Court records say the case now includes a competency question after a Feb. 24 killing inside a condo near Federal Way.

AUBURN, Wash. — A 30-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after deputies found his 61-year-old mother dead inside a condominium near Auburn on Feb. 24, according to court records that say he later admitted killing her after an argument about school and money.

The case matters now because prosecutors have moved it from an initial homicide investigation to a formal murder charge, while the defense has raised doubts about whether Antony Ton Le is competent to stand trial. Investigators say Le described choking and stomping his mother, Thuy Nu Thu Ton, before covering her with pillows and blankets. The killing happened in an unincorporated King County neighborhood between Auburn and Federal Way, and the next phase of the case depends on how the court handles the competency issue.

Deputies were sent to the Stonebrook Village Condos, 28710 34th Ave. S., at about 1:50 p.m. on Feb. 24 after a caller reported that someone was unresponsive. The caller, who told dispatchers he rented a room to Le and knew the victim as his roommate, said Ton was on the ground wrapped in blankets and may have been assaulted by her son. When deputies entered the condo, they found Ton unresponsive with major facial injuries. Her eyes were swollen, and blood was coming from her nose. Medics and deputies tried life-saving measures, but she was pronounced dead at 2:09 p.m. Investigators later said the scene raised immediate signs of a violent assault. A tactical team set a perimeter, entered the residence later that afternoon and found Le in a bedroom. As officers took him into custody, court records say, he said, “I did it.”

In an interview with detectives, Le said he and his mother argued about school, finances and inheritance before the attack, according to charging records. Investigators wrote that Le said he grabbed Ton in a chokehold at about 11 a.m., threw her to the ground and then stomped on her neck several times. Detectives said Le described being very angry and told them he likely killed her on the third stomp but kept going. He also said he then tried to “heal” her by placing pillows and blankets on top of her and listened as she made sounds for about 30 minutes before she died. According to the documents, Le told detectives he hugged his mother afterward and did not call 911 because he believed his roommate would come home and contact authorities. Investigators also wrote that he washed his clothes and put them back on before lying down in bed.

The records outline a grim and confusing set of statements from Le, mixing direct admissions with remarks detectives described as incoherent. He blamed the killing at different points on a demon from the television, said he was angry over years of feeling disrespected, and at one point said he killed his mother “for nothing.” He denied using drugs other than marijuana, which records say he told detectives he used on the day of the killing. When asked if he knew killing his mother was wrong, investigators wrote that he answered yes, unless she deserved it. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Ton’s cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries and ruled the death a homicide. That finding matched what deputies described at the condo and what prosecutors later laid out in the charging papers. Ton had often stayed at the condo, according to the roommate, helping cook, clean and do Le’s laundry.

Police records also gave broader context for what the roommate told investigators about the weeks before the killing. He said Le had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and had a history of violence when he was not taking medication. The roommate told deputies Le had stopped taking his medication about five months earlier and had grown increasingly hostile toward both him and Ton. Because of that change, the roommate said, he had tried to avoid unnecessary contact with Le. On the day of the killing, the roommate told investigators he left for work while Ton was on the couch looking at her phone and assumed Le was in his room. When he returned, he saw a pile of blankets in the living room that did not belong there. He pulled them back and found Ton on her back with her eyes open and her arms folded across her chest. He then went to a neighbor because he did not have a phone and needed someone to call 911.

The legal path has shifted since Le’s arrest. Prosecutors first sought and obtained $2 million bail at a first appearance hearing on Feb. 25, where a court found probable cause for his arrest. On Feb. 27, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged him with second-degree murder. His arraignment was scheduled for March 4, but that step did not go forward as planned after defense counsel filed a motion seeking a competency evaluation. In that filing, counsel said Le appeared irrational, delusional and unable to understand the proceedings or help in his own defense because of an apparent mental disease or defect. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said the arraignment can proceed after competency issues are addressed. For now, Le remains held at the King County Correctional Facility, and the court must decide how to handle the request for an evaluation before the case can move normally toward plea, hearings and trial preparation.

The scene itself was in a quiet condo complex near Thomas Jefferson High School, in the stretch of unincorporated King County between Auburn and Federal Way. Neighbors first saw a heavy law enforcement response during the welfare check and later learned it had become a homicide case. Public statements from the sheriff’s office were limited at first, with officials saying only that major crimes detectives were investigating. The fuller account came later through probable cause documents and charging records. Those records drew a picture of an ordinary weekday broken by violence inside a home where Ton had been helping care for her son. They also left some matters unresolved. Court filings describe what investigators say Le told them, but they do not answer every question about the moments before the argument started, whether anyone else heard part of the assault, or what mental state jurors might eventually be asked to weigh if the case reaches trial.

The case now stands at a pause point. The murder charge has been filed, bail remains set at $2 million, and the next major milestone is the court’s handling of the competency issue that delayed arraignment and will shape what happens next.

Author note: Last updated March 25, 2026.