Suspect appears in court for South Lake Union sexual assault

A man accused of raping a woman inside her South Lake Union apartment last week has been charged with first-degree rape, first-degree robbery, and residential burglary with sexual motivation.

Newly released court documents from a Feb. 4 rape investigation in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood said the suspect stole a woman’s green card and returned to her apartment building the next day with a knife.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video, which they said showed a man, identified as Isaiah Weston, walking in through the front door of the apartment complex and then standing there, watching her as she walked to the elevator.

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The footage then reportedly showed Weston running toward the elevator, trying to get inside. When the door closed, he watched to see what floor the woman was headed to, taking the stairwell shortly after.

Police later learned more from the victim. She was at home cooking when she opened the door to ventilate the apartment. She told police that’s when the man with a knife walked in, demanded her money, put the blade to her throat, and raped her.

According to police, he stole a designer purse, three credit cards, and the woman’s green card before leaving.

The woman was taken to a local hospital, then escorted back home early in the morning. Several hours later, police received a 911 call that Weston was back.

Officers got to her apartment and found the man, identified as Weston, in an emergency stairwell just 20 feet from her unit. Found on him, according to the police, was her credit cards, her green card, a knife, a ski mask, and sunglasses he was allegedly wearing in the surveillance footage.

Police arrested him and took him back to the department’s headquarters to interview him.

Authorities said Weston was alone in the interview room being recorded. He is on video talking to himself, saying he should say he “robbed” her, not “raped” her.

When Weston was told police would be seizing his clothing for evidence, detectives quoted him in court documents as saying, “’but these aren’t the clothes (suspect paused his speech) that I see the guy wearing in the video’ or words to that effect.”

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According to court documents, police found a condom at the scene. Authorities conducted DNA testing on Weston. No results were included in the batch of court documents.

King County prosecutors said Weston doesn’t have an extensive criminal history, but the office argued for him to be held on $750,000 bail with multiple restrictions – including home monitoring and notification of the victim if the bond is posted, among other conditions. Prosecutors said Weston is likely to commit another violent offense or to interfere with the victim and witnesses.

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