Three Charged In 4-Year-Old Tukwila Murder Case

It took almost four years, but Tukwila police Detective Ron Corrigan can finally forget about this murder case when he leaves work.

"You take it home with you and think about it," Corrigan, 40, said today, relieved finally that three people have been charged in the death of Alvin Hibbitt, who was 23 when he was shot in the face while tied to a chair in his Tukwila apartment in December 1993.

Tracking a murder investigation for four years isn't easy.

"You try to remain optimistic, but sometimes it's hard," Corrigan said.

On Monday, Michael West, 30, and Khalid Beyah, 21, were charged with first-degree murder, and an accomplice, Nicole Donaldson, 19, was charged with first-degree robbery, according to the King County Prosecutor's office.

Corrigan's supervisor, Lt. Craig Westby, complimented Corrigan's persistence.

"During the almost four years the case has gone in multiple directions. . . . Misinformation was provided. . . . It was a complicated and involved case from the very beginning," Westby said.

All or most of the people with information about the murder were criminals and the information they provided was full of half-truths, lies and misdirections for investigators, Westby said.

Six months ago, police got information that ultimately led them to the identities of the suspects.

Corrigan determined that Donaldson, who was 15 at the time, knew Hibbitt, who was dealing drugs, and lured him to a West Seattle home where Beyah and West jumped him and took him at gunpoint back to his Tukwila apartment, Westby said.

There, Hibbitt was tied into a chair while the two men ransacked the apartment, looking for drugs and money, Westby said. They took money, guns and jewelry, then shot Hibbitt and left.

When police finally closed in, West was in prison in California for a parole violation on another charge, Beyah was living in Compton, Calif., and Donaldson was serving time for another crime at the Echo Glen juvenile facility near North Bend.

Corrigan stayed in touch with the victim's family, talking with them almost weekly during their long wait for a break in the case.

"It's satisfying for me that they can get some closure on this," he said.

Dave Birkland's phone message number is 206-515-5682. His e-mail address is: dbir-new@seatimes.com