Bryan Kim

Background

Bryan Kim was 19 years old at sentencing and was described as a former Mount Spokane High School student. He was the son of Richard and Teresa Kim. Richard Kim was a respiratory specialist at Apria Health Services, and Teresa Kim was a math teacher at Rogers High School. Rogers High School ended classes early Thursday to give students and staff time to grieve.

Court documents indicated that Bryan Kim had bipolar disorder and depression and took medication for both disorders. Court documents also described Bryan Kim as having a history of depression and bipolar disorder. Detectives said Bryan Kim had a history of prior arrests for assault, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment involving his parents, and court documents revealed violence involving his parents.

The offence

Bryan Kim was accused of murdering his parents, Richard and Teresa Kim, in their Mt. Spokane home.

Richard Kim died as a result of multiple stab wounds. Investigators determined that Teresa Kim was murdered approximately two hours later in the garage, with asphyxia due to ligature strangulation; zip ties had been placed around her neck and tightened. Another account described Teresa Kim as strangled to death.

Investigators said Richard Kim was ambushed when he arrived home from work, and detectives believed Richard and Terri were ambushed when they arrived home from work. Detectives were not sure when exactly Richard and Terri were killed, whether it was Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Investigation

Search warrants detailed steps investigators said Bryan Kim took after allegedly killing his parents to try to prevent himself from being connected to the crimes. Investigators spent four days at the Kims’ Mt. Spokane home looking for clues.

Investigators said Bryan Kim allegedly used a pair of Shop-Vacs to pick up blood from the killings. Detectives recovered a bucket on the floor and several bottles of household chemicals that seemed to show Bryan Kim was trying to eliminate any signs of the fatal stabbing. A Bobcat front-loader was used to move the victims’ bodies from the home. Authorities collected more than 130 pieces of evidence and searched Bryan Kim, his car, and even his locker at Mt. Spokane High School. They also seized the lint trap from the dryer at the family’s home and suspected Bryan may have washed clothes he allegedly wore during the murders. Investigators also found a button off the garage door opener with a bloody finger print that may have belonged to Bryan Kim.

Deputies found a cellphone lying on the ground near the home with blood on it. Tire tracks were found backed up to the front door that appeared to have been made by a Bobcat-type front-loader.

Detectives said Richard Kim struggled before he died while his wife was strangled with plastic zip ties. The evidence also included that Richard Kim was able to put up some amount of struggle while he was being attacked, though it was not known whether or not his wife had a chance against her attacker.

Sergeant Jim Goodwin of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said:

"I don't know that we'll ever know that answer,"
"I know a lot of people would like to know that but we don't always in these cases. Motive is not something we always end up having and being able to explain to people."

Arrest

Bryan Kim was taken into custody at Mount Spokane High School on December 6 after deputies did a welfare check at the family residence and found bodies of Richard and Terri Kim and evidence of their murders. After being held on suicide watch following his arrest, Kim was living in the general population of inmates.

During the arrest, Kim made an unsolicited statement to detectives as he was being placed under arrest for his parents’ murder. Kim said:

"Go on with what you’re gonna do. Book me. I’m gonna cry myself to sleep later. Lets get this going."

A timeline included that Bryan Kim’s parents’ bodies were found on December 6, 2006, and that Bryan Kim was at Mt. Spokane High School on December 7 after missing classes. A school principal, John Hook, said Kim had missed his morning classes at The Skill Center while Kim claimed that he’d had an argument with his parents the night before over his internet use, but that they had gone out for a walk and he hadn’t seen them since. In a separate meeting with Kim’s girlfriend, she said Bryan had told her his parents had gone out for a walk the night before as well.

After deputies obtained search warrants for the Kim residence, Bryan’s car and school locker, he was taken into custody and driven to the Public Safety Building, saying he understood "the procedure". Once downtown, he said it would be wise for him to "Lawyer up" after detectives advised him of his rights.

Court documents indicated that when Kim was arrested he had two debit cards, one belonging to himself and another presumably belonging to his father. Next to the cards, investigators found a deposit slip showing a $1,000 deposit into Bryan Kim's bank account the day after his father died. Bank records obtained through Jessica Kim showed that $1,000 was taken out of Richard Kim's bank account on December 6.

Court documents also said a gun was missing from the Kim's safe, and that a gun believed to have come from that safe was located in Bryan Kim's bedroom.

Detectives said that when they arrested Bryan, he showed no emotions of grief during the execution of the warrant on his person. The statement also recorded that Kim showed no emotions of grief and never showed any emotion of grief during the execution of the warrant.

Kim told jail personnel who booked him that he was bi-polar, suffered from depression, and took medication for both disorders.

Trial

Bryan Kim was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea on four separate charges related to the murders of Richard and Terri Kim. He pleaded not guilty on January 23.

The charges Bryan Kim faced included:

• Two charges of 1st Degree Aggravated Murder in the deaths of his parents, Richard and Teresa Kim.
• A 2nd Degree Theft charge for allegedly stealing $1,000 from his parents’ bank account.
• A charge of possession of stolen property for having his dad’s bank card in his possession which he allegedly used to withdraw funds from his parents’ account.

Prosecutors filed two 1st Degree Murder charges against Bryan Kim for the murders of his parents, and Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll described two options for penalties if convicted. Driscoll said:

"When you charge first degree murder with aggravating circumstances there are two options that the state has as far as penalties," Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll said Wednesday afternoon.
"The first one carries a minimum of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The second one introduces the possibility of the death penalty."

Witness information published by the state included testimony expected from Jessica Kim, Bryan Kim’s sister, and Caitlin Ritchey, Bryan’s former girlfriend. Jessica Kim was expected to testify that Bryan had an explosive temper and that his parents were asking him to move out of their home at the time of the killing. Caitlin Ritchey was expected to testify that during the investigation Bryan Kim explained his parent's disappearance by saying they had taken a walk the night of their murders but had never returned.

On January 29, 2008, Bryan Kim was convicted on two counts of murder.

The jury trial timeline included that Bryan Kim’s murder trial began on January 7, 2008, opening statements were made on January 10, 2008, and that Bryan Kim was convicted on January 29, 2008.

Sentencing

On February 21, 2008, Bryan Kim was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Bryan Kim was convicted on two counts of murder and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on February 21, 2008.

Other details

Prior incidents and alleged domestic violence history

A police report released in December 2006 provided more insight into Bryan Kim’s relationship with his parents. It described a history of alleged domestic violence dating back to 2002. The report described a 2005 incident as a false imprisonment involving Bryan Kim, Teresa Kim and Spokane County sheriff’s deputies.

According to police reports, Bryan Kim held his mother captive on their back porch when he was caught lying about his grades in summer school. After being scolded, he allegedly locked her out of their house. Teresa Kim had no way of climbing down. The report said that thirty minutes into the lockout, Bryan Kim reportedly asked his mother, “are you going to be nicer to me?” When Teresa Kim said he was still in trouble, he replied, “well, you can stay out there longer.” Teresa Kim stayed on the porch for another 90 minutes before Richard Kim called and ordered his son to open the door. The report said Bryan told his dad that his mother “was an imbecile and could have gotten down at any time.” By the time sheriff’s deputies had arrived, Bryan Kim was gone. The report said the case was either not referred to prosecutors or the unlawful imprisonment charge was dropped by the Prosecutor’s Office.

The autopsy and court documents described earlier violence. The court documents stated Bryan Kim injured his mother with a golf club in November 2002. The police report said Bryan tried to hit his father with the club, missed, and then threw the club at the wall. It bounced off the wall and hit his mother in the head, "leaving a small lump", the report said. The report said he then ran upstairs to his room, slammed the door several times and broke the doorframe. After that incident, Kim was ordered to participate in a psychiatric program. A judge also labeled him a "threat to community safety".

Before the golf club incident, police were called to the Kim residence in July 2002 after Bryan holed himself up in the family’s bathroom for more than four hours. Teresa Kim called police for help in dealing with her son. When police arrived, Bryan refused to open the door. Teresa gave the officers permission to break down the door, at which point Bryan fought with the officers and threatened them with a broomstick. The documents said an officer sprayed pepper spray into Bryan's eyes and placed him in handcuffs.

Statements about access to weapons and planning allegations

A December 11 report said Bryan Kim may have had access to a handgun and ammunition before or after he allegedly killed his parents.

Detectives processing the crime scene said a safe had been forced open with tools from the garage, and next to the safe investigators found the manufacturer’s box for a Ruger .22 caliber target pistol with no sign of the weapon. During their search of Bryan Kim’s room, investigators found an unloaded .22 caliber pistol with two loaded magazines, and authorities said they were relieved that the day after the alleged murders Bryan did not take the pistol to Mt. Spokane High School.

A December 13 report said detectives were not sure which knife, if any, was used to kill Richard Kim, and said they had found several knives during four days searching the home.

A December 20, 2006 report said evidence including zip ties used in the murder of Bryan Kim’s mother could support premeditation. The report said zip ties were found in a bag in the Kims’ garage and discussed the possibility that if Terri Kim was strangled with zip ties inside her home and if Bryan took time to go into the garage to get the ligature it could have been premeditation.

Released 911 recordings and search

9-1-1 recordings released in May 2007 described calls related to the early stages of the investigation. The first call was from Cal Buhl, a co-worker of Richard Kim’s, who contacted authorities using his car’s OnStar system when he couldn’t get reception for his cellphone from the Kim residence.

The OnStar operator located Buhl’s position using the GPS tracker in his car. Buhl told authorities during his personal welfare check that he spotted blood inside the home and “blood coming out of the home.” Deputies were dispatched, and while word spread through the community that the Kims were missing, a second call came from Jessica Kim, the couple’s daughter, who wanted to help deputies with their search not knowing it was already too late.

Bond and court appearances

Bail set at a half-million dollars each on two counts of 2nd Degree Murder was described. The description also included that Kim made his first appearance in Superior Court on Thursday, December 7, 2006 for the murders of his parents and bail was set at a half-million dollars each.

Prosecutors asked the judge to maintain Kim’s $1 million bond after new charges were filed, and the court let the bond stand.

Other described details

Bryan Kim had access to a Myspace handle “Victor Vidonia”. He posted favorite music, pictures of friends and entries on a blog, including a reference to someone he called his girlfriend.

Investigators said deputies found bloody clothing and shoes and blood in the foyer closet after making a forced entry into the home. The description said officers could not locate either Richard or Terri Kim until entering the locked outbuilding where the Bobcat front-loader and the remains of two deceased persons were found in the bucket.

A report stated that Richard Kim was stabbed five times in the neck and arms near a closet in the entryway of the home and that Terri Kim was murdered in the garage approximately two hours later. Another report said Richard was stabbed five times in the neck and arms near a closet, and a different report said detectives found several knives but were not sure which one was used.

A report said Bryan Kim faced trial later in the fall after prosecutors published a list of witnesses in June 2007, but another timeline stated he was scheduled to go on trial in June after waiving a speedy trial right in late January.