A person of interest is in custody in connection to the murder of RediCab driver Nick Hokema , whose body was found outside Southcenter Mall in Tukwila on Jan. 15.
According to the Tukwila Police Department, the person of interest is currently in custody with another law enforcement agency on unrelated charges.
On Tuesday, sources confirmed the person in custody is an alleged Joint Base Lewis-McChord deserter.
KIRO Newsradio has reached out to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division (CID) to determine if that person is Specialist Jonathan Kang Lee, a deserter last seen Jan. 14 at JBLM. He was arrested last Friday.
Nicholas Hokema, 34, of Tumwater was driving a RediCab overnight on Jan. 14 — the same day Lee was last seen. Tukwila police said someone found Hokema early Monday morning, unconscious, lying in the parking lot of Westfield Southcenter, about 55 miles from his home.
Hokema later died in the city of SeaTac. A medical examiner determined he was killed by “multiple sharp object injuries.”