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Man pleads not guilty in death of elderly woman in high-rise
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The man accused of the rape and murder of an 87-year-old woman in a Seattle high-rise pleaded not guilty yesterday.
Robert Lee Wentz, a 30-year-old transient, is facing an aggravated murder charge for the April 4 killing of Esther Vinikow.
At his arraignment in King County Superior Court, defense attorney Lori Gustavson entered the plea on Wentz' behalf. Wentz stood silently, handcuffed and wearing a red jail jumpsuit.
He is accused of following Vinikow up to her apartment and forcing his way in, in an attempt to rob her. After she tried to escape, Wentz allegedly raped her and choked her to death.
The killing sent shockwaves throughout the mostly elderly community that lives in the Grosvenor House, now called Wall Street Tower, located in the Denny Regrade.
Friends and relatives of Vinikow attended the arraignment.
"The worst thing they can do to that fellow is not enough," said Jim Launer, Vinikow's son-in-law.
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