Soldier who deserted his post while facing child rape charges is now accused of killing cab driver

King County Sheriff's Office

A US Army soldier wanted for desertion and child molestation has been charged with killing a cab driver while on the run.

Private Jonathan Kang Lee, 25, has been charged in the death of 34-year-old Redicab driver Nick Hokema. The cab driver’s body was found with multiple stab wounds in a mall parking lot in Tukwila, Washington on 15 January after he failed to return home from an overnight shift.

The 34-year-old’s stolen red Toyota Camry was recovered almost two weeks later in the Redmond Ridge neighborhood, around 30 miles away.

Hokema’s body was found one day after Lee deserted from his military post.

The charges filed against Lee include premeditated murder, as well as “robbery, resisting arrest, desertion, wrongful use of a controlled substance and two counts of failure to obey a lawful order,” an Army spokesperson said.

The Army Criminal Investigation Division said Lee was last seen on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) on 14 January. A timeline suggests Lee interacted with Hokema shortly after he left JBLM.

Lee was scheduled for trial on 16 January on six charges of sexual assault on children under Article 120b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Redicab driver Nick Hokema, 34, was murdered in January (Fox13)

After Lee fled the base, the court-martial proceeded without him and found him guilty in absentia, sentencing him to 64 years confinement on 19 January, according to an Army CID bulletin.

Lee is already in custody with another agency on the sexual assault charges after he was arrested at an address in Redmond at the end of January, Tukwila Police Department said. He was named as a suspect in Hokema’s murder in March and officially charged on Wednesday.

The Army Office of Special Trial Counsel is reviewing the case and Tukwila Police Department Major Crimes Unit and the Army Criminal Investigation Division is investigating.

Following Hokema’s death, his girlfriend told Fox13 that she had a message for whoever was driving around in his car after the murder.

“You don’t know what you took from me,” said Nicole Sharkody. “Maybe you’re not involved. Maybe someone gave you the car, but you need to come forward and say something. This is the man I loved, and he’s gone.”

She added” “I don’t think I’ll ever have closure or resolve. My worst fear used to be losing him. Now, my worst fear is trying to find life without him.”