Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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That's the question that, three days after the victim's brutal stabbing at 15th & Howell,  many Hill dwellers are asking.

I'm among them...my residence is just a few blocks away from the street corner where Harps lay dying, and my community is visibly shaken by the events. News crews have taken over the soon-to-be new park on Howell between 15th & 16th (which at this point is still a parking lot), and the makeshift candlelight vigil erected in Harps' memory seems to be attracting visitors around the clock.

Some of them are friends and co-workers of Ms. Harps; the rest, I'd imagine, are here to see the scene for themselves...perhaps to confirm that such a shocking act could occur in the picturesque residential community where burglary is often the most serious crime making headlines.

Since I haven't posted anything on this crime so far, here is the rough overview: on Monday night, Harps' neighbors reported hearing a woman screaming just after 7 p.m. They called police, who arrived to find the 31-year-old victim bleeding on the sidewalk outside her apartment near 15th & Howell, suffering from multiple stab wounds. Despite being rushed to Harborview by paramedics, Harps didn't survive the night.

And still, there are no suspects to be named. From the P.I.'s coverage this morning:

Witnesses described the man as white, in his 40s, with a scruffy beard 3 to 4 inches long, and wearing a ski cap, blue hooded jacket and baggy pants. He might have worn a yellow hooded sweatshirt under his coat and was seen running east on Howell and south on 16th Avenue, police said.

An alright description, but there's a problem: in Seattle's winters, bearded men in bulky clothing come a dime a dozen. The police sketching that has been released (above) is so vague that it offers little in helping to identify a unique or memorable suspect.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood has seen a significant boost in police patrols. Yesterday I witnessed squad cars all day, parked on street corners and driving up and down some of the upper-teen avenues.

While helicopters hovered overhead and news reporters waited patiently at the scene of the crime for new developments, Capitol Hill's residents have been forced to ring in the new year by coming to terms with a painful realization: even in a close-knit community like the one surrounding 15th Avenue East, crime - and apparently even senseless murder - is a very real threat for all of us.