From left: Alexander Hung Tran (Salt Lake County Jail), Heike Poike and baby Lyrik Poike (Premier Funeral Services) and Dakota Smith (Peel Funeral Home).
A Utah resident, aged 42, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three individuals, including a 2-month-old infant in a baby bouncer. This crime stemmed from an unhealthy fixation on the child’s mother.
On Friday, Alexander Hung Tran received three life sentences without parole for the fatal shootings of 63-year-old Heike Poike, infant Lyrik Poike, and 29-year-old Dakota Smith. The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office announced this outcome following Tran’s conviction in August on three counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder.
Police were called to a Salt Lake City residence on September 18, 2015, after Heike Poike failed to collect her grandson from school. Upon arrival, officers noticed an open back door and entered, discovering the tragic scene. Tran was found in the basement, armed, and was promptly apprehended.
Prosecutors revealed that the Poike family had recently relocated to a home owned by Tran’s mother, occupying the upper floors while Tran resided in the basement. His fixation on Ashley Poike, Heike’s daughter and Lyrik’s mother, intensified, leading to unsettling messages expressing a desire to marry her.
An already tense situation escalated when Ashley Poike, who was entangled in a separate child sex trafficking case, was incarcerated, and Tran’s mother disapproved of the family’s presence in the home.
A report from KSL, a local NBC affiliate, detailed that Tran first shot Dakota Smith, a family friend, four times as he sat on the couch. He then turned his weapon on the sleeping infant, Lyrik, before finally shooting Heike Poike as she attempted to protect her granddaughter.
Tran reportedly fired some 12 shots, meaning he had to reload the gun at least once during his rampage.
“This was not accidental … This was intentional and knowing,” said prosecutor Morgan Vedejs, per KSL.
Ashley Poike was emotional during her victim impact statement.
“We’re all just suffering still. And it just breaks my heart that my sister Brittany never got to meet my daughter,” she reportedly said. “There are things I think about now, like how my daughter would look … what she would be wearing, if she would act like me. Things like that, that I will never get to know.”
The case was delayed for years because of Tran’s competency issues and other challenges. Tran’s attorneys asked for a sentence of 25 years to life, arguing he may be able to be rehabilitated with the proper counseling and medication.
But 3rd District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills didn’t buy it, saying Tran showed “absolutely no remorse, no responsibility whatsoever.”
“Obviously, [it was] an astounding and staggering crime that occurred here,” she reportedly said.
District Attorney Sim Gill was pleased with the verdict.
“We applaud the judge’s decision that ensures the defendant will spend the rest of his life behind bars. We hope that the victim’s family feels that they have received some measure of justice for the loss of their mother, child, and friend. The three life sentences reflect the level of accountability our community demands when an abhorrent crime like this one is committed in Salt Lake County,” Gill said in a statement.
