Trial to proceed in American Fork slaying

PROVO — An American Fork man accused of shooting his younger brother after using a yellow smiley face to warn him about evil will go on trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Eryk Drej, 32, is charged with murder in the June 2005 shooting of his brother, Lukasz Drej. Lukasz Drej was shot multiple times while parked in the driveway of his mother's American Fork home.

American Fork police detective Keith Southard testified Tuesday during a preliminary hearing that in a jail interview Eryk Drej told him everything that happened on June 1, including Drej's goal to hit every major body organ as he shot his brother.

Drej had been undergoing psychological treatment after being found incompetent to stand trial twice, once in August and again in November. He had been diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia. He was declared competent at a March court hearing — allowing the case to proceed.

Southard testified that Drej told him that after shooting his brother outside, he dragged him out of the truck and went back inside the house.

"He described being overcome and wanting to smash his brother's head in," Southard said of the interview. Southard said that Drej told him that he returned to his basement room, got another gun and returned to hit his brother in the head.

"He (said he) was expecting (Lukasz's) head to cave in," Southard said.

Angry that it didn't, Drej struck his brother again, then dragged him down a concrete stairwell and left his body there, Southard said.

During later searches of the house, Southard also testified that he found multiple smiley faces posted around the home.

"The smiley faces, as he explained them to me, were protection for the family members he didn't want harmed," Southard said. "The (yellow) one in Lukasz's room was a warning to him that something was coming."

According to police reports, Eryk Drej reportedly confessed that he killed his brother to prevent him from killing an unidentified female and selling her organs on the black market.

Robert Deters of the state medical examiner's office testified that he found 22 bullet holes in the body of Lukasz Drej and recovered nine bullets.

"How many of those shots would have been fatal?" asked defense attorney Andy Howell.

"Ten," Deters responded.