After an extensive and meticulous probe by the Salt Lake City Police Department's (SLCPD) detectives, a significant break in a year-old homicide case has led to the arrest of 31-year-old Oakland Alope Taoipu Faamoe. This development comes in connection with the 2022 shooting death of Anetupou Niualiku, who was fatally shot in the area of 130 South and 800 West in Salt Lake City, as detailed by SLCPD.
Information from witnesses and surveillance led investigators to possibly connect a white Hyundai Sonata seen leaving the scene to the crime. This vital lead, supplemented by continuous investigative work that involved combing through cellphone data, vehicle records, and conducting witness interviews, allowed detectives to zero in on Faamoe. After publicly releasing photos of the suspect vehicle, it took just a few months for a witness to step forward with information directly implicating Faamoe as the responsible party for Niualiku's death.
Faamoe now faces charges of murder, obstruction of justice, and felony discharge of a firearm, following his booking into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail. The pieces of this complex puzzle began to fit together when a person involved in the incident reportedly confessed, revealing that Faamoe had committed the shooting. Detectives were able to confirm that Faamoe had been driving a vehicle matching the description of the white Hyundai Sonata just days before Niualiku was shot, as "the SLCPD released photos of the suspect vehicle and appealed to the public for information as part of an effort to generate new leads in this case," as per SLCPD. Additional evidence placed Faamoe and a second individual in the area at the time of Niualiku's murder.
