On a tragic evening in Salt Lake City, Utah, the life of ChenWei Guo, a 23-year-old male student of Asian descent from China, was abruptly and violently cut short. On October 30, 2017, Guo, a promising pre-computer science major at the University of Utah, was with a female friend in his car near the mouth of Red Butte Canyon when he was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking.
The incident unfolded as part of a chaotic and senseless crime spree that had already left another man dead in Colorado.
The man responsible for Guo's death was Austin Boutain, 24, who was with his wife, Kathleen Boutain, camping in the canyon. The couple had a plan to hijack a vehicle to travel to Tennessee, and they had been observing cars in a parking lot. An argument erupted between them, leading to Austin Boutain assaulting his wife. She then made her way to the university campus to report the assault. Shortly after, Boutain approached Guo's vehicle. When Guo attempted to drive away, Boutain became enraged and fired a handgun multiple times into the car, striking and killing Guo. The car rolled to a stop after hitting a rock.
Following the shooting, a massive manhunt was launched for Austin Boutain, causing a campus-wide lockdown at the University of Utah. The search concluded the next day when an alert librarian at the Salt Lake City Public Library recognized Boutain and notified security. He was arrested without incident. Boutain later admitted to the shooting and also confessed to the murder of a 63-year-old man in Colorado. He revealed that after shooting Guo, he intended to kill Guo's friend to eliminate any witnesses, but she managed to escape and call for help.
In September 2018, Austin Boutain pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and aggravated kidnapping. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His wife, Kathleen Boutain, also faced charges for her role in the events leading up to Guo's death, admitting to her involvement in the plan to hijack a vehicle. The tragic event deeply impacted the University of Utah community, which mourned the loss of a bright and beloved student who had come to the United States in 2012 with dreams of opening his own consulting firm.
