Relatives Find Woman, 20, Strangled in Her Bedroom : Crime: Her recent breakup with a San Francisco man is part of the inquiry into the slaying, police said.

A 20-year-old woman was strangled in her bedroom early Friday, hours after family members saw her come home, police said.

A relative found Tram Bich Cao shortly after 1 a.m. lying on her bed in a black and white dress, authorities said.

Police said they were investigating several possible motives in the slaying, including Cao’s recent breakup with a 26-year-old man from the San Francisco area.

The man is wanted for questioning and is not a suspect in the case, said Sgt. Mike Mittelstaedt.

Mittelstaedt said the connection to the breakup “is speculation but that (motive) has been offered by more than one person” to homicide investigators. Police were trying to locate the man who “can hopefully shed some light on this,” Mittelstaedt said.

Police found no indication that someone broke into the home or Cao’s bedroom, suggesting that she might have known her assailant, Mittelstaedt said.

Investigators are not ruling out other motives in the strangulation.

“We’re looking at anything and everything we can find” to help identify suspects, said Mittelstaedt.

Police said there were no signs of a struggle in Cao’s bedroom and nothing appeared to have been stolen from the single-story, pink-trimmed house in the 8900 block of McFadden Avenue.

Other residents of the home told police they saw Cao come in about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. After that, no one heard or saw her before she was discovered in her room.

Family members said Cao came to Westminster from San Francisco about three months ago and moved in with her uncle, Sy Xuan Tran.

Cao’s father, Vien Cao, 57, flew to Orange County from San Francisco on Friday morning. Wringing his hands as he stood outside the home where his daughter died, Vien Cao listened to a police officer explain when the county coroner would be able to release her body.

Vien Cao said his daughter was looking for work in the Westminster area. He said Tram Cao was born in Vietnam and left in 1989. She stayed at a refugee camp in Malaysia for about two years before going to San Francisco, where she lived with her father.

She met her ex-boyfriend there. They broke up about two weeks ago, said her cousin, Dung Tran, 30, of Garden Grove. Tran said she had dated another man in Orange County.

Vien Cao said he did not have frequent contact with his daughter while she was in Westminster.

“We don’t know what is happening,” Vien Cao said, his eyes wet with anguish. “She just came here to look for a job.”

Times staff writer Phuong Le contributed to this story.