Man who pleaded guilty in four Atlanta spa killings appears in court for other four murders
- Robert Aaron Long is accused of shooting four people at an Atlanta massage business and killing four more people at two other massage parlours in the city
- Six of the eight murdered victims, who were killed on March 16, were women of Asian descent
A man accused of killing eight people at Atlanta-area massage businesses and has already pleaded guilty in four of those murders appeared briefly in court on Monday but he did not enter a plea in the other four killings.
Robert Aaron Long, 22, is accused of shooting four people to death at a massage business and shooting and wounding a fifth person in Cherokee County on March 16 and then killing four more people at two massage businesses in Atlanta. Six of the eight murdered victims were women of Asian descent.
Long was expected to be arraigned on Monday in Fulton County Superior Court on charges including murder, aggravated assault and domestic terrorism in the Atlanta killings. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has filed notice that she intends to seek the death penalty, as well as a sentencing enhancement under Georgia’s new hate crimes law.
The judge went through some preliminary steps and established that Long’s lawyers are qualified to handle a death-penalty case. Then he said the hearing would continue on September 28, with the reading of the indictment and entry of a plea.
Those killed in Cherokee County: Paul Michels, 54; Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; and Delaina Yaun, 33. The Atlanta victims were: Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yong Ae Yue, 63.