A man was arrested and charged for allegedly stalking and raping a woman in her home near Seattle.
Elias Valdez Jr., 42, is in jail on a $1 million bond after he reportedly broke into a Bellevue woman’s home on Aug. 4 and raped her. The woman’s 8-year-old daughter was also home during the reported attack and said she saw a man crouching over her mother while he was holding a knife.
“The facts of this case are terrifying and incapable of rationalization. The defendant appears to have stalked the victim in this case … Not only did he use [a] deadly weapon in the commission of this sexual assault, but he also strangled the victim to near unconsciousness as he violently raped her … He also terrorized her by threatening the life of her minor child if she did not adhere to his demands,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Police said that Valdez was holding a metal paint scraper during the alleged attack and told the victim he would kill her daughter if she didn’t follow his directions.
The daughter was able to run to a neighbor’s house, where she called 911. Police said they found the woman running out of her home when they arrived and saw her collapse on the lawn.
The victim told police that days before the reported attack, she saw what appeared to be a homeless man standing outside of her house. The man asked her for trash bags during the incident, but the woman said he scared her, so she and her daughter went inside and locked the doors.
Valdez confirmed he was the man outside of the home that day. He told police that he was also aware she is a single mother and that he had taken a bus to her home to speak to her.
“We’re like a little family now,” Valdez said, according to charging documents.
Valdez was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree burglary, and felony harassment.
The report comes as nearby Seattle has reported repeated nights of violence and riots sparked by the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day.
