Suspect pleads guilty in 2005 Lake Stickney murder

EVERETT — An 11-year homicide investigation led to a guilty plea Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

On June 9, 2005, Jesse Williams was shot to death during a drug deal turned robbery attempt near Lake Stickney. The slain man left behind a young son and daughter.

Detectives pursued leads and gathered evidence, but the investigation grew stale and the case detective retired in 2007. The homicide was turned over to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit, two detectives assigned to investigate unsolved killings and missing persons cases.

A break in the investigation came last year, when one of the suspects, identified early on, admitted that he and two others went to the area to sell marijuana. He told police that Bunthoeun Nem shot Williams during the encounter.

Nem, 37, pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree manslaughter. With the plea, he admitted to recklessly causing the death.

He faces up to 8 1⁄2 years in prison. He is expected to be sentenced in late September. A judge on Friday ordered that he remain in custody until then.

Prosecutors agreed to reduce a first-degree murder charge because of evidentiary problems with the case.

The available evidence was not strong enough to ensure a murder conviction at trial, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Matt Hunter said in court Friday. “This is a negotiated compromise,” he said.

Youthy Chim, 34, remains charged with murder in Everett District Court. He has denied knowing that Williams was being set up for a robbery or that Nem was armed, Hunter wrote in charging papers.

Prosecutors believe that Chim drove Nem to Everett. Court documents also name a third suspect, who is in federal custody on an unrelated case. He has denied any involvement. He has not been charged.

Investigators were told he helped stage the fake marijuana deal, providing a duffle bag as a prop.

A witness told police that he drove Williams, 31, to Snohomish County to buy marijuana. They met three men at an Everett McDonald’s and followed them to the boat launch, Hunter wrote in court papers. The man told detectives that one of the sellers approached their vehicle, threw a duffle bag through a passenger window and began firing. Williams was struck in the chest, and his friend drove him to a local hospital.

Chim, the driver, lied to deputies investigating the case in 2005. He told them he and Williams were in the area to buy a car. He was interviewed again later and was “more truthful,” Hunter wrote.

Yet, he refused to cooperate with investigators further, declining to look at a photo line-up of suspects. Some speculated that the man took the dead man’s drug money, according to court papers. Police were told that he bought an expensive paint job and new wheels for his car shortly after the shooting.

Nem and Chim were arrested last month for investigation of murder. They both declined to speak with detectives.

Nem’s conviction is another solve for the sheriff’s cold case team.

The unit was launched in 2005. It enlisted civilian volunteers to help read over old case files, looking for leads to be explored and evidence to be tested. The squad identified more than 60 cold cases dating back to 1962. Many of the unsolved cases are from the 1970s to early 1990s when the sheriff’s office only had two homicide detectives.

About a year after the team formed, they were able to help solve the 2001 murder of Michael “Santa” Walsh.

Then they created the state’s first deck of cold case playing cards in 2008. Williams’ case was designated to the 10 of Clubs. The cards feature unsolved cases dating back to the 1970s. The decks are handed out in prisons and jails.

The cards paid off in March 2010 when detectives chased after a tip on the 1979 murder of Susan Schwarz. Her killer was convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison not long after. The team’s investigation also led to the conviction of Danny Giles, the man accused of killing Patti Berry in 1995.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.