Slain Woman Recalled As Quiet, Volatile
BOTHELL - Sun Nyo Lee was a quiet, pleasant woman - most of the time.
But when Lee, 36, got drunk, her angry screams would pierce through the three-story apartment complex where she lived in Bothell, said apartment managers Bill and Jo Ann Sparks. Her fights with boyfriend Tim Conrad usually ended with Lee hopping a bus into Seattle, where she would stay for days before coming home, they said.
"She'd take off, then come home, take off, and come back. She'd leave a note, saying she was going to Seattle or Korea or whatever," Jo Ann Sparks said.
"Then she didn't come back."
Lee's skull was found two weeks ago near the bottom of a steep ravine along the Snoqualmie River, southwest of Monroe. The South Korean woman was killed by a blow to her head, said Snohomish County Medical Examiner Eric Kiesel, who yesterday announced Lee's identity.
Detectives also found a second murder victim's ear and pieces of scalp in the ravine off High Bridge Road. That victim has not yet been identified.
Conrad told Bothell police he last saw Lee the night of June 25. He filed a missing-person report on July 6, said Bothell police Detective Randy Olson.
Conrad was questioned by Snohomish County sheriff's detectives Monday, said sheriff's spokesman Elliott Woodall.
"He's cooperating with us. We still have some more discussions we want to have with him," Woodall said. "At this point, (detectives) have not defined any suspects."
Lee emigrated to the United States with her former husband in the mid-1970s, Woodall said. The ex-husband also has been interviewed by detectives, he said.
The murder victim had a record of arrests on prostitution and third-degree-theft charges, Woodall said. However, he did not know whether she was ever convicted on any of the charges.
Lee and Conrad moved into their Bothell apartment near the Sammamish River about two years ago, the Sparkses said.
"They came down from Alaska; they'd been working on a fishing boat," said Bill Sparks. Conrad found a job at a local lumber yard, but Lee spoke very little English and was unemployed, he said. Every Tuesday she picked up free food at a local food bank to help tide them over until payday.
"She worked very hard to do her part," said Jo Ann Sparks. "She'd go up and down the road and gather herbs and greens for food."
Conrad moved out of the apartment late last month, telling the Sparkses he was returning to Alaska. He left a few pieces of furniture but no forwarding address.
However, Woodall said yesterday Conrad is in the area. His employer said he has not quit his job.
When the skull and scalp were found, sheriff's Sgt. Tom Greene said the killings did not appear related to the Green River killer. That murderer is linked to the slayings of at least 49 women, mainly prostitutes in South King County, from 1982 to 1984.
However, Woodall said yesterday no possibilities were being ruled out at this point.