DNA, varying stories cited in arrest of man in death of fiancée in 2001

A trace of DNA on a shoelace, discrepancies in interviews and evidence of a soured relationship led to the recent arrest and murder charges against a man whose fiancée was found dead six years ago in Woodinville.

Sione Lui, 37, of Arlington, was charged Friday with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Elaina Boussiacos, 27, who was found beaten and strangled to death in the trunk of her car Feb. 9, 2001, outside a Woodinville health club.

The King County Sheriff's Office and the King County Prosecuting Attorney's cold-case unit had been working on the case. Lui had always been a person of interest, the departments said, but it wasn't until recent evidence emerged that police arrested him.

Lui, who was engaged to Boussiacos, created missing-person posters and asked for help through the media after her disappearance.

Three days before her disappearance, Boussiacos had learned that Lui was having an affair and confronted him, according to charging papers. On Feb. 2, 2001, the day before she planned to fly to California to visit her mother, she closed her joint bank account with Lui, the papers state.

Boussiacos then met her ex-husband at a University District pet store around 9:30 p.m. so their son could spend the weekend with his father.

Detectives think she was killed either that night or the following day. Neither her purse or engagement ring was ever recovered, according to the charging papers.

Lui told police that on the evening of Feb. 2, he changed his fiancée's flat tire at 10:30 and that they then went to bed. He said when he got up in the morning she was gone, presumably to catch her flight.

But police discovered a cellphone call from Boussiacos to Lui that evening at 10:40 p.m., and at 1 a.m., two hours after Lui said he went to bed, phone records show he called his sister, according to charging papers.

When her body was found, Boussiacos was in sweat pants and tennis shoes, sloppily dressed by someone else, police think. The heels of her socks were pulled up well over the heels of her feet, and her shoelaces were haphazardly tied, as if done by someone else.

During recent DNA testing, Lui's DNA was found on a shoelace, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

The packing of Boussiacos' belongings also was suspicious, charging papers say: no toothbrush, bottles of toiletries without caps tossed haphazardly into a duffel bag, clothes piled inside the car. Boussiacos' family told police she would never leave home that way for a trip, according to charging papers.

Donohoe wouldn't reveal more details about which evidence led to the breakthrough in the case. But charging papers say that a recent interview with Lui brought out discrepancies between the answers he gave police after the slaying and new explanations of events.

Lui is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. He is being held in King County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com