[1]Thurston County sheriff's deputies gather outside the vacant house where Amanda Bassell was found hiding.
Updated at 8:22 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
ROCHESTER – Deputies this evening arrested the 23-year-old woman wanted for allegedly stabbing her mother early this morning in Rochester.
Amanda Lee Bassell was hiding in an abandoned house on Guava Street and 193rd Avenue Southwest.
She was barefoot, soaking wet and exhausted when she was found, according to Thurston County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Greg Elwin.
She was taken away to be booked for attempted first-degree murder.
At least five deputies and a K-9 searched the neighborhood around the home at the 18700 block of Elderberry Street Southwest, where Bassell had been staying with her parents.
They tracked her all day.
They thought she was on foot, possibly hunkered down in the brush somewhere or hiding in an abandoned building, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
“She’s been making phone calls trying to get help, and nobody wants to help her,” sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin said shortly after 6 p.m.
They found indications someone had crawled under a fence, which led to a vacant house just a few blocks away, a place known for attracting transients, Elwin said.
A K-9 deputy looked inside, saw wet foot prints, and Bassell ran out from the basement, he said. Two detectives caught her running across a field just after 7 p.m.
Bassell allegedly took a kitchen knife to her sleeping mother’s neck just before 4:30 a.m. today, stabbing her numerous times. The mother awoke and fended off the attack. Bassell fled before deputies arrived, according to the sheriff’s office.
Bassell was released from prison just before Mother’s Day, where she spent almost four years, much of it in solitary confinement, according to her cousin.
“She’s kinda messed up in the head, she’s paranoid,” her cousin Krystin Martinez said.
Martinez, who also lives in Rochester, said Bassell came to a barbecue at her house the day she got out and seemed alright, except for one odd thing she said.
“She told me pregnant with three babies from Jesus and she’s named all of them,” Martinez said. “That’s the only thing I noticed that wasn’t normal.”
Martinez said her cousin had married an individual associated with the LVL gang. The sheriff’s office earlier had said Bassell had strong ties to Lewis County and was believed to have gang affiliations.
Ruth Daarud, 42, was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital where she underwent surgery. She was moved to another hospital today, because her daughter called her, according to Martinez.
Martinez said her aunt came out of surgery this afternoon and was stable, but might have some continuing problems.
“She’s going to make it, but it’s worse than they thought,” Martinez said.
Elwin said Bassell was incarcerated for an eluding case out of Lewis County, and assaulted a guard while she was in prison.
[2]Thurston County Sheriff's Office Deputy Rod Ditrich and his K-9 partner Rex leave a brushy area off Elderberry Street Southwest in Rochester.
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[3]Sheriff's deputies were called to Amanda Lee Bassell's parent's home early this morning.
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For this morning’s news story and background, scroll down or click here [4]