Detectives arrest man in 1998 cold case murder of Burien woman



BURIEN, Wash. -- Detectives in King County arrested a man Friday for the murder of a Burien woman more than 20 years ago.

According to the King County Sheriff's Office, 28-year-old Nguyet "Anna" Nguyen left home to visit her fiance Nov. 9, 1998. She was never seen again.

Her car was found two days later in the parking lot of a Tukwila casino.

Investigators suspected foul play early in the investigation, but her body was never found. The medical examiner issued a death certificate for Nguyen in 2015.

Detectives suspected an ex-boyfriend of Nguyen's may be involved. They interviewed him after her disappearance and noted "that he provided ever-changing stories regarding his whereabouts during the time in which Ms. Nguyen went missing."

Twenty-one years after her disappearance, Major Crimes detectives took another look at the case and gathered new facts.

According to charging documents, the suspect was "clearly obsessed with the victim and unwilling to accept the end of their relationship, killed her so she could not get married to her fiance."

On Friday, detectives arrested Nguyen's ex-boyfriend for investigation of murder. He was booked into the King County Jail.

“This is the fourth cold case our Major Crimes Detectives have solved this year,” said Sheriff Mitzi G. Johanknecht.  “My Major Crimes detectives do outstanding work with limited staffing, and still no funding for a dedicated Cold Case Unit. Instead, they work these unsolved murders in addition to their heavy caseloads in the pursuit of justice and closure for the families who have lost their loved ones.”

He is not being identified because he has not yet been formally charged. Bail was denied.