"Infant Jane Doe" - 9 Months/ Suspect: Joseph Lester - University Place/ Tacoma WA

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — A Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's spokesman
says a woman has been found fatally stabbed in the Tacoma suburb of
University Place and her 9-month-old child is missing and believed abducted.

Spokesman Ed Troyer said Monday evening the woman's body was found at a duplex.

Information sent to the press identifies the suspect as Joseph Andrew Lester.

He is described as a 5-foot-8, 155-pound male with brown eyes and black hair worn in braids.

The suspect is believed to be driving a
dark blue 1992 Chevrolet Caprice, Washington license plate ADP3753,
with large rims and a loud exhaust.

Law enforcement officers are searching for the child.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016659063_apwawomanstabbed.html

There still may be charges pending against the suspect in this case although he was the birth father.
I will move this to UNRESOLVED for a few days and see what happens.

UPDATED at 6:05 a.m.

A man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend and kidnapping their 9-month-old daughter has been arrested and booked into Pierce County Jail.

Joseph Lester, 23, turned himself in at a Good Samaritan Hospital in
Puyallup overnight. He had his daughter and an attorney with him, Pierce
County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The baby girl is safe and now in state protective custody.

The father and daughter were the focus of an Amber Alert on Monday
night after the 21-year-old ex-girlfriend was fatally stabbed at a
University Place home. The alert has since been canceled.

Investigators say Lester and his ex-girlfriend fought in the front
yard her University Place home Monday evening. She was stabbed several
times and died in the kitchen of her godmother’s home, with her
toddler-aged son and godmother nearby.

The son has since been placed in protective custody. It wasn’t clear Monday night what he saw.

Family members reported the victim was pregnant. Her name was not released Monday night.

Lester was booked into Pierce County Jail just after 2:15 a.m. today
on suspicion of first-degree murder. He will likely not have his first
court appearance until Wednesday.



Read more: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/crime/2011/11/01/suspect-in-custody-baby-safe-after-amber-alert-issued-in-university-place/#ixzz1cSoflt4u

TACOMA, Wash. -- 23-year-old Joseph Lester pleaded not guilty to
premeditated murder in the stabbing death of his 21-year-old girlfriend,
Kiesha Lewis. Lester is being held on $2 million bail.

Prosecutors say Lester killed Lewis on Monday night in
University Place, then fled the scene with his son which launched an
Amber Alert.

The child was not harmed and is now in protective custody.

There is another victim in this case. Kiesha Lewis was four
months pregnant. Lester was reportedly the unborn baby's father but will
not be charged with any crime in that death.

"We have to show not only was the assault directed at the
pregnant woman but at her fetus and we have to then prove that the fetus
was viable," says Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist.

The question of fetal homicide varies state to state.
Washington is one of 38 states with a fetal homicide law. But the burden
of proof varies regarding viability. In Washington prosecutors would
have to prove the unborn child could survive outside the womb.

"I know in the prosecutor's office we'd like to see the law toughened in this area," says Lindquist.

So in Washington, to prosecute Lester for the unborn child's
death, prosecutors have to prove Lester intended to hurt the baby,
which Lindquist says is hard to do.

"It's important to hold the defendant accountable not just
for assault on the woman but assault on the fetus, even if the assault
is wreckless assault rather than intentional assault."

In 2004 then-president Bush signed into law the Federal
Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which identifies potential victims at
conception. So far, 21 states have followed suit, something the Catholic
Church supports.

http://www.king5.com/news/crime/Fetal-Homicide-Law-133120808.html