Suspect in fatal stabbing of Lakewood convenience store owner appears in court
A man suspected of fatally stabbing a Lakewood convenience store owner during a robbery was in court Monday.
Marcus Louise Williams pleaded not guilty at arraignment to first- and second-degree murder in connection to the fatal stabbing of 59-year-old In Cha Choe.
Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams set bail at $2 million.
Police said the 24-year-old turned himself in Friday.
Charging papers give this account of what happened:
Williams grabbed a bottle of barbecue sauce and approached the register at the McChord Mart store Oct. 14, while Choe was working there by herself.
Williams then walked behind the counter, pushed Choe and reached for the register.
Choe tried to stop him, he stabbed her in the abdomen and chest, then he left with money.
She followed with a collapsible baton, and they struggled.
He took off, and she closed the register and locked the store.
Then she got into her car outside the store.
She was found unconscious and was pronounced dead at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Tips led detectives to Williams, and DNA linked him to the bottle of barbecue sauce.
Bonifacio Alvarez Reynolds, 20, was also charged with first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty at arraignment last week.
He allegedly drove Williams to the store and waited down the street. He allegedly didn’t know Williams was going to stab the store owner.
Williams has a 2015 conviction for robbing a Tacoma convenience store using a BB gun and a 2018 conviction for burglarizing a Lakewood coffee stand, according to court records.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 4:00 PM.
