SF wheelchair company employee allegedly tased, choked CEO to death

Rio Mobility CEO Bart Kylstra, 52, was killed Wednesday night. Kylstra was remembered by family and friends as a thoughtful engineer and avid boater who doted on his extended family. Rio Mobility CEO Bart Kylstra, 52, was killed Wednesday night. Kylstra was remembered by family and friends as a thoughtful engineer and avid boater who doted on his extended family. Photo: The Kylstra Family Photo: The Kylstra Family Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close SF wheelchair company employee allegedly tased, choked CEO to death 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

A 28-year-old man is facing murder and burglary charges for allegedly killing the CEO of his company last week, officials said.

Kuk Kim is charged with slaying 52-year-old Bart Kylstra, the CEO of wheelchair mobility company Rio Mobility, over an embezzlement dispute in their Mid-Market office, according to court documents.

The city Medical Examiner’s Office told investigators that there was preliminary evidence that Kylstra had been tased and put in a carotid choke hold.

Dressed in an orange jail outfit, Kim appeared in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday to be arraigned, but he did not enter a plea and the hearing was delayed to Wednesday. He is being held in San Francisco County Jail with no bond.

Kim faces counts of murder, second-degree robbery, second-degree burglary, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury and receiving stolen property.

According to court documents, the killing happened on Wednesday after another employee confronted Kim, saying Kylstra had discovered Kim had embezzled from the company. After that confrontation, Kim — who was a financial officer for Rio Mobility— went with the other employee to the company’s Market Street office to speak with Kylstra.

The other employee — whose name and gender was not given in the documents — left Kim with Kylstra so they could talk, but then reportedly became alarmed after not being able to reach Kylstra or Kim by phone or to get into the company building without an access code.

At 11 p.m. Wednesday, Kim finally responded to the employee’s calls, providing the access code to get into the Rio Mobility office, according to the court records. The employee then went to San Francisco police, who escorted the worker to Rio Mobility’s office — and that’s when they found Kylstra’s body, according to the court records.

“(Kim) has demonstrated that when it comes to facing the consequences of his fraudulent criminal behavior that he is willing to take it even a step further and not only embezzle but follow up with killing an individual when confronted with his misdeeds,” Assistant District Attorney Michael Swart wrote in a detention brief.

Kim was arrested Thursday outside his home, and police told prosecutors they found him loading his car with bags containing a Taser, blood-stained paper towels, his phone and wallet, and a laptop.

Kylstra’s family sat in a row in the courtroom on Monday, watching silently as Kim answered the judge’s questions in one-word answers. Swart said the family flew in from as far away as Brussels, Belgium, for the proceedings.

On Friday, Kylstra’s loved ones released a statement about the engineer, saying he was a kind, thoughtful person who never stopped thinking about how he could improve the world.

“He found fulfillment by applying his passion for engineering to helping people with disabilities lead full and independent lives,” the family wrote. “To know Bart was to have the extraordinary experience of seeing what we could all strive to become: Kind, loving, forgiving, peaceful, and deeply appreciative of everyone in his life.”

The family declined further comment on Monday.

Gwendolyn Wu is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @gwendolynawu