Weeks before her murder 44-year-old Gaylee Anne Valente Curcio knew her life was in danger. Gaylee’s 39-year-old ex-boyfriend had tried to choke her and dragged her by the hair. So she got a restraining order against him. Eleven days before her murder Gaylee received text messages from her ex-boyfriend threatening to kill her and her family. Two days before her murder Gaylee’s vehicle’s windows were smashed and the power to her apartment was cut. Charging papers state he sent a message to Gaylee that read, “You can’t hide we love the hunt.” At 7:45am on November 5, 2021 Tacoma police respond ..read more

Hello, everyone. Since this site began in 2005, it has been hosted on WordPress. WordPress has been a good home for TacomaStories, but I feel it’s time for a change. Beginning on May 1, 2023 TacomaStories will be hosted on Substack. There are a number of reasons for this change, but the first and foremost one is that Substack is not ad based. While I’ve avoided selling advertisements on TacomaStories during the nearly 20 years the site has been active, WordPress charges me money if I want to remove their advertisements. I don’t mind offering TacomaStories for free and intend to continue to h ..read more

October 21st was a sunny day. One of those fall days that could be mistaken for the last days of summer. Raymond Williams, 22 had gotten in the back seat of his sister, Maria’s Grand Marquis with his girlfriend, Tasha. Maria’s son, Emery sat in the passenger seat. It was just after 4:20pm when the gunshots started. Maria was shot as she tried to get out of the car. Tasha barely got out before she was shot. Emery ran and was shot by the gunman. And Raymond Williams was shot in the back of the head and shoulder. He would survive the initial shooting, but die at the hospital becoming Tacoma’s 29 ..read more

Emery Christopher Thomas Iese was sitting in the passenger seat of his mother’s Grand Marquis in an alley near their house. His 42-year-old mother sat in the driver’s seat. His 22-year-old uncle, Raymond and his Raymond’s 22-year-old girlfriend, Tasha were in the back. The weather on October 21, 2021 was bright and sunny. At 4:22pm, a 22-year-old man who lived half a mile away and had a history of mental illness approached the car and opened fire with a 9mm pistol. Emery’s mother was shot before she could get out of the car. As bullets continued to fire, Emery got out and ran across the yard ..read more

Twenty-two year old, Natasha Brincefield went by Tasha. Her boyfriend was Raymond Williams. He was in the back seat with her. His 42-year-old sister, Maria and her 19-year-old son. Emery sat in the front seats of the Grand Marquis in the alley near Maria’s house in Tacoma’s Salishan on a sunny afternoon on October 21, 2021. At 4:22pm, a 22-year-old man who lived half a mile away and had a history of mental problems opened fire on the car with a 9mm pistol. Tasha barely got out of the car before she was shot in the head becoming Tacoma’s 26th homicide of 2021 and the second of four that day. A ..read more

On the morning of October 12, 2021, thirty-year-old Kalyn Smith’s body was found in the 3100 block of East M Street. It would be eight months before the Medical Examiner would rule her death a homicide. She died from someone crushing her throat. And now, over a year later, there remains no further information as to who is responsible or the circumstances that led to Kalyn’s death. Kalyn is the twenty-fourth Tacoma homicide of 2021. My research into her is hampered by the fact that she had a common last name, does not seem to have had a large online presence, and the simple fact that not a lot ..read more

It was just after 5:30am on September 23, 2021 when someone knocked on the door of the motel room 35-year-old Antonio Deshaun Robinson was sharing with his girlfriend in the 8800 block of Hosmer Street. The person at the door told Antonio that a 42-year-old man who had stolen a gun from Antonio was in the parking lot. Antonio went outside to confront the man who had stolen his gun. An argument ensued that soon became physical. The 42-year-old man shot Antonio once, then fired three more times. When first responders arrived around 5:40am, Antonio was still alive, but just after 6:00am he succu ..read more

On the last night of her life, 42-year-old Soohui Kim went to a casino with her friend. It was September 21, 2021. They left in the early morning hours of September 22nd. Her friend fell asleep. Soohui had some ‘clear’ she wanted to sell. ‘Clear’ is slang for a kind of methamphetamine. She knew someone who wanted to buy it but he wasn’t someone she’d ever sold to before. She exchanged a few text messages with the man before agreeing to meet in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 4500 block of South Puget Sound Avenue. Around 4:30am, a few minutes before Soohui and her friend arrived ..read more

On the morning of September 6, 2021 a 49-year-old man with severe mental illness entered a gym in the 9700 block of Pacific Avenue. He asked about a membership and then attacked the clerk before leaving. Shortly after that altercation, about a block away he encountered 40-year-old Rikki Lynn Millerup, a homeless woman who stayed in a tent near there. He cut her throat then stabbed her ten more times. The man then stole her wallet and debit card from her backpack. A friend of Rikki’s saw her in her tent that morning but assumed she was passed out until he saw her in the same position hours late ..read more

It was around midnight on August 26th, 2021 when 30-year-old Job Anthony William Irving and a friend arrived at the Shell gas station on South 15th and Sprague. Shortly afterwards both Job and his friend were both shot. His friend survived his wounds, but Job died on the scene and became Tacoma’s 19th homicide of 2021. Job spent most of his life in Sacramento, California where his family moved when he was a child. Shortly after graduating high school he joined the Army Reserves. In January of 2020 he reenlisted becoming an active duty soldier and training as a nurse. His training complete, he ..read more