Handyman Points to Nguyen Murder Defendant

A motel handyman testified in court Friday that he saw the female defendant in the Quynh Duc Nguyen murder case leading a group of men carrying an apparently unconscious person from the motel to a parking lot.

But under cross-examination, Jose Chavez, 20, conceded that he didn’t clearly see the face of Xuan Kim Lai, 37, who along with her husband, Hoan Ngoc Lai, 47, is charged with murdering Nguyen, 50, of Villa Park.

Chavez’s testimony came on the second day of the Lais’ preliminary hearing in Santa Ana before Orange County Municipal Judge Edward L. Laird.

The Westminster couple was arrested by Santa Ana police Dec. 1 after Nguyen’s strangled body was found floating in a canal in the Naples district of Long Beach.

Police said the Lais lured Nguyen to a Santa Ana motel Nov. 30 and killed him for having an affair with Xuan Kim Lai. It has never been clearly explained why she would want to kill him.

Defense attorney Alan M. May has said his clients were framed but has not accused anyone else of the crime.

Complicated Case

The complicated case involves charges and countercharges of revenge and questionable business dealings between the families of the accused and the victim, all of whom are Vietnamese immigrants.

Chavez’s brother, Manuel, 24, had testified earlier that as the motel clerk, he had rented a room to Xuan Kim Lai earlier that night.

Under questioning by county Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Borris, Jose Chavez then testified that he had seen her and three Asian men carrying someone down the motel’s stairs and to the parking lot.

“One was carrying him by his feet, another by his back,” Chavez said through a Spanish interpreter.

But in answer to May’s questions, Chavez admitted that he had never clearly seen the woman’s face and that he had difficulty distinguishing between Asian nationalities. He told the court he could identify Xuan Kim Lai largely through her hair style.

Later that night, sometime before his shift ended at midnight, Jose Chavez said, he saw another Asian woman in the motel office. Pointing to the courtroom gallery, he identified her as Tuyet Nguyen, the victim’s widow, who was wearing a white headband in the courtroom, a traditional Vietnamese symbol of mourning.

In prior testimony, witnesses said that Tuyet Nguyen had dropped her husband off near the motel, where he was to meet with prostitutes, with her consent.

The preliminary hearing continues Monday.