This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A 26-year-old man has pleaded guilty to strangling a South Salt Lake woman at her home in 2015.
Dil Bahadur Magar was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony counts of murder and aggravated burglary for the July 3, 2015 death of 38-year-old Bhoti Subba.
Magar pleaded guilty earlier this month to the murder charge, and the aggravated burglary count was dismissed.
He faces a 15-years-to-life prison term when he is sentenced Jan. 17 by Judge Ann Boyden.
Court documents do not give a motive for the slaying. Resolution of the case has been delayed by difficulties in finding a Nepali interpreter.
On July 6, police were called to check on Subba at her apartment, near 2900 South and 200 East, because her relatives were worried about her, according to charging documents. They told police they had not heard from the woman for several days.
When officers arrived about 8:15 p.m., they found her body in the bedroom, with an orange electrical cord around her neck, according to charging documents. A bag with similar electrical cords was also in the apartment, the charges add.
Subba was from Nepal. Magar also is from Nepal, police have said.
A medical examiner determined that she died of strangulation and severe loss of blood; her neck had been cut twice, according to the charges. The medical examiner estimated that she had died about three days before officers found her.
Magar's DNA profile is consistent with the profile found under Subba's fingernails, on the electrical cords in the bag and on a soda bottle found in the apartment, according to the charges. His fingerprints were also found on several beer cans in the apartment, a drinking glass in the bedroom, and a black cleaver in the bedroom.
The same day as the autopsy, police interviewed Magar, who lived several blocks from Subba. He allegedly told them that he knew Subba through his girlfriend.
Magar denied having any kind of relationship with Subba, and said he had never been inside her apartment or talked to her on the phone, according to the charges.
Magar allowed police to look at his phone, and police found that the call log prior to July 4 had been deleted, according to charges. But when police checked Subba's phone records, they reportedly discovered 18 calls between her and Magar from July 1 to July 4, the charges add.
Police have said there were no signs of forced entry to the apartment.
Magar's criminal history is limited to unresolved misdemeanor driving under the influence and public urination charges from May, and another unresolved DUI charge and traffic violations from March.