Can you help police solve 2005 slaying?
Published 9:15 pm Saturday, June 28, 2008
LYNNWOOD — The covert exchange blew apart with the crackle of gunfire.
Five shots rang out across Lake Stickney. Two vehicles sped away from the boat launch. One driver raced to a hospital. One driver sped off with a secret.
In the end, Jesse Williams, 31, was dead of gunshot wounds. His killer remains free.
Williams is part of the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards being given to jail inmates. He is featured on the 10 of clubs. In the coming weeks, more than 3,000 decks are expected to be handed out in the state’s 15 prisons. Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives are trying to drum up new leads for stalled homicide and missing persons investigations. So far, a couple tips have come in from jail inmates, sheriff’s cold case detective Jim Scharf said.
Williams lived in Renton with his girlfriend in 2005. He made a living dealing dope. Investigators believe he came to Snohomish County to buy marijuana from a new drug connection, nicknamed China.
He and a friend met with a group of Asian men near Lake Stickney. The sale turned violent. Williams was shot while he sat in the passenger seat of his friend’s car. Bullets ripped through metal, then flesh. Police found five shell casings on the ground in the parking lot.
A man boating on the lake heard the gunfire. He gave police a few details. The shooter wore a red shirt. He jumped into a tan and white Ford Bronco that headed west.
Police later found the 1981 Bronco in a ditch along Highway 99. They seized floor mats, hair ties, food wrappers, cigarette butts and clothes. Detectives also learned China’s identity. They’d like to know who his associates were at the time of the shooting.
“Maybe witnesses or someone who knows something was too scared to be forthcoming at the time. Maybe they have information they want to share now,” sheriff’s cold case detective David Heitzman said.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
About this series
Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives created the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. Each Sunday for a year, The Herald is publishing a story about a case featured on one of the cards. The 52 cards can be viewed at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet.
Anyone with information about unsolved homicides or missing persons cases is asked to call 800-222-TIPS (8477). Up to a $1,000 reward is offered. Tips also can be left on the sheriff’s tip line at 425-388-3845. Callers may remain anonymous, although tips have been more successful when callers speak with detectives, police said.
