3 disabled men die in van after caregiver allegedly left them unattended to go eat and watch anime

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (TCN) -- A man has been charged with three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three men who were left in a running van inside a garage. 

KSL reports Isaiah Vaughn Pulu, 25, was charged with murder on Feb. 13 in the deaths of 25-year-old Colton Warren Moser, 22-year-old Mosa’ati Moa, and 39-year-old Tim Jones.

According to charging documents obtained by the outlet, Pulu was a daytime caregiver at Safe & Sound, a company that contracted with the state of Utah. His responsibilities were to pick up clients, take them on outings, and then return them to the group homes where they lived. According to prosecutors, two of the three victims were nonverbal and all three were dependent on caregivers for their daily needs, KSL reports. 

On Feb. 6, Pulu picked up the men to take them on an outing and was scheduled to return them to their residences by 1:30 p.m., according to KSL. He allegedly told investigators that one of the men was being “rowdy,” so he drove the van to his house and parked it in the garage at about 10 a.m. He stated he was trained to use isolation as a de-escalation technique and allegedly told investigators he left the van running, with the windows open, the garage door open, and the heater or air conditioner on. 

Ring camera footage showed Pulu entered his apartment at 9 a.m., not 10 a.m., and he did not return to the garage until 1:30 p.m. When he returned, he allegedly found the garage door closed and the three men inside the van unconscious, according to KSL. He then called his mother and received a call from his workplace asking where the men were before dialing 911.

Firefighters arriving at the scene found carbon monoxide detectors going off in the unit above the garage and the whole complex needed to be evacuated, KSL reports. 

Gephardt Daily reports Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said, “West Valley City Fire used monitors that showed that the CO2 levels in the apartments above the garage got as high as 600 parts per million. The residents were evacuated until the levels showed zero. … Two hundred parts per million can cause death and be fatal over hours. Eight hundred parts per million can cause death within minutes.”

According to the medical examiner, the cause of death for the three men is likely carbon monoxide poisoning, but toxicology results are pending, KSL reports.

Pulu allegedly told investigators he was trying to gain weight and he needed to eat and wanted to watch anime. He allegedly told investigators he had taken clients to his home before and left them unsupervised. Investigators learned Pulu had been reprimanded on Jan. 6 for client abandonment after leaving three clients unsupervised for 30 minutes.

Pulu was initially arrested for investigation of three counts of manslaughter, but according Gill, murder charges were filed because Pulu showed a “depraved indifference to human life.”

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Moser’s mother, Wendy Rollins, said Pulu was an in-home care provider in addition to a driver. She said he had been trained on the disability level of each man in his care and that every time she picked up her son, Pulu was there caring for him. She told the outlet, “I think I can probably speak for myself and potentially the other two families that we can’t bring back our boys … but we can advocate that there’s some justice.”

Following the incident, the Department of Health and Human Services took emergency action against Safe & Sound and is prohibiting them from taking on any new clients for 30 days, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. In the interim, staff members will be retrained on the transportation and supervision of clients.

According to Gephardt Daily, Pulu was booked into the Salt Lake County jail system and is being held without bail. Additional charges may be filed. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Pulu is scheduled to appear in court for the first time on Feb. 19.

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