Man arrested in California charged with murder, arson in stabbing death of Bellevue woman

SEATTLE -- A 30-year-old man arrested hours earlier in northern California was charged with murder and arson Tuesday in the stabbing death of a 37-year-old woman in her Bellevue apartment March 31.

King County prosecutors asked for $5 million bail to be set for Song Wang, who was arrested early Tuesday at a rest stop in Siskiyou County, Calif., after he was spotted by a highway worker. He is awaiting extradition to King County.

The body of the victim, Kittaporn Saosawatsri, was found March 31 when firefighters responded to smoke coming from her sixth-floor apartment at the Avalon Meydenbauer building in Bellevue.

Court documents said she had been stabbed about 20 times in her back, left arm, left rib area and neck.

King County prosecutors said Wang killed Saosawatsri, robbed her of some of her belongings and set fire to the apartment before fleeing the state.

Police said in court documents that a friend of the victim said Saosawatsri worked as an escort using the name "Ciara" in ads on Backpage.com and Eros.com.

On the night of March 31, the victim received a call from a phone number later linked to Wang, police said, and surveillance video showed an Asian man who resembled Wang later being buzzed into the building and getting off on the sixth floor.

The man arrived empty-handed, but was later observed on video leaving the apartment building with a bag.

Police later discovered that a man who identified himself as Wang on April 1 tried to pawn a Louis Vuitton purse and matching wallet at a pawn shop in Portland.

At about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol and the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office found Wang sleeping in a car in a rest area on Highway 97 in northern California and arrested him on a warrant from the Bellevue Police Department.