2 people charged in 1991 Salt Lake stabbing death


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Two people have been charged with murdering a man at a Salt Lake dance nearly 25 years ago in 1991.

Vanvilay Hoomphanh, 44, of Roosevelt, and Vienphet Sundara, 47, were charged last week in 3rd District Court with murder. Their charges remained sealed until they were arrested. Hoomphanh was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday after being arrested in Roosevelt. Sundara was arrested in Oklahoma.

On May 19, 1991, Youthaloth Oudanonh, 26, was stabbed multiple times in the back, shoulder and neck while attending a dance at 120 W. 1300 South. An officer working security spotted the man "stumble between two cars, bleeding heavily," according to charging documents. Oudanonh was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Salt Lake police stopped a fleeing vehicle at the 900 South on-ramp to I-15. Hoomphanh and Sundara and a third man were all in the vehicle, and all were confirmed to be at the dance, according to charges. Sundara "had blood on his hands, face and clothing," the charges state. Hoomphanh also allegedly had blood on his clothing.

"A knife with blood on its blade was located inside the vehicle," charging documents state.

All three were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail but were later released because of lack of evidence. Police said at the time that they believed several people witnessed the stabbing, but no one would come forward.

Despite the evidence found that day, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the quality of evidence is more important than the quantity. He said technology that is available today — specifically the ability to test forensic evidence for DNA — wasn't available 25 years ago.

"Based on additional evidence, plus some of the forensic evidence that we gathered, we were able to meet our probable cause (standard) to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt," he said Wednesday.

DNA from Oudanonh matched the blood found on their clothing, the charges state.

Gill lauded his homicide investigation team that re-examined the case and gathered enough evidence to warrant criminal charges.

"They go back and they look at it with a fresh set of eyes, with newer technology, with additional evidence that may come about, and it changes the structure of the case where maybe it wasn't prosecutable then, it's prosecutable now," Gill said.

Salt Lake police on Wednesday said some of the main people involved in the investigation in 1991 were recently reinterviewed. And a federal grant from the National Institute of Justice to test for DNA was key in solving the case.

Oudanunh had been in a confrontation with one of the suspects two weeks before he was killed, according to police.

Salt Lake police are looking for the third person who they say was in the car that night, Viengkeo Sundara, 48, and consider him a person of interest and a possible witness in this case.

Bail for both defendants was set at $1 million.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Pat Reavy

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast