Woman stabbed in Point Defiance crime: ‘I can’t believe I survived’

The woman who was repeatedly stabbed in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park said, “It was the most horrific day of my life.”

Police detectives in Tacoma are asking for the public’s help to identify the suspect responsible for the stabbing of a woman who calls herself  “Jane.”

“I was one wrong move from being killed,” Jane said. “I was completely alone and I still can’t believe I survived.”

On the afternoon of Feb. 10, an unknown man attacked the victim, who was walking on the marked trails of Five Mile Drive at Point Defiance Park, the Tacoma Police Department (TPD) reported.

The suspect pinned the victim to the ground and repeatedly stabbed her. Witnesses intervened and the suspect ran from the scene toward the Owen Beach parking lot. After that, they lost sight of the man.

“I begged him to let me go, that I could give him money, that I would give him anything he wanted if I could live,” Jane said in a press conference on Tuesday. “That was when he made it verbally explicit that his intent was to kill me.”

Emergency management workers transported the victim to the hospital with serious, non-life-threatening wounds.

Police detectives in Tacoma are asking for the public’s help to identify the suspect responsible for a recent stabbing of a woman. The Tacoma Police Department released this sketch of the subject. (Image courtesy of the Tacoma Police Department)

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TPD detectives, working with the victim, witnesses to the assault and a sketch artist from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, were able to create a composite depiction of what the assailant looked like at the time of the assault.

The department describes the suspect as a light-skinned, black male in his 20s to 30s, 5-foot-8 to 6 feet tall, and 160 pounds. At the time of the crime, the suspect had black hair that was approximately 3-6 inches long and in an unkempt afro style with short facial hair. He also wore a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black shoes.

If anyone is able to recognize the person in the sketch, they are urged to contact Crime Stoppers of Pierce County at tpcrimestoppers.com or call (800) 222-TIPS. For anyone who encounters the person depicted in the image, they should call 911.

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Also, the TPD says it’s possible park visitors with dash cameras in their cars might have recorded the attacker at some point.

Regarding the February 10, 2024 assault in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma Police, in working with the victim, witnesses and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department were able to create this depiction of the suspect. pic.twitter.com/w4SGLSgORL

— Tacoma Police Department (@TacomaPD) February 18, 2024

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of My Northwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.

Bill Kaczaraba is a digital content editor for MyNorthwest.

Contributing: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio