Utah News Dispatch
Transport driver charged with murder after 3 Utahns with disabilities died in state custody
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill speaks during a news conference at his office in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Courtesy of Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office)
Salt Lake County prosecutors on Friday filed three charges of murder against a transport driver accused of leaving three men in a running van parked in his home garage and returning hours later to find them unconscious.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill described two of the men who died last week as nonverbal and said “all three victims were dependent on caretakers for their daily needs.” The victims of the alleged murders are identified in charging documents only by their initials.
Gill said 25-year-old Isaiah Vaughn Pulu worked for a company that contracts with the state to provide services to Utahns with disabilities. Gill said Pulu was assigned as a caregiver for the men on Feb. 6.
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Prosecutors aren’t alleging that Pulu intentionally killed anyone. They say his actions fit charges of murder because he “acted under circumstances evidencing a depraved indifference to human life” and knowingly engaged in conduct that could and did cause the deaths.
“We have three individuals who require constant care as wards of the state, and they need that adult supervision, and they were left alone in there,” Gill said.
One of Pulu’s attorneys, Joshua Baron, called what happened “a tragic accident.” Baron said Pulu’s defense team has not received the prosecution’s evidence yet.
While Pulu was transporting the clients from their group homes to the office of his employer, one of the men “was being rowdy,” Pulu told investigators, so he decided to take them for a drive. During that drive, he stopped at his home in West Valley City to eat and watch television, charging documents say.
Pulu told police he left the garage door open and the van running with its windows down, taking the garage door opener with him. However, a button on the wall also controlled the door, charging documents say. When he returned about four hours later, the door was closed and the men were unconscious, Gill said.
Firefighters found carbon monoxide levels in apartments above the garage reached 600 parts per million, Gill said. Home carbon monoxide detectors generally alarm before they sense 100 parts per million over 90 minutes.
Pulu had been reprimanded a month earlier by his employer for “client abandonment” after leaving three clients unsupervised for a half-hour while they were waiting for transport, charging documents say.
Gill said the men Pulu was transporting were in the state’s custody. He did not know which state agency was managing their care.
An autopsy found no physical injuries, charging documents say, and pending toxicology results will determine whether the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Senate Majority Leader Luz Escamilla, whose district includes West Valley City, told reporters at the Capitol on Friday that “charges are the correct thing to do, and there was certainly more than negligence.”
