October trial set for men accused in slaying of their escort service employer

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 | 9:35 a.m.

A trial has been set for October for two men accused of kidnapping and killing their escort service employer, then burning her body in the desert.

Clark County District Judge Linda Bell has set the trial for Min Chang, 30, and Keon Park, 19, for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 31 in the slaying of Yung Park, 39.

Yung Park's burned body was found Dec. 23 by two hikers in Arizona's Kingman Wash at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

The two men were indicted by a grand jury in January on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping, first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon, murder with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon.

Chang and Park are being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.

According to police, Keon Park told officers that Yung Park owed him $3,000 and owed Chang between $5,000 and $6,000. He told police the escort service employer kept putting off payments and Chang suggested they kill her and take over the business, according to police reports.

Keon Park told police after a confrontation on Dec. 21, he and Chang put her in the backseat of Chang's car.

While Chang drove, Park told police he began to choke the woman and hit her repeatedly in the head with a wrench.

According to a police report, Park told police she stopped breathing after he squeezed her next with his arm.

Park said the two men then bought items from a 7-Eleven in Boulder City and decided to burn her body because she was she was an undocumented immigrant and no one would be able to identify her, according to the report.

According to police, they first tried to burn her body with lighter fluid and matches, but they had trouble getting the fire started because it was raining.

Police said they went back to the same 7-Eleven the next day to buy gasoline and gloves before going back to where they had left the woman's body and set it on fire.

According to the report, the Mohave County Coroner's office determined the woman had been struck in the head at least five times with an object and that the body was burned after her death.