Stranger charged with kidnapping, rape of teen near Seattle bus stop
King County prosecutors charged a man Wednesday with rape and kidnapping, two days after they say he lured a teenage girl from a bus stop into a wooded area of Seattle's Northgate neighborhood to sexually assault her.
Prosecutors charged Joshua Kowalczewski, 36, in King County Superior Court with first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping. Judge Karen Donohue ordered Kowalczewski be held in King County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond, according to prosecuting attorney's office spokesperson Casey McNerthney.
The girl, 15, was waiting near Northgate Station for a bus to take her to school around 8:30 a.m. Monday when a man approached her on a bicycle on Fifth Avenue Northeast, just north of Northeast 103rd Street. The man asked her how old she was, and the girl answered him because she didn't want to be rude, according to police. He then told the girl she was attractive and asked her to join him in the woods nearby, the girl later told police. When she refused, he forced her into the woods and sexually assaulted her until she was able to break free, scream and run away, prosecutors wrote in a Wednesday court filing.
A 41-year-old construction worker who watched the pair disappear into the woods from across the street called 911 shortly before 9 a.m. when he heard screaming and saw the girl emerge crying and terrified," prosecutors wrote. The girl was taken to Seattle Children's hospital with "minor injuries," according to a blog post by Seattle police.
The girl described her attacker as a man wearing a black beanie and a black T-shirt decorated with a large red graphic, the affidavit states.
Firefighters on Aurora Avenue later reported seeing a man throw a black shirt with a red graphic onto the ground, according to the affidavit. Seattle police searched the area and stopped a man matching the suspect description, Kowalczewski, near Aurora Avenue North and North 115th Street.
Security camera footage captured that morning by a business near the bus stop appeared to show the same man walk by wearing the same shirt and a black beanie, the affidavit states.
Kowalczewski told detectives he woke up Monday morning at the Northgate Park-and-Ride. He "adamantly denied sexually assaulting anyone, but later he said he had asked the girl to come with him into the woods, where he tried to kiss her, according to the affidavit. Kowalczewski claimed the girl told him she was 17, which he said he believed was the age of consent, the affidavit states.
Police Chief Shon Barnes called the assault "unacceptable."
"Our children should be able to travel safely and enjoy their youth without fear," Barnes said in the Police Department's post. "As a community, we need to fully support our victims now and in the future."
Kowalczewski was released last week from King County Jail in a separate case, records show.
According to Seattle Municipal Court records, Seattle police arrested Kowalczewski last month for failing to appear for a court hearing on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. He was released April 28, after agreeing to participate in the city's drug prosecution alternative program, records show.
In 2023, Kowalczewski was convicted in Lynnwood of fourth-degree domestic violent assault, court records show. He had nine active warrants for his arrest across five jurisdictions, including a domestic violence assault warrant issued Friday, according to the affidavit.
Less than a third of rapes in the United States are carried out by strangers. Such assaults are most often carried out by men and against someone the perpetrator knows, such as a family member, romantic partner, co-worker or friend, according to anti-sexual violence organization RAINN.
Statistics show a child in the United States is sexually assaulted every nine minutes, according to RAINN, which operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 11:51 PM.