Inset left: Kidus Yohannes (Salt Lake City Police Department). Inset right: Candace Samples (obituary). Background: The former Dollar Tree in Salt Lake City, Utah, behind which Yohannes fatally stabbed Samples (Google Maps).
A Utah man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison after killing a woman during a confrontation over a stolen cellphone.
A Salt Lake County jury in August convicted 39-year-old Kidus Yohannes of aggravated murder in the November 2018 death of 20-year-old Candace Samples. Jurors also found him guilty of attempted manslaughter for stabbing a second man who survived.
Last week, a judge sentenced Yohannes to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Samples’ death, according to a statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
He received an additional sentence of up to five years for the nonfatal stabbing.
The attack happened on Nov. 7, 2018, behind a Dollar Tree store in Salt Lake City that has since closed, authorities said.
According to investigators, Samples took Yohannes’ cellphone while he was inside the Marmalade Branch Library across the street.
Samples, one of her friends and Yohannes later ended up inside the same dumpster behind the store. Prosecutors said Yohannes confronted Samples about the phone, produced a knife and threatened to use it if the device was not returned.
A witness who saw the confrontation ran to a nearby 7-Eleven to get help. The man he brought back entered the dumpster to intervene and was immediately stabbed by Yohannes, though he survived, authorities said.
Another person inside the “dumpster enclosure” witnessed the stabbing, climbed over a wall to get away and then returned with a large board. According to prosecutors, the witness saw Yohannes stabbing Samples.
After Samples was attacked, the witness who had gone to the convenience store opened the enclosure gates, allowing Yohannes to escape.
Samples and the surviving stabbing victim were taken to a nearby hospital after someone called 911. Samples had suffered 20 stab wounds to her head, arms and torso and died shortly after arriving, law enforcement officials said.
Surveillance video from the 7-Eleven across the street showed Yohannes and Samples entering and leaving the store together before the attack, according to the district attorney’s office. Police later arrested Yohannes, who denied involvement in the stabbings and said he had no knowledge of or interaction with either victim.
Investigators seized Yohannes’ shoes and found blood on them that matched Samples’ blood.
At the sentencing hearing, the man who survived the stabbing spoke to the court about rebuilding his life, the district attorney’s office said.
The couple who raised Samples also described the happiness she brought to their home as a child and the experience of watching her grow up.
They spoke about the challenges Samples faced, as well as the grief left behind by her death. Her loved ones prepared a video chronicling her life, which the judge allowed to be shown in the packed courtroom during sentencing, according to the statement.
Yohannes’ trial lasted three days, with jurors returning their guilty verdicts on the final day.
“We hope that Ms. Samples’ family feels they have received some measure of justice,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said. “We know it is not perfect justice; if it were perfect justice, Ms. Samples would still be in our community today.”
