SOUTHCENTER, Wash. — New details are unfolding about a cab driver whose body was found in Tukwila early Monday.
Nicholas Hokema was found lifeless just after 4 a.m. Monday outside of the Southcenter Mall. Police still don’t know what happened to the cab he drove there.
There is more clarity on how Hokema died. The King County Medical Examiner determined Hokema died of “multiple sharp object injuries.”
Everyone who knew him says his death is senseless and still can’t believe he’s gone.
“I don’t understand why it was done. I don’t understand what the motivation was,” said Rick, a co-worker at Redicab.
Rick and other Redicab employees say drivers usually check in every couple of hours and Hokema was someone who never missed a check.
When he stopped responding to work, they knew something was wrong. Tukwila police would find his body shortly after.
“That’s one of the things that was strange when Nick went off the radar because we have active communication throughout our shift,” said Rick. “They started contacting all of the other drivers to let them know there was a situation going on and they needed help.”
Nicholas moved to Washington from Redding, California about a decade ago. He has a girlfriend and two pets here in Washington. Those who knew Hokema say he had a close-knit group of people he played a game called Ingress with. Bunny Naeole was part of that group.
“All of these friends are just in shock,” said Bunny. “That’s one of the big things I remember about going out with Nick is he always had the best music.”
Police initially said Hokema’s death was suspicious. It’s now a homicide investigation. Police are still looking for the cab. It’s a red 2012 Toyota Camry four-door with RediCab markings on the vehicle.
The hood and front bumper are also slightly different shades of red. The ‘taxi” light on the car’s roof may have been removed.
“It’s really all so fresh,” said Rick. “Please return the taxi, whatever you need to do to get that back to us because it’s an active crime scene and we need to find out what happened.”
While Rick and others are clocking in at RediCab with heavy hearts, he says they can’t help but feel touched by all the people reaching out to share how much Nicholas and the job they do means to the community.
“The outpouring of support from customers and the people that call us every day we can’t thank you enough for all of your support in the last week,” said Rick. People that I didn’t even know have reached out personally to me to thank me for the service that we do so thank you to everybody that’s reached out to us in the last week.”
Anyone with information on where that cab is, or who’s behind this killing, contact Tukwila Police at Tips@tukwilaWA.gov