A Salt Lake City jury has found Kidus Yohannes guilty of first-degree aggravated murder in the 2018 stabbing death of 20-year-old Candace Samples, closing out a case that stretched nearly eight years from the night of the killing to a verdict. The jury also convicted Yohannes of first-degree attempted murder with imperfect self-defense for stabbing a bystander who tried to intervene.
According to ABC4 Utah, the confrontation began after Samples stole a phone from Yohannes at the Marmalade Library. Police received a call about two people being stabbed behind the Dollar Tree at 477 North and 300 West on Nov. 7, 2018, and Yohannes was accused of confronting Samples there and stabbing her 20 times. As reported by Gephardt Daily, the altercation started at the library at 280 W. 500 North before spilling across 300 West into the dumpster enclosure behind the store.
A 2021 police affidavit following an autopsy put the number of wounds even higher, finding that Samples suffered 26 distinct stab wounds during the attack, according to KSL TV. Samples was pronounced dead after being taken from the scene to the University of Utah Hospital, her death ultimately attributed to injuries sustained in the assault.
A Bystander Who Tried to Help Was Also Stabbed
Court documents from July 2021 identified the surviving victim who attempted to intervene as Jeffrey Plante, who was stabbed in the face, hands, ribs, and shoulders before being hospitalized in critical condition, per the same station's reporting. Plante had climbed a fence into the dumpster enclosure to protect Samples after witnesses raised an alarm. A nearby witness was also wounded during the encounter and was treated and released from medical care.
Why It Took Nearly Three Years to Make an Arrest
Salt Lake City police questioned Yohannes and served a search warrant for his DNA within a week of the stabbing, but released him in November 2018 without enough forensic evidence to hold him, the Gephardt Daily report notes. Detectives lacked a conclusive match at the time, and the case sat unresolved while biological evidence underwent multiple levels of testing.
The breakthrough came when state crime lab testing completed on May 24, 2021, matched blood found on shoes seized from Yohannes back in November 2018 to Candace Samples, a match that directly prompted his murder arrest that July, according to KSL.com. State lab backlogs had delayed the comparative DNA testing on the footwear for roughly 30 months. Police then took Yohannes into custody to face the charges that led to this month's trial.
Trial Delays and a Verdict Nearly Eight Years Later
The trial, which started Aug. 4 and concluded Aug. 7, had been delayed multiple times over the years by DNA testing, competency evaluations, and witness availability, according to ABC4 Utah's reporting. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced that Yohannes was found guilty of first-degree aggravated murder, saying the careful work on biological evidence helped make the case strong enough to assure a guilty verdict. Gill also said Samples' parents were involved in the process from the beginning, and he grieved the loss of Ms. Samples in his remarks.
What the Charges Mean Going Forward
Under Utah Code § 76-5-202, first-degree aggravated murder is classified as a capital felony carrying statutory penalties of the death penalty, life imprisonment without parole, or 25 years to life in prison, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. Aggravated murder is the only crime under Utah law eligible for capital punishment. The jury's second count, attempted murder with imperfect self-defense, reflects a distinct legal standard: under 2026 Model Utah Jury Instructions from the Utah Courts, imperfect self-defense applies when a defendant caused harm while incorrectly, but reasonably, believing deadly force was legally justified. Utah law treats it as an affirmative defense that reduces charge severity rather than one that leads to acquittal.
A Case Rooted in Salt Lake City's Unhoused Community
In the days after the stabbing, police reported that Yohannes, Samples, and other individuals present during the fatal altercation were unhoused, per Gephardt Daily's original coverage. The confrontation played out near public spaces and commercial property frequently used by local unhoused residents, underscoring the vulnerability of a population often caught in disputes with few witnesses willing or able to come forward quickly.
The case also briefly rattled the University of Utah campus. Hours after police named Yohannes a person of interest in November 2018, the university issued a campus-wide high alert when he was spotted inside the J. Willard Marriott Library, according to Gephardt Daily. That alert came just weeks after the high-profile on-campus murder of student Lauren McCluskey, intensifying concern across campus at the time.
Court records also show Yohannes had a prior brush with Utah's legal system unrelated to the stabbing. In a 2009 ruling, the Utah Court of Appeals reviewed a state appeal involving Yohannes over a 2006 background check and alien registration number discrepancy during an attempted firearm purchase, according to FindLaw. State prosecutors had appealed a trial court's dismissal of background check disclosure charges in that earlier case.
