FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A bloody mattress, missing bedsheets and a goodbye dinner that ended in murder. One month after 35-year-old Hannah Choi went missing from her Kingstowne home in Fairfax County, court documents say these are the biggest developments police have in their search for Choi's alleged killer.
Despite a $40,000 reward, police are still searching for Joel Merino, the man they've charged with killing Choi.
According to a search warrant application filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court, a friend showed up to help stage Choi's townhouse for sale on March 6 and found a basement door open and Choi missing. Inside her bedroom, the blankets and sheets were gone and there were red stains on the mattress and the carpet. In the kitchen, a houseguest found leftovers from Outback Steakhouse sitting out.
According to the court documents, a friend of Choi's told police she talked to her by phone the night before as she was heading into the Outback to have a "goodbye dinner" with Merino, her ex-boyfriend.
The search warrant application says police tracked the car Merino had been using to an address in Northwest, D.C. Inside the car, police said they found bloody bedding, blood on a floor mat, and cleaning solution.
Merino's nephew allegedly told police his uncle said he'd had an argument with Choi, that he'd been drunk, that he'd hit her and that he didn't know what to do.
Weeks later, police found Choi's body in Piscataway Park, along the Potomac in Maryland, and Merino had disappeared.
Police believe Merino may be in the Atlanta area and using a different name. He bought a plane ticket for a flight to Southern California, but never turned up at the airport.
Maj. Ed. Carroll, commander of the Fairfax Co. Police Criminal Investigations Bureau, called him Fairfax County's "most wanted."
"She tried so hard to help people and he must have known that," Hannah Choi's sister, Minna Choo, said in an interview last month. "Just you know there’s no reason for any kind of violence like that and also why in the world did he have to dispose of her body and not let the family have a little closure."
Wednesday marks one month since Choi's family realized she'd disappeared. Investigators say they have nothing new to share.