Seattle man accused of fatally stabbing his ex-wife was angry she was dating a Black police officer, prosecutors say
King County prosecutors have charged a 58-year-old Seattle man with premeditated first-degree murder, accusing him of fatally stabbing his ex-wife in front of their young daughter, apparently because he was angry she had been dating a Black man, court records show.
The murder charge filed Monday against Juan Flores-Gomez, who also is known as Jean-Pierre Flores-Gomez, includes a deadly weapon enhancement and alleges that the crime was an act of domestic violence and was committed within sight or sound of a minor child, both aggravating circumstances that could potentially add to his prison sentence if he’s convicted, according to the charges. He remains jailed in lieu of $3 million bail, jail records show.
Killed was Lilyjane Flores-Nguyen, 44, who was stabbed at least 10 times with a 6-inch filet knife her ex-husband grabbed from the knife block in her kitchen in Seattle’s University District on the morning of Oct. 8, the charges say.
“The Defendant has no known criminal history. However, this murder was cold and brazen,” Deputy Prosecutor Raymond Lee wrote in charging papers. “He only stopped when held at gunpoint. He clearly did not care about the consequences to the victim, his family, or himself so there is little that would deter him from future acts of violence.”
The criminal charges note Flores-Nguyen is Flores-Gomez’s third ex-wife. Court records indicate he filed for divorce under the name Juan Flores-Gomez in 2002 and 2006, but his 2017 divorce from Flores-Nguyen was filed under the name Jean-Pierre Flores-Gomez.
The 2017 divorce records show Flores-Nguyen and Flores-Gomez married in Seattle in September 2010 and separated 6 years later before their divorce was finalized in May 2017.
Court records show Flores-Nguyen is also survived by an adult daughter. A GoFundMe campaign to financially help her daughters has so far raised more than $36,000.
According to the first-degree murder charge filed Monday:
On Oct. 7, the day before Flores-Nguyen was fatally stabbed, her ex-husband showed up unannounced at her apartment in the 4500 block of 16th Avenue Northeast and became “extremely angry” after finding her boyfriend, a Black police officer, inside her residence.
The charges don’t identify the local police agency the boyfriend works for. He and Flores-Nguyen’s daughter are identified in the charges only by their initials.
Flores-Gomez, who booking records say is white, called 911, then lay down in the apartment complex’s courtyard, where he made sexist comments about his ex-wife, racist comments about her boyfriend, and prayed and begged her “not to have a black man in her house,” the charges say.
Seattle police arrived and provided Flores-Nguyen with information about a domestic-violence protection order, but it does not appear her ex-husband was arrested, since the charges say the parties “parted ways” following the police response.
Just before 9 a.m. the next morning, the boyfriend was woken up by the sound of someone persistently ringing the apartment’s doorbell and, assuming it was Flores-Gomez, asked Flores-Nguyen if she wanted him to go talk to her ex. She replied that she would handle it and went downstairs to answer the door, according to the charges.
The boyfriend overheard their conversation and told police Flores-Gomez wanted her to get back together with him while she repeatedly told him to leave and threatened to call police if he didn’t, the charges say. The boyfriend heard Flores-Gomez ask for a glass of water, then heard the kitchen faucet run before his girlfriend began screaming hysterically.
The boyfriend, who was off duty at the time, told Flores-Nguyen’s 11-year-old daughter to run downstairs to check on her mother while he grabbed his gun. When he got to the kitchen, he told police Flores-Gomez was standing over Flores-Nguyen, punching her, while her daughter attempted to pull Flores-Gomez off her.
The boyfriend ordered Flores-Gomez to drop the knife and yelled for someone to call 911 as he held Flores-Gomez at gunpoint, the charges say. Several neighbors heard his yells and helped apply pressure to Flores-Nguyen’s wounds until police arrived.
Flores-Nguyen had surveillance cameras inside her apartment, and police obtained footage that showed Flores-Gomez grab a knife and repeatedly stab his ex-wife before the boyfriend ordered him to drop the knife at gunpoint.
Following his arrest, Flores-Gomez was taken to Seattle police headquarters, where police say he spontaneously told homicide detectives, “It’s such a disgrace that a black police officer, I found him having sex with my wife,” say the charges.
The charges note Flores-Gomez had scratches and blood on his neck and bruises on his arm and back. Police also recovered a knife with blood on the blade at the scene.
Flores-Nguyen was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where she died a short time later. An autopsy showed Flores-Nguyen had been stabbed more than 10 times, and while many of the wounds were superficial, she suffered two lethal stab wounds, one to her back and one to her chest, say the charges.
So far this year, police in King County have investigated 16 domestic-violence homicides, and all but one of them was committed after the coronavirus pandemic began, according to Seattle police and Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. McNerthney noted the number now surpasses the 14 domestic-violence homicides committed in the county in 2018 and 2019 combined.