Boy Whose Sister and Mother Were Slain Is Found

A 15-year-old Upland youth was found in Las Vegas on Monday and interviewed by police in connection with the weekend slayings of his mother and 9-year-old sister.

Paul Yum, a freshman at Upland High School, was picked up about 3 p.m. at the Riviera Hotel, authorities said.

The family’s Mercedes-Benz was parked in the hotel lot.

Upland Police Lt. Ed Gray said Yum is considered a possible witness to the killings at the family’s home, and has not been ruled out as a suspect.

Autopsies of Esther Yum, 38, and her daughter, Christine Yum, are pending, police said. Authorities said they were shot.

Tai Du Yum, Esther’s husband and the girl’s father, arrived at his home in the 400 block of Canterbury Court and discovered the bodies about 3 a.m. Saturday, Gray said.

The family’s youngest child, 6-year-old John, was asleep and had not been harmed, police said.

Authorities said some parts of the home had been ransacked, but so far they believe only a gun and the family’s white Mercedes were missing.

A Rowland Heights man who came to the Yums’ house Sunday to console his friend, Tai Du Yum, said he told police he was with Yum between 7:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. the night of the killings.

The two had dinner at a Rowland Heights restaurant, then had drinks and played billiards before parting, said the man, who would not disclose his name. He said Yum, who used to own a liquor store in Rancho Cucamonga, took a taxi home.

Yun Hearn, 80, and Dong Soon Hearn, 71, parents of the dead woman, said she was found on her bed with a gunshot wound to the head. The body of the 9-year-old girl was nearby on the floor.

“Why they kill people, I don’t understand,” said Dong Soon Hearn.

The San Bernardino County resident said she immigrated to the United States from South Korea with her husband and their six children in 1974.

She said she is worried about her grandson. “I need Paul back home,” she said.

Police said they have not determined any motive for the crime. “There’s all kinds of theories,” Gray said. “We have nothing right now to focus us on any particular theory.”

Relatives flew in from Oregon and South Korea on Sunday, grappling with grief and unanswered questions.

“Nothing makes sense,” said Esther Yum’s brother-in-law, who flew from South Korea after learning of the deaths. He declined to give his name.

Gray said the case has shocked the city, which averages one homicide a year. Four of the department’s 10 detectives are investigating.