EVERETT — Jesse Williams is the smiling face on the 10 of Clubs in a deck of cards describing 52 of the missing and the slain across Snohomish County.
Williams, 31, was shot near Lake Stickney on June 9, 2005. His friend drove him to what was then Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, where he died.
Eleven years later, two Everett-area men have been arrested for investigation of first-degree murder in his death.
They were booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Friday.
Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives believe Bunthoeum Nem, 37, fired the fatal shots after luring Williams to a drug deal that was planned as a robbery. Youthy S. Chim, 34, has admitted to being Nem’s driver that day, according to court papers.
Williams lived in Renton with his girlfriend in 2005. He made a living dealing dope. Investigators believe he came to the Lake Stickney boat launch with a friend to buy marijuana from a new drug connection, named “China.”
“Jesse was shot by one of the males while he was sitting in the car,” according to a description of the incident on the playing card. Over the years, thousands of decks of cold-case playing cards have been handed out inside prisons across the state as detectives looked for leads to jump-start investigations.
Williams was in the passenger seat of his friend’s car when he was shot.
Witnesses described seeing a “skinny” Asian man approach the car. He tossed a gym bag at Williams and then opened fire, according to court papers.
A witness on a boat was able to give detectives a few details. The shooter jumped into a Ford Bronco that headed west. That vehicle was found in a ditch along Highway 99.
Sheriff’s detectives pored over the Bronco and the gym bag.
Clues in the vehicle led them to a group of young men who were then involved in drug trafficking in the area, according to an affidavit sheriff’s detective Joe Dunn filed in Everett District Court.
A traffic stop not long before the shooting had resulted in the seizure of several pounds of marijuana. That led to a raid at a Mukilteo home. Chim and the Bronco were there, although he was later set free.
Chim’s fingerprints were found in the abandoned Bronco. Investigators learned he ran with a gang called the Oriental Local Boys, Dunn wrote.
An Auburn police detective who was involved in the Mukilteo raid told investigators that he had learned the group had been “fronted” the marijuana they lost, and owed their supplier $25,000.
A check with King County’s street-gang detectives turned up Nem being listed in their database under the nickname “China.”
A comparison of a cellphone linked to Nem revealed several calls with Williams. “The records also reflected that Nem suddenly cancelled his cellular services just hours after the murder,” Dunn wrote.
The detective originally assigned to the case retired in 2007. The work was transferred to the sheriff’s cold-case team.
The gym bag that was tossed at Williams was examined for DNA. Genetic evidence linked clothing inside the bag to an associate of Chim.
In July 2015, Dunn and detective Jim Scharf interviewed Chim.
“Chim initially denied being involved in the incident. He eventually admitted that he was the driver (denied knowing that a robbery was going to occur) and identified the shooter as Bunthoeum Nem in a photographic lineup.”
Chim provided a DNA sample under a court order. His DNA profile later was linked to genetic evidence left on cigarettes found inside the abandoned Bronco.
Both Chim and Nem declined to speak with detectives when arrested Friday.
Public defender Natalie Tarantino argued in Everett District Court on Monday that there was insufficient evidence to establish probable cause to hold Nem. Detectives relied on the word of his co-defendant, who had been dishonest with police, she said.
A judge ruled that there was probable cause to keep both defendants in custody. Bail was maintained at $1 million for each.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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