Prisoner linked to 2011 rape and burglary in Federal Way

Published 5:02 pm Friday, March 29, 2013

Mirror staff reports:

A state prisoner accused of raping a Federal Way woman during a 2011 burglary may end up spending the rest of his life behind bars.

King County Prosecutors charged Daven Lee White, 39, with first-degree rape and first-degree burglary. His arraignment will be April 4 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent. He has not entered a plea.

White is already incarcerated and faces a possible mandatory life sentence under Washington’s persistent offender law, also known as the “three strikes law.” He has past convictions related to burglary, robbery and controlled substances.

On Oct. 18, 2011, a middle-aged woman reported that she had escaped from an intruder at her home on SW 353rd Place. According to charging documents, an unknown black male suspect ransacked the woman’s home, then beat and raped her. The victim fought her way free, jumped out the bedroom window and called 911 at a neighbor’s house. The victim reported that during the assault, the suspect also poured liquid detergent on her and smeared potting soil from a plant over her.

DNA evidence was collected from the victim, but no suspect matches were found in the CODIS data bank at the time. Nearly 18 months after the rape and burglary, in February 2013, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab matched White’s DNA to evidence collected from the crime.

In an interview with Federal Way detectives at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, Wash., White denied committing any burglaries in Federal Way, but did say that he was involved with a group who had committed burglaries in October 2011. White also denied knowing the victim when shown her photograph, according to the police report.

At the crime scene, police had found a key with a plastic keychain. In March 2013, a Federal Way detective matched the key to a room at the Daffodil Motel in Milton after White said in an interview that he was staying at the motel in October 2011.