UPDATE, Jan. 3, 2:45 p.m.: Moses Kelly, the suspect in the Oct. 25 rape of an 80-year-old Kirkland woman, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree rape and first-degree burglary Thursday in King County Superior Court. Kelly, 26, remains in the King County Jail with bail set at $1 million. He faces a case-setting hearing on Feb. 5.
On its Web site, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office commended the Kirkland Police Department, saying “Kirkland Police did outstanding work in this case to bring charges.” Kelly was arrested in Redmond on Dec. 26 after Kirkland police released photos of him the day before. Kirkland police used a DNA match to identified Kelly as the suspect in the brutal rape of the Juanita woman, who stands 4-feet-11 inches and weighs 90s pounds.
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Original story:
Moses Kelly, a 26-year-old transient arrested last week in Redmond, will be arraigned Thursday on charges that he raped an 80-year-old Kirkland woman who stands 4-feet-11 inches and weighs 90 pounds.
Kelly will be formally charged at the King County Courthouse in Seattle with first-degree rape for the Oct. 25 attack of the woman, who, according to police, had just returned from a bus stop to her Juanita home when she was assaulted. He is also charged with one count of first-degree burglary.
Kelly remains in the King County Jail, with bail set at $1 million.
According to charging documents from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, DNA from semen taken from the victim matched DNA taken from Kelly in California after a 2010 carjacking.
The documents allege that despite fighting back, the victim was choked until she almost or did pass out and was raped “in an extraordinarily violent way.”
At one point the victim bit her attacker in the hand, and he responded by biting her back in the hand. The victim suffered bruising and bleeding to her face, neck and hands and “petechia”--red and purple spots indicative of choking or strangulation--on her neck, behind her ears and on her eyes. Her injuries, however, were not life-threatening.
The charging documents allege that Kelly pushed his way into the woman’s home as she arrived home, shut the doors and attacked the woman, who began screaming and struggling. They say he threatened to kill her, and when she asked why he was doing this, he replied, “I am a black man and no one wants to have sex with a black man," and later, “I need sex.”
The assailant left out the front door and the victim called her husband, who was at work. She was then taken to the urgent care center of Group Health in Bellevue, where a doctor treated the woman, called 911 and sent the woman to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Although Kelly has no prior felony convictions, the charging documents note he has two convictions for criminal trespass and one each for assault and malicious mischief.
Kelly was arrested near a gas station in Redmond on Dec. 26 after Kirkland police released photos of him the day before. The photos closely matched a sketch that had been developed and released by Kirkland police earlier. The case was investigated by Kirkland police Det. Dave Quiggle.
For a previous Kirkland Patch story on the case, click here.
