Double slaying

A police detective leads chief prosecutor John Bradley and another prosecutor to the door of Rice Cake Best Food Restaurant in San Antonio, where the owner of the establishment and her helper were found dead Friday morning after they were reportedly shot by still unidentified person/s. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)

A businesswoman and a female baker were found dead in San Antonio Friday morning after they were shot by still unidentified person/s inside a restaurant that produces rice cakes.

The killing, which shocked the CNMI community, happened inside the Rice Cake Best Food Restaurant on the first floor of a two-story commercial building located in front of the former UIC Garment Factory.

As of press time last night, the Department of Public Safety has yet to release the identity of the victims.

Saipan Tribune sources, however, identified the victims as Li Na Lim, 42, single, a Korean woman, and Linhua Cui, 54, single, of Chinese-Korean descent.

Some members of the Korean and Chinese community said that Lim owned Rice Cake Best Food Restaurant, while Cui, a baker, helped Lim in the business.

When asked Saturday night about reports that the victims had been shot, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres affirmed the shooting but declined to say more about the crime besides expressing hope that the police will get the bottom of this crime, solve the homicide, and catch the perpetrators.

Linhua Cui

Torres said he has not been briefed yet whether DPS has made any arrest as of Saturday.

In a press release the police issued last Friday, it said that DPS received a call last Friday at 7:35am, reporting two “unresponsive” individuals at a Korean restaurant that produces rice cakes in San Antonio. The press release did not indicate who called the police.

Police were then dispatched to the scene and confirmed the report about the two “unresponsive” females inside the restaurant. DPS crime scene technicians were dispatched to the scene. DPS has classified the case as a homicide.

“This case remains ongoing and is pending further investigation,” said DPS spokesman Adrian Pangelinan; he urged anybody who has any information on the case to call 911 or the DPS Criminal Investigation Bureau at 664-9042, or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 234-7272.

So many computer users tried accessing the Saipan Tribune’s website shortly after running a breaking news about the homicide Friday morning that it crashed.

At about 9:35am Friday, at least two police officers were seen scouring the grassy area across the road of the restaurant.

Some concerned Koreans and Chinese nationals who are friends of the victims later began arriving at the scene. Police officers talked to them to obtain more information.

As more police started arriving at the scene, some Chinese nationals renovating a two-story building adjacent to the Rice Cake Best Food Restaurant building had left the site. Only a Filipino worker was left.

Li Na Lim

At 10:30am, a Korean woman, identified as a friend of one of the victims, arrived on a van and started crying while standing outside the restaurant, which had been secured by a police line.

An hour later, chief prosecutor John Bradley and a new prosecutor with the Office of the Attorney General also arrived. A police detective guided them to the scene.

Bradley and the new prosecutor did not go inside the establishment and just viewed the crime scene from the main door of the restaurant. After a few minutes, the two left. Bradley said it’s too early to comment about the incident.

Members of the Korean and Chinese community told Saipan Tribune that victim Lim used to be a tourist guide and that she took over the Rice Cake Best Food Restaurant only a year ago. The previous owner had gone back to South Korea.

Cui, on the other hand, was one of the pioneer garment factory workers on Saipan. Cui was employed for a long time as a baker at Paris Croissant in western Garapan and had been helping Lim run the Rice Cake Best Food Restaurant.

A Korean businessman, who requested anonymity, said Cui was a very nice person and very helpful.

The businessman said that when Super Typhoon Yutu destroyed their house and shop in October 2018, Cui offered her apartment room in Dandan for his wife to stay.

The businessman said that, although his house and shop had no power, he did not leave the site to secure it from burglars. His wife, however, stayed at Cui’s apartment for a month.

The businessman’s wife said that Cui didn’t like dogs but that she still allowed her to bring her dog to her (Cui’s) apartment unit during her monthlong stay.

Cui’s family members from China are expected to arrive soon on Saipan.

The crime scene is only a stone’s throw from Royal Poker in Afetnas, where security guard James Patrick Deleon Guerrero was fatally shot by a masked man during an attempted robbery in April 2015. That case remains unsolved.