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SALT LAKE CITY — Marie Leavitt has waited 2½ years for her daughter's killer to be brought to justice.
Salt Lake police have had several suspects on their radar for a couple of years. But they still need a little more information to tie their case together and "take it out of investigative mode and into the courtroom," according to the case's lead investigator.
On Tuesday, Leavitt made a plea to the public to help her and her family bring the "cowards" who killed her daughter, Kathryn Blaire Leavitt, 27, to justice.
"I know that there are people out there who know things about this case. I am going to plead with you and ask you to put yourself in my shoes, in my family's shoes. She was my only daughter," Leavitt said. "I implore you to do the right thing if you know anything about this case. I ask of you, please, do the right thing."
Leavitt's emotional plea came as Salt Lake police announced publicly for the first time the names of six suspects believed to have had some involvement in the killing of Blaire Leavitt: Katoa Pahulu, 26; Sunia Cavazos, 22; Tevita Kofutua, 37; Lahelle Fiefia, 36; Mapilivai Laulea 26; and Timote Fonua, 41.
"One of these suspects is responsible for Ms. (Leavitt's) murder. One of these suspects pointed a handgun at her, pulled the trigger and fired the bullet that killed Ms. Leavitt," said Salt Lake Police Capt. Victor Siebeneck.
As of Tuesday, none of the six had been arrested nor have criminal charges been filed against them. Siebeneck said detectives have questioned each of the six at some point since 2019. In addition to the gunman, police believe the five other suspects were either present when Leavitt was shot or have attempted to obstruct detectives in their investigation following the killing, Siebeneck said. The six currently live in either Utah or California.
"These are the cases that keep us up at night. ... The people responsible for Ms. Leavitt's death need to be brought to justice," Siebeneck said. "We know there are people who have lied and tried to minimize their involvement or their knowledge or any role in this case. And we hope those lies end today. We hope that someone will come forward with one critical piece of information, one crucial item of evidence that will help us march toward our goal of bringing justice for Blaire."
On July 27, 2019, police received a call of a door being kicked in at an apartment at 1211 N. Redwood Road and a possible burglary in progress. But while officers were en route, they were told that shots had been fired. They arrived to discover that Leavitt had been shot as another woman hid in a closet in another room. Leavitt died from her injuries at a local hospital. An autopsy determined Leavitt had been shot twice.
Leavitt had invited several people to the apartment that morning "to drink and hang out." Four to five men showed up, including two later identified as Kofutua and Cavazos, according to a series of search warrant affidavits filed in 2019. The group "talked about being from the California/Bay area while they were hanging out."
At some point during the morning, the group had become too loud and a woman who was trying to sleep in another room asked them to quiet down, according to the affidavits. The roommate later told police that "a short time later she heard someone kicking the door in and then she heard gunshots."
Another witness told police that a Dodge Mega Cab pickup truck with three men inside was seen leaving the area shortly after the shooting. Detectives canvassing the area found surveillance videos from a couple of nearby convenience stores that recorded the truck both before and after the shooting, according to police.
On July 30, 2019, a vehicle with a California license plate matching the pickup seen in the videos was pulled over by police with Cavazos at the wheel. Based on evidence collected from that traffic stop — including a check of prior police records — detectives determined that Kofutua, Cavazos and Laulea may have been the ones recorded at a 7-Eleven prior to the killing, the affidavits state.
In another search warrant, detectives reported finding messages on a social media app belonging to Cavazos in which he made statements in a group chat several hours after Leavitt's death that "(stuff) went down" and that "this … wasn't even supposed to happen." Other messages include Cavazos saying that his group was just drinking when some people "started trippin Reppin where they from" and that's when things "turned bad," according to the affidavits.
On Tuesday, Siebeneck had a message for the six suspects in the case.
"It's time you come forward. You've been running from this for far too long. This is your chance to come forward, set the record straight. Be the first one to come forward and tell us exactly what happened that night, on that day, who killed Ms. Leavitt," he said.
Marie Leavitt stood next to a large framed photograph of her daughter as police updated the public about the murder case, holding a box of tissues to wipe away tears.
"Remember her name, remember. Remember her face," she said, imploring those who have information about the case to step forward.
Anyone with information about the murder investigation is asked to call police at 801-799-3000.
