Seeking Clues in Shadowy World

First, the killer repeatedly stabbed a Little Saigon fortuneteller and her daughter. Then, the assailant poured white paint over their faces and hands. Baffled detectives believe the paint may have a hidden cultural significance and are asking the public for help.

Ha Jade Smith and her daughter, Anita Nhi Vo, were found stabbed to death in their Westminster home two weeks ago. A couple were seen leaving the home April 21 -- the day before the bodies were found -- and police said the residence had been ransacked, as if someone had been hurriedly searching for something.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen anything like this,” Westminster Police Chief Andrew E. Hall said. “It’s a mystery. We don’t know if the killer is trying to cover up [the victims’] identities or if it’s part of a cult or it could be something cultural. We don’t know.”

The crime, which detectives believe was related to Smith’s work, has taken police into a shadowy world.

While regarded in many places as exotic, fortunetellers and palm readers in the Vietnamese community are held in high regard by businesspeople and others seeking advice about financial matters, romance and other topics.

There are scores, and perhaps hundreds, of fortunetellers in Westminster and Garden Grove, some operating out of storefronts and many more doing business from their homes. Clients pay thousands of dollars for readings. Smith was known to charge as much as $9,000 a session.

“In the Vietnamese community, people are very quick to go to a fortuneteller and also very quick to blame a fortuneteller,” said Karen Fjelstad, a lecturer at San Jose State University who specializes in Vietnamese American ritual practices.

The white paint is an eerie detail that has no clear meaning, Fjelstad said. But the color white, she said, represents mourning and is sometimes associated with rites of passage. At Vietnamese funerals, for instance, the head of the mourning family wears a white headband or white clothing.

Detectives said they had sought out experts and cultural specialists worldwide in an attempt to understand ethnic nuances they might have missed.

Fortunetelling in the Vietnamese community is a thriving enterprise, and both rich and poor turn to fortunetellers much the way Westerners seek psychiatrists.

“People are depressed sometimes, so this is a way for treatment,” said Son-Kim Vo, who teaches Vietnamese culture at Cal State Fullerton. “Fortunetellers give some hope for the future, so they are popular.”

The Vietnamese phone book for Orange County lists more than two dozen astrologers, but most, such as Smith, build business by word of mouth.

Business is generally conducted with cash, making fortunetellers targets of thieves. The Vietnamese community has a long-held mistrust of banks, and people often stash their money at home.

Friends and clients said Smith was well-known in Vietnamese communities across the country. She worked from home and had a long list of clients, traveling as far as New York for sessions. At the time of her death, she was planning to go to Vietnam for a reading a client had arranged.

Smith was known to wear gold and impressive chunks of jade and was a regular in Little Saigon’s diamond center, home to more than 250 jewelry stores.

Westminster police believe robbery was a factor in the slayings. Jewelry was missing from the Bird Avenue home Smith, 52, shared with her daughter Vo, 23, a student at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. This week police released sketches of a man and a woman who were seen leaving the house.

Neighbors said they saw the couple leave in a dark gray or blue late-model Toyota Camry or Honda at 11:15 a.m. April 21.

Smith may have known her killer, authorities believe. She had become cautious not to let in strangers after losing $372,000 in cash and jewelry in a March 2001 robbery. One of the stolen items was a 13.8-karat diamond ring worth $226,000.

Two men were arrested and are serving time in prison. The jewelry was not recovered.

Despite Westminster and Garden Grove laws that say fortunetellers must have a business license, Smith did not. That may not be unusual, however. Westminster has just one licensed palm reader and Garden Grove has three. Yet, the businesses abound.

Yvonne Le said she has been reading palms out of her mobile home in Westminster for eight years. She said she sees up to four people a day, offering advice on topics ranging from real estate to missing persons.

“They come to me to help solve their problems,” Le said. “I have a special gift that can connect them with the people above.”

Fortuneteller Dung Pham, 62, of Fountain Valley, a retired secretary, started practicing her trade when she was 14.

“I was told that I was right, so I just kept doing it,” said Pham, who is not listed in the phone book. “I was given a very strong sixth sense from the above. I can look at people and know what they’re like, whether they’re a good person or bad and their personality.”

Clients, she said, seek help with picking lucky wedding dates to finding lost relatives. Most, however, want to know about their love life.

“They want to see if their husband has a mistress,” Pham said. “They want to know what is the mistress like? Does my husband love her or me?”

There is a darker side of the business, too. Some fortunetellers will place spells on a mistress or business rival if the price is right.

For Kim Lee, 40, of Westminster, a good fortuneteller was hard to find. Like many others seeking readings, Lee searched for a palm reader through friends. She visited seven before she found one she trusted in Garden Grove.

“It’s like going to a psychologist to see what I should expect and to see if it’s true,” said Lee, who wanted to know when would be a good time to open a restaurant. “If I’m suspicious something is going to happen, I go to see if it is going to happen.”

She said she prefers to see a fortune teller rather than a marriage counselor.

“I pay them to listen and to talk to them,” she said. “A marriage counselor costs more and gives me advice. A fortuneteller tells me what will happen.”