Soi Dang, 34, formerly of Halifax was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years by Plymouth Superior Court judge Cornelius J. Moriarty, II on Friday, June 22, 2018. Dang was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2015 stabbing death of Marissa Randall, 19, of Revere, the day before. He was remanded to MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole.
The lengthy, eight-day trial ended with nearly eight hours of jury deliberations before the conviction and sentencing. The Commonwealth had sought a charge of first-degree murder.
“Mr. Dang stabbed the victim, left her for dead, and then went on to work and the rest of his day,” District Attorney Timothy Cruz said. “At sentencing today, relatives described Ms. Randall as a loving, sensitive and caring person, whose loss devastated their family. I hope that this family can now move on and begin to find some peace.”
At the sentencing, Randall’s mother, Annmarie Stoilov, and Randall’s younger brother gave emotional victim impact statements. Both were crying as they described to the judge how their daughter and sister’s loss has affected them. They both said they now have trouble trusting people.
Stoilov begged the judge to sentence Dang to the maximum sentence of life in prison with the chance of parole in 25 years.
The defense counsel, Timothy Bradl, a former ADA, asked the judge for a sentence of life with the chance of parole in 15 years for his client. He also asked the judge to reduce the sentence to involuntary manslaughter, which was denied.
The case began when Randall’s body was discovered by Halifax Police the day after the stabbing, said the district attorney’s office. Halifax Police were searching for a missing Duxbury minor– as part of a separate investigation– who they found with Dang that day by tracking her cell phone to his address. The girl, who Halifax Police returned to Duxbury Police, told Duxbury officers she had seen blood at Dang’s apartment, and that he said he had killed someone the night before.
Halifax Police returned, where Dang freely admitted them into his apartment at 46A Wamsutta Avenue, where they observed blood and a female body wrapped in a blanket. State Police were immediately contacted, says the DA’s office, and the incident was investigated by Halifax Police, State Police assigned to the district attorney’s office, the State Police Crime Scene Services and the State Police Crime Lab.
The investigation revealed that Dang and Randall had met to exchange money for sex after meeting online. The encounter turned into a struggle after a dispute about the amount of money to be exchanged, and Dang fatally stabbed Randall multiple times.
He bound Randall’s body with zip-ties, wrapped it in either a blanket or a plastic tablecloth and hid it in a closet.
Dang then drove to the Castel Island area of South Boston, took a half hour nap, and returned to his job as a produce worker at Shaw’s Supermarket in Carver the next morning.
Halifax Selectman Kim Roy said, “I’m grateful to the Halifax Police and all the law-enforcement personnel for their hard work in bringing a murderer to justice. I’d especially like to recognize Officers Rob McDonnell and Michael Schleiff for following their instincts in this case, or it may never have been solved.”