Haglund, a Norwegian whose immigrant parents owned the land which is now Alki Point. After a 50-day fast under Linda’s direction, she died on February 26, 1908, at the age of 38. She left behind a 3 year-old son named Ivar.

Alki Point

Yep, Ivar Haglund, the “Flounder” of Ivar’s Restaurant’s. (I recommend the Scallop’s ‘n Chips and the Red Clam Chowder) His mother left him a house at 3045 64th Avenue SW. It’s the oldest house in Seattle. Other victims soon followed; Ida Wilcox in 1908, Blanche Tindall and Viola Heaton in 1909, and Mrs. Maude Whitney in 1910.

Haglund's Historic House

When civil engineer Earl Erdman died in 1911, The Seattle Daily Times headline read “Woman M.D Kills Another Patient.” But patients kept on coming. Frank Southard, a law partner, and C.A. Harrison, publisher of Alaska-Yukon magazine, died under Linda’s care later that year, along with Ivan Flux, an Englishman who had come to America to buy a ranch and who had fasted for 53 days. During his fast, Linda gained control of some of his cash and property, and his family was told he died with only 70 dollars left to his name. Authorities tried to step in when Lewis Rader, a former legislator and publisher of a magazine called Sound Views, began wasting away. Linda treated him at the Outlook Hotel at Pike Place. (Now the LaSalle Hotel) 

LaSalle Hotel at Pike Place

Health inspectors tried to convince him to leave but he refused. Linda hid him away in a secret location where the 5-foot, 11-inch tall man died weighing less than a hundred pounds. The health director of Seattle said he couldn’t intervene, since “Dr.” Hazzard was licensed and the patients were willing participants in her deadly therapy. But he did keep an eye on her in case she treated any children, at which point he said he’d step in. When 26-year old Eugene Wakelin’s decomposing body was found on the Hazzard’s property with a bullet in his head, many speculated he'd been shot by the Hazzards, who were frustrated to learn that despite his aristocratic family, he wasn’t rich. Well, Dorothea and Claire Williamson, two British sisters in their early 30s, were rich. While visiting Victoria BC, they read an advertisement for Linda’s book in a Seattle newspaper. Although there was no indication that either of them was sick, they decided to go and take the fasting cure. In February of 1911, they visited Linda at her office and were told that the sanitarium wasn’t ready yet, but that she would treat them in Seattle. The sisters were put up at the Buena Vista Apartments at 1633 Boylston on Capitol Hill.

Buena Vista Apartments

They survived mostly on a thin vegetable broth. Linda would show up regularly to provide the enemas and massages. She also began to make inquiries about the sisters’ business affairs, and offered to store the women’s diamond rings and real estate deeds in her office safe. (How nice) By April, the sisters were near death and delirious. They were transferred to Olalla by twin ambulances and a private ferry launch. Just before the ambulance set out for the dock, Linda’s attorney obtained a shaky signature from Claire leaving a monthly stipend of 25 pounds sterling per year to the Hazzard’s “Institute.” On April 30, the sisters’ childhood nanny, Margaret Conway, received a telegram, summoning her to visit them in Olalla. She arrived from Sydney a week later. Sam Hazzard met and took Margaret to Linda’s office. There, she was told that Claire was dead and Dorothea was insane. Then, she was taken to Olalla for a reunion with Dorothea who was by now a human skeleton living alone in a cabin no better than a shack. Dorothea immediately begged to be taken away, but the next day she changed her mind and insisted that the cure was doing her a world of good. (Curing what?) Margaret stayed there hoping to convince her to leave. At a Fourth of July celebration, two patients approached Margaret and begged her to get them out the place, saying they were prisoners. When she announced that she would be leaving and taking Dorothea with her, Linda said Dorothea wasn’t free to leave. The Hazzards had obtained legal guardianship of her. They said she would be spending the rest of her life with them. Margaret sneaked off the property to contact the sisters’ uncle in Portland, and he came to the rescue. Dorothea now weighed 60 pounds. The Hazzards presented her with a bill for $2,000 and said they wouldn’t allow her to leave without some cash. Her uncle negotiated a smaller ransom. The British vice-consul in Tacoma put pressure on Kitsap County to prosecute Hazzard. When they said they couldn’t afford it, Dorothea Williamson offered to pay for everything. In August of 1911, Linda Hazzard was arrested. The Tacoma Daily News headline read: “Officials Expect to Expose Starvation Atrocities: Dr. Hazzard Depicted as Fiend.” Linda said she was being persecuted because she was a successful woman, and that traditional doctors resented her success and opposed natural cures. She told reporters “I intend to get on the stand and show up that bunch. They’ve been playing checkers but it’s my move. I’ll show them a thing or two when I get on the stand.” Her lawyer kept her off the stand, and the judge scolded her for signaling to witnesses. On top of damning medical testimony, a complete paper trail, including a forged diary entry saying Claire wanted Linda to have her diamonds, made it clear the Hazzards were crooks. The jury came back with a verdict of manslaughter. Linda managed to kill two more patients while awaiting sentencing. She got  two years and did her time at Walla Walla. She and Sam then moved to New Zealand, where she operated under the titles of physician, dietitian, and osteopath. She also published another book, and made a lot of money.

Only Known Picture of the Sanitarium

By 1920, she had enough money to come back to Olalla and build her dream sanitarium at Starvation Heights. Since the state of Washington had pulled her medical license, she called it “a school of health.” The lavish building included a basement autopsy room and an incinerator. Although she didn't have the amount of patients she had anticipated, people still checked in to be starved. The sanitarium burned down in 1935, and three years later, Linda died. She hadn’t been feeling well and embarked on a fasting cure. (Poetic Justice) The total number of her victims is unknown, but she can safely be said to have starved at least a dozen people. RIP

The "Postal" John

In 1993, a postal worker named Jim Fiori lived alone in an apartment on the South slope of Queen Anne. He worked the night shift sorting mail at Seattle's main post office at 301 Union Street. He was described by neighbors and co-workers as quiet, meek, and a bit of a loner. One of his neighbors, an elderly woman, couldn't seem to get over the fact that despite his exquisite view of the city, he never opened his curtains. "Does that make sense to you?" she asked reporters. (Yes lady, he worked the night shift.) 

Post Office at 301 Union St.

The 47-year-old was never married, had no kids, few friends, and had no female companions that anyone could remember. Except for the prostitutes he frequented on Aurora Ave. The lucky lady he picked up on the night of July 17th was Alane Scott. She was a 28-year-old mother of four, who had lost them all to the state. She had no home, no car, no possessions. But she did have a raging heroin addiction. She’d also been in and out of the clink on numerous prostitution, theft, and drug charges. With that said, she in no way deserved what happened to her. Jim picked her up around 9:30 in front of the Thunderbird Motel at 4521 Aurora Ave. (It was demolished on February 29, 2012)

4521 Aurora Ave.

They drove back to his apartment at 518 Prospect and negotiated a romantic evening for a price of 70 dollars. At some point afterward, Jim decided to take a shower and Alane decided to go through his jacket.

She found an envelope full of cash and as she was rifling through it, Jim came out of the bathroom. When he saw what was happening he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her in the chest. Then he strangled her. Surviving that, she made her way for the door. Jim grabbed a gun from a drawer, tackled Alane, put a pillow over her head and pulled the trigger. Then, he put her in his bath tub and left her there for almost a day. In whatever state of mind he was in, he figured the best idea was to dismember her with an axe. (This is my second post about an axe murder on Queen Anne hill. There’s a third one coming.)

518 Prospect today

After severing her head and right arm, he loaded the pieces into his Ford Fiesta and went looking for somewhere to get rid of them. Patrolman Lance Ramsay had been cruising North Seattle the night of the 18th when he noticed an erratic driver and pulled him over. His notes said the driver was "Nervous, fidgety, and would not look at me." "There was blood on the driver’s hands, steering wheel, and the outside of the hatch." The driver gave some excuse about cleaning fish and the cop let him go. He’s not a total idiot though, he jotted down the license number. The next morning Seattle woke up to the headline "Naked, Headless Woman's Body Found in Street". Jim had dumped Alane at the intersection of Roosevelt and Densmore on a quiet residential street in the Haller Lake neighborhood.

N. Roosevelt and Densmore

She was noticed around dawn on the 19th. When word of the body spread through the police department, Ramsay passed along the license plate number and detectives paid a visit to Jim Fiori. He calmly invited them in. He hadn’t even bothered to clean the blood on the carpet, or discard the weapons used to commit the murder. After giving the detective’s excuses about the blood nobody would ever believe, they hauled Jim in. The next question they wanted to know was where the rest of Alane was. Jim told them he put her head and arm into a dumpster by Green Lake. (I don’t know which one) By the time detectives got to the dumpster, the contents were on the way to a land-fill in Oregon. After an extensive search, the rest of the body was never recovered. Jim said the years of frustration, isolation and anxiety collided with his anger at Alane and he “finally erupted like Mount St. Helens." He plead guilty and received 27 years. RIP Alane.

The Bus Tunnel Beating

On January 28, 2010 a group of 10 teenagers began to argue with 15-year-old Aiesha Baker inside the downtown Nordstrom at 500 Pine Street in Westlake Plaza. They even threatened to kill her. 

Nordstrom on Right, Mall on Left

They were asked to leave by security officers and they all left through the west entrance onto 5th Avenue. Aiesha went across the street to Westlake Mall and took the elevator down to the bus tunnel. The group followed her. Aiesha sensed trouble so she made a point to stand next to three security guards, thinking they would protect her. Well, they didn't. A 15-year-old girl pushed Aiesha to the ground and began kicking her in the head and body.

Aiesha getting kicked in the tunnel

She was then picked up and thrown into the bus lanes. The security officers called the police and watched the girl get pummeled. Aiesha's purse, ipod, and back pack were all stolen. According to a news release from the King County Executive Office, the transit tunnel security officers who witnessed the assault didn't help the girl because they're unarmed employees of Olympic Security Services who are trained to avoid confrontations or fights and instead call 911. (Seems to me like they're a waste of money then. Anybody down there with a cell phone can call 911) The main attacker was arrested February 5th and was charged with second-degree assault and first-degree robbery. Three more suspects were arrested on February 6th-Latroy D. Hayman 20, Domanique L. Whitaker 18, and Tyrone J. Watson, also 18. They were all charged with first-degree robbery. The city was of course in an uproar over a poor, innocent girl being attacked while grown men just stood by. Aiesha even gained national attention when she went crying to Good Morning America with her story. 

Well.....there's more to the story than she told. A lot more. Some say it was karma intervening. On May 23, 2009 Tamie Cox, 50 was walking home from a pub on Highway 99 up in Edmonds when two "nicely dressed and polite girls" stopped and asked her for the time. When Tamie pulled out her cellphone to check, the girls jumped her. One put her in a head lock and yanked at her hair while the second girl punched her in the face and chest and grabbed her purse. After the attackers ran away, Tamie chased after them. Once they ran into a dark alley, she decided not to press her luck. She ran back out to the highway and flagged down a police officer. Somebody else had already called the cops and the two suspects were in the back of another squad car. You guessed it, one of those girls was Aiesha Baker. On top of that, Aiesha was already on probation for attempted second-degree robbery and assault for attacking a security guard at Saar's Market Place in Rainier Beach  (Seattle's answer to South central) on Jan. 26, 2009. Aiesha punched the guard in the head after he stopped her friend for shoplifting an energy drink and a bag of chips.

Saar's Market in Rainier Beach

In exchange for her guilty plea in the Edmonds attack, Aiesha was ordered to serve four months of probation and a year of community service, attend counseling, have a nightly curfew and refrain from using drugs and alcohol or possessing weapons. (So really, she wasn't punished at all) Aiesha's adult attackers in the tunnel; Hayman, Watson, and Whitaker, were all sentenced to  six months in jail. The 15-year-old girl was sentenced to 36 weeks in Juvenile Detention. I'd love to tell you this is the end of the story but on December 23, 2010 Aiesha was attacked again. According to court documents, around 9:30pm Aiesha and a friend were waiting at a bus stop near the Westlake Plaza Macy's at 3rd and Pine when they were approached by Alleicia Carson, 20 and two teen girls. One of those girls, then 16, was Aiesha's primary attacker in the bus tunnel. The other juvenile girl was identified as the sister of one of the men convicted of the tunnel beating.

Bus Stop with Macy's on Left

According to witnesses, Alleicia saw Aiesha and asked the 16-year-old, "Isn't that the bitch you beat up in the tunnel?" The three surrounded Aiesha and her friend, spit on them, pulled their hair and called them "snitches." The group was still fighting when officers arrived. Alleicia, who had previously been charged with attempted theft in 2006, plead guilty and was given only a suspended sentence and probation. My advice to Aiesha, on top of the obvious, is to stay away from the plaza. She lives closer to SouthCenter Mall anyway. 

The Bus Tunnel Today