ROY — Six Roy residents and a Box Elder County woman face criminal charges stemming from a May 9 South Salt Lake robbery-murder and an alleged cover-up.

Several suspects remain sought by police, three months after Romeo Charles Stevens was found shot to death on Main Street near a grocery store entryway. Police and prosecutors allege that four people conspired to rob Stevens and that after he was killed, three others obstructed police efforts to track them down.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on May 20 charged three Roy residents — Damian Stafon Coleman Jr., 27; Stafon Coleman, 21; and Terell Jones, 20 — and McKennalyn Cummins, 24, of Portage, with murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

Damian Stafon Coleman Sr., 49; Kenya Coleman, 47; and Llana Blas, 20, all of Roy, were charged Monday in 3rd District Court, Salt Lake City, with second-degree felony obstructing justice.

The investigation began when South Salt Lake police and paramedics found Stevens unresponsive, shot in the chest and neck. Charging documents said surveillance video showed Cummins and Stevens arrive at the grocery store in Stevens’ car. Stevens went inside and three men, later identified as Coleman Jr., Stafon Coleman and Jones, crouched behind a vehicle. As Stevens returned to his car, the three stood, and Stevens saw them and ran. In a struggle among Stevens, Jones and Stafon Coleman, gunshot muzzle flashes were seen.

Damian Coleman Jr. was found and arrested in Ogden on May 10. He allegedly told detectives during an interrogation that the three men and Cummins planned to rob Stevens, Cummins allegedly setting up Stevens by going on a date. Coleman said that after the shooting he picked up Jones and Stafon Coleman and they drove away. Cummins left in her own vehicle after questioning by police on the night of the shooting.

Damian and Stefan Coleman are brothers, Jones is their stepbrother, and Jones and Cummins have a child together, according to investigators.

Police said they went to the Roy home of Damian Coleman Sr. and Kenya Coleman on May 10. According to police, the couple denied that Damian Jr. or Stefan Coleman lived there, and Kenya Coleman, Damian Jr.’s stepmother, initially denied even knowing who he was. They eventually said that Damian Jr. and Jones were at the home on the night of the shooting.

Police said they later learned that Damian Jr., Cummins, Stafon and Blas, Stafon’s girlfriend, had been staying at the Roy couple’s home. Police served a search warrant Aug. 10 at the home, and the obstruction of justice charging documents filed this week alleged that the elder Colemans and Blas had facilitated the three other murder suspects’ avoidance of arrest, including with reported travel to Arizona, Nevada and Texas.

All but Damian Coleman Jr. and Blas apparently remain out of custody. Efforts to contact South Salt Lake police for an update on the case were not immediately successful.

Newsletter