In a quiet suburban Salt Lake City neighborhood, a devastating scene unfolded, revealing the tragic end for 2-year-old Nyay Meh, a female of Karenni ethnicity from Myanmar. The little girl was discovered deceased inside her family's West Valley City home in what investigators have described as a heart-wrenching murder-suicide that claimed the lives of four family members.
The grim discovery was made after a concerned relative, unable to reach the family, went to check on their welfare.
Police believe that sometime between the late hours of December 13th and the early morning of December 14th, 2024, the girl's father, 42-year-old Dae Reh, used a handgun to end the lives of his wife and three of their children before taking his own. Found alongside Nyay were her mother, 38-year-old Bu Meh, her 11-year-old brother, Boe Reh, and her 8-year-old sister, Kristina Ree. The bodies of Nyay, her mother, and her sister were located upstairs in the home, while her father and brother were found downstairs. A handgun was discovered under the father's body, leading authorities to conclude he was the perpetrator.
The sole survivor of the massacre was the couple's 17-year-old son, Sha Reh, who was found critically wounded with a gunshot to the head in the garage of the home. It was this discovery by the visiting relative that prompted the call to the police, who then entered the residence to find the rest of the family deceased. Prior to this tragic event, there had been no reports of domestic violence or disturbances at the family's home, leaving the community and relatives searching for answers. Investigators have not released any information regarding a possible motive for the killings.
The family's story is one that began with a flight from violence, only to end in it. Bu Meh had escaped what her relatives called ethnic cleansing in her home country of Myanmar about a decade prior. She and her family spent time in a refugee camp in Thailand before making their way to the United States, hoping for a life of peace and opportunity. Relatives expressed their profound shock and grief, condemning the senseless violence that took the lives of an innocent woman and her young children at the hands of their own husband and father. As the suspect in the killings was the father who then took his own life, no arrests have been made in connection with the deaths.
