#Woman accused in Seattle machete attack may be behind motel fire

Seattle-area officials are investigating a woman for a deadly motel fire after a recent machete attack in the Capitol Hill neighborhood put her back on their radar.

Prosecutors in King County are taking another look at Ernanda Bendtsen, 32, in connection to the blaze July 13 at Hillside Motel, which left two dead and injured five others, news station KOMO reported.

Bendtsen allegedly visited the motel two days before the fire with 24-year-old Jesse Puff.

The pair knocked on doors and claimed they had tracked a stolen laptop to the motel, officials said.

Rick Castaneda, a motel security guard, said he remembers Bendtsen being there “because she’s the one that made the most problems about trying to find her laptop.”

“She’s the one that instigated [and] she’s the one going to everyone’s door,” Castaneda said.

Bendtsen was never arrested in the case, but Puff was later busted on charges of murder, arson and assault.

She resurfaced last week when she arrested for allegedly slashing a security guard Wade Biller in Capitol Hill.

The machete attack was in the same district where demonstrators set up the Capitol Hill Organized Protest or “CHOP” zone before the city cleared it in early July.

Prosecutors said they’re now revisiting the Hillside Motel fire case to determine whether charges can be filed against Bendtsen, KOMO News reported.

“We’ve got two birds with one stone,” Biller said. “It’s a lot to take in and digest at this point.”