Left: Martin Yost (Macomb County Prosecutor”s Office). Right: Dhoua Liz Lao (Wysocki and Wilk Funeral Home).
A 45-year-old man in Michigan faces life in prison after he beat his girlfriend until she was barely recognizable and then passed out in the car next to her body.
Martin Yost was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 45-year-old Dhoua Liz Lao following a two-week trial in the Mitten State, the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
The incident occurred on Nov. 13, 2023, when police in Roseville, a Detroit suburb, found Lao’s body and the sleeping Yost in his car. He was in the driver’s seat while she was in the passenger’s seat. Prosecutors said the murder was domestic violence-related.
According to a courtroom report from the Macomb Daily, prosecutors at trial called the scene “something out of a horror movie.” Authorities reportedly said the victim’s head and face were so bloodied and swollen that they could not tell her gender or race. Prosecutors also presented to jurors a “disturbing picture of their relationship,” in which she begged him in text messages not to kill her and offered him money not to hurt her.
“This is a stark and tragic illustration of the ultimate and worst consequence of domestic violence. Justice has finally been secured in this case. The defendant’s conviction, as charged, including first-degree murder reflects the unwavering commitment of prosecutors, investigators, and the victim’s loved ones, to seek accountability and justice,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said in a statement. “No verdict can undo the profound loss suffered by the victim’s family, but we hope this outcome brings them a measure of peace and closure.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Lucido provided additional details in an interview with Detroit CBS affiliate WWJ, emphasizing the brutality of the crime.
“I’ve never seen a beating like this,” Lucido reportedly told the station. “Never.”
The prosecutor said that authorities were first notified about the incident when another driver witnessed a man beating a woman inside a car and called 911, providing the emergency dispatcher with a description of the vehicle.
Officers with the Roseville Police Department reportedly located the car about 30 minutes later on Gratiot Avenue near Interstate 94, which is when they found the passed-out Yost and deceased Lao.
Lucido told WWJ that the scene inside the car was particularly grisly and noted that Lao suffered significant trauma to her head, face and hands.
“Which would tell us that there seems to be a covering of the head and somebody’s either stomping with their foot or kicking with their foot, and heel and toe,” he told the station regarding the locations of Lao’s injuries. “[I]t’s severe. Truly, truly severe. The photographs are tough to even look at.”
The Detroit News reported that Yost had previously been convicted on charges of domestic violence, carrying a concealed weapon and fleeing police. He was last convicted of domestic violence in 2020 and completed his parole only three weeks before his latest arrest.
Lucido told WWJ that it was unclear to investigators whether Lao knew about Yost’s criminal history.
“Whether or not she knew he came off parole, whether or not she knew he had a tendency and/or had a past history of domestic violence, whether or not any of those questions would be up to more facts that are needed and to make it a determination of who she may have talked to about her relationship with this man,” he reportedly told the station.
Yost is slated to be sentenced on July 28. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report
