WESTMINSTER : Suspect in Slaying Arrested in Oakland

Police in Oakland arrested the former boyfriend of a woman found strangled in her bedroom here, authorities said Tuesday.

Hung Xuan Ngo, 26, approached police in an Oakland bus station Monday, saying, “I’m the one you’re looking for,” said Detective Terry Selinske.

Westminster police had notified Oakland police that Ngo was possibly headed there after the body of Tram Bich Cao, 20, was discovered in her uncle’s home, Selinske said.

Cao and Ngo broke up their relationship about two weeks ago, family members said. Police said the circumstances of the breakup were not clear.

Investigators, who brought Ngo back to Westminster, said they believe the homicide may be connected to Ngo’s “depression following the breakup” with Cao, said Sgt. Mike Mittelstaedt. According to Mittelstaedt, Ngo “wasn’t able to deal with it any more.”

Cao, who left Vietnam in 1989, moved in with her father in San Francisco. She then came to Orange County and moved in with her uncle in his McFadden Avenue home about three months ago while she searched for a job, family members said.

Her uncle found Cao strangled in her bedroom early Friday, just hours after family members saw her come home, police said.

Ngo was booked in Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder and held in lieu of $250,000 bond. He was scheduled to be arraigned today in West Municipal Court in Westminster, police said.