Family of Tacoma man killed in shooting hopes for closure 10 years later
The family of a Tacoma man who was shot a decade ago gathered under the rain at the spot where he was killed on Monday and spoke about how his case is still unsolved.
Kimberly Nystrom, the mother of 26-year-old Steven Speakman, still remembers the last time she saw her son.
They were out at a bar downstairs from their Tacoma Hilltop apartment building the night before Nov. 3, 2015. She then had a few beers with Speakman at his apartment unit, which was across from the one she lived in with her husband, Bill DeMulling. Nystrom told The News Tribune that after she went to her unit, she heard her son say, “OK, mama, guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
Nystrom said at 6 a.m., Tacoma detectives came to her door to inform her that Speakman was involved in a shooting.
“And I said, well, was he the shooter?” Nystrom said. “And she says, no, I hate to say, he’s the victim, and he’s no longer with us.”
Speakman was fatally shot just around the corner from his apartment unit on 1014 Martin Luther King Jr. Way a decade ago. The News Tribune reported a neighbor said they heard gunshots about 20 minutes before finding Speakman’s body. According to previous reporting, it did not seem likely to investigators that he’d been the victim of a robbery as Speakman still had his cellphone and wallet.
“I rushed downstairs, and my neighbors knew at the time,” Nystrom said. “And I went downstairs, and they said, ‘You cannot go no further than this corner.’”
Nystrom said her son’s body was covered under a sheet on the ground “just about all day,” and she had been told not to go around the corner from where the shooting scene was.
A homicide investigation began after Speakman’s death, but leads went nowhere. Surveillance footage from the area was considered unhelpful to detectives, and the weapon used was not recovered. In a press conference from June 2023, Tacoma detective Julie Dier said investigators believed one person killed Speakman, but more than one person might have been involved
‘Everybody knew Steven’
Speakman was born in Tacoma and grew up in the Hilltop community and was a 2008 graduate from Foss High School.
DeMulling, who met Speakman when he was 4 years old and helped raise him, said he remembers his stepson as “just a good little kid.”
“You never really had to get after him for anything,” he said.
DeMulling and Nystrom said Speakman loved to take things apart and put them back together. He would go out fishing with his cousin where they’d fish for salmon or halibut, most of the time on the Hood Canal.
Speakman would also just hang out with them as he did not always like to be alone in his apartment, DeMulling said.
Around the Hilltop area, Speakman was known to walk up to anybody and start a conversation.
“Everybody knew Steven,” Nystrom said. “He would always go and hang out at the bar ‘cause all his buddies were down there.”
Nystrom said after Speakman’s death, there were fundraisers and neighbors joined the family in support. Shirts were created with Speakman’s name on them and some with photographs of him on them. Those same shirts and sweatshirts were worn Monday afternoon, where Nystrom, DeMulling along with family and friends gathered at the spot where Speakman was killed.
Just like every year on the anniversary of the shooting, Nystrom said, they get red, white and black balloons to release, as those colors were Speakman’s favorites.
During the send-off, members of Speakman’s family took turns speaking, holding a balloon each with a printout of Speakman in his graduation attire standing in the doorway of the bar. One of the speakers included his sister, Selina Ramirez.
“I just miss my brother a lot,” she said. “Steven didn’t deserve what happened to him. It hurts a lot to know my brother is not here.”
Speakman’s grandfather and grandmother also spoke, talking about how their grandson would travel with them. Nystrom said Speakman’s grandparents took him with them on their travels to places such as Florida, Mexico and Disneyland.
At the end of their speeches, Speakman’s family released their balloons, but some fell to the ground rather than ascending into the sky. Everyone laughed, with one relative saying it was as if Speakman wanted to stay with them.
Hopes for closure
Speakman’s case has not been solved and no arrests made. A spokesperson for the Washington Attorney General’s Office confirmed it received Speakman’s case for review for its Missing And Murdered Indigenous Woman and People Cold Case Unit earlier this year. The office did not have further updates to share.
DeMulling said it would have been nice to get closure had the case been solved.
“When Stevie died, I couldn’t even mention his name without crying for a year,” he said.
Nystrom said communication with police has been minimal, and she last spoke to a Tacoma detective within the year, but there was no new information to release. She added that the original detective on the case retired a while ago, and Nystrom believes she would have helped get it solved.
Nystrom and DeMulling ask that anyone who has information or heard a rumor that would help Speakman’s case, to speak out so that they can get closure.
“Let Steven rest in peace,” Nystrom said.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 12:21 PM.
