‘He could barely walk’: Neighbor says she helped bleeding man days before his wife allegedly killed him

PALM DESERT, Calif (KESQ) - Deputies arrested Vicky Kim six times between September 2025 and January 2026, and prosecutors filed five domestic violence cases against her in that time, according to court records obtained by News Channel 3. Months later, her husband was dead, and Kim is charged with his murder.

The records, released Friday by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, include a sheriff's deputy's sworn statement from January in which Kim told the deputy she hit her husband on the nose three times after an argument over finances, and said she planned to post bail again.

Kim,  was supposed to be arraigned Friday on the murder charge at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. A judge said she had not been medically cleared to appear and continued the hearing to Monday

A neighbor's account

Kelly McDaniel moved into The Enclave, the gated condo community on Gateway Drive, on Aug. 1. She said that about a week before the killing, she and her roommate saw an older man fall and stopped to help.

"He was so feeble, I had to use all my weight to get him up," McDaniel said. "He could barely walk. My hand was covered in blood."

McDaniel said the man told her his name was Rich. As they walked him home, she said, a woman approached and took him from them without asking if he was OK or thanking them. McDaniel said the woman was Kim.

The murder complaint identifies the victim only as R. Kaufman. The sheriff's office has not released his full name or age, saying next of kin had not been notified and the investigation is ongoing.

What court records show

The five earlier cases were filed in Indio between Oct. 22, 2025, and Jan. 22, 2026, and total 10 counts. Each names the victim only as John Doe. The district attorney's office has said all of the cases involved Kim's husband.

Court records show the alleged offenses began Sept. 15, 2025, with a misdemeanor battery charge. Kim was charged with misdemeanor corporal injury on a spouse for an Oct. 21 incident, with violating a protective order on Oct. 29, and with four misdemeanor counts for Nov. 28 and Nov. 30, including two more protective order violations. On Jan. 22, prosecutors charged her with felony corporal injury on a spouse for a Jan. 19 incident, along with misdemeanor counts of elder abuse and violating a protective order.

In that January case, a deputy's declaration filed with the court says deputies responded to an address in Palm Desert on Jan. 20 for a domestic incident and found the victim with a visible injury to his nose. He told the deputy Kim had slapped him in the face the morning before during an argument about finances and infidelity allegations, the declaration says. He also told the deputy a restraining order issued Oct. 31 required Kim to stay 100 yards away from him.

Kim told the deputy she hit him on the nose three times after an argument over finances, according to the declaration. She also said she had posted bail after the previous domestic violence incident and planned to post bail again.

The deputy asked a judge to raise Kim's bail from the $60,000 bail schedule amount to $500,000, checking a box on the form stating the increase was needed "to assure the protection" of a domestic violence victim. Court records show a judge approved the increase the same night.

Prosecutors filed the felony complaint on Jan. 22. The next day, a judicial officer amended the felony count to a misdemeanor, according to a notation on the complaint. The records do not show when Kim was released from custody or when the protective orders ended.

The deputy's declaration also lists arrests on Sept. 16, Oct. 21, Oct. 29, Nov. 30 and Dec. 9, 2025, before the Jan. 20 booking.

Prosecutors' objections

In an email to reporters Thursday, DA's Office spokesperson Molly Smith said the office charged Kim with a felony in January, obtained criminal protective orders and intended to "aggressively prosecute" her. "Despite our office's clear objections, a judge resolved all of the defendant's cases as misdemeanors, released her from custody, and terminated all protective orders that prosecutors worked hard to obtain," Smith wrote.

Salas, who is prosecuting the murder case, said Friday the earlier cases involved "domestic violence charges, elder abuse charges, and violation of a protective order," and that the pattern began in September 2025.

"That is part of the reason why we requested protective orders, part of the reason why we objected to the resolution of the felony as a misdemeanor, because of the concern for this individual's safety in the future," she said.

Salas would not name the judge and said she could not comment on the court's decision or discuss the facts of the earlier cases, because they could be evidence at trial.

"It's certainly a very tragic turn of events that somebody who has previously been a victim in the criminal justice system is now where we are," she said.

The murder complaint alleges Kim used a flag pole as a deadly weapon and personally inflicted great bodily injury. Salas said no special circumstances have been alleged, so Kim is not eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors have asked that she be held without bail, which will be argued at her arraignment. The complaint notes she faces a potential life sentence.

Kim also has an arrest outside California. Hawaii police records show she was arrested in July 2007 for a bomb threat at the airport in Kona. Police said she repeatedly claimed there was a bomb on a plane. The flight was emptied and every passenger and bag was screened again. Kim, then 46, was charged with first-degree terroristic threatening, a felony, and released the next day on $1,000 bail. How that case ended is not known.

In Palm Desert, deputies were called to the 35000 block of Gateway Drive at 9:47 a.m. Sept. 4. They found a person with injuries from a physical assault who died at the scene. Kim was there and was arrested without incident, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. Crime scene tape blocked off part of the gated community for much of the day, and the sheriff's office announced the arrest the next day.

Kim remains in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.

Anyone with information is asked to call Central Homicide Unit Investigator Chua at (951) 955-1700 or Palm Desert Sheriff's Station Investigator Mitroff at (760) 836-1600.

Stay with News Channel 3 for coverage from the courtroom Monday.