Nearly two years after the death of 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo, a hearing that could resolve the case against her alleged killer has been set in April.
Esar Met, a 23-year-old man who is a Burmese refugee, is charged with aggravated murder and child kidnapping for allegedly beating, sexually assaulting, and strangling the second grader.
The girl's mother, Pearlly Wa, recently said she had been informed the case could conclude next month.
"I was told that because it's been a long, ongoing case, this would probably be the last hearing," the Burmese refugee said through an interpreter. Her daughter was killed March 31, 2008.
A spokesman for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office declined to comment Monday.
"We just can't go into whether or not there's even a plea, or anything regarding a plea in the works," said Mark Biljanic.
A Monday update to Met's court docket lists an April 16 status hearing before 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton.
The case bogged down in December 2008, when the defense raised questions about Met's mental competency.
That issue was complicated by the need for a psychologist fluent in Burmese, according to a motion filed by Met's defense team. The defense motion stated Met's mental state was unknown to them due to the "very difficult Burmese-English language barrier" that exists.
Met and Hser Ner Moo lived in separate parts of the same refugee camp for Burmese refugees in Thailand before immigrating to the United States to move into the same apartment complex.
Family members at that camp, where a Salt Lake Tribune reporter visited last fall, said Met dropped out of school after second grade and was childlike even as an adult. He was known for sitting alone and talking and laughing to himself.
The defense also raised questions about Met's age, noting there are no birth records for him in either Burma or Thailand. According to what Met has told jailers, he is 23, however his mother, Ra He Mar, has said her son is older.
Last year, despondent over the lack of progress in the case, Hser Ner Moo's family moved to Marshalltown, Iowa. Hser Ner Moo was their only daughter. They plan to return to Salt Lake City for the upcoming hearing.
"If I were to ask that he were to be sentenced to death or life in prison then that would mean I am commanding the judge to follow my wish," said Pearlly Wa. "But I believe that this country has its laws and has its just laws and I expect justice will be served."
Met allegedly killed the girl inside his basement apartment at the South Parc Townhomes, 2250 S. 500 East, in South Salt Lake.
According to court documents, police found blood and other evidence in Met's apartment.
An autopsy determined Hser Ner Moo died from blunt force trauma to her head, neck and torso. Some of the injuries were consistent with strangulation or suffocation, and physicians also found evidence of sexual assault.
Hser Ner Moo's family has said they might return to Utah after the case ends.
"It depends on the outcome of the ruling, but we would really like to come back because that is where we started life in the United States," Pearlly Wa said.
Her husband, Cartoon Wah, who works at a pork processing plant in Iowa, remains overwhelmed by grief. Before he left Utah, he sometimes visited his daughter's grave twice a day.
"It really doesn't register much with me whether it's the last hearing or not," the father said through an interpreter. "What really matters is the life of my child. I really wish I could see her or I could be with her again."
Go to extras.sltrib.com/thailand to read "A Missing Peace" and watch video and slide shows from their refugee camp.
