Woman pleads guilty to kidnapping Federal Way girls, attacking pregnant woman

Published 11:08 am Tuesday, November 18, 2014

A 50-year-old woman recently pleaded guilty to kidnapping two girls, assaulting a pregnant woman and stealing a family car in a Federal Way store parking lot last February.

Natalie Merriam Hulme of Lakewood entered the guilty plea on Oct. 29 in front of King County Superior Court Judge Richard F. McDermott.

State prosecutors are recommending Hulme serve 50 months — four years and two months — of jail time.

McDermott is expected to sentence Hulme on Nov. 21 for the two counts of second-degree kidnapping, attempted theft and theft of a motor vehicle, third-degree assault and second-degree malicious mischief charges.

On the evening of Feb. 28, Hulme approached a woman in the parking lot of We Buy Gold, located in the 33600 block of Pacific Highway S. in Federal Way.

The woman thought Hulme was trying to talk to her so she turned her truck’s engine off but left the keys in the ignition and got out. As she stepped closer, Hulme opened the store door for the woman and asked if she was going in. But then Hulme stepped around the woman, ran towards the truck and quickly backed out of the parking lot with the woman’s two daughters inside.

In a later interview with the 5-year-old daughter, she told police Hulme yelled “bad things” at the her.

Charging documents state Hulme screamed at the girl to get out of the vehicle as she was driving. The child told police she threatened to tear off her ears after dismembering her new toy zebra.

Hulme told the girl to get out of the truck once in Kent but she said she didn’t want to leave her 2-year-old sister with the “mean woman.”

She left the truck with the girls inside near 2019 Meeker St. in Kent. The girls were alone until a “nice gentleman” came up to ask her if she was OK.

Hulme had started to run up Meeker Street, pounding on windshields in an attempt to get into cars sitting in traffic. She opened a pregnant woman’s rear passenger door and climbed in the back seat and then into the front seat.

“Hulme elbowed [the woman] in the stomach causing pain,” the documents state. “Hulme climbed on [the woman’s] lap and started to push back on [her]. [The victim] became trapped between the seat and Hulme.”

The woman was later taken to the hospital with abdominal pain after golfers from Riverbend golf course witnessed the assault and helped her out.

The golfers then restrained Hulme until she was arrested by Kent police and taken to SCORE jail.

Hulme was held on $200,000 bail and has a history of possession of stolen property, forgery and illegal drug felony convictions. She’s also been convicted of a hit-and-run, third-degree theft, shoplifting, obstructing false charge/statements and failure to transfer a title.

The guilty plea states Hulme has agreed to pay for all damages to the trucks she stole/attempted to steal, the medical expenses for the pregnant woman and costs associated with mailboxes she ruined on Pacific Highway during her getaway. She’s not to have contact with any of the victims and will be required to undergo a drug and/or alcohol evaluation within 30 days of her release from prison.