Ex-boyfriend arrested in 2017 death of woman shot, dumped outside Federal Way hospital
A Federal Way woman fatally shot in 2017 was lured to her death by an ex-boyfriend angry that she wouldn’t take him back, according to court documents.
On Tuesday, King County prosecutors charged Richard Nelson, 41, with second-degree murder for the Oct. 25, 2017, death of Crystal Hawkins.
His arraignment is scheduled for June 1.
Nelson was already jailed for a second-degree assault charge involving his current girlfriend, whom he allegedly tried to strangle and threatened to kill.
“The defendant’s physical violence and threats to kill this victim with a handgun are even more chilling given the defendant’s homicide of his prior partner with a firearm,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Charging papers give this account of Hawkins’ death:
An employee at St. Francis Hospital found Hawkins on the ground outside the main entrance about 4 a.m., moments after seeing a vehicle speed away.
Hawkins, 27, died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Her mother’s car, a 2005 Volvo, was found abandoned at a Kent mobile home park later that day.
A significant amount of blood and a single bullet casing was found on the floorboard, records say.
Hawkins last spoke to her mother that evening, telling her she was going to visit a friend at an apartment complex.
Detectives were able to determine Nelson used a fake name to lure Hawkins to the apartment complex where she was shot, then dumped her body in front of the hospital.
The couple dated for about a year before Hawkins broke it off.
She was dating a man in California at the time of her death and declined to get back together with Nelson when he asked at a bar days before her death, according to court records.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 11:05 AM.
