Doctor Faces Death Penalty in Knife Murders of His Partner & Son

A Seattle doctor accused of brutally killing his partner and their two-year-old son last month has pleaded not guilty.

Doctor Louis Chen, 39, is charged with two counts of Aggravated Murder in the First Degree-a charge that carries a sentence of life in prison or even the death penalty for the gruesome crime. He pleaded not guilty at his Aug. 29 arraignment in King County Superior Court.

Chen's sister had been trying desperately to get a hold of her brother on Aug. 11. She contacted the apartment manager of the First Hill apartment building in which Chen, his partner Eric Cooper, 29, and Cooper Chen because she had not heard from him in three days.

According to the indictment, the building manager knocked on the door of their penthouse apartment shortly after 9 a.m. The building manager said Chen never opened the door-he yelled from the other side of the door and told him he should return in one hour. The indictment says that he told Chen that his sister was trying to contact him.

According to court documents; Chen's sister also called Madonna Carlson, a manager at Virginia Mason Medical Center. They indicate that she was already concerned because Chen had not shown up for orientation that morning-he was scheduled to begin working as an endocrinologist.

Prosecutors said that Carlson then went to Chen's residence. Court documents indicate that he was nude, semiconscious and covered in dried blood when he opened the door.

Carlson said she saw Cooper's body-dressed only in boxer shorts-on the living room floor and called 911. She was instructed to move any weapons away from the bodies so she kicked a butcher knife into the kitchen, court documents say.

Responding police officers said that Chen's right eye was swollen shut-they found him slumped near the front door. The indictment alleges that Chen told officers that he stabbed himself and his partner. Sergeant Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, told the media that SPD officers at the scene described the slayings inside the apartment as "horrific."

The indictment indicates that Cooper was found dead in the living room of the couple's apartment with wounds to his face, neck, chest, back and hands. Prosecutors allege that Cooper had been stabbed at least 100 times.

Cooper Chen's body was found in the bathtub with numerous cuts to his neck, reads the indictment.

Both police and prosecutors allege that as many as five knives may have been used in the attack. "All of the knives had reddish-brown stains on them that appeared to be blood," reads the indictment. Police said investigators found a butcher knife and a large kitchen knife with a broken blade inside the apartment.

Chen's attorneys said during their client's arraignment that because the couple had only moved to Seattle last month from Durham, N.C., more time was needed to gather information on Chen and the victims. They remain confident that prosecutors would have no basis on which to pursue the death penalty against their client.

Friend: Chen Became "Increasingly Agitated, Hostile" About Pending Break-Up
A man who said he was Cooper's friend claims that he had complained before his and Cooper Chen's deaths that an alcohol-fueled Chen became "increasingly agitated, hostile and paranoid about their plans to end the relationship." According to friends of both Cooper and Chen, the two had agreed to split up and co-parent Cooper Chen.

Vernon O'Reilly Ramesar told the Seattle Times that he spoke with Cooper about Chen in the weeks leading up to the murder. The newspaper said the two men met online and "communicated almost daily through Skype."

Ramesar, who lives in Trinidad, said Cooper told him that he had never dated anyone other than Chen, but he was looking forward to getting his own apartment. Ramesar described Cooper to the Times as "cheerful" and that he had the tendency to "pretend everything was hunky-dory." Still, Cooper began to complain that things were becoming increasingly worse at home, going so far as to describe his life with Chen as "unbearable."

Cooper reportedly told Ramesar that Chen had been a functional alcoholic for quite some time. He painted the picture of a man who could easily hide his drinking from colleagues because he always appeared busy. But when Chen moved to Seattle, Cooper told Ramesar that, with few obligations, he was drinking all the time.

Chen allegedly controlled Cooper and sought to isolate him from the outside world; he reportedly began accusing Cooper of trying to hack into his phone and email accounts. Ramesar told the Times that Cooper began to feel as though his only job was to take care of Cooper Chen-he said that Chen would threaten to "leave Eric out in the cold" when he became intoxicated.

Ramesar told the Times that Cooper told him on Skype on Aug. 9 that things were spiraling out of control at home. The King County Medical Examiner's Office said that Cooper and Cooper Chen were killed the next day.

In addition to the murder charges, the state suspended Chen's medical license. He remains held without bail at the King County Jail.