911 Call Captures Final Moments of Washington Mother’s Murder

Gloria Choi had already called for help four times in 48 hours before William “Billy” Rickman pinned her truck against a utility pole in Lakewood and turned a volatile breakup into a murder. Court records and local reporting show a pattern of coercive control that included a tracking device on Choi’s belongings, a domestic-violence no-contact order in December 2021, and warnings that Rickman was unpredictable, suicidal when drinking, and armed.

CBS’s 48 Hours revisited the case in The Love Bombing of Gloria Choi, a title that reflects how the relationship first looked like a dream romance before it became a trap. Choi was 33 when she died on Jan. 2, 2022, after calling 911 from the 6100 block of 112th St. SW in Lakewood and telling the dispatcher, “I don’t know where I am … I’m scared to get out of my car” and “He’s got a gun!” Seconds later, multiple shots rang out during a call that lasted about two minutes.

Investigators later said Choi’s truck was boxed in on the roadside and that 14 bullet defects were found on the vehicle door and window. Former Pierce County prosecutor Greg Greer said officers broke out a rear window to reach Choi and pull her from the vehicle. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward at a nearby hospital.

Rickman was arrested after a pursuit in Humboldt County, California, and later extradited to Washington. He pleaded not guilty to aggravated first-degree murder in February 2022 and was held without bail. Prosecutors also said he had a California criminal history that included domestic-violence convictions, adding another layer to the record of warning signs that surrounded the case before the killing.

The episode featured interviews with Choi’s best friend Brieanna Eberly, friend Jacob Blue, eyewitness Terry Estvold, former Pierce County prosecutor Greg Greer and chief criminal deputy Coreen Schnepf. Their accounts point to the same central failure: a young single mother had already documented fear, control and escalating danger, yet the system still left her exposed to a gunman who had already made himself impossible to escape.