Family, investigators seek new leads in murder of South Seattle woman

Last September, a young woman with a bright future had just picked up dinner and was heading home when she was gunned down in South Seattle. Her killer is still out there.

26-year-old Bremerton cold case murder culminates in arrest

Now, investigators and her family are asking for your help solving the case.

Amarah Riley’s grandmother, Deb, will never forget the day her grandbaby was born.

“When Amarah, was born she wasn’t breathing — they had to work on her and they were actually doing a countdown on her … and then when she finally let out that cry, she didn’t stop talking, or laughing, or having fun with her life. Amarah loved life,” Deb recalled.

The 22-year-old had a creative streak that started at a young age.

“I would buy her art supplies, anything that she could draw with,” Deb said.  “She started very young, she was also really good behind a camera. She was interested in anything artistic, whether it was outside, inside, making, drawing, she could do it all.”

It was that artistic streak that led to Amarah becoming a professional makeup artist, and starting her own YouTube Channel to help others learn how, something Deb says she started teaching friends years before.

“She really loved that — she loved making people feel good about themselves, and I think she was really good at what she did. It made her very happy. She loved making people feel like they looked their best when they felt like they didn’t,” she said.

Amarah grew up in West Seattle, and had just moved into a place of her own in Kent, where she had her professional makeup studio set up in her home. Deb says her granddaughter was happy, living her best life, and excited about the future.

Then, on September 19, 2018, Amarah drove to South Seattle to pick up some to go food. She was headed home in her white Honda four-door on Rainier Avenue South. At 10:19, p.m., she had just passed South 114th St when someone drove up next to her and opened fire, killing Amarah instantly.

Deb got the news about 2 a.m. and literally could not believe it.

“For several hours that night, I was thinking this can’t be, it absolutely can’t be. You just can’t process something that painful,” Deb said.

King County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Abbott said investigators believe Amarah was targeted, but are not sure why at this point. The leads have run dry and they need new ones.

“We know that there’s people out there that know who did this and have information on who did this — we’re just having a really hard time getting them to come forward and talk to detectives,” Abbott said.

There was no usable surveillance footage, so they have no description of the car that the shots came from. They are hoping someone saw or heard something.

“Any detail at all,” said Abbott. “We need somebody that was out at that time of night on Rainier Avenue South — the 11400 block — that noticed a car maybe driving aggressively, maybe chasing after Amarah; she was driving a white Honda. So anybody that was out in that area, anybody that has heard different people talk about it because people talk about these things.”

“The hope is that somebody has talked about it, somebody heard something, and even if it doesn’t seem like it’s a worthwhile tip, a lot of times that tip is actually what will lead us to finding the suspect and who’s responsible for this,” Abbott added.

Amarah’s grandfather built a cross and placed it and photos of her at a memorial he has set up at the site of her killing. It was vandalized, and the cross was stolen. He built a second one he put up at the site a couple of weeks ago, all with the property owner’s permission. Within a week the cross was destroyed again.

“We don’t know who, we don’t know why, but somebody has taken it upon themselves to break this cross apart, and this time they even stole the pictures of Amarah,” Abbott said.

Because it happened twice, investigators are looking at it as a potential lead.

“It seems more intentional because it’s happened more than once,” he said. “We don’t know why that’s happening or who’s doing it but we’d love to find out.”

In the meantime, investigators hope keeping Amarah’s story in the public eye can help generate new leads.

“We think the more publicity, the more stuff that comes out on this incident the better chance of reminding people [that] Amarah was an innocent person driving home; she wasn’t doing anything else. She was attacked, and we just need to find out who’s responsible for that,” Abbott said.

Amarah’s family stays in touch with investigators for any progress in the case, but Deb keeps her distance.

“I’m not interested in details … only because it hurts so much, just with what I have. My one saving grace in this is that I did hear that she did not suffer. If anything, I’m grateful for that,” Deb said.

“The only time I want some information is to know this person has been sentenced,” she continued.”I honestly do believe there are people who know exactly what happened. From what I’ve been told, the people who know [what happened] are more afraid of the people who did it than they are of law enforcement and spending years in prison.”

Her message to anyone with that information is to please come forward.

“If you had experienced this mind-bending, soul-searing pain, you would want someone to come forward that had some information that could maybe set this off on the path for justice for my grandbaby,” Deb said.

Providing information can be completely anonymous.

“We don’t have to use their name,” Abbott stressed. “We don’t have to say where we heard the information from. We can just simply say an anonymous tip came in. Crime Stoppers takes anonymous tips all the time, and we never know the identity of the person providing the tips. If that tip leads to an arrest, they get $1,000, but on top of that we never know who it is, and that helps us solve the case.”

Tips can be made anonymously 1-800-222-8477, or online at P3Tips.com.

Deb admits she initially hoped for the death penalty for Amarah’s killer — now she says that would be too easy.

Her message to the killer:

“I want you to see her face every morning when you wake up — I want that to be the first thing you see in your mind. Every night the last thing I want you to think of and see is her face, and I want you to remember you took somebody precious and sweet, who is trying to do good for people away from not only them, but a family who cared for her deeply.”

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