The Rose Park neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, was home to quiet streets and ordinary lives. That peace was violently shattered on September 18, 2015, when a routine welfare check uncovered a scene of unspeakable carnage. This is the harrowing true crime story of Alexander Hung Tran, a seemingly ordinary landlord whose escalating fixation on his tenant led to the deliberate execution of three innocent people, including a newborn infant.
The Missing Grandmother and the Horrific Discovery
The tragedy began with a simple, unsettling fact: 63-year-old Heike Poike failed to pick up her grandson from school. This lapse immediately raised alarm, prompting authorities to check on the home where Heike lived with her family on the main floor. The house, owned by the mother of Alexander Hung Tran, the man living in the basement apartment, revealed a terrifying secret.
Responding officers found the back door ajar and, upon entering, discovered a horrific crime scene. In the living room lay the bodies of Heike Poike, her 2-month-old granddaughter Lyrik Poike, and a family friend, Dakota Smith.
Tran was quickly found in the basement, where he surrendered to police and put down a recently purchased firearm. Ballistic evidence and Tran’s own admissions would later confirm the brutal truth: the landlord had carried out the aggravated murders himself.
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The Deadly Motive: Landlord Obsession
The investigation into the triple slaying unveiled a motive rooted in a deep and dangerous landlord obsession.
Heike’s daughter, Ashley Poike, had moved into the upstairs portion of the home with her children just six weeks prior. Heike joined them shortly after to help with childcare while her daughter, identified as A.P. in court documents, worked.
Almost immediately, Alexander Hung Tran became fixated on the tenant. He began sending her intensely obsessive text messages, professing his love, asking her to marry him, and stating his desire to have a child with her. Ashley Poike, nervous about their living situation and feeling obligated to appease her landlord, engaged with him, but only out of necessity to ensure her family had a roof over their heads.
The situation reached a breaking point when Tran’s mother, who legally owned the property, announced her intention to begin an eviction process against the tenants. For Tran, the prospect of losing the woman who he had declared his "miracle girl" was apparently an intolerable threat.
Prosecutors revealed that on the day of the murders, Tran called his mother and told her the people upstairs were "gone."
An Act of Calculated Cruelty
The close-range nature of the assault showed calculated intent. Dakota Smith, 28, was believed to have been shot first while sitting on the couch. Two-month-old Lyrik Poike was targeted next, shot multiple times while asleep in her baby bouncer. Finally, Heike Poike was gunned down while reportedly trying to stop the horrifying attack. Prosecutors noted that 12 shots were fired, forcing Tran to reload his weapon mid-massacre. This was not a crime of passion, but a planned execution carried out with chilling indifference.
Justice Achieved After a Decade
The road to justice for Heike Poike, Lyrik Poike, and Dakota Smith was lengthy. Due to competency concerns, including a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder for Tran, the case was significantly delayed. Legal challenges, including an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court over the legality of the police’s entry into the home for the welfare check, further extended the process for years.
However, the families finally saw accountability. In August 2025, a jury found Alexander Hung Tran guilty of all three counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder. In November 2025, a Third District Court judge handed down the final sentence: three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The court's decision ensures that the man whose dangerous landlord obsession extinguished three lives, including an infant’s, will spend the rest of his existence behind bars, providing a small measure of closure for the victim’s family after a decade of waiting.
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