The Seattle Police Department may finally have a lead in the murder
of a 31-year-old woman last New Year’s Eve. A 29-year-old man is being
investigated for the murder of Shannon Harps, who was fatally stabbed
in front of her Capitol Hill condo building. According to court
documents, the man has a long and violent criminal history.
The man (whom The Stranger is not identifying,
because he has not been charged) has an extensive rap sheet stretching
from Florida to Seattle. He’s been convicted on drug charges,
harassment, burglary, DUI, obstruction, resisting arrest and
assault.
According to state department of corrections (DOC) spokesman Chad
Lewis, the man was most recently arrested and being held in prison in
Monroe for violating the provisions of his DOC-mandated community
supervision—the Washington State equivalent of parole.
It’s unclear how a DOC arrest turned into a homicide
investigation—although SPD is still not calling the man a
suspect—but SPD is conducting DNA tests to see if the man can be
linked to Harps’s murder. 
