A Tongan-American man in Utah, Nitokalisi Fonua (33) has pleaded guilty to the killing of a Tongan national Viliami Latu (34) in 2007 and to the killing of a young woman Krystal Flores (21) in 2009, both in Salt Lake City. According to local media reports Nitokalisi pleaded guilty to manslaughter although the charges against him are two counts of first-degree murder. He is due to be sentenced on April 18 by a Salt Lake City court.

Nitokalisi was one of four men charged with the murder of Krystal Flores. The others are Alexander Bloomfield (35), Pailate Lomu (26) and George Angilau. According to the Utah Police, the four accused were all members of the “Baby Regulators”, a violent Utah based gang made up predominately of Tongans. They were allegedly hunting for rival gang members on the day of Krystal’s murder and had allegedly mistaken her house for the home of a rival gang member.

Local media stated that Nitokalisi admitted to shooting Viliami in the garage of a house in 2007 and also admitted to shooting Krystal inside her house in 2009. In his defence Nitokalisi claimed that Krystal was killed from a “warning shot”. He also claimed to have approached Viliami to “collect a debt".