Police searching for "person of interest" in Capitol Hill slaying

Police are seeking a man they call a "person of interest" in the slaying of Capitol Hill stabbing victim Shannon Harps.

A sketch of the man, who was seen running from where Harps' body was found, was released Wednesday.

Police said this morning that more than 30 people have contacted authorities to report possible information about the man in the sketch.

Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz declined to call the man in the sketch a suspect in the slaying."We're looking at anybody who has had any type of relationship with her," Metz said Wednesday. "Right now there is nobody we are fixated on, besides the person we have the sketch of."

Meanwhile, Seattle police are saying they have ruled out no one in connection with the stabbing. Police had said earlier they had ruled out one of Harps' co-workers.

"As of this morning we had not interviewed him," said Seattle police Sgt. Deanna Nollette.

Harps was walking home from the grocery store Monday night when she was attacked outside her condominium building, police said. Fellow residents of the 1500 block of East Howell Street called 911 after hearing screaming and yelling, Metz said.

Harps was found lying in the planting strip on the north side of the building with stab wounds to her abdomen and chest, according to police. She was pronounced dead that night at Harborview Medical Center.

One or two people saw a man run from Harps' condominium building, Metz said. Police produced a sketch based on witnesses and are requesting that if people recognize the man in the sketch, they call 911 but not approach him.

Investigators have not yet recovered a weapon, Metz said.

Because police are uncertain whether the slaying was random, officers have increased patrols in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Metz cautioned people residing in the area to be more aware of their surroundings, know who is around them and use "the buddy system" while walking around.

Ronald Harps, the victim's father, said that his youngest daughter never talked about feeling threatened in the nearly five years she has lived in Seattle.

Ronald Harps, a retired high-school teacher who lives in Fort Myers, Fla., said that Shannon last e-mailed him about two hours before she was killed. He said she wrote that she was on her way to pick up groceries to bring to a New Year's Eve party.

Harps had last called her parents Christmas Day and was supposed to call them New Year's Day, as was her tradition.

"We had marathon phone conversations once a month for one, maybe two hours, or until her cellphone battery ran out," Ronald Harps said.

Harps moved into the condominium building about two years ago and has spent much of the time remodeling, her father said. A native of Mentor, Ohio, Harps spent much of the past 10 years hoping to move to the Pacific Northwest, he said.

Harps moved to Seattle in 2003 after attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Wellesley College, in Massachusetts, where she obtained a graduate degree in environmental education.

"She really, truly loved and was so passionate about wildlife preservation and conservation of all types," Ronald Harps said. "We always called her our conscience of the family."

Harps would scold her parents for using plastic grocery sacks instead of reusable canvas bags. Because of her influence, her parents even got involved with their local Sierra Club chapter, Ronald Harps said.

"She was very idealistic in her beliefs. She really lived her ideals," he said.

In recent years, Harps backpacked in Alaska and Montana. For years, she had talked about traveling to South America and hiking in Patagonia. Just days ago, she and a friend bought tickets for an upcoming trip, Ronald Harps said.

"She had dreamed to backpack in all of the continents," he said. "She was very confident in her ability to do many things. She was fearless."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com