San Francisco police searched the posh Millennium Tower on Thursday in connection with Bob Lee’s killing, a police source told The Standard.
Police arrested Nima Momeni Thursday morning on suspicion of murder in the killing of Lee, a tech executive who was stabbed to death April 4. In a press conference, Police Chief Bill Scott said Momeni and Lee were familiar with each other and the attack was not random. “We can confirm Mr. Lee and Mr. Momeni knew each other,” Scott said, but he gave no other details on their connection.
Momeni’s sister Khazar Momeni, also known as Khazar Elyassnia, is the registered owner of a unit in the Millennium, an upscale Downtown San Francisco building, according to official documents. She is the wife of a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon, Dr. Dino Elyassnia. The Standard made multiple attempts to contact the couple but has not received a response.
Nima Momeni, 38, was arrested at his apartment in Emeryville, a 10-minute drive across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. The arrest took place around 5 a.m. Thursday. A warrant to search his home and take him into custody was served, Scott said, on top of two other warrants served in San Francisco.
Police said at the press conference they had executed three search warrants and an arrest warrant in relation to the case. One search warrant was in Emeryville, where Momeni was arrested, and two others were in San Francisco. The Standard has confirmed that Lee stayed at the 1 Hotel at 8 Mission St. on the Embarcadero and has confirmed a search warrant was executed at Millennium Tower, at 301 Mission St. The tower is blocks away from the hotel where Lee was staying. It is also not far from where he was found bleeding on the morning of April 4 near 403 Main St.
A friend of Lee’s told The Standard they believe he had been partying in the area late last Monday and early Tuesday before he was stabbed.
After the arrest was announced on Thursday, Lee’s brother, Tim, published a statement from the Lee family on his Facebook page.
“As a family, we're very thankful to the hard-working detectives at the SFPD for bringing his killer to justice,” the family said. “Our next steps will be to work with the district attorney's office to ensure that this person is not allowed to hurt anyone else or walk free.”
The District Attorney’s Office has decided to charge Momeni with murder in the case. He is expected to be arraigned in court Friday morning.