Seattle man allegedly choked girlfriend to death, sprinkled her with açaí power to try and 'revive' her

SEATTLE (TCN) -- Police arrested a 25-year-old man after his girlfriend was found dead with her throat cut and a golf ball in her mouth inside his flooded townhouse last week.

According to the Seattle Police Department, on Aug. 10 at 10:22 a.m., officers were asked to conduct a welfare check at a residence on the 3000 block of Northeast 133rd Street in the city’s Olympic Hills neighborhood. The Seattle Fire Department was also there and located a deceased female inside. Police located and arrested a 25-year-old suspect, who KOMO-TV identified as Andy Chu. The King County Prosecutor’s Office announced Aug. 15 they were charging Chu with first-degree murder and third-degree assault.

KCPQ-TV identified the victim as Zoey Yun.

KOMO reports Yun, who was in town from Hawaii, was seen going into Chu’s residence with him on Aug. 9.

Chu’s friends reportedly took him to the hospital on Aug. 10 due to a "crisis condition." He said he took ecstasy and smoked marijuana that day. While at the hospital, he allegedly groped a nurse and hooked the back of her neck with his arm. The assault charge stems from this incident.

Court documents cited by KOMO say neighbors initially reached out to their landlord on Aug. 10 because they saw water coming out of Chu’s home. When police and fire department officials went into the home, they reportedly found Yun with "an ice pack on her throat and a small block behind her neck, supporting her head." The bathtub was reportedly filled with water and the sink had been left running. She also had a cut on her throat.

Yun reportedly had "possible dried blood on her arms, shoulders, and chest as well as a granular substance covering these areas."

KOMO reports Chu allegedly informed police he "has a memory of choking her, twisting her neck, holding her down underwater in the tub."

After, Chu allegedly "tried several things to revive her including sprinkling the açaí powder all over her [and] placing a ball similar to a golf ball in her mouth to fix her jaw."

KCPQ reports the medical examiner determined Yun died from asphyxia by homicide.