Mainstream local media has been reporting on the strange murder of a man they call RJ. What they have not been reporting is where this man was murdered, or how and why it happened.
Police officers have complied with requests to withhold certain details, and as a result, the name of the apartment complex where the man was murdered under very unusual circumstances has received little attention until now.
RJ is Ralph Hofmann. “He was a sweetheart,” says Shar, longtime friend and fellow tenant. “But he had the intellect of an adolescent.”
Hofmann was brutally murdered by blunt-force trauma and asphyxiation in his own apartment at Phillips Plaza over Memorial Day weekend by Bentley Estelvin Scow. He admitted to the murder shortly after he was detained for shoplifting, believing police were detaining him for the murder he had recently committed.
Scow is described as Hofmann’s much younger, gay, drug-addicted lover. Tenants at Phillips Plaza were not surprised by the murder. Every tenant we spoke with agreed that “it was completely avoidable,” if only the red flags and management problems had been addressed.
Prior to the murder, Utah Stories had been covering complaints against Phillips Plaza management and its operator, the Salt Lake City Housing Authority.
Complaints were numerous, but the most serious involved the lack of wellness checks and the ability of homeless drug addicts to enter the building with impunity. According to tenants, these complaints were raised repeatedly but were falling on deaf ears with the manager at the time, Daniela.
Shortly thereafter, a community meeting was held at Phillips Plaza, and Daniela was transferred to another Salt Lake City Housing Authority property and replaced with a new manager.
Tommy Candelaria and Joe Lucero came forward to tell us that the lack of attention to tenants by management was unacceptable at Phillips Plaza. They said homeless drug addicts were stealing lawn ornaments, umbrellas, and personal belongings from residents and gaining access to the building by manipulating vulnerable tenants such as Ralph, the murder victim.
Candelaria and Lucero are lifelong friends who grew up in the neighborhood surrounding Phillips Plaza. Lucero’s mother, Marie C. Lopez, started the Community Action Program which helped juvenile offenders transitioning out of detention facilities.
“This neighborhood used to be so safe you could leave your car unlocked. This was a very nice neighborhood. Today, it’s full of drug addicts and crime. I just want to get out of [Phillips],” says Lucero.
Phillips Plaza is adjacent to Taufer Park, which has received significant media attention for the amount of drug activity occurring there.
“We used to see people having sex in the park all the time, defecating, using drugs. Luckily, that’s improved.”
Brandee Burnam has been managing security cameras at the park to alert police whenever drug trafficking or sex trafficking occurs. The park and surrounding area have improved significantly due to increased police presence. However, according to tenants we spoke with, Phillips Plaza has experienced increasing neglect due to poor management.
Shar is a 79-year-old tenant who isn’t shy about speaking up for the community. When we first met her, she was being threatened with having her kitchen key taken away. She believed this was an act of retaliation for speaking out about negligence by management.
Shar has organized hot dog and bingo nights at Phillips Plaza for the past five years.
“I was complaining about problems enough that they were going to take my key away so I could no longer have hot dog and bingo nights,” she says.
Shar organized these events because she realized many seniors were not leaving their apartments often enough or socializing.
“Isolation is one of the biggest killers of senior citizens,” says Candelaria.
“The new building management wanted to remove that from us,” according to the twelve residents we spoke with at Phillips Plaza.
Residents said the building manager was rarely around to address their needs. Yet, tenants were somehow expected to tolerate the lack of attention to ongoing problems, including the absence of wellness checks.
Wellness checks are a standard practice in senior housing facilities to ensure residents are receiving appropriate care and attention.
“Hofmann should have had a case manager paying close attention to him and checking in on him regularly.”
Another person close to the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “This death could have been completely avoidable had Hofmann been receiving the care he required, especially given his limited mental capacity.”
Utah Stories was told by an inside source that the Housing Authority has been actively attempting to save money and increase revenue. Utah Stories has reached out on numerous occasions seeking comment from the Housing Authority. Those calls have not been returned, despite Tasha, a manager, saying someone would speak with us.
What we did learn is that Housing Authority managers requested that police leave the name of the apartment complex out of reports provided to the media.
The same witness close to the situation said she believes there was an effort to minimize attention surrounding the death to avoid responsibility.
“This will happen again if nobody is ever held accountable,” according to the witness.
On a brighter note, tenants at Phillips Plaza appreciate the recent management changes, including the new Manager and the addition of nighttime security guards. However, residents believe additional changes are still needed and that their concerns deserve to be heard.
Feature Image: Joe Lucero and Tommy Candilaria hold a photo of Joe’s mother, Marie C. Lopez, who started the Community Action Program — a program designed to help juveniles in detention. Both men grew up in the neighborhood around Phillips Plaza.
Photos by Richard Markosian.
