05:59 PM PDT on Friday, April 21, 2006

By LORI MATSUKAWA / KING 5 News

VANCOUVER, Wash. - A Washington community is shaken after a 17-year-old employee at a McDonalds restaurant is stabbed to death in front of the girl's shocked co-workers.

We've learned the suspect spent time at Western State Hospital.

Police say the victim didn't know her attacker. She is the second young woman killed in Vancouver in the last six months.

kgw.com/Vancouver Schools

A photo of Anna Svidersky from her high school yearbook.

The suspect was chased down by witnesses and collared by officers with police dogs.

David Barton Sullivan entered a Clark County courtroom Friday where he was charged with first-degree murder.

The victim, Anna Svidersky, a senior at Fort Vancouver High School, was stabbed in the chest. She died at the hospital.

"This is the second time we've had the death of a teenage girl in our community in the last six months and it's tearing us apart, to be quite frank," Vancouver Police Chief Brian Martinek said, referring to the November 2005 murder of 14-year-old Chelsea Harrison. It turns out Sullivan is a registered sex offender with a history of mental illness.

In December 1999, he was charged with sexual assault and in April 2003, he pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation involving a 14-year-old girl. He was sent to Western State Hospital, treated for paranoid schizophrenia and found competent to stand trial. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

He lives with his parents about a mile and a half from the restaurant.

KGW photo

David Sullivan, a suspect in the stabbing of a Vancouver high school student, enters court.

Anna was well liked at school, juggling several jobs and a full class load.

"She always spoke her mind, she was kind and she was sweet, she was the kind of person you wanted to be around all the time," friend Amika Grice said.

"She was like, 'Anna Svidersky' and I was like 'oh my God,' I like really could not believe it. I was like 'oh my God' you know," shocked friend Jackie Bahena said.

Nancy Faaren, principal at Fort Vancouver High School said Svidersky's death "is a very sad day for Fort Vancouver High School. Svidersky was "well-liked by students and staff alike. She will be greatly missed by students and staff."

Shortly after the first 9-1-1 call about the stabbing at McDonald's, at 2814 N.E. Andresen St., emergency dispatchers received a report that a man was being pursued on foot and police dogs were quickly sent to the scene. Martinek said several witnesses from McDonald's had followed Sullivan from the restaurant.

Officers said he was soon captured and a knife believed to be the murder weapon was found nearby as well.

The girl's mother found out about the attack when she showed up Thursday night to drive her daughter home from work. A Russian-speaking Vancouver Police officer accompanied Svidersky's family to the hospital Thursday night.

Police are promising a full effort. "Our task as the Vancouver police department is to work with the prosecutor's office on compiling a case to make sure this person doesn't hurt anybody ever again," Chief Martinek said.  

The 28-year-old defendant told investigators "I should have stayed home with my stuffed animals instead of doing what I did.  This is all evil stuff that I've done."

KGW photo

Police collect evidence at the crime scene.

Court records indicate he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

The judge ordered Sullivan to be held without bail. His arraignment is scheduled for next Friday. 

 KGW staff contributed to this article