Somboun Sayasane, a 75-year-old artist known for his paintings of San Francisco, was reported missing in December, leading to a homicide investigation. Authorities identified his roommate, Benjamin Dougherty, as the primary suspect, revealing that his father, Robert Dougherty, helped him conceal the crime. Sayasane's body was discovered in a remote area in the Sierra foothills. A refugee from Laos, Sayasane started painting at a young age, becoming a prolific artist in the U.S. after fleeing his home country during wartime. His tragic death shocked the community that celebrated his art.
"From there, it unfortunately did develop into a homicide investigation," Sacramento County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi told reporters last week. "Detectives believed that he had been murdered."
Investigators learned that Sayasane's body had been dumped by a remote road in the Sierra foothills. Footage shared by the sheriff's office showed crime scene investigators photographing the body and processing the scene on a wooded hillside off Old Toll Road in Placerville.
Sayasane started painting as a child in Laos and spent much of his youth in a remote jungle village with his grandfather. "There was no school and there were no shops. There was no electricity. The village was surrounded by beautiful jungle," Sayasane once wrote.
After studying fine arts in Laos, Sayasane first saw the United States as an Army Corps engineer and gained refugee status in America in 1975 when Pathet Lao came to power in Laos.
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