Kidnapped Seattle man escapes from trunk of burning vehicle after driver crashes into house

On the morning of March 16, a bizarre scene unfolded in the Seattle neighborhood of Ravenna after a vehicle crashed into a home an burst into flames. While the car sat ablaze, a 63-year-old man emerged from the trunk while the driver, believed to be forty-five years his junior, fled the scene.

The suspect, who the older man claimed assaulted him before stealing his vehicle and forcing him into the trunk, remains at large.



According to the Seattle Police Department, officers were called to the scene on the 7200 block of 27 Avenue NE around 5 am. Upon arrival, they extinguished the blaze and treated the victim for "non-life-threatening injuries." He was later taken to Harborview Medical Center and is recovering.

The man told police that he had been "assaulted by several suspects, then bound and placed in the trunk of his own vehicle." Officers tracked down a potential suspect, but he was released after being questioned.

The early morning incident woke up a number of neighbors, some of whom witnessed the two men escape.

One neighbor said that after hearing "the most sickening crunch," he looked out his window and saw the vehicle on fire across the street and called 911. "You can't make this stuff up," he said. "It's absurd!"

"There was a gentlemen who was sitting outside kind of by the trunk of his car," another neighbor recalled. "He was all tied up with rope, and he was screaming 'Help me, help me, I've just been kidnapped."

"He'd been beaten up pretty bad," she continued. "They cut his face with a knife and punched him and beat him up pretty badly."

The SPD has found no indication that the attack was targeted. The agency has asked anyone with information to contact the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000.