the story of yan and Kiana piacek is truly a love story after what was certainly their most joyous occasion their lives and their lifetime of happiness together would be taken from them in a manner no husband should ever be forced to watch welcome back to Crime A to Z where we detail cases and criminals from their very beginning until well after other reporting ends today we'll be talking about the brutally heartbreaking case of Yannick and Kiana piacek there's a lot of rainfall representing our team's tears in this one guys the sadness of this case was honestly too much for us to handle so we can only imagine the pain that this sweet couple's family has actually had to endure our most sincere condolences go out to him born February 16 1982 Kiana Faye Jenkins was the only child of Roy and Glenna Faye Jenkins she grew up in the Ontario area of Southern California she would ultimately go on to attend San Diego State University where she had earned a master's degree in public health in 2005. Kiana work is a health education assistant for the County's black infant care program with the goal of becoming a doctor Yannick Paul piacek known as Yan To His Friends was born in Poland on March 13 1984. his mother Henrico Varga said that he was named after Pope John Paul II when Jan was 11 years old his family immigrated to the United States where he grew up in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn New York deeply moved by the events of 9 11 Yan joined the Marines shortly afterward in 2003.
he always wanted to serve in the military and give back to his adopted country his mother recalled him saying mom we live in this country we have to be patriotic we have to give back yon servatore in Iraq as a helicopter mechanic and ultimately achieved the rank of a sergeant his friends and colleagues referred to him as sergeant P or just p in 2005 prior to yawn being deployed to Iraq he and Kiana met at a party for Marines being deployed to Iraq a mutual friend of theirs who attended San Diego State introduced them initially Kiana was reluctant to date a Marine but piacek won her over to every person that knew the young couple they were genuinely and deeply in love the kind of love the kind of Life partnership everyone hopes they'll find in life Yan's mother shared they were in love it didn't matter to them that they had different skin colors they were young happy and very much in love with a bright future and many planned children ahead of him 26 year old Kiana and 24 year old yon were married on August 8 2008. Kiana's mother shared that her daughter set that specific date so that Jan would always remember their anniversary the couple would enjoy just two short months of Happiness together before tragedy would strike in the form of Pure Evil on October 15 2008 when both Kiana and Yan failed to show up for work and no one could get in contact with them co-workers from their respective jobs became concerned and both called police to request a well check when officer arrived at the home he found the front door wide open and immediately called for backup on Entry officers first noticed a purse with its contents dumped onto the floor near the front door and the house smelled like both gasoline and natural gas as soon as they entered the living room they encountered Kiana and Jan's bound and gag bodies on the floor a vibrator and red candle were found near Kiana Yan had clearly been extensively and mercilessly beaten and Kiana had been brutally sexually assaulted but both had been tortured before being shot and killed the home had been ransacked and several small fires had been attempted around the home but none had properly lighted police would find at least three distinct sets of shoe print patterns throughout the home from where the murderers had walked through the gasoline they used to try to set the fires leaving their shoe Impressions behind one of the Impressions was of a Nike Air Force One sneaker and the other a Nike Cortez there were also several racial slurs spray painted throughout the homes walls and mirrors police began questioning friends family and co-workers to see if anyone knew of anyone who may have issues with a couple they found that Jan was what they call a hard charger someone who is strict with the people who were poor to him and he would call them out if they didn't do things properly he also recently received a large bonus of thirty thousand dollars which was widely known police considered both of these things when evaluating potential suspects police initially suspected the murders may have been a racially motivated hate crime given the slurs left at the crime scene there was also surveillance footage of the ATM where the killers had used Kiana's ATM card after the murders so they had a grainy image of the suspect and knew he was wearing a blue bandana and gloves with distinct writing on them the naval criminal Investigative Services or NCIS was called in to help local Riverside investigators given their extensive knowledge and expertise upon inspection of the crime scene NCIS immediately noticed that while numerous items of value appeared to have been stolen oddly non's military duffel bag also known as a sea bag remain behind NCIS detectives quickly surmised that the only people who wouldn't want to steal such as sought after military bag would be military personnel themselves since they already have their own local Riverside authorities agreed they had also suspected Marine Personnel since Kiana's ATM card had been used shortly after the murders just half a mile from the rear gate of the Camp Pendleton Marine Corp base as detectives continue to question friends and co-workers one person's name continued to come up 20-year-old Lance corporal Tyrone Miller who reported to Yan Miller had made it clear several people he was not fond of yan coincidentally a few days after the murders Miller's name would also come up because Miller was supposedly shot at a movie theater the day before the funeral during what was reported as a drive-by shooting but such an injury incurred so close to the murders was not lost on police and it raised their suspicions about Miller even higher than they already were they called him in for questioning Miller's interrogation broke the case wide open Miller initially claimed that he had no involvement in the murders he disclosed that he and Jan had fought about Minor work-related issues but that he didn't have any animosity toward Yan he said he was at home the night of the murders but once detectives reminded him they could pull his cell phone records he recalled that he may have driven through the couple's neighborhood with friends around that time police asked him what he would typically wear to such Hangouts to their surprise he volunteered that when they'd hang out they'd wear blue bandanas and that he had several types of shoes he wear including Air Force Ones this gave police enough probable cause to search Miller's home within hours police arrived at Miller's home with a search warrant but Miller and his wife would not open the door so they rammed the door open upon entry they found Miller's wife in One Direction and on the other side of the home was Miller who held his toddler daughter up and now in front of himself as a shield police yelled at Miller to put his child down they noted that in their entire careers they had never ever seen a marine or even a civilian pick up their own child and use them as a shield Miller eventually lowered the child and the family was seated during the search almost as soon as they started the search of Miller's Home Police found laying right on the table he on his ATM card they go on to find the couple's stolen jewelry four Spence shell casings and then hanging in Miller's closet Jan's dress blue uniform uniform that Marines are most proud of they also found several handguns including the actual murder weapon and also a bag of blue bandanas the gloves seen in the ATM surveillance video and extensive DNA evidence police were also surprised to find a lot of other clearly stolen items and IDs unrelated to the Pia check case indicating that Miller may have participated in other burglaries or crimes Miller was taken into custody and interrogated again despite a mountain of evidence found in his home Miller continued to claim that he had no involvement in the murders after about an hour of interrogation he finally begins to break but he minimizes his role in the crimes and says he went there with the intent to perform robbery Miller would ultimately also name two others involved in the crime of him eighteen-year-old Lance corporal Emery's John who also worked under Yan and twenty-year-old private Kevin Cox who worked in the same Squadron and by the time the interrogations were complete they would learn of one more participant in the murders someone Miller referred to as psycho psycho was 21 year old Lance corporal Keyshawn Sykes all were brought in for questioning and while all four suspects would admit involvement that night they all pointed the finger at each other when it came to identifying who committed the shooting the rape Empress idea it was but between their statements and the statements gathered from friends they had confessed to after the murder as well as evidence found at each of their homes police were able to piece together the evenings Ruble events during the early morning hours of October 15th the four perpetrators approached the PHX home covering their faces in blue bandanas and wearing gloves the plan was to secretly gain entry by breaking into the home when they were unsuccessful they decided Yan may be willing to open the door for someone he knew like Cox so they got a Cox knock on the door Jan opened the door holding a large knife words were exchanged between Miller and Yan then all four men Russian at gunpoint after a brief struggle they bound and gagged yawn and then Kiana they then ransacked the home looking for the types of items and money they expected to find in the home when they didn't they tortured the couple until they got Kiana's pin number for her ATM card they then forced yawn to watch as sex and Miller brutally and repeatedly raped and tortured his new wife in front of him for hours once the ordeal was over Emery's John when ordered by Miller to kill them executed the couple it then sprawled racial slurs on the bedroom and bathroom walls and mirrors in an attempt to misdirect suspicion they also attempted to set the home on fire to destroy any evidence but were unsuccessful the motives for the murder to get money and to get revenge the foursome expected there would be money and valuables in the house to steal and they also wanted to exact revenge for Yan allegedly attempting to kill a promotion that Miller was up for however there was no evidence to support that claim Miller was The Mastermind behind the entire plan police would also learn that the four Marines LED his secret life of crime committing home invasions and burglaries on a regular basis the gunshot wound that Miller received that raised the final flag for police was received accidentally from one of the group while attempting one of those such robberies and with those claims of burglary as the motive the official position of law enforcement would be that the crime was not racially motivated as originally assumed despite that claim public sentiment including the belief of the victim's family and friends as well as a top investigator who surveyed the murder scene was the opposite they felt the crime was indeed racially motivated because of the couple's interracial relationship shortly before the murder police discovered that Emery's John had posted a statement on his Myspace page stating chilling waiting for her to kill him this post was used as evidence that their crime was premeditated special agent on the case Matt Timmons also noted everything about this crime was premeditated you can't expect to rob somebody you know and then not be turned in Jan and Kiana were laid to rest on October 24th the families decided that since the couple was committed to spend the rest of their lives together they would bury them together so they could spend the rest of their eternity together a full military funeral ceremony was held for the couple including a full 21-gun salute and they were both buried together in the Riverside National Cemetery PHX mother said she had prepared herself for the possibility that my son could die in Iraq but to die like this in their own home in March 2013 five years after the murders three of the defendants Miller Johns and Cox went on trial all four defendants had already long before that been dishonorably discharged from the Marines and all four defendants were facing the death penalty regarding the trial prosecutor Daniel de Leon thought it critical to remind the jury that these killers were not just ordinary citizens but skillfully trained military personnel stating I think that was important to remind the jury was that these are United States Marines each of these men have been training them how to operate Firearms to act covertly they use all of that training to help them commit murder for trial testimony it was learned that Miller and Cox told Emery's John good job e you earned your stripes tonight Cox told John that he grew up that night and John responded yeah I did man yeah I did the first trial of the three defendants would last four months and the jury would deliberate less than three days the second trial of Keyshawn Sykes would be held one year later due to limited Court space the verdicts all four men were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder along with special allegations related to the murders like it taking place during the commission of a robbery John was convicted as the shooter Miller was additionally convicted of sexual assault Sykes was additionally convicted of sexual assault as well as sexual penetration with a foreign object Miller John and Sykes would be sentenced to death Cox life in prison without the possibility of parole Cox is currently serving his life sentence without the possibility of parole at chuckawalla Valley State Prison chuckawalla is a medium security prison that at the time Cox was sent there was running at Double the capacity holding over 3 200 prisoners when it was designed to hold only just over 1700 it continues to operate at 125 percent capacity as of 2022.
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