Murder charges filed in 2005 shooting at Lake Stickney boat launch

Published 1:30 am Sunday, August 14, 2016

EVERETT — Detectives interviewed him about the 2005 killing last year and he allegedly admitted that he was there.

Prosecutors on Friday charged the man with first-degree murder in the death of Jesse Williams. Youthy Sam Chim, 34, is accused of helping plan the robbery and driving the shooter to the Lake Stickney boat launch on June 9, 2005.

Williams, 31, was shot to death while seated inside a buddy’s vehicle. Detectives don’t believe Chim’s group grabbed the dead man’s money.

Chim allegedly told detectives last year that a man he knew as “China” planned to sell marijuana to Williams. He denied knowing anything about the set up, or knowing China was armed. Chim allegedly told police that China, identified as Bunthoeun Nem, shot Williams.

Nem, 37, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter. He admitted that Chim and another man, Saravouth Sun, helped plan the robbery. He said he panicked when it appeared that Williams was reaching for a gun. He faces up to 8½ years in prison.

Williams left behind a young son and daughter.

Chim and Nem were arrested in June. Sun is in a federal prison for an unrelated case.

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

The friend 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 and was “more truthful,” Hunter wrote.

Yet he refused to cooperate with investigators further, declining to look at a photo lineup of suspects. Some speculated that the man took the slain man’s drug money, according to court papers.

In 2005, detectives pursued leads and gathered evidence, but the investigation grew stale. The case detective retired in 2007, and the homicide was turned over to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit.

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

Chim is expected to answer to the murder charge Tuesday. He is being held on $1 million bail.

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