This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Criminal charges filed Friday shed light on what unfolded at a July party in the Capitol Hill District that turned deadly.
Adam Karr, 26, was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
His younger brother, Ammon Karr, 21, was charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
On July 31, a crowd of people, including Kaleb Yazzie, 22, of Midvale, went to a party at 31 Girard Ave. (560 N.), where the Karr brothers lived, according to court documents.
At some point during the night an argument erupted between Yazzie and Ammon Karr. Witnesses told police they saw both brothers with knives threatening to stab Yazzie at different times in the night, documents state.
Ammon Karr was angry with another man at the party and threatened him by holding a knife to the man's throat. Later Ammon Karr also told Yazzie to leave. He did, but came back to get his alcohol, according to court documents.
As the two Karr brothers went outside to fight Yazzie, Adam Karr told a witness that he would stab Yazzie if he hit his brother. A male juvenile also went out and joined the fight with Yazzie, court records state.
During the fight Adam Karr stabbed Yazzie "several times in the chest area with his knife," according to documents.
Yazzie staggered off the porch and fell on the ground, at which point a juvenile male dragged Yazzie out of the yard and down the road to an alley where he "stomped" on Yazzie's head and left the man, court records state.
The brothers had blood on themselves and their clothes. Witnesses told police they saw Ammon Karr wash the blood off his hands and arms. Court documents say the brothers and the juvenile changed their clothes and shoved their bloody clothes and the folding knife, used to stab Yazzie, into a bag. The brothers took the bag and hid it in the bushes at the end of the road, documents state. Salt Lake City police also arrested a 17-year-old male juvenile and a 17-year-old female juvenile in connection with the homicide, but no charges have been filed.
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office stated in the charges that Yazzie died as a result of the stab wounds.
Adam Karr is being held at the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Ammon Karr is being held on $50,000 bail.