Cops arrest man wanted in feces attack

A man police say attacked a neighbor with a bucket of feces, urine and vomit was captured Tuesday after three days on the run.

A warrant was issued for Ronald V. Ellis, 69, after he failed to show up for a Saturday court hearing. Ellis was charged with assault in Seattle Municipal Court --- a gross misdemeanor.

Police say he called a female neighbor earlier this month and told her something was wrong with her car.

She checked the car in the building's parking area, found nothing wrong and was returning to her apartment when police say the man allegedly confronted her, throwing the contents of the bucket containing feces, urine and vomit.

"It was awful; it was disgusting," victim Cheri Monson told KOMO/4. "I could barely get up the stairs. And when I got up the stairs, I immediately threw up."

Officer Clayton Powell responded to the 2100 block of 26th Avenue South and found the woman's clothes wet with urine and feces still on her body.

"There was a substantial amount of what appeared to be vomit in her hair," he wrote in an incident report. "In addition to the matter on her person and in her hair, there was an extreme stench that was difficult to bear.

"The odor made the interview of (the victim) difficult to tolerate."

There was no answer when police knocked on the door to Ellis' apartment. Firefighters responded, but were unable to clean the entire mess because of the amount of matter on the stairs. Cleanup was later arranged.

Ellis was arrested the night of Aug. 11, roughly four days after the alleged assault, by police doing a follow-up investigation, department spokesman Mark Jamieson said.

Another woman who contacted police about the attack told Powell there was a history of disputes between the victim and suspect.

Ellis was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault about 11 p.m. Aug. 11 and was released the following day. Court records show he was previously convicted of domestic violence assault in fall 1998.

Booked about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Ellis is now being held on $10,000 bail. Police spokeswoman Renee Witt did not immediately have additional details about Ellis' arrest.

To hear more from the woman in the case, click here to watch a report from KOMO/4's Lindsay Cohen.