Justice for Dustyn Hunt

Justice for Dustyn Hunt

Started
June 8, 2020
Petition to
City of Snohomish Mayor John Kartak and 5 others
Signatures: 29,822Next Goal: 35,000
Support now

Why this petition matters

Started by Justice For Dustyn Coalition

On Feb. 25 2019, in Snohomish County, WA, Dustyn Hunt-Bagby, (aka: Yung Nabii) was shot to death by Charles Heller, the father of a young woman he'd been seeing, as she attempted to escort him out of her room. Dustyn was unarmed and threatened no one.

A year and a half has gone by and Chuck Heller has still not been arrested or charged with a crime. All of the forensic evidence is in except the ballistics report. There is no dispute over what weapon was used or who pulled the trigger. Nor is there any dispute about Dustyn's proximity to Charles Heller when he was shot. Yet this unfinished report is the single excuse given over and over again to Dustyn's mother for why an arrest has still not been made.

Dustyn was a very sociable and friendly young man. He was well like by the parents and siblings of his friends and thus, was a welcome guest in many of our homes. He was also a very talented musician. He played guitar, wrote songs and enjoyed hip-hop. In 2014, when he was barely 16 years old, he took 2nd place in Seattle's 'Sound Off!' competition and he continued to make and record his own music until the day he died. His talent and fun-loving nature inspired a lot of young people in our community to express themselves through music as well, and many of them have gone on to start bands of their own. His death was a shocking blow to us all.

We are demanding that:

·      Charles Heller, be arrested and charged with murder.

·      The officers who failed to detain Chuck Heller the night of the crime, and the Detective that has been in charge of the case since then, be investigated for misconduct.

 

The following paragraphs cover what happened the night Dustyn was murdered in more detail.

According to Lauryn Heller, the 20 year old daughter of Charles Heller, she and Dustyn had spent the evening watching a movie in her room. However, her father didn't allow her to have friends at over after 10:30pm... a rule she had frequently broken with other guests before. On this occasion, when her father sent her a text message from another room in the house, reminding her that her friend would have to go, she told Dustyn to hide under her bed and told her father he had gone. She then acted as if she were going out, thinking that her father would be less likely to 'check' by doing so. Once outside, from the driveway of her home, she saw her bedroom light turn on and then off again. But then she saw the light turn back on again and heard yelling. She ran back inside and up the stairs to her room to find her father standing just inside the doorway of her room, pointing a gun at Dustyn while Dustyn was scrambling to put his shirt and shoes on in order to leave as he was being commanded to. Horrified by her father's actions, she threw herself between her father's gun and Dustyn. She thought that her dad would at least lower the gun if she stood in front of it. He did not, so she took Dustyn by the arm to escort him past her father who stood in the narrow space between her doorway and her bed. As they attempted to walk past him, her father grabbed Dustyn's other arm and stumbled against the edge of her bed, pulling Dustyn down with him as he fired the gun. The autopsy report shows that the bullet entered through his shoulder area and into his chest.

Lauryn began frantically looking for something she could use to make the bleeding stop. She called 911 as she attempted to wrap two belts around his wounds at the same time. She cried out to her father for help, but he just shrugged and said, "he'll be fine". He then left to put his gun away. When police arrived in the driveway of the home, Chuck pushed Lauryn away from Dustyn and proceeded to act like he'd been trying to help Dustyn the whole time.  

All her father had to do to evade arrest when police arrived was claim he'd acted in self-defense. Her vehement rebuttal of this claim to police officers on the scene was patently ignored as they did not arrest him, or even take him into custody. In fact, they didn't even cuff him. Instead they cuffed Lauryn, who was "hysterical" and removed her from the scene while her father, the killer, was allowed to roam freely inside the house. Instead of following protocol and taking Chuck into the police station that night, the officers 'detained' him in their car for several hours, and had an off the record conversation with perpetrator. A couple of days later, Lauryn took it upon herself to go to the police station to repeat her account of what had happened to the detective on the case, thinking that she would be better heard now that she was calmer. She wasn't. She was even warned not to 'go public' with what she was saying because it would just make the family more upset with her than they already were. They never tried to reach her again until she did go public. 

*Lauryn Heller allowed herself to be videotaped recounting the events of that night so that it could be heard publicly... because law enforcement has shown no interest in her eyewitness testimony. You can listen for yourself by following this link... https://youtu.be/VY3m2QyNhjM*

Or by searching @justicefordustyn and visiting the Justice for Dustyn Coalition Facebook page

Thank you for signing.

Sincerely, friends and family from North Kitsap County, Seattle and Bellingham

Support now
Signatures: 29,822Next Goal: 35,000
Support now
Share this petition in person or use the QR code for your own material.Download QR Code

Decision Makers

  • John KartakCity of Snohomish Mayor
  • Adam FortneySnohomish County Prosecuting Attorney
  • Dave SomersSnohomish County Executive
  • Sgt. Dave CaseySnohomish County Office of Proffesional Accountability
  • Steve HobbsWA State Senator serving district 44