Woman attacked on a popular trail in Seattle park: 'I thought I was going to die'

SEATTLE -- A woman attacked on a popular trail at Seattle's Interlaken Park Thursday said she was choked so hard she passed out.

Witness Kari Fillipi said she saw the victim talking to police right after the attack.

“I was horrified for her, she was shaking, she was crying,” Fillipi said.

Police said the attack happened on a paved path in broad daylight at about 3:30 p.m.

The 44-year-old victim told Q13 Fox News she was jogging by herself when a man came up from behind and put her in a one-armed choke hold. She tried to fight back, she said, but she stumbled down an embankment. Still, the attacker wouldn’t let go.



“There were marks all over the back of her shirt that looked like she had been dragged or that she had rolled,” Fillipi said.

The victim said at one point she thought she was going to die. She said she passed out for about a minute during the attack and, when she woke up, she saw a man wearing a maroon hoodie running away.

She said she also saw a second man staring at her from the paved path before he disappeared.

The victim believes he could have been a lookout. He was described as a young skinny man wearing an orange hoodie.

“It surprises me because it was so out in the open and the trail is so frequented,” Montlake resident Felecia Job said.

The victim is confused about the motive. She says the man didn’t try to rape her and she had nothing on her he could steal.

“It’s a little strange and the time of day -- none of it really makes any sense,” Montlake resident Beth Mondzac said.

It’s a mysterious attack that has people walking in pairs in the daytime.

“In the afternoons I probably will not be walking this trail in the afternoon,” Fillipi said.

The victim is a mother of two and an executive of a local company. She didn’t want to go on camera to protect her privacy.

Seattle police asked that anyone who has any information on this case to call 911.