Man charged with savagely stomping 55-year-old homeless woman nearly to death in White Center

SEATTLE -- A 21-year-old man was charged Monday with first-degree assault with sexual motivation in the case of a homeless 55-year-old woman who was savagely beaten and left for dead in White Center early Thursday morning.

Robert Javier German was ordered held in the King County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bail.

The victim, who police said is a transient who lives on the streets in White Center, is currently at Harborview Medical Center in a medically induced coma. "She was severely injured, with the front of her face torn apart. She suffered multiple facial fractures ... The defendant almost killed" her, court documents said.

According to the documents, police said the victim "is known to walk the area of 15th Ave SW and 16th Ave SW and does not communicate with others."

German, according to the documents, recently became homeless in the last month. He had just gotten off work at a taco restaurant in Burien and walked north on Aubaum Boulevard to a bus stop that night.

Prosecutors said the homeless woman was walking along Ambaum Boulevard in White Center when the defendant grabbed her and dragged her behind a wall in front of a building. Video surveillance captured her struggle to get away from the man as he dragged her by the wrist as she lay on her back, kicking and fighting to get away.

"Evidence at the scene suggests German was able to to remove (her) pants and lift her shirt," police said. "It appears as though German attempted to sexually assault" her. "Evidence suggests he used his feet and shoes to stomp on (her) head and kick her in the head. She was beaten to the point where she received a severe laceration across the entire front of her face and exposing the skull under skin. Her face was beaten beyond recognition and her eyes swollen shut and mouth severely deformed."

A witness saw German then run from the scene, police said. He was arrested not far away and found with blood and fecal matter on his clothes.

A sexual assault examination was performed on the victim by a sexual assault nurse and an anal tear was found, the documents said.