The late-night fatal stabbing of Silicon Valley technology executive Bob Lee with a kitchen knife in downtown San Francisco last week was “planned and deliberate,” local prosecutors said in a court filing.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins urged a state judge not to grant bail and release suspect Nima Momeni, a Bay Area IT entrepreneur, saying in the filing that “detention is necessary to protect public safety.”
New details in Friday’s filing reveal how the gruesome murder allegedly unfolded.
A witness interviewed by investigators who was with Lee at the hotel where he was staying on the eve of his death described overhearing a Facetime call in which Momeni questioned Lee about his social interaction with Momeni’s younger sister, whom the witness said may have been in a troubled marriage. Hours later, surveillance footage showed Momeni and Lee leaving the Millennium Tower apartment building, where the sister lives, in Momeni’s BMW Z4 sports car.
Momeni drove in the opposite direction of Lee’s hotel to a dark and secluded area a few blocks away, where both men exited the car, and Momeni stabbed Lee three times with a kitchen knife, including one wound that “directly penetrated his heart, causing his death,” before speeding away, according to the filing.
“Defendant did not use some kind of pocket knife, but a cooking knife from an apartment and kitchen,” Jenkins wrote. “This was a planned and deliberate attack.”
When police officers responded to the scene at about 2:35 am, they found the “victim uncontrollably bleeding from apparent stab wounds to his chest and hip,” according to the filing.
Police found blood splattered on the sidewalks and a silver knife with a black blade about 4 inches long, with “what appeared to be blood on it” near the 400 block of Main Street, not far from Millennium Tower, prosecutors said.
Investigators unlocked Lee’s phone this week and found a message on Lee’s phone from Momeni’s sister saying, “Just wanted to make sure your doing ok Cause I know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you And thank you for being such a classy man handling it with class.”
Earlier Friday, Momeni made his first court appearance to push back the date to enter his plea.
Momeni, who is in custody, appeared briefly in a San Francisco courtroom to ask to delay his arraignment until April 25 because the lawyer handling his case is on vacation. The judge granted the request.
Momeni wore an orange sweatshirt and only acknowledged his lawyer’s request for the delay. Members of his family were also in the courtroom.
