It's been just over one year since Bethany Hyde was gunned down for no apparent reason while waiting at a stoplight last November.
Wednesday, the man suspected of firing the single bullet that pierced Hyde's heart, Vun (Steven) Keomanivong, will face a preliminary hearing on charges of murder, a first-degree felony.Besides possibly shedding some light on why Keomanivong allegedly shot Hyde, Wednesday's preliminary hearing could also identify other suspects who were riding in the blue Honda Accord the shots came from, said prosecutor Vincent Meister.
"You will probably get names of people involved," Meister said.
Because the Nov. 7 shooting involves known gang members, Meister would not indicate who would testify at Wednesday's hearing, scheduled to last two days and include about six witnesses.
Security will be especially tight though, Meister said.
Keomanivong "is identified as the person who fired several shots from a .380 semiautomatic pistol into a vehicle in which Bethany Hyde was a passenger," court documents state.
Police say the shooter mistook the car she was traveling in for that of a rival gang member as it idled at the intersection of 2700 West and 3500 South.
Hyde, 16, West Valley City, her sister and a friend were driving home from a party about 2 a.m. and were just a few blocks from home when the shooting occurred, police say.
A passenger car with three to five males pulled up on their right side as the car Hyde was in waited to make a left turn, police say. One of the passengers in the suspect vehicle pulled a gun and fired six times into the back of the victim's car, hitting Hyde once in the torso.
Neither the male driver nor the female passenger in the front of the car was injured.
The driver of the car called 911 immediately after the shooting and told dispatchers someone had shot bullets into his car for no reason and sped away, according to a 911 tape. Hyde's sister was heard in the background screaming that Bethany had been shot.
Keomanivong, 19, was arrested near Portland, Ore., in February and has been in the Salt Lake County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail since then. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.
His brother, Phokham Keomanivong, 21, is wanted by Midvale police in the Nov. 18, 1995, shooting death of Nicholas Dirkson, 17. Dirkson was shot three times with a 9 mm pistol outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant where he worked, 285 W. 7200 South.
Steven Keomanivong was at his brother's side when Phokham Keomanivong killed Dirkson, police say. Dirkson died because of a dispute over a stolen stereo. Hyde was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, police say.