Sacto 9-1-1

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

The wife of a state correctional officer shot and killed in his garage nearly two years ago testified today about seeing her husband sprawled out unconscious on the concrete floor and bleeding profusely from the wound to his forehead that ended his life barely four hours later.

Sia Vang said she heard "a lot of commotion" in the garage just before 5 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2008, before she checked out the scene to discover that her husband, Steve Lo, leaning against a wall, "was really hurt."

"He wasn't moving," Vang said. "He was bleeding from the back of his head. I pulled him down so he was flat on his back ... I checked his pulse ... I was hovering over him ... I panicked."

Lo, 39, died just before 9 a.m. that day of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Police and prosecutors say that former Sacramento sheriff's deputy Chu Vue planned the killing because his wife was having an affair with Lo.

Vue, 45, is now facing murder charges in Sacramento Superior Court. A cousin of Vue's, Lang Vue, 27, is on trial with him.

Vue's two younger brothers, Gary and Chong Vue, also have been charged but will be tried separately.

Gary Vue, 29, and Chong Vue, 31, are accused of carrying out what Deputy District Attorney Eric Kindall has characterized as the "assassination" of Lo.

The victim's wife testified she suspected he was having an affair and that she confronted him about it. She said Lo at first denied the extramarital relationship.

"He said I was crazy," Vang told the jury.

Under cross-examination from Chu Vue's attorney, Donald Masuda, Vang said her husband would later indirectly admit to the affair and that he agreed to change his work hours and stop working so much overtime at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

Chu Vue's wife, Chia, also was employed at the prison as a medical technical assistant.

Prosecutors say that Lo and Chia Vue had met at the Rodeway Inn in West Sacramento as recently as 10 days before he was killed.

Also today, investigators from Minnesota and Sacramento County testified about questioning Gary Vue in March 2006 about a murder in Minneapolis in 2001.

Gary Vue admitted to the slaying in a videotaped interview. Investigators were forced to let him go because they told him beforehand that he was not under arrest and was free to leave at any time during their questioning of him.

The investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Gary Vue later that day, but he had fled in the meantime.

When officers went to take him into custody, Sacramento sheriff's Det. Dan Cabral testified that Chu Vue, who had been on a sheriff's task force to track his brother down, was at the south area residence where they thought the younger brother was staying.

Cabral testified that he told Chu Vue of his brother's admission in the interview that day.

Chu Vue then "made a comment he was going to whip his ass," Cabral said. "I advised him to leave it alone."

Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.