Police focus on parolee in slaying

Seattle police have identified a person of interest in the stabbing death of a Capitol Hill woman Dec. 31, a source with knowledge of the investigation said Wednesday.

The 29-year-old prison parolee has been in custody since Jan. 4 when he was picked up by the state Department of Corrections (DOC) for allegedly violating the terms of his community custody, this state's version of parole. He was questioned that night by Seattle police because he resembles a sketch of the man seen leaving the scene when Shannon Harps was slain, the source said.

The DOC said the man was booked into King County Jail on Jan. 5, stemming from an allegation that he had been drinking on New Year's Eve. The terms of his prison release forbid him from drinking alcohol, according to corrections officials.

Police are awaiting the results of DNA testing to determine whether the man is connected to Harps' slaying, the source said. Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz declined to confirm or deny that the man is a person of interest. He said the case is still under investigation.

On Jan. 9 the man was transferred from the King County Jail to the Monroe Correctional Complex to await a DOC administrative hearing. The man was supposed to be released from custody Wednesday but is continuing to be held for a mental evaluation, the source said.

The Seattle man has a criminal history in Washington state and in Florida. He was convicted of felony harassment in King County in 2004.

The Seattle Times is not naming the man because he has not been charged in Harps' slaying. An employee at the man's Capitol Hill apartment building declined to comment about him.

Harps, 31, was walking home from the grocery store on New Year's Eve when she was attacked outside her condominium, police said. Her neighbors called 911 after hearing screaming and yelling, police said.

Harps, a Sierra Club volunteer organizer, 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.

After Harps' body was discovered shortly after 7 p.m., her neighbors told police they saw a bearded man in a stocking cap running from her condominium building in the 1700 block of 15th Avenue.

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