Slog
News & ArtsFriday, July 24, 2009
Crime / City Suspect Arrested in South Park Murder
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 8:02 PM
The man pictured in the surveillance videos posted earlier has been arrested by Seattle police on suspicion of murdering Teresa Butz, 39, early Sunday morning in South Park.
Around 6:30 p.m. police spokesman Sean Whitcomb sent out an e-mail identifying the man as Isaiah M.K. Kalebu, and identifying the pit bull that's with him in the videos as "Endo."
Within a half hour of Whitcomb publicly identifying Kalebu, he was apparently in custody.
UPDATE: According to Whitcomb, Kalebu, 23, was arrested after a Metro bus driver who was aware that police were looking for a man with a pit bull spotted Kalebu and his dog near Magnuson Park. Police swarmed the area and quickly found him.
"The suspect surrendered to officers without incident," Whitcomb said in a statement. "He is in custody and en route to Seattle Police Headquarters for questioning. He will ultimately be booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Murder. The suspect was with his pit bull at the time of apprehension. The dog has been released to the care of Seattle Animal Control."
UPDATE 2: Court records show that last year Isaiah Kalebu's mother, Denise, called police for help after Isaiah, who was living with her at her apartment in Burien, threatened to kill her.
Denise told authorities that on March 29, 2008, she'd commanded her son to take the medication he'd been prescribed for his bi-polar diagnosis—a diagnosis he'd been given after being involuntarily committed the previous day by Seattle Police. Isaiah Kalebu became angry. He then said calmly: "You're dead to me... Just leave... Enjoy your last day on earth."
According to a King County Sheriff's report, Denise then grabbed a pair of scissors to defend herself and her two younger children, ages 8 and 3. Isaiah Kalebu responded to that by telling his mother: "You're gonna die... You're no match for me... Those scissors are no match for me or my dog."
Denise fled with her two children, and told her son to be out of the apartment by the next day. He replied: "Go fuck yourself."
Then he walked past her with a backpack, his pit bull, and a knife with a six-inch blade, and headed toward the Burien Park and Ride. When Denise and Isaiah Kalebu's father caught up with him he said: "My family has forsaken me... You'll never see me again."
According to the report, the next day police were called again because Isaiah Kalebu was back at his mother's apartment in Burien and using a rock to smash the windows of her Ford Freestyle. When she told him to stop, he told her: "Go fuck yourself." When she'd told him to leave, he told her: "You're all dead."
On the advice of police, Denise fled to the house of a family member. Isaiah Kalebu found her within a few hours. He then threw a large rock through the front window of the house, the report says, after which he stood in the street with his pit bull yelling, "You're all dead."
He shouted to his mother: "Come on."
Fearful, but not wanting him to get away, Denise and others confronted him. Isaiah Kalebu took the leash off his pit bull and commanded it to attack her. When the dog didn't attack, Isaiah Kalebu began swinging the leash at her, pushing her, and ultimately grappling with her.
From the report: "Denise stated that Isaiah had assaulted her by biting her on the leg as she tried to hold him down by lying on him, and he also hit her on the head with the metal chain portion of his dog leash.... Denise said that she could see Isaiah in the patrol car after deputies arrested him and she saw him say, 'You're all gonna die,' while he smiled."
UPDATE 3: The Seattle Times reports that Isaiah Kalebu is also a person of interest "in a Tacoma fire earlier this month that killed two people, including Kalebu's aunt. The fire started the day after Kalebu's aunt filed for a protection order against him and made him leave her house."
With research help from Jonah Spangenthal-Lee
Great job!
4
Don't be naive. Surveillance nation. At least in the cities.
For now.
Hell, they're watching YOU right now.
In any event, some good came of it.
This story is tragedy.
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Stop speculating on stories before the facts come in.
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Oh, HUGS FOR YOU!
Seriously thought, the police haven't provided any concrete details on why they think this is the guy. So far all we've got is, "Oh this guy's the suspect. No, we can't tell you why... and now he's arrested."
Dig this Seattle, this isn't the first nor the last case of black men acting their race. Sorry to say, but it's pretty predictable.
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@14: Christ in hell you're a moron. Just... wow. They don't have to prove his guilt to you. They have to prove it to a jury. And while there are racist assholes who will assume guilt, this does not make him innocent.
Could you just not say things unless you actually have something to say?
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Victim is white? Check.
Victim is a professional? Check
Victim has progressive politics? Check
Victim lived in cool, hip ALT neighborhood? Check.
Victim lived alternative lifestyle? Check
Victim drove a Scandinavian car? Check
Just want to say "That's some nice police work there Lou(s)!" If half of his charges are true, he is a horrible person who I am glad is off the streets.
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Nor does anything rule out that the victims were targeted. Consider that the deceased volunteered/worked with some community center outreach programs, so it is possible that their paths may have crossed even briefly and that could have been enough for him to target her.
Too little is known at present except that this is a tragic event and that for a number of reasons it is good that this man is in the care of the State.
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Now, suddenly you all want justice? A little late for that.
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Yes, I hope he gets warm soup, some well-needed help and not the death penalty.
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Reality 1, Stranger 0
There was no speculating in my original post and you're a fucking retard. And "hugs for you"? Yikes, that witty and condescending retort really hurt my feelings!
Get your head out of your ass.
A jury only goes off the evidence provided. What evidence is there? Testimony? If we're not being provided any real information as to why this guy is our man, how do we know the SPD's not just making things up and pinning this guy (who makes a convenient target because he has some criminal history) just to get the case tried and off the books?
Look, he could be the guy. They could have strong evidence that he specifically is the guy. So where is it? But then why not initially call him a suspect, instead of a 'person of interest'? Why dance around the subject at all? Something isn't right here, and I'm not referring to the murder.
Go re-read Fahrenheit 451... assuming you've read it at all, Lee. America, let alone the SPD, isn't above fabricating 'facts' to derive a desirable outcome. If you want to keep up personal attacks, go right ahead, because you're not proving anything worthwhile when you do so.
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But why the hell would you jump to that conclusion? He is a suspect in a murder case and was arrested less than 24 hours ago. The investigation is obviously ongoing, and if the police were to release information that would compromise that investigation, they're doing no one any favors.
In any event, the most important evidence of all will be the identification and testimony of the surviving victim, and they may want to do a lineup. That's going to be pretty damn important, and it's unlikely that they've had an opportunity to do so yet.
So what the fuck does this have to do with Fahrenheit 451? Less than a week after a murder that has hurt a lot of people in this city and horrified many of us who don't know anyone involved, and the Seattle Police Department's detectives are presumed to be engaged in an epic conspiracy to change facts and rewrite history?
I've noticed that pretty much every thing you say here is similarly wankerrific, and since you obviously won't go away, it's important that someone call you out on it. You're a fucking tool.
39
Glad SPD has a suspect. Sad all around. Prof. Gates would do well to read the account of this fellow's arrest. I highly doubt he Kalebu, the alleged killer issued a rant claiming "racial profiling". Congratulations to the Seattle Police Dept. The men and women of all stripes who investigated and apprehended the suspect should be commended.
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Ok, get your last shot in so we can be done with this. I'm sure we both have better things to do.
43
Baconcat is right: you're entertainingly vapid.
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The temptation to speculate quickly turns to bigotry against everyone you perceive to have an opinion different from yours.
If you read the more recent reports, you'll see that they found this guy's prints & dna in the crime scene.
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Oh please, you're exactly the type who'd start screaming police brutality the second the cops in Seattle started actually cracking down in this town. Fucking cops in this town are pansies. We need some New York head crackers.
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But, the criminals aren't nearly as scary, in the way that gangs and hardcore street thugs in Chicago, NYC and LA are, either.
It really does seem like a high proportion of the really horrific crimes in this area are the work of people who should have been committed. And, unfortunately, the standards for proving that someone is a danger to themselves and others (enough to lock them up without their having committed an actual serious felony) is high enough that it's difficult to police the mentally ill.
What's more, we have a high percentage of crazies in this town, because the temperate climate makes it possible to survive the winters here homeless. This mentally unstable homeless population is something you see in every medium-to-large sized city from Northern Cali to Vancouver B.C.
Anyway, cracking skulls doesn't do anything to solve problems of this nature. There is a lot of untreated mental illlness out there that poses a serious danger to the public, and the only way to redress that is to create a system that is able to intervene when someone shows signs of being that dangerous.
And, yeah, the judge was wrong to let him free.
54
Stop trying to tie this to Gates' arrest. Stop making jokes. You people are sick, too, if your first reaction to this is to make a snarky comment. Stop attacking SLOG. Who cares about that sh#t at the moment? What's wrong with you?
Yeah, it might not have been a hate crime. I'm okay with Eli implying it was because that was my first thought, too. However, we'll wait until the police finish investigating. Oh, and it was a hate crime in any case, against women.
This is not the most clearly written post but I had to write something. I'm gay and female, and this makes me just slightly more fearful.
As a dog owner I am thoroughly pleased with this bit of news. 'Scary black/schizo/homophobe strikes again is bad enough-at least there is no 'pitbulls are evil' propaganda material in this case. This means I don't get harrassed walking my dog until the next tragedy focusing on someone we can easily stereotype comes along.
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