Nearly eight years after the death of a man killed by former Auburn Police Department officer Jeffrey Nelson, the inquest into his death has concluded.

On May 22, 2025, the inquest concluded for Isaiah Obet, 25, who was killed by Nelson while on duty. The six-person jury gave responses to interrogatory questions the same day. The final interrogatory question of 60 asked if Nelson caused the death of Obet by criminal means. Four of six voted “yes,” one voted “no,” and one voted “unknown.”

Despite the outcome, the King County Prosecuting Attorney Public Integrity Team and the Valley Independent Investigation Team’s Feb. 3, 2025, report stated that the prosecutor’s office declined to file charges against Nelson because the investigation teams’ analysis revealed that there is insufficient evidence to prove any criminal charges or disprove applicable affirmative defenses beyond a reasonable doubt.

Although Nelson won’t be prosecuted for Obet’s death, Nelson is currently serving a 200-month prison sentence for the second-degree on-duty murder of Jesse Sarey, 26, in May 2019.

In 2020, the City of Auburn agreed to settle a lawsuit that was brought against it by Obet’s family. According to the signed settlement document, the cost to the city for settling the case with Obet’s estate was $1.25 million.

What is an inquest?

According to King County, after a death occurs in the course of law enforcement or corrections duties, the prosecutor’s office receives materials from the law enforcement or corrections agency investigating the incident. According to the county, the prosecutor’s office will then make a recommendation to the King County Executive about whether an inquest should be held.

According to the county, the purpose of an inquest is to shed light, in an open public forum, on the facts surrounding a death at the hands of law enforcement or corrections. Counsel for the family of the deceased, counsel for law enforcement or corrections officers, witnesses, subject matter experts or others with knowledge of the incident will be summoned to provide testimony.

At the conclusion of the inquest, a jury of up to eight people answers a variety of interrogatory questions. According to the county, the jury renders verdicts, including whether law enforcement or corrections officers complied with training and policy. The information gathered will ultimately be sent to the county executive and the prosecutor’s office, and all of the information will then be made available through the Inquest Program website.

Obet’s death

According to investigators, preceding Obet’s death at 12:24 p.m. June 10, 2017, a witness called 911 a few minutes after the incident to report that an unknown male, later identified as Obet, had entered her home in the 400 block of 23rd St. SE. The witness said that Obet came into her home holding a knife and asked for money, but after she screamed at him to leave her apartment, he did.

The report states that at 12:28 p.m., a second witness called 911 and said that her neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter asked her to call the police because a bad man was robbing her mom and dad. The mother told officers that Obet, whom she recognized from the neighborhood, had a knife, walked up to her, put the knife to her chest and then told her to give him the car keys. She said her husband jumped out of the car and grabbed a baseball bat from the ground, causing him to run away.

A woman at the subsequent shooting said that she was driving toward an intersection when she saw Obet in the middle of the intersection at 21st Street SE. and D Street SE., so she stopped, and he began to run toward her car. Obet began to bang on her window, and he had a knife, she said.

The woman said she then saw a dog, although she didn’t see it attack Obet, and then she saw Obet walk toward Nelson and bang on the back window before he got close to Nelson and shots were fired. Nelson called over the radio at 12:28 p.m. that shots had been fired. Nelson reported that he had his K9 attack Obet, but the witnesses’ statements regarding this conflict, according to the report.

The report stated that with Obet’s behavior toward the woman in the car, there was probable cause to believe if he was not apprehended, he posed a threat of serious physical harm to her. The report added that three other witnesses’ statements of the shooting provide corroborating information about what occurred prior, and based upon their testimony, there appeared to have been little time for Nelson to de-escalate instead of releasing his K9 or using force.

According to the report, there is insufficient evidence to find that Nelson acted without good faith and that he acted with malice toward Obet. This incident occurred before the passage of Initiative 940, which no longer requires proving malice when considering charging an officer with murder.

The report referenced the trial over Jesse Sarey’s death regarding when prosecutors attempted to admit evidence of Nelson’s prior violent incidents as a police officer. The prosecution in that case hired an independent expert to examine Nelson’s incident reports and use of force reports, and found 17 instances in which he used force that “was at best unnecessary and often excessive or unconstitutional,” the report said.

However, the report said that this incident with Obet was not included. The report said the investigating teams’ analysis appears consistent with the expert’s decision not to include the use of force regarding Obet.

Reporting from a previous Auburn Reporter story was used in this article.