How Seattle’s Elite Brushes Off Violent Homeless Crime

A year ago, in Seattle, a man living in a city-funded homeless encampment raped a woman in the bathroom of a Volkswagen dealership in the city’s Ballard neighborhood, according to the victim and law enforcers. Christopher Teel had arrived from Texas as a transient and was evading at least one active warrant, but the city-sanctioned encampment welcomed him without conducting a criminal-background check.

The story caused a sensation, with wide media coverage and public demands for increased security measures, but the woman, Lindsey, ­remained silent, and her identity was kept secret. Nearly a year later, Lindsey contacted me.