A man who allegedly caused the death of a 72-year-old man after randomly attacking him with a hatchet in Federal Way was found competent, resulting in his attempted murder charge being upgraded to first-degree murder.
Noel Esteban, 72, died on Aug. 20, 2024, nearly eight months after allegedly being attacked with a hatchet by Paleti Anikesi Veniale II at Town Square Park in Federal Way on the morning of Dec. 21, 2023, according to documents.
After the attack, Veniale was originally charged with attempted murder in the first degree. But, after the court found Veniale competent on Nov. 20, 2024, and because Esteban died, Veniale was charged with murder in the first degree. He was also charged with assault in the first degree for allegedly attempting to stab a Kent Police Department officer with a knife while he was being arrested on Dec. 23, 2023.
Though Esteban’s cause of death and manner of death were specified by the King County Medical Examiner’s office on Oct. 28, Veniale could not have his charges amended until he was no longer under competency review and he was found competent. According to court documents, Veniale was found competent on Nov. 20.
After Veniale’s arrest on Feb. 8, 2024, a court order required an in-jail competency evaluation, said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office. On Feb. 28, the court ordered Veniale to undergo inpatient treatment with the Department of Social and Health Services, McNerthney said.
McNerthney added that Veniale’s charges could not be amended until the court addressed the issue of competency. Once his competency had been addressed, prosecutors could present information from the medical examiner’s office about the death and make a motion to amend charges, he said.
The probable cause documents filed in Dec. 2023 said there was a 50-50 chance Esteban would survive the attack. According to documents, CT scans showed that Esteban had a deep-penetrating injury to his brain from the hatchet and other serious injuries. Hospital staff relayed that if Esteban had survived, his quality of life would not be the same as before, according to documents. According to the medical examiner’s report, Esteban’s cause of death was acute bronchopneumonia and multiple blunt-force head injuries, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Case details
The incident was caught on camera at Town Square Park.
Before the incident, Veniale can be seen on video footage aboard a King County Metro bus, exiting at the Federal Way Transit Center a short walk away, before he is seen on camera at Town Square Park shortly thereafter. The documents also said that the video footage showed Esteban walking at the park while being followed by Veniale, but Esteban did not seem to know he was being followed.
“As they both approached the west side by the parking lot, the suspect, still a short distance behind, produced what later is found to be a hatchet, runs up to Noel, and strikes Noel with that hatchet numerous times as he was standing and as he fell and was lying in the ground,” court documents said. “Noel was observed trying to fight back as the suspect ran off westbound from the location.”
According to the document, Veniale’s jacket and a bloody hatchet were found at the nearby La Quinta hotel, 31611 Pete von Reichbauer Way S. Video footage from a nearby business shows the suspect taking off that jacket, then fleeing the area while wearing a white T-shirt. Next, video footage shows Veniale running across the street and entering a northbound bus away from Federal Way, though his location is unknown after that.
According to documents, the Federal Way Police Department detective who was investigating the assault created a bulletin using photos of Veniale from the bus video footage, which was then sent out to other local law enforcement agencies. The documents said that on Dec. 22, 2023, a Kent officer said he recognized Veniale from the bulletin and recalled multiple instances of Veniale being arrested for felony assault charges and, in one instance, stabbing a random person at a grocery store in Des Moines.
The documents said that Kent police officers apprehended Veniale on Dec. 23, 2023. According to Kent Police, Veniale was shot by Kent officers when officers attempted to make contact with Veniale. Veniale ran from officers when they attempted to contact him, and during the foot chase, Veniale pulled out a knife and reared it back in a position above his head to stab one of the Kent officers.
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