January 11

DNA evidence led detectives to home invasion robbery suspect

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The man arrested this week for a home invasion robbery was charged today, a year after a woman was bound inside her Maple Leaf house.

In court documents, police say DNA evidence from the duct tape used to bind and blindfold the 52-year-old victim was the key to arresting Christopher Jacque Petersen, who was still living directly across the street from the crime scene.

In the court documents, prosecutors charge Petersen, 54, with first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. He will make a court appearance Jan. 25.

According to the charging documents, the victim said she was asleep in her bedroom about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2011, when she heard a loud smashing sound. She turned on a light and found a large, masked man standing at the foot of her bed wielding a croquet-like mallet.

Detectives say the woman pleaded with the man not to hurt her. According to the documents, he took her debit card and demanded to know her PIN, then pulled out a roll of duct tape and bound her ankles and wrists, and blindfolded her.

After he left, she freed herself and called police, according to the charging papers. On their arrival, officers found a smashed sliding glass door and observed that lights were on in the home across the street, in the 200o block of Northeast 96th Street. They also noticed a vehicle in the driveway across the street was driven off shortly after police arrived.

The next week detectives interviewed the heavy-set resident of the home – Petersen, according to the documents. He said he didn’t see or hear anything, but that he was awake that night and drove to QFC to buy cold medicine.

Detectives knew the debit card was used twice shortly after the robbery, at Wells Fargo ATMs in Lake City and Wedgwood. They sent the duct tape to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab – the DNA tests came back this November as belonging to a white male, according to the documents.

In mid-November detectives took DNA samples – cheek swaps – from Petersen, the court papers state. A crime lab report dated Jan. 5, 2012, shows the DNA recovered from the duct tape matches the samples from Petersen, the charging documents state.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, detectives served a search warrant on Petersen’s home and found clothing resembling the ATM surveillance videos showing the robber was wearing minutes after the attack, according to the court documents.

About the author 

Sara W

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  1. Probably because they didn’t have any strong evidence until they had the DNAa evidence. DNA testing can take months and months.

  2. What an idiot. Ummm, if you’re going to rob your across-the-street neighbor at 2:30 am, you may want to turn your lights off.

    I must ask though: If police interviewed the suspect the night of the crime, why’d it take a year to conclude the case?

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