SEATTLE — Newly filed charging documents are shedding light on the moments that led to the death of a 19-year-old University of Washington student who was stabbed 40 times while doing laundry last week.
On May 10, around 10 p.m., 19-year-old Juniper Blessing was found dead from multiple stab wounds in the laundry room of Nordheim Court, building 7.
The medical examiner said she was stabbed in the head, neck and arms.
According to charging documents, the suspect did not appear to know Juniper.
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A few minutes before the stabbing, documents say that the suspect, later identified as 32-year-old Christopher Leahy, began following a student walking toward her apartment at Nordheim Court.
That student told police that the person continued to follow her down a set of stairs to the ground level of Building 7, court docs said. The student used her card to get access into the laundry room of Building 7, where Juniper would eventually be found.
The student told police that the man followed her into the laundry room and said he was waiting for his laundry to be done before leaving the laundry room, court documents said.
Leahy is not a student at the University of Washington, nor is he a resident of Seattle, according to court documents.
While he was in the laundry room, he appeared to be looking for cameras, court docs said.
“[He] comes back into the laundry room and stares directly into the camera mounted to the right of the door. He appears to follow the path of the power cord with his eyes and head from the camera around the wall above the doorway,” court documents say.
According to court documents, the power cord connected to the laundry room camera was “disconnected when examined by detectives.” Documents did not say whether investigators believe the suspect turned it off himself.
The camera captured Leahy and the other woman he was allegedly following earlier, around 9:45 p.m., in the laundry room. The camera also shows Juniper doing laundry, but the video stops at 10:01 p.m.
Court documents say he eventually went back into the laundry room where Juniper was stabbed.
Investigators did not specify in court documents if Leahy allegedly thought Juniper was the previous woman he followed, or if the stabbing was unrelated.
Surveillance footage and fingerprints at the scene were able to lead detectives to Leahy as a suspect, court docs said. His brother also turned him in to the police after seeing his picture in the media when police were looking to identify the suspect.
Leahy has been charged with first-degree murder.
Several days before the stabbing, police say Leahy was caught on camera trying to break into a home on NE Ravenna Boulevard, which is about .36 miles away from the Nordheim Court apartments, court docs said.
“Alone, this behavior is foreboding and ominous. Combined with the uncontrolled rage evidenced by horrific injuries he inflicted on Juniper Blessing, the defendant is an extreme danger for violent attack upon individuals not only associated with the University of Washington but the public at large,” prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
Bail has been set at $10 million.