A day laborer from Annandale has been charged with murder in the stabbing
death of a Fairfax County contractor who had hired him to work in a Chevy Chase
home, police said yesterday.
The slaying occurred after the day laborer stole stereo equipment and
jewelry from the house where they were working, court records say.
The issue of day laborers gathering informally to be hired by
contractors has been contentious recently, particularly in Herndon, where the
town government is trying to accommodate workers with a gathering place away
from a 7-Eleven on Herndon's main street. Police said yesterday that other day
laborers were crucial in helping police make an arrest in the
slaying.
"I know there's been a lot of discussion about day laborers," said Lt.
Bruce Guth, a Fairfax homicide division supervisor. "But the people down there
were more than helpful and willing to do what they could do."
The smoldering body of Hak Bong Kim, 55, was discovered Aug. 15 in the
woods near St. Michael's Catholic Church on Ravensworth Road in Annandale. The
body was so badly burned that police initially could not tell whether it was
that of a man or a woman. Kim's family had reported him missing the night
before, so detectives were quickly able to obtain dental records and identify
Kim.
Kim, who lived in Burke, was a self-employed carpenter who did a
variety of home repair jobs, a family member said last week. But the family did
not know where he had been working the day of his disappearance, and his work
van also was missing.
The day after Kim's body was found, the homeowner in Chevy Chase
returned from vacation to find that someone had taken a DVD player, gold
jewelry, class rings and coins, court records show. Spots of blood were on the
floor, Montgomery County Police Lt. Phil Raum said, and the contractor the
family had hired several times in the past was nowhere to be found: Hak
Kim.
Montgomery and Fairfax police launched a joint investigation. Police
found unspecified evidence that led them to a 7-Eleven store in Annandale where
day laborers congregate, Guth said, and detectives began reviewing the store's
surveillance tapes, hoping to find footage of Kim.
It worked. After reviewing dozens of tapes, Guth said, detectives
spotted Kim and another man. The police printed up a poster with the unknown
man's face and offered a $1,000 reward. Then they sent Spanish-speaking officers
to several day-laborer gathering sites to try to identify him.
"Fifteen minutes into it, somebody knew who it was," Guth said. He also
said the tipster didn't want the reward money but just wanted to help solve the
case. "He thought it was the right thing to do," Guth said, although he said
police would probably give him the money anyway.
"Once we had a name, it was just a matter of finding him," Guth
said.
The name was Carlos H. Bustamante Medieta, and police found him Monday
afternoon. He agreed to go with Fairfax detectives back to police
headquarters.
Once there, according to a search warrant affidavit written by Fairfax
homicide Detective Dennis Harris, Bustamante admitted killing Kim in Chevy
Chase, then taking his body to Annandale and trying to dispose of it by burning
it in a pit.
Bustamante, 29, was arrested, and Montgomery police obtained a warrant
charging him with first-degree murder. He is being held in the Fairfax County
jail pending extradition.
Police searched Bustamante's home in the 4500 block of King Edward
Court at 2 a.m. yesterday. Records show they found the same type of DVD player
stolen from Chevy Chase, a plastic storage bag containing assorted jewelry and a
plastic bowl holding coins. They also seized a folding knife. Police said
yesterday that Kim died of multiple stab wounds.
Police said Bustamante is from Honduras. They did not know how long he
had been in the country, and they did not think he was here legally. He speaks
little English, and an interpreter was used to interrogate him, Harris's
affidavit said.
Kim was trusted and loved by his customers, his family said, and Raum
said the Chevy Chase homeowners had hired him before and had given him a key to
work in their house while they were gone. Police believe he was killed in their
house on Warwick Place in the Friendship Heights
neighborhood.
