‘Victim’ recants story

On March 12, a 44-year-old Woodinville woman reported being attacked in a downtown shopping center parking lot at Northeast 175th Street and 140th Avenue Northeast. She said the attack occurred around noon the day before.

“She provided a written victim statement to us detailing the attack,” said King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart.

“We treated the report very, very seriously,” said Woodinville Police Chief John McSwain. “We assigned two detectives to the case, which is rare, and assigned extra patrols in the downtown.”

“As we investigated,” said Sgt. Urquhart, “we found a 1998 report that the same ‘victim’ had filed. She had reported to us that she was attacked by an unknown man in the parking lot of the Kingsgate Safeway. The details of that attack were strikingly similar to the details of the (Woodinville) attack, right down to specific details of what he did and what she did to get away. Nevertheless, we set up an appointment with (the woman) to meet with a sexual assault prosecutor and our detectives, which is standard procedure in these cases.”

According to Sgt. Joe Tracy, administrative sergeant for the Woodinville Police Department, when the two detectives showed up at the woman’s residence at 9:40 a.m. on March 17 and asked her if she was ready to go downtown to talk with a prosecutor, she said that she wanted to “drop the whole thing.”

Urquhart said, “She had changed her mind and didn’t want to assist in prosecution.?Eventually, she said that she had made up the story and the attack never occurred. She provided a (tape-recorded) statement to that effect. In no way was she coerced into recanting, (which was one of a number of rumors going around town).”

Sgt. Tracy said detectives asked the woman about injuries that she had reported. She said that they were not the result of domestic violence, not the result of an attack by another party, not self-inflicted. They were caused by a seizure, she said.

Tracy also said that a store employee near where the alleged ‘attack’ occurred reported that a woman came into the store asking about placement of security cameras in the parking lot.

Word of the woman’s supposed attack circulated throughout town via e-mail. A friend of the ‘victim’ said that she truly believed the woman’s story and wanted to warn friends and family members.

The friend described the incident in graphic detail, which she sent to nine people requesting that they “Just PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pass this on.”

And so they did.

According to Sgt. Urquhart, “One of our first concerns arose when we saw the e-mail that a friend of hers began circulating around Woodinville. The details of the attack differed significantly from what the victim told us. …

“The Worldwide Web is both a curse and a blessing. It helps us to get crime information out, but unfortunately, false information can get out and needlessly scare people. Use of discretion is important. A lot of people were upset needlessly (before we could investigate and verify the incident). … Let us do our jobs.”

Urquhart gave a lot of credit to persons who took the time to contact the police department about the veracity of the e-mails.

“… (W)e got lots of calls from panicked residents,” said Urquhart.

Those who inquired about the incident were told, “There was no truth to it.”