Homeless woman taken in by Bellevue couple charged after 'vicious' knife attack on them in home

SEATTLE -- A 40-year-old homeless woman who had been temporarily taken into the Bellevue home by an elderly couple was charged Wednesday with assault for "viciously attacking" them  with a butcher knife last Saturday night, according to court documents.

Cresencia Judemarie Everett-Zerr,  charged with two counts of first-degree assault, was being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $400,000 bail. Her arraignment is set for Aug. 15.

"The defendant has demonstrated through her actions that she is exceedingly dangerous," the prosecution said in charging documents. "Here, 83-year-old Glenn Hall and 76-year-old Carolyn Hall opened their home to the defendant, who was homeless at the time, allowing her to stay with them."

Court documents said Everett-Zerr had been staying with the Halls since the first week of July and was to move out of the home by the first week of August.

But as the Halls returned home from church on July 28, the charging papers said, "they found the defendant had set small fires in the garage and kitchen. The defendant came into the house shortly thereafter yelling at the victims. The defendant then armed herself with a 12-inch butcher knife and viciously attacked both victims as they screamed for help."

Carolyn Hall suffered "significant injuries" to her neck, face, chest and both hands; Glenn Hall also has significant injuries to his collarbone area, neck, face and both hands. They both underwent surgery at Harborview Medical Center, where they remained as of Wednesday.

According to the documents, Carolyn Hall told police that her church had collected donations in the amount of $490 to reimburse the Halls for the expenses associated with their allowing Everett-Zerr to live at their home. Carolyn told the police she had the money in an envelope and had intended to give it to Everett-Zerr.

Carolyn also said that Everett-Zerr was a psychic and spoke "with spirits" and used bones during her "rituals."

Glenn Hall told police that before Everett-Zerr attacked him, she accused him of doing something bad to her family, but he reminded her he had never met her family. Glenn described Everett-Zerr's demeanor during the attack as "a woman possessed by the devil."

In an interview at the King County Jail, Everett-Zerr said after Carolyn and Glenn left for church, she had found "thousands of dollars" in donation money that they had never given to her and said she believed the couple were committing church fraud, the documents stated.

She said the couple attacked her first on their return from church and yelled, "Burn the witch, burn the witch." After they cut her with a knife, she said, she acted in self-defense and picked up a knife to keep them from killing her, police documents said.

Police said a hospital exam showed that Everett-Zerr had suffered no knife wounds or any other wounds.