Court documents show ‘Deadliest Catch’ star was strangled, robbed

SPOKANE, Wash. — Court documents are shedding light on what happened to “Deadliest Catch” star, Jacob Harris.

Snohomish County court documents say Everett Police officers responded to the 700 block of SE SR 526 on Saturday for reports of a male lying on the side of the road. Officers found Harris with an apparent head injury that was later determined to be a fractured skull.

Det. Brenneman with Everett police interviewed Harris at the hospital. At this point, family members had already done an online search on the phone number given to Harris by the suspect. His family showed Harris Facebook pages belonging to Jorel Fultz, Amanda Ritter and Felicia Webster. He confirmed they were the suspects.

Court documents show Harris told detectives that he and his girlfriend met Fultz, Ritter and Webster at the Tulalip Casino on Friday. Harris became friendly with Fultz and they exchanged phone numbers when they parted ways. It was the number used to link Fultz to the crime. Harris reported the three were driving in a black Range Rover.

The next day, Harris’s girlfriend dropped him off at the Quilceda Creek Casino. He had brought $2,700 in cash and additionally received a $1,700 slot payout. While there, Harris met up with Fultz, Ritter and Webster. They all left together in the Range Rover and drove to south Everett where Fultz stopped at Rite Aid for a money order.

While Harris and the others waited for Fultz, he stepped out of the vehicle from the back passenger seat to smoke a cigarette. When he tried to get back in, all doors but the front passenger seat were locked. Harris got into that seat and Fultz sat in the seat behind Harris. Webster was in the rear driver’s side area.

Court documents show that when they left the parking lot, Fultz grabbed Harris by the neck from behind and strangled him with his forearm until Harris started to black out. Harris continued to struggle and forced Ritter to pull to the side of SR 526. Fultz grabbed a rope or shoelace to strangle Harris and began striking him in the head with a hard object while strangling him. Court documents say Fultz yelled for Ritter to get Harris’s money and Harris heard her say she got it before he blacked out.

When he awoke, Harris was on the side of the highway. He noticed his wallet and roughly $2,400 was missing.

The documents say that a nurse told Det. Brenneman Harris had a skull fracture with brain swelling. He also had signs of Petechial hemorrhages in his eyes. Det. Brenneman also noticed thing lines of bruising across the front of Harris’s neck, which is consistent with being strangled by a ligature.

Det. Brenneman is referring charges of 1st Degree Robbery on both Fultz and Ritter. He interviewed Ritter after she was taken into custody in Spokane on Wednesday. She confessed to the robbery and was transported to Snohomish County Jail for booking.