Seattle ax murder: 25-year-old arrested in brutal killing of homeless man
SEATTLE - A suspect accused of brutally murdering a homeless man with an ax in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood last month was arrested on Sunday.
On Feb. 22 at around 5:00 a.m., officers responded to reports of an unresponsive man in the 1100 block of 8th Ave. When they arrived, they found a man's body lying outside the Town Hall Seattle building – which launched a suspicious death investigation.
The victim was identified as 52-year-old Daravuth Van, who was homeless. When first responders arrived, they found him covered in blankets with two pieces of luggage next to him. Officials say he was obviously dead on arrival, with a gaping wound to his head and a large pool of blood around him.
According to court documents, the person who made the initial 911 call discovered his body while they were walking to the gym.
After recovering the body, the King County Medical Examiner determined the victim was murdered by a sharp blunt force object that fractured his skull and penetrated his brain.
THE INVESTIGATION
Detectives located video from a business located directly across the street from the murder scene. In the video, detectives say an unknown suspect – later identified as 25-year-old Liam H. Kryger – was walking on the opposite side of the street as the victim. Investigators say Kryger made two more passes as if he was casing the victim.
Eventually, Kryger was seen slowly walking towards the victim, looking around. Once he confirmed there were no witnesses nearby, he swung the weapon in a downward motion where the victim was lying.
KRYGER MATCHES THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MURDER SUSPECT
On March 2 at around 4:30 a.m., detectives observed a man matching the description of the murder suspect walking north on 8th Ave. near Columbia St. Detectives saw him with a dark tubular object hanging down his side.
Detectives followed the suspect until he was near the original crime scene. According to court documents, the suspect began running away, and officers lost sight of him near Freeway Park.
Officers began searching the path of where the suspect ran and found an ax that he had ditched in the bushes.
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THE MURDER WEAPON
Detectives determined that the dark tubular object the suspect was carrying was the ax, which was a brand that was only carried by Lowe’s home improvement store.
According to court documents, detectives contacted a Lowe’s store on Rainier Ave. S and found out they sold an ax to someone 13 days before the murder. Lowe’s provided detectives with surveillance video of the purchase. Detectives then shared photos of the suspect, and a Department of Corrections officer identified the suspect as 25-year-old Liam H. Kryger.
Detectives checked his records and discovered he had previous run-ins with Seattle Police. Detectives reviewed body cam video from one of these previous interactions, which further confirmed the suspect’s identity.
On March 3 at around 1:00 p.m., detectives located Kryger exiting his residence and took him into custody without incident.
According to court documents, after reading Kryger his Miranda rights, officers showed him photos taken from surveillance footage captured the night of the murder. Kryger admitted that the person in the photos was him.
Kryger now faces a first-degree murder charge.
This is a developing story.