The man accused of killing his wife and another man last Thursday evening in Nu’uuli appeared in District Court Monday morning for his initial appearance.
Guofeng Tan is held without bail at the Territorial Correctional Facility, facing charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, two counts of manslaughter, and two counts of first-degree assault. He is accused of killing his wife, Yanxia Mo, and another man identified as Zhongwu Wu.
Court filings say that around 2:30 p.m. on November 27, police received a call from Dr. Mendosa at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center, who reported that there were two deceased at the LBJ Emergency Room and requested police assistance.
At about 3:30 p.m. the same day, the defendant walked into the Fagatogo police station and said he had killed someone.
A woman who is identified as a friend of the female victim, told police that her friend had called her to go to lunch that day. Her friend picked her up in a van, and they headed toward Coconut Point, where Mo brought out food that they ate at the back of the van. Later, Wu joined them.
According to the witness, the defendant showed up, opened the driver’s door, and saw the three of them in the back of the van. The defendant stepped out, and when he returned, he was holding a knife.
The witness said the defendant first stabbed the male victim on his left side, and the female victim begged him to stop. The defendant then stabbed the female victim on her right thigh.
The witness said she begged the defendant to call an ambulance because the two victims were bleeding heavily. The defendant instructed her to get a wire to tie up his wife’s thigh to stop the bleeding, but it didn’t work. He then cut the seatbelt from the passenger-side back seat and gave it to her to tie around his wife’s thigh, but the bleeding did not stop.
The defendant then told her to drive the van to take the two victims to the hospital.
The witness said the defendant followed her all the way from Nu’uuli, but he did not turn into the hospital.
The defendant drove to the Fagatogo police station and turned himself in.
When police interviewed the defendant, he said it was last August that he found out on his wife’s phone that she was having an affair with Wu. He had begged her to stop contacting Wu but later learned the affair had continued. The defendant also claimed that he had asked Wu to leave his wife alone, as he loves her and their family.
The defendant said last Thursday was the birthday of their second child. His wife told him she was picking up wholesale goods, and he told her he needed the van to pick up the cake for their daughter at noon. But by noon she hadn’t returned, and when he called to ask where she was, she became upset with his questioning. She said that she would pick up the birthday cake but later informed him she wouldn’t be coming back.
The defendant said he borrowed a car and drove to Coconut Point trying to find his wife. He said when he saw her and Wu in the van sitting close together, he became angry. He remembered he had a knife under the driver’s seat of the van, which he grabbed. The defendant claimed that he did not intend to hurt the two, he just wanted to scare them but lost control.
Doctors who attended to the two victims at the hospital said they died from loss of blood. The woman sustained a 6 centimeter stab wound on her right thigh, and the male victim sustained multiple penetrating injuries on the left side of his chest.
District Court Judge Jon Clemens said in court Monday that because of the seriousness of the charges against the defendant, he will not set a bail amount. The defendant will be held without bail. Tan said he cannot afford an attorney, so he is represented by the Public Defender’s Office. His preliminary examination is set for December 9.
