Utah Caregiver Faces Murder Charges Over Garage Deaths of Three Disabled Patients
A caregiver in Utah has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly leaving three disabled patients to die in his unventilated garage while he ate snacks and watched anime inside his home. Isaiah Vaughn Pulu, 25, was taken into custody on February 6 in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City, and now faces three counts of murder and three counts of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Victims Identified as Vulnerable Adults
The victims have been identified as Mosa'ati Moa, 22, Colton Moser, 25, and Timothy Jones, 39. All three men were dependent on caregivers for their daily needs, with two of them being nonverbal. Pulu was employed by Safe & Sound Services LLC, a company that provides adult care to disabled individuals within the state system. His role involved picking up disabled clients from group homes and taking them on outings to locations such as parks or malls for the day.
Alleged Neglect and Fatal Consequences
On February 6, Pulu was assigned to care for Moa, Moser, and Jones. He told investigators that he picked them up early in the morning but decided to drive around for 30 to 45 minutes after one of the patients became 'rowdy.' Pulu claimed he had been 'trained to use isolation as de-escalation,' so he drove the patients to his home and left them in the garage. He stated that he arrived at his apartment around 10:30 a.m., leaving the van running with the heater or air conditioning on, the windows down, and the garage door open.
However, according to the charges, Pulu then left the men unattended and entered his home for hours before checking on them. 'I just wanted to get some food and watch my show,' he allegedly told police. He is accused of eating and watching anime until 1:30 p.m., when he finally returned to the garage to check on the patients, by which time he was meant to have returned them to their group homes.
Discovery and Delayed Emergency Response
Upon entering the garage, Pulu found all three patients unconscious. Police claim that it took him 20 minutes to call 911 after first calling his mother in a panic and receiving a call from his workplace. The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office determined that 'the cause of death would most likely be CO poisoning,' pending confirmation from a toxicology report.
Police reported that the carbon monoxide alarm in the apartment above was activated, registering 600 parts per million. While the exact level in the garage is unclear, it was likely far higher, with levels above 800 parts per million being potentially fatal. During the 911 call, Pulu told responders that the garage door had been open the whole time, but police found it closed when they arrived.
Inconsistencies in Pulu's Account
Detectives uncovered multiple discrepancies in Pulu's story. They determined that all three men had been in the van and that the garage door had been closed the entire time. Doorbell camera footage reviewed by police showed Pulu arriving at his apartment around 9 a.m., an hour and a half earlier than he claimed, meaning the patients were allegedly left unattended for four and a half hours.
Additionally, Pulu had lied to his boss, stating that only two of the men were in the van while the third was in the apartment. The CEO of Safe & Sound Services LLC confirmed that staff are not permitted to bring patients to their homes. Pulu had previously been reprimanded in January for leaving patients unattended for about 30 minutes.
Elevated Charges and Legal Proceedings
Initially charged with three counts of manslaughter, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill filed for the more severe murder charges, citing Pulu's actions as showing a 'depraved indifference to human life.' During a press conference, Gill emphasized, 'There are three individuals, who are disabled individuals, who need oversight, who need care from folks. They are left unattended with the vehicle running [for an] extended period of time. There's also been a warning that he had earlier that said that he cannot leave people unattended, which he was aware of.'
Pulu is currently being held without bond at the Salt Lake County Jail. No publicly available mugshots were found in arrest or jail records.
Families Mourn and Seek Support
The families of all three victims have created GoFundMe campaigns to help cover funeral expenses. In Moser's fundraiser, his family described him as a 'beautiful boy' with 'a big bright smile and a very special spirit that impacted everyone around him.' They added, 'Our world stopped in an instant, and nothing will ever feel the same again. The pain of losing him this way is something no family should ever have to endure.'
Moa's fundraiser highlighted that he was 'deeply loved by his family, friends, and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him,' with a 'unique personality, a gentle spirit, and a way of touching lives simply by being himself.' Jones's fundraiser noted he 'was deeply loved, and his passing has left a profound void in the lives of many.'
