On April 23, 2020, Ya Sosavanh, 68, was found dead in his Redding, California, home. His wife discovered the body about 5 p.m. that day; the body of 64-year-old Cheng Chu was also located at the scene. Both men had sustained gunshot wounds, and investigators described the incident as a double homicide.

Surveillance footage showed Chu arriving at Sosavanh’s home and later walking to the residence of 74-year-old neighbor Nouan Mokthephathai. Mokthephathai initially denied contact with Chu that day but later told police he shot Chu and claimed Chu shot Sosavanh. Officers recovered a shotgun with a spent slug at Mokthephathai’s home; the scene at Sosavanh’s house included a large amount of blood and a pistol in Chu’s hand that did not appear to be blood-covered. Those details complicated the sequence-of-events questions.

Authorities arrested and charged Mokthephathai with two counts of homicide and booked him into the Shasta County Jail with bail set at $1,000,000. Anyone with information about the events leading up to April 23, 2020, is asked to come forward.