Opinion ID: 844274
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Robbery and Murder of Soy Sung Lao

Text: Around 3:40 in the afternoon on October 24, 1992, Los Angeles County Park Police Sergeant Donald Tiller and his partner went to the Donut King for coffee. The small, family-owned shop was located in a strip mall near the LaBargain Grocery. While his partner waited in the patrol car, Tiller went inside and ordered from Soy Sung Lao, who was working behind the counter. Ms. Lao was the only employee in the shop, and defendant the only customer. Defendant sat at a table with a white Styrofoam cup and an orange gym bag nearby. Sergeant Tiller observed defendant during the three minutes he spoke with Ms. Lao at the counter. It seemed unusual that defendant stared fixedly out the window and would not look in his direction. In the sergeant's experience, people usually looked at him when he was in uniform. Defendant was wearing a dark jacket, a dark Malcolm X cap, and dark jeans. He appeared to be about six feet tall, 165 to 170 pounds, with kind of a straggly beard. Lavette Gilmore worked at a hair salon in the same strip mall. Around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. on October 24, 1992, she went to the doughnut shop and saw defendant sitting in the window with a small coffee cup and a bag. He wore a cap and a black shirt with red on it and drew Gilmore's attention because he looked rugged. He was thin and unkempt, with long hair. He slouched and would not return Gilmore's gaze. Gilmore stayed in the shop talking for 20 or 25 minutes. She and Sergeant Tiller left at the same time. Gilmore expressed concern to Tiller that defendant looked funny. Debra Tomiyasu had an appointment at Gilmore's hair salon that afternoon. She left around 3:40 p.m. and walked into the Donut King. She noticed an orange duffel bag and a black Malcolm X cap on one of the customer tables but saw no one in the shop. Tomiyasu yelled out hello two or three times, to no response. A minute or two later, Deandre Harrison walked in. The two waited a few minutes more, calling for service. Harrison walked in and out of the shop's front door several times to trigger its buzzer. They then heard a series of muffled, high-pitched screams. As the screams grew louder, defendant emerged from the back of the store and walked straight to the cash register, which was partially open. He took the money inside, walked out the front door, and ran across the parking lot. A woman staggered out from the back of the store, covered in blood. Still screaming, she held a blood-soaked white cloth to her neck. She took a few steps, then collapsed. No one else emerged from the back. No sounds indicated anyone else was in the store. Tomiyasu followed defendant and chased him across the parking lot, screaming for help. Meanwhile, Harrison ran to another shop and called 911. After Tomiyasu lost sight of defendant, she also attempted to call the police, but they arrived before she had time to dial. Other than defendant and the bleeding woman, Tomiyasu and Harrison saw no one else in the shop, and no one else left after defendant fled. Ella Ford was picking up dry cleaning at the strip mall when she heard a woman screaming from the Donut King. She dismissed the screams as the sound of children playing. Defendant ran out of the doughnut shop and almost knocked her down. She noticed he was holding something close to his body in his left hand. Ford turned away but looked back at defendant after someone yelled, he stabbed her. She eventually lost sight of defendant as he ran down the street. Felipe Santoyo was working at a fish market in the strip mall when he heard the commotion. A crying woman said, she's bleeding. Santoyo ran to the doughnut shop, where several people had gathered. He saw Lao, whom he knew, lying on the floor, bleeding a lot. He went to her and placed some bags under her head so she didn't feel on the floor. Santoyo was soon joined by Lavette Gilmore and Trina Simmons, who had run to the shop from Gilmore's salon when they learned of the stabbing. Lao's eyes were open and she was asking for help. She managed to give her family's phone number before she lost consciousness. Santoyo left to call Lao's family. Gardena Police Officers Blane Schmidt and Jody Schnabl were the first authorities to arrive at the scene. Paramedics arrived minutes later. They transported Lao to a hospital, but her condition deteriorated rapidly in the ambulance and she never regained consciousness. After the paramedics left, Officer Schmidt interviewed Simmons, Harrison, and Tomiyasu. Tomiyasu described defendant as having a round face, dark skin, a scraggly beard and mustache, a wild-like appearance to his eyes, and dark smudges on his face. His hair was very short, and he appeared to be in his late 20's or early 30's. Defendant looked like a homeless or transient person because he was very thin, with a drawn face and wild-eyed look. He wore blue jeans, dark shoes, and a black T-shirt with an outline of Africa on the front. Harrison also remembered that defendant wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt with Africa depicted in red, yellow, and green. He was tall and thin, with medium-brown, dirty skin and a rough, ruggish beard and mustache. Ella Ford gave a similar description. She said defendant was a little over six feet tall, 150 pounds, with a full beard, and wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a black T-shirt with African colors. Twice that evening, the police asked Tomiyasu to view suspects they had detained, but she did not make a positive identification of either. At the crime scene, police officers found the cash register drawer open but with no bills in the tray. A blood trail extended from the restroom to where Lao had fallen. Behind the closed door of the restroom, a large blood pool was oozing into the drain. Blood was smeared on the inside doorknob and doorjamb. A knotted towel and a pair of women's shoes lay on the floor. Police officers never discovered a murder weapon. At one of the tables in the dining area, someone had left an open gym bag, a baseball cap, a Styrofoam cup, and a pair of shoelaces. The gym bag contained several raffle tickets. Defendant's latent palm print was lifted from the table. Although other latent fingerprints were recovered, none could be matched to defendant. Lao was stabbed 30 times with a single-edged blade approximately five-eighths of an inch wide and five to six inches long. Her hands and arms showed multiple defensive wounds. Two stab wounds pierced the rib cage and sliced completely through her liver, causing massive abdominal bleeding. Another stab wound to the chest collapsed a lung. Forensic evidence established that the stabbing took place in the employee restroom. The bathroom door was closed after the attack, but Lao managed to open it. Bleeding from her many wounds, Lao moved toward the silent alarm button and collapsed nearby. The many undisturbed blood pools and droplets in the hallway showed that Lao's attacker left the bathroom before she did.