Neighbor guilty of 2 Kent murders, attack on 8-year-old

More than three years after she survived a brutal attack that left both her parents dead, Cindy Phan got a small measure of justice on her 12th birthday.

A King County Superior Court jury Thursday found former neighbor John Morimoto guilty of killing Michael and Michelle Phan and savagely attacking Cindy in the family's Kent home on Oct. 3, 2003.

"It couldn't have come on a better day," said Cindy Phan's uncle Zoon Phan after the verdicts were read. "Today is Cindy's 12th birthday, and I can't wait to get back to her and tell her the good news."

Morimoto, 37, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of aggravated first-degree attempted murder after the jury deliberated for more than three days.

Because prosecutors elected not to pursue the death penalty, Morimoto faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

A sentencing date has not been set.

Cindy was 8 years old when her mother opened the door to Morimoto. He killed Michelle Phan as she tried to flee and stabbed her husband as he lay sleeping. Cindy was stabbed and slashed on her neck, head and abdomen, but survived the attack.

Cindy testified during the trial that she recognized Morimoto as the man who killed her mother and that she remembered him stabbing her in the stomach before she lost consciousness.

Morimoto had been living with his mother and stepfather a few doors down from the Phans at the time of the slayings. Cindy testified that she had gone to his house with a friend on several occasions to see his family's gardens and play with their little white dog.

"She didn't want to believe it was him at first," said her uncle Ba Phan. "He was such a nice guy."

Police and prosecutors said Morimoto was likely driven by greed for the Phan's luxury possessions when he attacked them.

The Phan family owned the Majestic, a nightclub in Seattle's Chinatown International District, and booked national acts in local venues.

After the slayings, prosecutors said, Morimoto helped himself to their belongings.

Morimoto was arrested after he was seen three times near the victims' Hummer, which had been abandoned at a strip mall in Auburn, prosecutors said during the nearly three-week trial. In his bedroom closet police found the Phan family's computer, a bloodstained scanner and a camcorder with a recording of Michelle and Cindy on a Hawaiian vacation.

Morimoto told police he had been hired by the gang members who killed the Phans to burn the couple's car and dispose of evidence.

Zoon Phan, who with his wife is now raising Cindy, said the girl has undergone counseling, has made peace with the loss of her parents and is doing well. "And we look forward to continuing to spoil her," he said.

Relatives said that they still don't understand why the slayings happened. "I don't think there will ever be an answer to why," said Ba Phan, brother of Michael Phan.

"It just happens," Zoon Phan added. "One day you wake up and you realize it's your family instead of somebody else's on the news."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com