The boyfriend of a 27-year-old San Francisco woman who was found dead in her Presidio Heights home late last month pleaded not guilty to murder as prosecutors presented new details about the events leading up to the killing.
Scott Fisher, 29, was arraigned Friday on a charge of murder with a deadly weapon in the fatal stabbing of Kimberly Wong.
In a detention motion asking the court to keep Fisher jailed without bail, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office presented a narrative about what led up to Wong's killing.
The motion, submitted ahead of Friday's hearing, says that on Nov. 28, Wong told a friend that Fisher lunged at her while she was showering. Prosecutors say Wong also told her friend that Fisher later woke her up by shaking her.
Wong told the acquaintance she was afraid of Fisher and decided to spend the following night, Nov. 29, somewhere other than the Clay Street apartment they shared, prosecutors say. According to the detention motion, Wong drove Fisher to a relative's home that same evening.
The next morning, Wong picked up Fisher, the motion says. Surveillance footage shows they returned together to their apartment the morning of Nov. 30—but that video shows only Fisher leaving around noon.
When Wong didn't respond to calls and texts from a friend, police went to check on her, prosecutors say. When cops arrived at the Clay Street flat, they say, they found Wong dead from multiple stab wounds.
Authorities say Wong's Apple watch indicated she hadn't moved from about noon on Nov. 30 until police discovered her body several hours later, about a quarter after 7 p.m.
When police arrested Fisher, prosecutors say they found dried blood on his left shoe and that those shoes appeared to be the same pair he was seen wearing in surveillance footage.
Fisher should await trial in jail, prosecutors argued, because the facts indicate he poses a threat to the public.
"Defendant assaulted the victim unprovoked in the days leading up to her murder," Assistant District Attorney Leigh Frazier wrote in concluding the detention motion. "After being assaulted, victim expressed fear of defendant and chose to sleep away from her residence because of that fear. When she reunited with defendant, he violently attacked victim by stabbing her multiple times. Defendant left victim to die and fled the scene."
Fisher's lawyer disputed the claims.
"We deny any and all allegations," Deputy Public Defender Meenha Lee said.
Also on Friday, Fisher also waived his right to a preliminary hearing within 10 days. His next court date is set for Jan. 10.
Neighbors previously told The Standard that Fisher lived in the apartment at 3295 Clay St. with Wong. Voter records and a note on their apartment buzzer also show the pair lived together.
Wong, a product designer for the financial tech firm Plaid, was found dead Nov. 30 after police responded to a welfare check.
Homicide detectives were investigating the death as a domestic violence case.
Fisher, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, most recently worked at the San Francisco software company Databricks, uttered only one word—"yes"—when Hwang asked if he agreed with his attorney's request to delay his arraignment until after the holidays.
Beverly Upton, head of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, said Wong's death appeared to be the city's first domestic violence fatality in 2023.
Correction: This story was updated with the proper spelling of Public Defender Meenha Lee's name.
Stephanie K. Baer contributed to this report.