Unified police say they have solved the 2016 shooting death of a 22-year-old man near Saltair.
Casteil “Slim” Franlink Hamlett, 38, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Thursday for investigation of murder, aggravated robbery and obstruction of justice.
On Feb. 11, 2016, the body of Chandler Michael Cooper, who lived in the Holladay-Millcreek area, was found by hikers near a trail by Saltair, a few hundred yards from the intersection of the North Temple Frontage Road and 11500 West.
Investigators believed that someone drove Cooper to that location, where he was “basically executed,” Unified police detective Brandon Moore said in 2024. “He was shot twice, once in the face and once in the chest, and then left there.”
Two shell casings were recovered at the scene, but no gun and no cellphone. And no arrests were made.
Last year, Unified police announced that they had new leads in the case thanks to DNA evidence.
“Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Chandler Cooper, along with Casteil ‘Slim’ Hamlett and G.P., were going to commit a robbery. Two individuals had been identified as targets for this robbery,” a police booking affidavit states.
One of the targeted victims was, according to police, “a local drug dealer” who had recently placed a $7,000 bet in Wendover for the Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl.
“The Denver Broncos won, and (he) won an additional $7,000, bringing his grand total to $14,000. (The man) then began to send texts with pictures of his winnings to his friends,” according to the affidavit.
The next day, the man went back to his home in Salt Lake City and threw a party to celebrate his winnings.
The second targeted victim was “a self-proclaimed middle-man drug dealer, (who) was believed to be dealing large quantities of marijuana and also believed to have cash,” police wrote in the affidavit. “A plan was being devised by Chandler, Casteil, and G.P. to rob (the two men).”
But detectives say Hamlett later admitted to investigators that “he was playing both sides” and spoke to one of the would-be victims about the plan to rob him, the affidavit states. Hamlett then went to the first man’s party.
“During this party, there was a lot of conversation regarding the ‘Chandler problem.’ Through interviews and other investigative means, it was learned that the group had talked about assaulting Cooper, kidnapping Cooper, dropping Cooper off halfway to Wendover and breaking his leg, and even killing Cooper,” according to the affidavit.
At 12:50 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2016, Hamlett went to pick up Cooper. For approximately the next three hours, there was no phone activity from either Hamlett or Cooper.
“Cooper is never seen alive again after (Hamlett) picks up Cooper,” the affidavit states.
Hamlett later went to an acquaintance’s home in Ogden.
“The source says that (Hamlett) arrived in a panic and was acting wild, took the source’s cellphone and removed the battery, then removed the battery from his own cellphone. The source said (Hamlett) then turned the music up, went into a side room, and closed the door,” the affidavit states. “The source said (Hamlett) proceeded to tell them that he killed Chandler Cooper, that he had shot him out near Saltair, and then buried the gun near 7200 West and I-80. The source said (Hamlett) also said that he burned the clothes he was wearing.”
Police also noted that after Cooper was killed, Hamlett’s cellphone “comes on in the same area as Cooper’s cellphone. Cooper’s cellphone only connects to the network momentarily, before never again being seen on the network.”
Detectives questioned Hamlett in 2016, and he “admitted to being part of the robbery and to playing both sides,” the affidavit states. But he claimed he later dropped off Cooper at an apartment complex.
Last year, Cooper’s jeans and jacket that he was wearing when his body was found were sent to the Utah State Crime Lab to have the pockets swabbed for DNA.
“The two jacket pockets and two front jeans pockets were swabbed by the Utah State Crime Lab, and information returned that there were two to three DNA contributors inside of Cooper’s pockets,” according to the affidavit.
Detectives then obtained DNA samples from Hamlett to compare.
“The Utah State Crime Lab stated the DNA analysis provides support that Casteil Hamlett is a contributor to the DNA mixture obtained from swabs of inside left jacket pocket.”
Additionally, Cooper’s cousin told police that after Cooper was shot in the leg in 2015, he told the cousin that “he believed (Hamlett) would kill him soon. Cooper stated he had to do what (Hamlett) said or (Hamlett) would also kill his grandmother, whom he lived with. Cooper also stated it was not a matter of if (Hamlett) would kill him, but when,” according to the affidavit.
When investigators searched Cooper’s room, they found “sticky notes talking about how he would die and that he wanted to leave all of his belongings to his grandmother, aunt and uncle,” the affidavit states.