The Tragic Death of Gloria Choi: A Story of Love, Terror, and System Failure

A Desperate Call for Help

On a cold winter evening of January 2, 2022, Gloria Choi made a frantic 911 call that would be her last. Her voice, filled with terror, echoed through the dispatcher’s headset: “I don’t know where I am… I’m scared to get out of my car… He’s got a gun!” Within seconds, the sound of gunfire erupted—multiple shots that lasted approximately two minutes. When officers from the Lakewood Police Department in Washington arrived at the scene within minutes, they found Gloria’s truck with locked doors and shattered windows. Terry Estvold, a witness who was only thirty feet away, watched in horror as first responders broke the rear window to preserve evidence and pulled Gloria from the vehicle. Despite their desperate attempts to save her life, performing CPR for several minutes, Gloria was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital. Her best friend, Brieanna Eberly, couldn’t accept the news at first, calling Gloria’s phone repeatedly until finally reaching her father, who confirmed the devastating truth: “Yeah, she’s gone.”

The investigation revealed a calculated execution. Former Pierce County Prosecutor Greg Greer walked reporters through the crime scene, explaining how the shooter had deliberately pinched Gloria’s vehicle off the road, trapping her on the gravel shoulder. The killer fired nine .40 caliber bullets through the driver’s side door and window while Gloria was locked inside. When her truck rolled forward approximately sixty yards after she was shot—likely because her foot fell from the brake pedal—the shooter wasn’t satisfied. He made a U-turn, returned to her vehicle, pulled alongside it, rolled down his window, and fired five more shots to ensure she was dead. Fourteen bullets in total, with at least ten striking Gloria. Then he disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind a devastating crime scene that would soon point investigators directly to one man: Billy Rickman, Gloria’s ex-boyfriend.

A Romance That Turned Deadly

Gloria Choi was a devoted single mother to a seven-year-old son and the hardworking manager of her parents’ hotel when Billy Rickman checked in from California in May 2021. Described by friends as graceful, fierce when it came to protecting her child, and someone who simply wanted to be loved, Gloria caught Rickman’s attention immediately. Despite Brieanna Eberly’s warning to “stay away,” Rickman pursued Gloria aggressively, employing what experts call “love-bombing”—showering her with gifts, attention, and affection. Within weeks, he sent her lengthy text messages declaring his devotion: “Your the light to my day every day… You make me feel so sexy and special… I WANT YOU… I want to be with you Gloria Choi!… My heart is yours…” Gloria’s friends noticed that Rickman seemed to connect well with her son, displaying what they called “masculine energy” and acting like a kid himself. The romance progressed rapidly, and Rickman soon moved into Gloria’s apartment at the hotel.

However, the relationship quickly revealed troubling dynamics. Gloria’s father disapproved of Rickman, particularly when he discovered the newcomer had no job or income and was living off his daughter. When her parents gave Gloria an ultimatum about Rickman staying at the hotel, he confronted them directly, declaring that Gloria was “now his” and if they didn’t like it, they could leave. Faced with this impossible situation, Gloria chose Rickman over her job, and the couple moved to an apartment in Tumwater in September 2021. Heartbroken, her parents sold the hotel they had built. Gloria found new employment as manager of a Holiday Inn Express in Lakewood, but the happiness was short-lived. Friends observed that Rickman had big dreams but no means or intention of achieving them. He refused to work, drained Gloria financially, and began showing a darker side—becoming mean, angry, and insecure. Gloria confided in Brieanna that Rickman was drinking excessively and using cocaine and marijuana. Within just two months of living together, Gloria told friends that Rickman had become physical with her, pushing and throwing her around. She felt trapped, scared to leave because of his possessiveness and control over her movements.

The Inescapable Trap of Surveillance and Stalking

The relationship’s most terrifying aspect was Rickman’s obsessive surveillance of Gloria. She discovered an Apple AirTag hidden in her car—a tracking device that allowed him to monitor her location constantly. She suspected there were more hidden trackers she hadn’t found. By November 2021, just six months after meeting Rickman, Gloria made the difficult decision to leave, telling Brieanna with determination: “I’m leaving.” She moved back in with her parents, seeking safety and stability for herself and her son. But escaping Rickman proved nearly impossible. He borrowed Gloria’s truck and refused to return it, forcing her to file a police report on November 28, 2021. During that visit to the Tumwater Police Department, Gloria revealed alarming information: “When Billy is sober he is calm, but when he drinks, he has a short fuse and is very angry… I wish him well, but choosing to not be a part of his life anymore for the safety and stability for my son and I.”

The officer who took Gloria’s report became genuinely concerned for her safety after learning that Rickman was “potentially tracking” her with Apple AirTags, owned “numerous firearms,” and appeared “extremely manipulative.” The officer recommended, and the court issued, a domestic violence no-contact order. Rickman was arrested for taking Gloria’s truck and held for three days. During a recorded interview, he claimed the vehicles were shared property and promised that if he had another chance with Gloria, he would “never drink another drip of alcohol.” On December 1, 2021, a judge imposed a strict no-contact order, which should have protected Gloria. Instead, Rickman told Brieanna the very day he was released from jail that he didn’t care about the legal restrictions: “I’m still gonna talk to her.” This wasn’t an idle threat—it was a promise he would keep with deadly determination.

The final 48 hours before Gloria’s murder demonstrated both Rickman’s escalating violence and the system’s failure to protect her. On December 30, while Gloria was at a coffee shop with her friend Jacob Blue, Rickman spotted them and sent an email in real-time: “You left me for another guy wow.” He began calling from blocked numbers, yelling at Gloria. When they moved to a sushi restaurant, Gloria noticed car headlights pointed directly at the establishment and believed Rickman was watching. Her intuition proved correct—when they returned to her truck, they discovered someone had stolen their laptops and slashed one of her tires. Gloria called 911, confident it was Rickman since only he knew the keypad code to enter her truck. When they drove to the Holiday Inn to retrieve Jacob’s Jeep, they found two of his tires slashed as well. Gloria recorded cellphone video of footprints in the snow that she believed belonged to Rickman. Security footage showed a figure slashing the tires, but police said the video wasn’t clear enough to identify the perpetrator, despite both Gloria and Jacob recognizing Rickman’s distinctive walk.

A System That Failed to Act

Over the next two days, Gloria and Jacob made four separate calls to 911 about Rickman’s escalating harassment and property destruction. Each time Jacob returned to his Jeep with replacement tires, Rickman would slash different ones. On New Year’s Eve, the hotel desk clerk actually witnessed the tire slashing, chased the perpetrator while recording video, and provided detailed information to police: “He took all his license plates off. He’s driving a Chevy Colorado. It’s got one light out.” This same Chevy Colorado was the vehicle prosecutors later proved Rickman used to run Gloria off the road and murder her just two days later. Despite having multiple police reports, surveillance videos, witness testimony, and a detailed seven-page document Gloria provided to officers outlining every violation of the no-contact order—including emails, calls, and photographic evidence—law enforcement took no action to locate or arrest Rickman before the murder occurred.

Attorney Meaghan Driscoll, representing Gloria’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Lakewood and its police department, argues that Gloria’s death was entirely preventable. According to Driscoll and expert witness Russ Hicks—a retired law enforcement officer who actually trained the officers involved in this case—multiple failures occurred. Officers left a voicemail for Rickman rather than actively pursuing him, which Hicks considers a critical error that conveys the message they weren’t taking the situation seriously. When an officer claimed to have driven around looking for Rickman’s BMW, there was no official record of this search. Gloria had even told police she believed Rickman was staying at a nearby motel—the Home Motel was just a six-minute walk from the Holiday Inn where the tire slashing occurred. Officers also failed to issue a BOLO (be on the lookout) for the distinctive beige Chevy Colorado with broken taillights, despite having a detailed description from the desk clerk who witnessed and recorded the crime in progress.

Perhaps most troubling, when the city’s attorney addressed the wrongful death lawsuit in a January 2025 hearing, he stated that police have no legal obligation to search for someone like Rickman if he isn’t at the scene of the reported crime. When the judge asked whether this meant “a police officer could still sit back and do nothing in response to a complaint by a domestic violence victim because there’s no duty to look for the abuser,” the city’s lawyer confirmed: “That’s correct.” This legal position stands in stark contrast to the training these officers received. Hicks, their former instructor, emphasized that any properly trained law enforcement officer should have recognized Gloria was in “incredible danger” based on the pattern of escalation, the violations of the no-contact order, and the detailed evidence she provided. Driscoll states plainly: “Plain and simple, Lakewood PD should have found Rickman and arrested him to protect Gloria.”

Justice Served, But Questions Remain

Billy Rickman remained at large for four days following Gloria’s murder until January 6, 2022, when law enforcement tracked his phone to Humboldt County in northern California. He had shown up drunk at a relative’s house, and that relative, uncomfortable with Rickman’s presence, offered to take him to a nearby casino hotel. While the relative was driving Rickman in his black BMW, tribal police stopped them and contacted the California Highway Patrol. Dashcam video captured the moment Rickman shoved his relative out of the driver’s seat onto the pavement, then sped away. After a five-hour chase through the cold, wet night, officers finally apprehended Rickman, who was soaking wet, freezing, and hypothermic. He was charged with aggravated first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty.

The investigation also revealed a disturbing history. Aja Houle, a survivor of human trafficking, came forward to share that Rickman had been her trafficker when she was a 14-year-old runaway in Oakland in 2005. She described years of abuse, including being forced into prostitution, sexual assault, and a near-death experience when Rickman choked her with Christmas tree lights. After escaping to San Francisco, Rickman had threatened her through a friend’s phone: “Bitch, if I ever find you, I will ***** kill you.” Aja never considered this a mere threat but a promise, knowing what he was capable of. She eventually found the courage to file a detailed police report with Oakland Police while pursuing her master’s degree at UC Berkeley, documenting multiple incidents of physical abuse including “hitting her with closed fists on the face and body” causing black eyes, bruises, and cuts. Oakland Police issued an arrest warrant for Rickman in 2021 in Alameda County, but he had already left California. Washington State prosecutors say they never saw this warrant. Aja offered to provide information to prosecutors working on Gloria’s case, but they declined, choosing to keep their case focused solely on the murder.

Rickman’s trial began in November 2023 before a jury of nine men and three women. Gloria’s devastated family couldn’t bear to attend; they had moved away without a word, unable to say goodbye even to close friends like Brieanna. Prosecutor Greg Greer wanted the jury to understand the full scope of what Gloria experienced, so he played her entire 911 call immediately after opening statements. The courtroom atmosphere changed noticeably as people heard Gloria’s terrified voice crying out for help. Prosecutors presented their case methodically, including cell phone data showing that Rickman spent the days before the murder repeatedly driving past Gloria’s parents’ house, trying to locate her after he could no longer track her vehicle with AirTags due to the slashed tires. The evidence showed that Rickman turned off his cellphone around 6 p.m. on January 2—the night of Gloria’s murder—and didn’t turn it back on until he was at the Home Motel immediately after the killing. Prosecutors argued this deliberate action demonstrated premeditation and consciousness of guilt.

Brieanna testified at trial and described the painful experience of seeing Rickman in court: “I remember looking over at him. Seeing him look at her picture… And he started to cry. And I remember it made me so angry… I had never felt so furious in my life.” In her victim impact statement, Brieanna emphasized the comprehensive destruction Rickman caused: “Billy didn’t just take Gloria’s physical life… Billy took everything. He took a daughter, a mother, a friend, a sister, a cousin… he took it all in a blink of an eye with no regard.” Rickman’s defense attorney chose not to call any witnesses and did not put Rickman on the stand. The defense strategy argued that investigators failed to consider other possible suspects, pointing out that Gloria never specifically named Rickman on her 911 call, referring only to her “boyfriend.” After a two-week trial, the jury deliberated for approximately two hours before returning a guilty verdict for aggravated murder. Rickman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. For Prosecutor Greer, who retired in 2024, this was his final case—one that continues to haunt him, particularly because he recognized Korean words in Gloria’s 911 call. Having learned the language while serving in the Air Force, he could clearly hear Gloria frantically calling “Eomma”—mother—in her final moments of desperation.

The Lasting Impact and Fight for Accountability

The aftermath of Gloria’s murder extends far beyond the criminal conviction. Gloria’s son now lives with relatives in a different state, growing up without his devoted mother who sacrificed so much to provide him with safety and stability. The wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Choi family against Lakewood and its police department remains unresolved as of May 2026 (note: this appears to be a typo in the original document, likely meaning 2025). The family’s pursuit of this civil case isn’t primarily about financial compensation—it’s about accountability and ensuring that systemic failures are recognized and corrected so that other victims of domestic violence might be better protected in the future. Meaghan Driscoll emphasizes the cruel irony that the very evidence of Rickman’s stalking and harassment that prosecutors successfully used to secure his murder conviction is the same evidence demonstrating how foreseeable and preventable Gloria’s death was.

The case raises fundamental questions about the responsibility of law enforcement in domestic violence situations where a pattern of escalating danger is clearly documented. Gloria did everything right—she left the relationship, sought help from police, obtained a no-contact order, provided detailed documentation of violations, and repeatedly reported new incidents as they occurred. Yet the system designed to protect her failed at critical junctures. The legal argument that police have no duty to actively search for an abuser who is violating protective orders, even when that abuser is demonstrably escalating toward violence, reveals a gap in the law that can have fatal consequences. Domestic violence experts universally recognize that the period immediately after a victim leaves an abusive relationship is the most dangerous time, when the abuser’s sense of losing control often triggers lethal violence.

Brieanna Eberly reflects on how Gloria changed her life, particularly by consistently reminding her that she was a good person and a good mother during times of self-doubt. This daily affirmation gave Brieanna hope and transformed her sense of self-worth in ways she struggles to fully describe. The loss of this supportive, graceful friend who made everyone around her feel valued continues to resonate through the lives of those who knew Gloria. Prosecutor Greg Greer, now retired, is still trying to “find his way back to humanity” and process the years of violence he witnessed in his career. Gloria’s case stands out because of those final moments captured on the 911 recording—a young mother calling desperately for her own mother in her ancestral language while being murdered, a sound Greer describes as “one of the saddest things you’ll ever hear” that reveals fundamental truths about human nature and our primal need for maternal protection even in our final moments.

For those currently experiencing domestic violence, Gloria’s story serves as both a warning about the potentially lethal nature of intimate partner violence and a call to action for seeking help. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) provides confidential support and resources for victims and survivors. Gloria’s case also demonstrates that leaving an abusive relationship, while absolutely necessary, must be done with careful safety planning and the support of professionals who understand the dynamics of domestic violence. The presence of certain risk factors—including threats to kill, access to weapons, substance abuse, obsessive tracking and surveillance, violent escalation, and inability to accept the end of the relationship—should be taken extremely seriously by both victims and law enforcement. Gloria’s death was not inevitable; it was the result of one man’s choice to commit murder and a system’s failure to intervene despite abundant warning signs. Her memory deserves more than grief—it demands meaningful change to protect future victims who find themselves in similarly terrifying circumstances, seeking help from a system that should respond with the urgency their danger warrants.