More cases may be linked to 'TriMet Barber' suspect
MILWAUKIE, Ore. - Five women say they had their hair cut or smeared with Super Glue while they rode TriMet buses and Clackamas County detectives are now looking at two more cases that may be connected to the so-called 'TriMet Barber.'
Jared Weston Walter, 22, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges in connection with the incidents. According to Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney John Copic, Walter is accused of cutting a person's hair on two different TriMet buses on Dec. 21, and of putting Super Glue in someone's hair on another TriMet bus (date unknown). The incidents were caught on TriMet bus security cameras.
The new cases that investigators are looking into involve a woman who said her hair was cut while she was at a movie theater and another who said she was hit with Super Glue at a Fred Meyer. Debbie Smith said it was sometime in mid-May when someone smeared something on her long hair and she didn't even know it. She was at the Oak Grove Fred Meyer.
"I'm walking around the store and my hair starts to feel funny, so I put my hand on the back of my head and I've got this stuff on my head," she said. "I wasn't quite sure what to think. And you're actually so stunned that you don't. Then it dawned on me that it was Super Glue."
Smith said it took a week to get the glue out. She used everything from rubbing alcohol to mayonnaise and peanut butter. Eventually, she had to cut out a chunk of her hair.
Fred Meyer security cameras didn't catch the attacker but investigators say TriMet bus security cameras did. They say surveillance video captured a man cutting the hair of three unsuspecting women and smearing Super Glue on two others - all in a six-week span.
Court records show Walter was arrested and released near Tacoma and had been accused of fourth-degree assault just nine days before Smith found glue in her hair. We also talked with authorities in Texas, who confirmed they sent Walter to prison for two years after he was accused of burglary with the intent to commit sexual assault.