Seattle bus driver's alleged killer confessed to fatally stabbing roommate in 2023, but walked. Why?

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ast month in Seattle, headlines blared about the fatal stabbing of 59-year-old Metro bus driver Shawn Yim and the three-day manhunt for his accused killer, Richard Sitzlack. Prosecutors say Sitzlack, 53, stabbed Yim at least 10 times following an altercation on Dec. 18.
Yim was publicly mourned during a ceremony at Seattle’s WAMU Theater on Jan. 10, which was followed by a citywide procession of 100 vehicles. His death has raised questions surrounding public transit safety for operators and riders.
When Bothell resident Lisa Schultz saw Sitzlack’s name in the news, she was plagued by her own question: “What about Buddy?”
“Buddy” or “Bud” were the nicknames of 63-year-old Eric Garth Schultz, Lisa Schultz's ex-husband and the man who Sitzlack, 13 months earlier, had confessed to fatally stabbing.
Eight months after Buddy Schultz’s death, the Seattle Police Department referred the case to King County prosecutors, recommending Sitzlack be charged with second-degree murder. But prosecutors have not filed that charge, saying that unless new evidence emerges, they don’t believe they can overcome the burden of Sitzlack’s claim that he’d acted in self-defense.
In connection with Yim's death, prosecutors have charged Sitzlack with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, second-degree assault, and third-degree assault.
RELATED: King County Metro drivers mourn Shawn Yim, decry violence
Meanwhile, Eric Schultz’ name was referenced inaccurately in initial police reports about his death. Sitzlack told police he’d known the man for 12 years but identified him only as “Bud,” and later incorrectly as “Eric Schmidt.”
Lisa Schultz said she feels her ex-husband’s violent death has been overlooked, and she wants to be a voice for him.
“We were married for 14 years. He’s been the love of my life and always will be, and we have a son together” who is now a young adult, she said.
The two divorced decades ago, but still kept in touch. Lisa Schultz said Buddy worked as a cook in a University District restaurant and was a gentle soul. She said he never mentioned that Sitzlack had been staying with him in his apartment, but thought it seemed plausible.
Buddy Schultz was the type of person who “just didn’t want to see anybody hungry or cold, and that’s when I believe he allowed the roommate to move in with him,” she said.
On Nov. 2, 2023, Sitzlack called police from Cowen Park. He said he’d been staying with Buddy Schultz nearby, but they’d had a fight during which Buddy Schultz physically threatened him. Sitzlack said he’d stabbed the man and fled the building.

Former Seattle Police Detective Don Waters was assigned to the case — as was King County senior deputy prosecutor Don Raz, who made his way to the U District apartment after Sitzlack called 911.
“I got out there and I was standing in the rain with Detective Waters and everybody else waiting for the warrant to be signed, so they could go in and examine the crime scene,” Raz told KUOW.
The scene was horrific — police photos show blood in every room. Waters has since retired and declined KUOW’s request for an interview. But on July 5, 2024, Waters submitted a certification in which he said there was probable cause to charge Sitzlack with second-degree murder.
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Waters said it was “highly unlikely” that Buddy Schultz — who was 10 years older than Sitzlack and the smaller of the two men at 5'11"— could have “overpowered” the 6’5” Sitzlack and brought him to his knees as Sitzlack claimed. Sitzlack outweighed Schultz by 40 pounds, Waters noted.
Waters highlighted multiple other inconsistencies in Sitzlack’s account.
Sitzlack claimed to have phoned 911 shortly after the stabbing, yet officers noted that Buddy Schultz’s body was “cool to the touch” when they arrived.
Sitzlack said the altercation happened only in the apartment’s entryway, yet there was blood everywhere.
Sitzlack’s account of stabbing Buddy Schultz “once, maybe twice," was contradicted the medical examiner’s finding that the body contained seven stab wounds.
Sitzlack also claimed to have used a pocket knife to stab Buddy Schultz and rinsed it off before giving it to police — yet no blood was found on that knife.
Raz said those inconsistencies are real, but he said the blood could be attributed to Schultz’s movements through the apartment after being stabbed. He said investigators searched the neighborhood but no other knife was recovered. In general, Raz said a defense lawyer and experts could have offered justifications for the inconsistencies.
“I totally agree it’s suspicious,” Raz said. “But remember — I have to disprove his claim of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.”

He said that’s a difficult burden to overcome: People who act in self-defense have “no duty to retreat” under Washington state law, and they can act on what is later revealed to be “mistaken information,” Raz said. For instance, Sitzlack told police that Schultz jumped on his back while holding “a machete" though police only recovered a “plastic sword," but Raz noted that the space was dimly lit.
In many cases when police refer murder charges, Raz said, a prosecutor has already given them a “green light” that charges will be filed. That wasn't so in this case, but Raz said Waters’ efforts were understandable.
“You can be a detective who has worked for a year on a case and there is a dead person, a dead person’s family, and another person killed that person," Raz said. “Just that scenario alone makes you want to hold somebody accountable. But we have laws that, in certain circumstances, that person will not be held accountable.”
Those exceptions can include self-defense, not guilty by reason of insanity, or that certain crimes were committed under “duress.”
Prosecutors have not charged Sitzlack in Schultz’s stabbing; they also haven’t officially declined to charge it. Raz said he left the door open in the event new evidence emerges, but that evidence would need to be related to what happened in Schultz’s apartment that night.
A person’s prior or subsequent crimes aren’t admissible at trial. Raz said that’s an important safeguard to prevent investigators from rounding up “the usual suspects” when a crime occurs.
The fact that Sitzlack is now charged with murdering Shawn Yim puts his previous stabbing in a new context — but doesn’t change the status of that case, Raz said.
RELATED: Fatal stabbing of King County Metro bus driver highlights Seattle transit safety concerns
In hindsight, the previous stabbing “looks different, for a myriad of reasons,” Raz said. “But the more important question is, can we now charge it because he’s done this subsequent homicide? And no — we can’t.”
All of this is little comfort to Lisa Schultz. She was the one who received the news of her ex-husband's death from the medical examiner. She and his siblings placed a small memorial outside his apartment building. They were also tasked with cleaning the carnage of the apartment “as best we could.”
She said Buddy Schultz's family held a celebration of his life this past November starting at Seattle’s Seward Park, near where he was raised, and concluding with a photo slideshow at a café where he’d worked.
Lisa Schultz said she was alarmed when Sitzlack was released after his arrest the night of Buddy Schultz’s death.
“I told Detective Waters a year ago that my biggest fear was that [Sitzlack] was going to do the same thing to somebody else.”
She rejects the claim that Sitzlack acted in self-defense, saying that’s difficult for her to believe since he wasn’t wounded in the encounter. But she said she takes some comfort in the fact that Sitzlack is now in custody. At the very least, she can try to keep Buddy Schultz’s life from being erased, she added.
“We’ve had no real closure,” she said. “So that’s why I’m here today. To speak for Buddy, to have a sense of closure, and let the other family know we understand their pain.”
Lisa Schultz said she plans to attend Sitzlack’s court appearances. Don Raz — who's also the prosecutor in the murder case against Sitzlack for Yim’s death — estimates that trial will take two years to conclude.