Courts

New trial in West Salem triple murder scheduled for August 2024

Published

8 months ago

September 15, 2023

Brad Williams

FILE - Nya Thao on trial in La Crosse County court on June 15, 2023 (PHOTO: Brad Williams)

A new trial for local murder suspect Nya Thao is scheduled for next summer.

Thao is one of two men charged with the 2021 shooting deaths of three men at a West Salem quarry.

At a La Crosse County trial this past June, the jury was unable to agree on a verdict after about 10 hours of deliberation, so Thao will get a second trial, scheduled to begin in August of 2024.

Two weeks have been reserved on the calendar for that new trial before Judge Elliott Levine. The other suspect, Kham Rattanasack, has a plea hearing in the murder case next month.

Peng Lor, Nemo Yang, and Trevor Maloney were shot to death outside the Romskog quarry on July 23rd, 2021, allegedly over a $600 debt.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.