SALT LAKE CITY — As Salt Lake police prepare their criminal case against a man accused of murdering three people — including a 2-month-old baby — relatives of the victims continued to mourn Sunday as their list of questions grows.

"I would like to have some answers. I would like to know if they suffered or if it was quick. I haven't gotten any answers," said Carla Guyre whose grandson, Dakota Smith, was one of the three victims.

"I don't know how he was killed other than he was shot, I guess. I just want some answers of how this all came about. I'd just like to know why."

Alexander Hung Tran, 32, of Salt Lake City, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail after police say he shot and killed Smith, Heike Poike, 50, and Poike's 2-month-old granddaughter, Lyrik Poike. The bodies were discovered Friday by officers investigating why Poike had not picked up her 8-year-old grandson from elementary school.

Police found at least one body under a tarp. They then found Tran inside the house, 639 N. Sir Phillip Drive (1990 West), with a gun, wearing only a sweatshirt and boxer shorts, according to neighbors. Tran, or his family, reportedly owns the house. Tran slept in a basement apartment and rented the rest of the house to Poike.

Police have not pointed to any kind of motive for the killings.

"It hit me like a sledgehammer when I found out," Guyre said Sunday. "Dakota and I were very, very close."

She said her 28-year-old grandson "was just ready to do anything for anybody. Dakota was a really kind, sweet person."

But that tendency to be friends with people also caused Smith to sometimes be too trusting of others, she said.

"It's hard. He was a good person," added his cousin, Chelsi Morris. "He basically just wanted to help anybody. He was very giving and it didn't matter if he was on the street. He was still there trying it help you. So just the thought of somebody wanting to take his life like that, such a good person, it doesn't make sense."

Smith had a tough childhood and at the time of his death was essentially homeless, Guyre said. He was estranged from his mother and had little contact with his father, she said.

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Heike Poike, 50, Dakota Smith, 28, and 2-month-old Lyrik Poike were identified as the victims by Salt Lake City Police detective Richard Chipping Saturday morning. Poike was the grandmother of the baby, but police are unsure of Smiths' relationship with them.

He had been released from the Salt Lake County Jail just a couple of weeks ago. He had been living out of his girlfriend's van until he was arrested. His girlfriend went to a drug rehab center and the van was impounded, according to Guyre.

"Dakota just didn't have that hand up that he needed. All he had was me and I couldn't do it all. He was just plain lost," she said.

His family believes he had been clean for a couple of weeks and was trying to get his life turned around.

"He had just been telling me that he wants to a get a job and he needs to get his head right. And he kept saying, 'I love you' and 'I'm always here if you need anything,'" Morris recalled.

Guyre last saw Smith a week ago when she took him out for a hamburger. She last spoke to him Friday morning, just hours before the killings are believed to have been committed.

Smith had been acquainted with Poike for a couple of years, according to his family. Morris believes he liked having that motherly figure around for guidance. Guyre believes her grandson may have also been looking for a place to stay. She believes he may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time Friday.

She said it's also possible he was trying to protect Poike when he was killed.

"This would be typical Dakota. This is what Dakota would do. This is what I could see him doing," his grandmother said.

Smith's family was unsure whether he directly knew Ashley Poike — the mother of Lyrik and the 8-year-old boy, and the daughter of Heike Poike — or if possibly she is a friend of Smith's girlfriend.

Ashley Poike remained in the Salt Lake County Jail on Sunday. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in July along with two others for her alleged involvement in a child sex trafficking operation, according to charging documents. A jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 19.

A GoFundMe* account was set up for Heike and Lyrik Poike. Family members wrote on the account that the two were "taken from us in such away that no one should ever have to go (through)." All Ashley Poike wanted, they wrote, was a daughter. "… Now we have to send her back home with God to wait for Mom and brothers with open arms."

Contributing: Sandra Yi

*KSL.com does not assure that the monies deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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