2 Fullerton Slayings Prompt Nationwide Alert Over Suspect

Fullerton police issued a nationwide alert Tuesday for a suspect they believe killed his former girlfriend and a man in her apartment.

At first police feared that the suspect had kidnaped the woman’s 4-year-old son. But the boy was found about 16 hours later in the care of his uncle, who had been baby-sitting the child since Sunday afternoon, said Sgt. Tony Hernandez of the Fullerton Police Department.

Police identified the suspect as Dan Van Nguyen, 35, who once lived with the dead woman and had been her business partner in an Orange County beauty parlor before he moved to San Antonio, Tex., last September.

In San Antonio, a reporter said he had received telephone calls from a woman apparently related to Nguyen, who said that the suspect had telephoned her several times since the killing. In at least one subsequent call, Nguyen threatened to kill himself, said the reporter, Jerome Kurry of the San Antonio Express-News.

Police identified the victims as Trinh Tuyet Duong, 28, who lived in Apartment 5 at 3946 W. Franklin Ave., Fullerton, where the slayings occurred, and Lewis Long Vu, 34, of Bellflower, who neighbors said had moved into Duong’s apartment about 2 weeks ago. The dead woman’s son was identified as Nam Phuong Nguyen. Police said the child is not related to the suspect.

Police were called to the small apartment complex shortly after midnight by apartment manager Antoinette Aguilar, who reported hearing a shot and a woman’s screams from Duong’s apartment. When Aguilar telephoned at 12:19 a.m., more shots were being fired, police said.

Another resident, Diane Gayton, 32, said the shots began about 40 minutes after Duong and a man returned to the apartment. Gayton said that after the first shots, she heard a woman scream “Oh, my God!” and then “Help!”

Alexander Morales, 30, of La Mirada, who was visiting a tenant downstairs from Duong’s apartment, said that before the shots he heard loud falling noises and a woman screaming, as if being beaten.

Police said Aguilar saw a man flee the apartment and recognized him as the suspect, who had lived there with Duong previously.

The fleeing man got into the car that Duong usually drove and sped off, police said. The car--a gray, 4-door, 1984 Toyota Cressida with California license plate number 2 EQC 571--is registered to the suspect, police said.

In an interview, Kurry said he received a telephone call Tuesday morning at the Express-News from a woman with a Vietnamese accent who “asked me if I knew anything about a killing in Fullerton.”

He said that during the call and subsequent telephone conversations with the woman, who identified herself only as “Pearl,” it became clear that she is a relative of the suspect and had received calls from him.

Kurry said that according to Pearl, Nguyen had been upset about his breakup with Duong and about the failure of his business in San Antonio, a restaurant called King Wah. Pearl said the restaurant had closed its doors for good on Sunday.

Monday afternoon, Pearl drove Nguyen to an airport for a flight to San Francisco, according to Kurry. She described Nguyen as “emotional” and said she transported him at his request, Kurry said.

Early Tuesday morning, Nguyen called Pearl and said “I’m going to kill them,” according to Kurry. The call came shortly after 2 a.m. San Antonio time, Kurry said, about the same time that shots were heard at Duong’s Fullerton apartment.

In subsequent calls to the Express-News, Pearl said Nguyen had called and talked to her husband, saying he was going to kill himself. Later Nguyen asked Pearl’s husband whether he should return to San Antonio, Kurry said.

Police said Nguyen, a former Vietnamese air force pilot, immigrated to the United States in 1985. At that time he was married and had two children. His fluency in English landed him a job teaching the language to other immigrants.

Late Tuesday, Hernandez said police were checking airports in case Nguyen had booked a flight back to San Antonio. Police also broadcast descriptions of Nguyen and his car to law enforcement agencies and released Nguyen’s photograph to news media.

Police asked anyone who encounters Nguyen or his car to immediately telephone Fullerton police at (714) 738-6800.