A Washington state man initially arrested for assaulting an emergency room nurse at a Seattle hospital was later charged with murder after he told police he “may have killed” his girlfriend at his townhome.
Police had already been called to Andy Chu’s townhome in Lake City’s Olympic Hills neighborhood a day earlier, on August 10, however, when neighbors saw water flowing out and called the landlord, KOMO reported.
Police and firefighters made entry and found Zoey Suyun He, 25, dead on the bathroom floor, according to KCPQ.
According to charging documents against Chu, first responders found the bathtub full of water and the sink running. He was lying on her back with a cut to her throat and “an ice pack on her throat and a small block behind her neck, supporting her head,” KOMO said.
An autopsy found a heavy white ball lodged in He’s throat.
Chu was arrested at the University of Washington Medical Center Northwest early on August 11. Friends had taken him to the hospital because he was acting “erractically,” police said. Police were called to the hospital when Chu allegedly assaulted an ER nurse “by groping her breasts and attempting to pull her head down by hooking the back of her neck,” the charging documents say.
After his arrest, Chu reportedly told investigators he had “a crisis condition” while at the townhouse, causing him to leave.
“He said his girlfriend was there after just arriving from Hawaii where she resides,” the court dcouments say. “He said he thought he may have killed her.”
Chu reportedly reportedly told police he remembered “choking her, twisting her neck, holding her down underwater in the tub.” He said he thought he broke her neck and “remembered her bleeding from her nose, which he wiped away.”
He said he took He out of the tub and “tried several things to revive her,” including placing the ball in her throat “to fix her jaw” and sprinkling acai powder on her. He also said he took two doses of ecstasy and smoked marijuana.
The documents said that investigators obtained security footage from neighbors that showed Chu and He arriving at the townhome on August 9 carrying groceries. The video showed Chu leaving alone the next day, before his friends took him to the hospital.
Chu has been charged with murder and aggravated assault, and his bail was set at $5 million, KCPQ reported.
