Suspect still at large, but community helping victims of King Donuts attack heal

The community has not forgotten the brutal attack on the owners of King Donuts last month.

While the suspect in the assault and robbery of Chea Pol and her husband Heng Hay is still at large, the search continues and the people of Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood are doing all they can to keep the couple safe and help them heal.

After hearing that Chea Pol would need a great deal of dental work, KIRO Radio’s Don O’Neill reached out to his dentist to see if he could help.

“I’m going to call my dentist, he’s Dr. Bill Wong, and I’m going to ask him to fix her teeth,” Don said.

Dr. Wong happily agreed to assist.

“We’re all here to help out,” said Dr. Wong. “I think it’s just something that is the right thing to do. You didn’t have to even ask. I would have probably done it whether you asked it on air or not.”

The dental work required will be extensive, Dr. Wong said.

“We’re going to place a couple of dental implants. I think most of her upper teeth are probably going to have to be removed and restored,” he said.

Other community members are also trying to help out the couple. King County Sgt. Michael Starrett grew up in Rainier beach and he’s been going to King Donuts for decades. He was actually at the shop on the night of the attack.

“I had just stopped by that day and the next day I was just devastated. I thought if I had only been a couple hours later, it wouldn’t have happened. So I was hurt by that,” Starrett said.

So now, Starrett is doing what he can to make the Hay family feel safe.

“Every day since then, I come by on my way home from work and walk them to their car,” he said, adding he hopes they soon catch the person responsible.

David Rose with Q13’s Washington’s Most Wanted told Ron & Don he’s recently spoken to the police about the investigation.

“I talked to the Seattle detective assigned to it last night and I said, ‘What is going on with the case? Do we have a suspect? Do we have a sketch? Do we have some DNA? Do we have anything we can use? He said, ‘Unfortunately, no.’ He said this is one of those rare cases where we have a suspect who has been tight-lipped about this, has done it before, absolutely, and will do it again, but they are keeping their mouth shut for now.”

Rose said the people in the community want to catch the guy, but no one has come forward with a tip – which is pretty unusual in a case like this.

“Usually at least we get a couple of names, but right now it’s silence,” Rose said. “What worries me is this guy has probably spent that money and he’s going to do it again.”

Anyone with information on the case should call 1-800-222-TIPS.