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Sandra Yi Reporting Utah's zero murder record for 2007 is over. The first official murder of the year has been reported in West Valley City.
A man was found dead inside a West Valley City pool hall around noon.
Police have just released the victim's name. He's been identified as 36-year-old Tri Phan. What happened to him is still a mystery.
The man who found Phan's body just after noon today comes to the VUI VUI Pool Hall, located at 3500 South 1800 West in West Valley City, every day, but when he showed up today the pool hall was locked and the victim's car (a white Lexus) was locked and running in the parking lot.
He also says the back door of the pool hall was cracked open. When he opened the door he saw Phan's body lying there. He also noticed a chair flipped over. He says there was a lot of blood, which appeared dry to him, which may indicate that the victim may have been there several hours. He says the victim always leaves his car running while he locks up every night.
Again, police not saying how he died, but they do say there is no suspect or motive.
Capt. Tom McLachlan, West Valley City Police: "There appears to be some signs of a struggle. Right now we are investigating as to what occurred."
A couple of hours ago a woman identified as Phan's sister showed up to the scene and became hysterical when police told her what had happened. Police say they haven't had any problems with the pool hall or the surrounding strip mall in the past.
The man who found the victim says Phan is a good friend, a good person, and doesn't know why that would happen to him. He also says Fan was a father of two children.
As for the investigation, police say they are just waiting to get a search warrant so they can go inside and search the area where they found the body.
