Ashley Hiruko
Investigative Reporter
About
Ashley Hiruko reports on topics involving policing and the behind-the-scenes conduct of city leaders. Her investigations have examined police killings, allegations of abuse and sex trafficking, and labor issues.
She lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and Maltese.
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: she/her
Professional Affiliations: Past President, Western Washington Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists
Stories
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6 women accused a Seattle hip-hop artist of sex trafficking, allege police ‘did virtually nothing’
The tape recorder clicked on. It was a cold night in early December 2020 when William Guyer, a veteran Seattle Police detective, asked a young woman to recount months of alleged abuse and sexual assault.
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Crime
Man sentenced to 140 months for trafficking minors on Aurora Avenue, across state lines
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Crime
Seattle mayor orders plan for stalled sexual assault investigations as advocates demand deadline
As frustrated advocates demanded a deadline for the city to fix stalled sexual assault investigations at the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell on Thursday ordered that all felony cases with enough evidence for follow-up be assigned to detectives by the end of August.
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Government
Family of 16-year-old killed in CHOP zone alleges Seattle’s failings enabled a 'state-created danger'
The family of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr., who was shot and killed amid Seattle's racial justice protests in 2020, filed a tort claim on Monday alleging that city leadership should have recognized its failures to provide legally obligated medical, police, and emergency services to protestors demonstrating in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone.
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Government
Seattle police watchdog investigating leak of memo detailing sexual assault staffing crisis
Seattle's Office of Police Accountability is investigating the leak of a memo detailing the severe understaffing of SPD's sexual assault and child abuse unit.
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Crime
Judge releases photos of tattoos belonging to Auburn cop charged with murder
A King County Superior Court judge has allowed the public release of photos showing the various tattoos covering Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson, who is awaiting trial for murder. Nelson was charged with second-degree murder in 2020 in connection with the death of Jesse Sarey, a 26-year-old man Nelson shot outside of a grocery store in 2019.
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Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell says police sexual assault staffing woes, case backlog ‘unacceptable’
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said Thursday the Seattle Police Department’s critically low staffing in its sexual assault unit was “unacceptable,” following an internal memo published by KUOW and The Seattle Times showing that it had stopped investigating most new sexual assault cases involving adults this year.
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Government
Seattle police stopped investigating adult sexual assaults this year, memo shows
Seattle police’s sexual assault and child abuse unit staff has been so depleted that it stopped assigning to detectives this year new cases with adult victims, according to an internal memo sent to interim police Chief Adrian Diaz in April.
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Health
Online ‘aunties’ from Washington offer lodging, abortion pills to people from conservative states
Self-described “aunties” are an informal network of people, mostly women, who offer their homes, rides to appointments, and more to people who may need to travel for abortions. These aunties operate individually and are not tied to any organization.
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Redmond to pay $7.5M over 'serious errors' in police killing of local mom