BLANDING, Utah, May 26, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Additional charges have been filed against the man accused of killing two Blanding men who went missing in late February.
William Drew Bull, 29, and Christopher “Topher” Owens, 28, were confirmed as deceased and their bodies were recovered March 22, San Juan County officials said. The cause of both men’s deaths was later determined to be gunshot wounds, according to charging documents.
Bull and Owens were last heard from Feb. 25, and their landlord and roommate, Charles Youngkuom Yoo, 35, was charged with two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice March 14 in connection with their deaths.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged Yoo with two additional counts of third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a human body.
Cellphone data shows Bull and Owens left Moab on Feb. 25 to go to Maverik in Blanding and then to Yoo’s house, according to charging documents. Bull’s and Owens’ phones remained in the immediate area of Yoo’s house until Feb. 27, when they were turned off and no more cellphone data was available, charges state.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the State Bureau of Investigation in conducting a warranted search of Yoo’s home March 8.
“Red/browns spots, presumed to be blood, were found on the wall and ceiling in the entry way. A presumptive test completed by the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services gives a positive result of human blood found on a pair of shoes and on swabs taken from several areas in the house,” the charges say.
With the assistance of cadaver dogs, investigators found burnt remnants of possible clothing and carpet buried behind Yoo’s home, according to charging documents.
Cellphone data from March 1 shows Yoo’s phone in the approximate area where Bull’s and Owens’ bodies later were found, the charges say.
In addition, bullets and fragments taken from the men’s bodies matched one of Yoo’s guns, according to charging documents.
Friends of Bull and Owens said they last heard from the men on social media and via text Feb. 25.
Yoo told San Juan County sheriff’s deputies he last saw the men driving away from their shared Blanding residence Feb. 26, but he could not provide details about their destination or the vehicle, according to investigators.
A close friend of Bull and Owens said he’d received a text message from Bull on Feb. 27, which he shared with law enforcement because he found it suspicious. In the message, Bull expressed frustrations with his ex-wife, but he had not talked with the woman in three years, according to investigators.
They also determined the text locators indicated it had been sent from the vicinity of the Blanding home of the three men.
Yoo later admitted he was the only person at the residence on Feb. 27, and in baffling behavior nodded affirmatively when asked if he knew the text had been sent from that vicinity that day and how it was sent, charging documents say.
Other odd behavior reported about Yoo after the two men went missing included his refusal to let friends look into a locked room in the garage of the Blanding residence, according to court documents.
On another occasion, as he and others returned to the residence, Yoo, a former military officer, insisted on first clearing the residence tactically of any possible threats.
Yoo was arrested March 10, and the sheriff’s office announced the men’s disappearance had become a homicide investigation.
