Blaine Trail Assault Suspect Still at Large, No Public Warning Issued

BLAINE, Wash. — A stranger attacked a man with a knife on a trail in Montford Park Monday night. Nearly 24 hours later, Blaine Police are asking for the public’s help.

The victim said he never saw it coming. His attacker stepped into his path and swung a knife at him mid-stride, no warning, no words exchanged. The victim managed to lean back just enough to avoid the worst of it, but the blade still caught him near his right eye and opened a gash that left him bleeding on the trail, alone with a man he had never seen before.

A Knife, a Stranger, and a Park Trail

Blaine Police say officers responded to Montford Park at about 8:08 p.m. on August 17 after someone reported the attack. Units from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and a Bellingham Police K9 team rushed in to help. By the time officers reached the scene, North Whatcom Fire and Rescue crews were already treating the victim for a laceration above his eye. Police describe his injuries as non-life-threatening.

He gave officers what description he could: a white male, somewhere between 25 and 35 years old, standing 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall, dressed in faded, ripped blue jeans and a red and black flannel jacket.

The Search That Came Up Empty

A K9 unit picked up the scene and tried to track him. Blaine Police put a drone in the air. Neither one found him.

It wasn’t until neighbors started calling in that investigators got anywhere. Several residents said they might have caught something on their home cameras, and once police pulled that footage, a timeline started to take shape. One clip showed a person of interest walking south out of town on Blaine Road, crossing over Dakota Creek, at about 7:33 p.m., roughly 35 minutes before the attack was reported. He was wearing a black tank top, a hat, a backpack, and light blue or gray pants or long shorts.

That’s where the trail stopped. No further sightings, no further footage, no arrest.

“This investigation is open and ongoing. If you have any information or potential video footage, from 6:40 p.m. to 8 p.m., about this incident, please call 360-676-6911 immediately.”

— Blaine Police Department, Tuesday statement

No Warning, Then a Social Media Post

For nearly a full day, Blaine Police said nothing publicly about any of this. No alert went out warning residents that a man had attacked a stranger with a knife on a park trail and then vanished on foot. Throughout the day Tuesday, children and families walked Blaine’s park trails with no idea an armed suspect was still unaccounted for.

PNW Daily sent Blaine Police a direct request for information on the case Tuesday. The department did not respond to that request. Instead, it posted its press release publicly on Facebook, the same statement quoted above, roughly 24 hours after the attack happened.

The case remains open. Blaine Police list it as Assault 1st Degree under case number 26J03499. Investigators say the search continues.

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