TUKWILA, Wash. — Police are still searching for the person who killed a cab driver and left his body in the parking lot of Westfield Southcenter mall early Monday morning, while those who knew him are grieving the loss.
The Tukwila Police Department said the body of 34-year-old Nick Hokema was found on Jan. 15. Police are also trying to find the car he was driving before he died: a 2012 red Toyota Camry with RediCab markings.
Nicole Sharkody, Nick Hokema's girlfriend, said their relationship started nearly five years ago, and she said she is devastated by his loss.
"I was just amazed he started talking to me," Sharkody said. "The more I learned about him the more I fell in love with him."
Hokema was a cab driver for RediCab and worked the night shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Early Monday morning his co-workers couldn't get a hold of him, so they reached out to Sharkody.
One of Hokema's coworkers told her that they hadn't heard from him and that they were worried.
Sharkody couldn't reach him either. She called jails and hospitals with no luck. Then, she reached out to police in Tumwater, where the couple lives, to file a missing person's report.
A Tukwila police detective was in Tumwater and told Sharkody that Hokema was dead. The medical examiner said he was fatally stabbed, but where he was killed remains unknown.
"It still doesn't feel real," Sharkody said. "I could say I want to know why, but I just want him back. That's all I really want. I just want to hold him one more time."
Sharkody wished for those little moments, while the big moment taken too soon. When Sharkody looked at Hokema's computer, she found website pages up for engagement rings he had been looking at.
"I would have said yes in a heartbeat," Sharkody said.
The news of Hokema's death is also devastating for his work family at RediCab. It's a small and tightknit work community that described him as kind-hearted.
"It's a very small community and we all talk to each other daily. Everyone at RediCab is deeply affected by this," said Rick Brimmer, one of Hokema's co-workers at RediCab.
While those who knew him cope with his death, it also marks the second cab or rideshare driver to be killed on the job so far in 2024.
"Safety has always been the number one concern in this industry," Brimmer said. "It doesn't matter who you talk to in the taxi business safety is the first thing we talk about."
Tukwila police detectives urge people to call 911 if they see the red Toyota Camry and to not approach the vehicle if seen.