West Valley City police are still searching for a victim and suspects following a violent assault that left a severed tongue at a crime scene on September 5. According to a report published October 13, officers responded to a reported fight near 1800 West and 3900 South but found only blood on the asphalt and a severed human tongue lying on rocks.
Court documents cited by KSL indicate a witness saw five males holding down a man and beating him with rocks. The witness reported that the group fled in a red car immediately after the attack. One man was reportedly seen with a knife and another man was observed with a bloody head. No arrests have been made as of Monday.
Police have described the missing victim as a Hispanic man in his early 20s with short black hair, standing between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10 and weighing approximately 150 pounds. Investigators have contacted hospitals in the surrounding area, but none have reported treating a patient for a severed tongue. This medical gap is significant because research in the Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery Open states that fewer than 10 successful microvascular tongue replantations have been documented worldwide due to the delicacy of the blood vessels.
Under Utah Code Section 76-5-105, intentionally cutting out or disabling a person's tongue is defined as mayhem, which is a second-degree felony. West Valley City is a municipality where 43.3% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, a demographic detail that aligns with the police description of the victim. While Salt Lake County contains an estimated 1,300 juvenile gang members, no gang connection has been established in this specific case.
Anyone with information regarding the assault or the identity of the victim is asked to contact the West Valley City police at 801-840-4000.
