Man charged with murder in connection with car crash that killed Utah bakery co-founder Thy Vu
Thy Hoang Vu had helped start Mims SLC with her husband.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Thy Hoang Vu, left, and her husband Tripp Mims are photographed in January. According to police, Vu was killed in a car accident on Saturday, October 16, 2021.
The man, arrested on suspicion of driving drunk while escaping police, and causing a fatal accident on the west side of Salt Lake City in October, was charged with murder.
Christian Cody Facer, 39, was tried in the 3rd District Court on Wednesday in connection with the death of Thy Hoang Vu, a mother of two and co-founder of Mims SLC, a local bakery.
Facer was charged with murder, a first degree crime according to the indictment, and a second degree crime for failing to respond to a signal from an officer to stop, resulting in injury or death. Prosecutors also brought two charges of third degree drinking under the influence of him, in part because he had two or more convictions in the past 10 years.
He is also charged with reckless driving, not stopping, owning an open container in his vehicle and operating without an ignition lock system prescribed by him. He is also confronted with violations because he was driving too fast and ran over several red traffic lights and stop signs.
Facer had already been charged with drinking under the influence of driving in September after a reckless driving call. At the time, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.24%, documents show, almost five times the Utah legal limit. In his vehicle, the investigators found an open container with vodka, the files say.
Around noon on October 16, prior to the crash, North Salt Lake Police received an initial report of two men handing a bottle of whiskey as one of them drove a Ford F-250 “snaked in and out of traffic “And” pushing people off the streets, “was the likely explanation of a Salt Lake City police detective. The driver was later identified as a Facer. Officials located the truck on US Route 89 and began a chase.
Facer then drove onto Interstate 15, temporarily exceeding 100 mph, and then drove into the Salt Lake City area as he tried to escape police, the statement said. When Facer allegedly “t-boned” Vu’s vehicle near 500 North and 1200 West in the Fairpark District, it was traveling about 70 mph, the document says.
Vu died on the scene of her injuries and her passenger, a close friend of hers, was critically injured. A dog driving in Vu’s car was killed in the accident, and Facer is also charged with serious animal cruelty, a Class B offense.
The passenger in Facer’s vehicle reportedly told the detectives that he and Facer had been drinking alcohol since 6 a.m. that day. Officials also found partially empty alcohol bottles in Facer’s vehicle, the document says.
Vu founded Mims SLC with her husband Tripp Mims at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her death resulted in a spate of social media posts from friends and residents. A silent auction in favor of Mims and the couple’s two sons raised over $ 37,000, according to a post on the Instagram account @livelikethy.
A Salt Lake County team assigned to police officer action incidents is investigating the crash along with a crash analysis team that includes the Salt Lake City Police and several other Salt Lake Valley law enforcement agencies, according to SLCPD.com. No Salt Lake City police officers were involved in the persecution, the department said.
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