SALT LAKE CITY, UT – On Monday, police arrested Kudis Chane Yohannes, 34, for the 2018 stabbing death of a homeless woman.
On November 7, 2018, 20-year-old Candace Samples was found inside a dumpster behind the Dollar Tree at 477 N. 300 West, suffering from multiple stab wounds. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was soon pronounced dead.
Samples was stabbed 26 times, according to the autopsy report.
A man that she was with, who attempted to defend her was also stabbed, but survived.
Yohannes was already in jail for slashing someone's tires, when a warrant was discovered for his arrest in the 2018 murder.
KUTV reported:
All along, police had evidence that pointed to Yohannes, including surveillance video that showed him chasing Samples, but they lacked the solid proof to charge him with murder — until now.
In March, the state crime lab did DNA testing on the suspect’s clothing that was collected right after the murder through a search warrant. That testing found Samples' blood on the clothing.
On July 1, 2021, the district attorney issued an arrest warrant for the Ethiopian national.
Yohannes has been charged with aggravated murder and is currently being held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bond.
*Yohannes was granted a student visa to attend Utah Valley State College, but in 2007, he was arrested after his roommates reported that the 20-yea-old Ethiopian was stockpiling weapons and ammunition.
Yohannes was charged with giving false information for a background check required when he purchased two rifles, and for using a stolen credit card.
At the time of that arrest he was already on probation after a conviction on other weapons charges, according to The Chronicle.
So, why was a foreign national whose visa had long been expired and has multiple arrests and convictions inside this country, allowed to stay here...ultimately resulting in yet another needless death of an American citizen?
