WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — The Salt Lake County District Attorney announced Friday that three counts of murder were filed against Isaiah Pulu.
Puli, 25, was arrested last week after leaving three special-needs adults in his van while Pulu went to eat lunch, leaving the van running in the garage for four hours. The Medical Examiner's Office reported they likely died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
According to District Attorney Sim Gill, this was evidence of "depraved indifference to human life." All of the charges are first-degree felonies.
“Two of the victims were nonverbal, and all three victims were dependent on caretakers for their daily needs," said Gill. “Pulu stated; I just wanted to get some food and watch my show.”
For Utah's Columbus Community Center CEO Kristy Chambers, the news came as a shock.
“Well we’ve never seen anything quite like this," said Chambers. “Your heart just kind of drops and sinks. And it’s so much to process all at once. But the tragedy of it all impacted us, I think, a little more deeply than the general public.”
Chambers has spent the past decade running the Columbus Community Center.
She knows there are hundreds of Utahns who work with special needs adults, treating their clients with dignity and respect.
Chambers said she hopes this tragedy does not reflect poorly on them.
“We’ve come such a long way in a relatively short period of time. It’s a privilege to interface with this client population that we serve. It is a testament to our humanity that we are all deserving of opportunities in our life," said Chambers.
One month before last week’s incident, Mr. Pulu had to sign a written warning from the Safe and Sound Care facility.
In the notice, he was reprimanded for client abandonment because he had left three clients unsupervised for 30 minutes while they were waiting for their transport.
