Seattle homicide suspect arrested in Woodland

A man wanted in connection with a killing in Seattle was arrested early Tuesday morning when a custodian with Woodland Public Schools spotted Mussie E. Weldeyohhannes and called police.

Weldeyohhannes was taken into custody at about 4:30 a.m. He was spotted by a man who had earlier received the reverse 911 call activated by police and recognized Weldeyohhannes as matching the description, according to a bulletin from the Woodland Police Department.

Weldeyohhannes was lodged in the Cowlitz County Jail to be held for Seattle detectives.

Weldeyohhannes allegedly committed killed someone in Seattle and stole a car there, according to a bulletin from the Woodland Police Department. The car was found at about 8:30 p.m. Monday near the Safeway in Woodland, and the suspect was believed to have been on foot in Woodland about that time.

An intense search for the suspect, including use of a tracking dog, began then. Police from Vancouver assisted in the search.

Around 6 a.m. Sunday, police officers in Seattle responded to a report of a suspicious death at a neighborhood home. A 25-year-old woman was found dead, and an autopsy led medical examiner’s to determine she died of “homicidal means,” according to the Seattle Times.

Weldeyohannes had a domestic relationship with the victim, according to the Seattle police website.

The victim, her daughter, Weldeyohannes and two other adults were together at the North Seattle residence about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Times reported.

At some point, Weldeyohannes, the victim and her daughter went in one bedroom while the two other adults slept in the living room.

The two adults woke up and called 911 after they found the woman unresponsive and not breathing, according to the Times. Weldeyohannes was gone, apparently in a car believed to belong to one of the adults.