2 fatally stabbed at Palm Desert hotel; victims identified

Two people were killed and a third person was injured Friday morning in a stabbing near a Palm Desert hotel that the Riverside County Sheriff's Office is calling a domestic violence case.

At 6:55 a.m., Riverside County sheriff's deputies received a report of a dispute involving a man with a knife at a hotel on Highway 111 near Fred Waring Drive. Officers went to the scene and found three people had been stabbed.

Firefighters pronounced two people dead at the scene, and the third person was taken to a hospital in unknown condition, the sheriff's department said.

Through video surveillance, the sheriff's department said it had determined that the incident was a case of domestic violence. The dead woman, identified as 31-year-old Palm Desert resident Yaying Wu, was the wife of 34-year-old Palm Desert resident Kenny Wu, the man who survived the incident. Kenny Wu is the suspect in the stabbings and remains in critical condition.

The other victim has been identified as Jesus Sanchez, 30, of Cathedral City.

A Desert Sun photographer on scene saw two bodies on the pavement in front of the hotel, just behind some barriers, and a Chevrolet Malibu nearby with what appeared to be blood on the inside of the door.

Riverside County sheriff's investigators were on scene at the Marriott SpringHill Suites, at 72-322 Highway 111 throughout the day. A hotel employee confirmed a stabbing was reported.

These are the first homicides reported in Palm Desert this year. In 2021, there were three within the city limits, tied for the most in a decade.

SpringHill Suites, a Marriott hotel brand, opened in November 2019. It replaced a Fairfield Inn, also a Marriott hotel, that closed in April 2014 due to major damage from a four-alarm electrical fire.

Desert Sun reporter Christopher Damien contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 2 people stabbed to death outside Palm Desert hotel on Highway 111