Docs: Surveillance footage, Dick鈥檚 order leads police to man accused of setting deadly house fire
Jul 18, 2025, 5:36 AM
Crews respond to a massive fire at home on Sunnyside Avenue. (Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
A man has been charged for allegedly intentionally setting a fire outside a Wallingford home that killed a 72-year-old woman.
According to court documents, neighborhood surveillance and a stop at Dick鈥檚 Drive-In helped lead investigators to the suspect, 25-year-old Letian Shi.
What happened
On June 4, crews responded to a massive fire at home on Sunnyside Avenue in the early morning hours.
Firefighters were able to pull a 72-year-old woman from the burning home, but she died two days later from smoke inhalation and lack of oxygen.
Through an investigation, detectives learned that the fire at her home had been intentionally started at the front of the house before it quickly spread to the interior and ceiling.
Tracking the suspect
Around 12:50 a.m. on June 4, surveillance footage from a home directly across the street from the victim鈥檚 home captured someone walking up to the porch area. Then, flashes of light can be seen in the area near the front yard and porch, which investigators believe was the lighting of the flame before the fire started, court documents said.
According to docs, video shows a person walking away from the home three minutes later as the fire continues to steadily grow.
As investigators reviewed surveillance footage from neighbors, they found the person wearing the same outfit with the same appearance in an area of another fire about 20 minutes before the woman鈥檚 house started to burn.
At this time, around 12:28 a.m., Seattle Firefighters got a call for a brush fire at Sun Bear Park at the corner of N 38th St and Eastern Ave N. It appeared someone intentionally set a desk and chair at the park on fire.
Sun Bear Park is about a block away from the 72-year-old woman鈥檚 home.
Footage showed the same person walking toward Sun Bear Park. Investigators noticed the person was carrying a white bag and sipping from a drink. Detectives were able to see that it was a bag for Dick鈥檚 Drive-In, court documents said.
On June 16, a detective got a warrant for surveillance video and transaction records for that time at the Dick鈥檚 location. The footage showed the person with the same clothes, appearance and stature as the suspect.
The video showed that person getting in line at Dick鈥檚 around 11:50 p.m. on June 3 and placing an order, court docs said. That person used a credit card to pay for their order.
Records showed the cardholder鈥檚 name was listed as 鈥楽hi Letian鈥�
鈥淚 searched the Washington State Department of Licensing database first for only the first name 鈥淪hi鈥� and last name 鈥淟etian鈥�, receiving no results. I then searched for first name 鈥淟etian鈥� and last name 鈥淪hi鈥� resulting in only one result,” a detective wrote in court documents.
The only result for Letian Shi came back with an address that was about a mile away from the Dick鈥檚 location.
鈥淚 reviewed Letian Shi鈥檚 driver鈥檚 license photograph and compared the photograph to images of the suspect in the Dick鈥檚 Drive-In security footage. The suspect in the footage is wearing dark framed glasses and Letian Shi is not wearing glasses in the Department of Licensing photograph. However, based upon the shape of the suspect鈥檚 nose, mouth, and ears, along with his hair color, skin tone, and age, I believed that it is Letian Shi depicted in the Dick鈥檚 Drive-In footage,鈥� the detective wrote in court documents.
Did Shi know the victim?
A neighbor told investigators that about two weeks before the fire, they witnessed the victim and another person interacting.
The neighbor said they found the person 鈥渦nusual鈥� and saw him talking to the victim outside her home, saying that the victim appeared 鈥渋rritated鈥� regarding their interaction, according to court documents.
That neighbor said they spoke to the victim while the 鈥渦nusual鈥� person was present, so they got a good look at him.
鈥淭he neighbor stated that because of the location of their home office, the neighbor is regularly looking outside. The neighbor regularly sees the people in the neighborhood but had never seen this subject before. The neighbor also found that the interaction between the subject and the victim to be unusual because the victim did not really have visitors or any other people that would talk to her. The neighbor in fact could not recall the victim ever interacting with anybody,鈥� court documents said.
The description of the stranger matches Shi鈥檚 description, according to court documents. However, the documents did not explicitly say that it was Shi.
Shi has been charged with first-degree murder and second-degree arson.
Prosecutors asked that bail be set at $4 million.
