Utah Mom Fled Ethnic Cleansing in Myanmar with Young Family. Then Husband Killed Them in Murder-Suicide

A refugee mother and three of her children living in Utah were killed by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide this month. A 17-year-old boy survived the incident with serious injuries.

Police in West Valley City, Utah say a family member of the deceased entered the garage of the Oxford Way home and found 17-year-old Sha Reh suffering from a gunshot wound and called police. Inside the home, officers located the dead bodies of five other family members.

Family members identified the deceased victims as 38-year-old mother Bu Meh, her daughters Kristina Ree, 8, and Nyay Meh, 2, and her son Boe Reh, 11. Police believe Dae Reh, 42, killed his wife and children and injured another before dying by suicide.

The bodies of Bu and her daughters were discovered upstairs in the home, while Dae and Boe were found downstairs, according to police.

A GoFundMe started by extended family has raised over $60,000.

“Sha Reh is the lone survivor in his immediate family after a tragic sense of violence,” extended family wrote in a statement. “He has a long and complex road to recovery.”

In an update, the family said that the 17-year-old has shown signs of improvement but still has a “very long road” to healing.

“Over ten years ago, [Bu Meh] fled a violent situation in her home country of Myanmar, where her people were being ethnically cleansed by their government,” relatives wrote. “She came to the United States with her husband and young family with little more than the clothing on their backs.”

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Police previously said that a family member had voiced “concerns” to police after not hearing from “the woman who lives in the home” days after a visit.

The family’s neighbor expressed shock at the incident.

“How can a father shoot his children?” Mike Webster told KUTV. “I just can’t grasp for that concept at all. I can just see that poor little two-year-old looking at her daddy.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.