Seattle man charged after allegedly killing girlfriend, cutting off her hand

A man recently released from jail under Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) supervision is now being charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend that allegedly happened during his release.

Willie McCoo Jr., 55, of Seattle, allegedly fatally stabbed Kiara Sewell, 31, of Tacoma, and cut off her left hand on June 15. The woman was found on the seventh floor of an apartment building, but her hand was not found at the scene.

Fatal stabbing in Seattle leads to amputated hand

Just before noon on June 15, a 911 report to a King County call center detailed an incident inside a Bitter Lake apartment on North 143rd Street.

“There is a body on floor seven, at the end of the hallway, near the stairwell,” according to court documents obtained by KIRO 7.

Officers responded to the scene and noted a “foul odor” coming from one of the apartment units on the seventh floor. Once officers traced the odor to a specific apartment, they found a woman dead on the floor, according to court documents.

The woman had “significant deep cut injuries to her hand, neck, and arms, one of which amputated her left hand,” court documents stated.

Police learned that the woman and her partner were squatting in the apartment, and the partner was the last person to see the woman alive, according to court documents.

“What in the world did she do that you could have done something like this?” Sewell’s mother, Taneika Tigner, said, according to KOMO News. “I want him to pay for what he did to my daughter; he needs to rot. He stabbed her in the face. The back of her neck is decapitated.”

Surveillance footage aids murder investigation

Detectives looked at surveillance footage of McCoo and tracked his movements in the days prior to the fatal stabbing of the woman.

The medical examiner’s determinations and surveillance camera footage aided in estimating the date of the woman’s death to be around June 10, five days after the initial report. Surveillance camera footage showed the woman entering the apartment building and not leaving until she was found deceased.

Additionally, detectives noted that McCoo was seen on video leaving the apartment building between June 10 and June 12 with large duffel bags and garbage sacks, according to an arrest report.

McCoo was arrested by Seattle police for violating his DOC release on June 27. A search warrant was then served at the north Seattle tow company where he worked.

“[McCoo was] charged with first-degree murder, with a domestic violence designation, and also a deadly weapon enhancement for the knife,” Casey McNerthney told KIRO Newsradio.

Detectives found a duffel bag, a machete, and a hunting knife inside McCoo’s work locker, according to the report.

“McCoo was arrested for probable cause of brutally murdering his girlfriend with a large, sharp-edged object,” a Seattle police detective wrote in a statement. “McCoo had a knife on his person when arrested. Pursuant to a search warrant, two machetes and a large hunting-style knife were found in his padlocked locker. Additionally, McCoo is a person of interest in another murder investigation.”

McCoo’s bail was set at $4 million by Judge Jill Klinge at his first appearance hearing at the King County jail on Monday.

Previous charges against McCoo

In Sept. 2005, McCoo was arrested for a violent attack on a woman in South Seattle. McCoo attacked the woman with a knife while she was asleep, after an argument between the two earlier in the day, an arrest report said.

The victim sustained multiple stab wounds to her neck, back, and face. McCoo was convicted of first-degree assault in 2008, and he was sentenced to 28.5 years in prison.

McCoo filed for a new sentence in 2023, which was shortened from 28.5 years to 20 years under the Blake Law, and McCoo was released in August 2024 after serving 19 years in custody.

The full conviction history for McCoo, according to court records, includes assault with a deadly weapon, two convictions for attempting to elude law enforcement, and assault in the third degree.

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