Seattle Legal Blog: Divorce, Child Custody, Domestic Violence & Mediation

75-Year-Old Ballard Man Kills Elderly Wife, Himself

Seattle Police rushed to an apartment building, Ballard House, located on the 2400 block of Northwest 57th Street, after a 911 caller reported hearing a domestic dispute turn violence in a neighboring apartment. When authorities arrived at the Housing Authority high rise, they found that a 74-year-old man had beat his 75-year-old wife to death with a hammer before jumping from his sixth floor apartment. The 911 caller described a woman shouting before falling to the floor and becoming silent.

Washington firefighters kicked in the door to the couple’s apartment, where they found the woman bleeding on the floor near a window that was missing a screen. Although she was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, she died of her injuries. Neither the man nor the women involved in the murder/suicide have been identified. Of the seven murders recorded in Seattle since January, five have been related to domestic violence.