SEATTLE – A man charged with killing a woman in 2001 apparently took the engagement ring he had given her and gave to a woman he later married, King County sheriff’s deputies say.
The ring was found last week in the latest phase of an investigation into the beating and strangling of Elaine Boussiacos, 27, whose body was found in the trunk of her car in Woodinville on Feb. 9, 2001, sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said.
Sione Lui, 37, of Arlington, was charged last month with second-degree murder. He pleaded innocent, posted $750,000 bail and is on electronic home detention pending a pretrial hearing on May 14.
Lui was engaged to Boussiacos, but relatives told investigators that at the time of her death she was breaking off the engagement because she believed he was having an affair.
The ring was not found with her body, Urquhart said, but investigators did find a receipt for a ring purchased at Fred Meyer Jewelers in May 2000 and made out to Lui and Boussiacos.
At the time, Lui said he didn’t know what had happened to the ring and that as far as he knew, Boussiacos still had it when she died, Urquhart said.
This year, however, detectives asked Lui’s wife about the engagement ring she was wearing and she said that as far as she knew it had come from a pawnshop, Urquhart said.
She let detectives photograph it, and it was recognized as closely resembling the one the slain woman had worn.
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