Nephew Believes Aunt Was Killed for Jewelry

He had warned his aunt a week ago that wearing her new $800 jade bracelet and $200 ring could make her a target. There are thieves, he would tell her, thieves who will see your jewelry and want to steal it.

“I told her this is not like Vietnam. You have to be careful,” Dien Van Phan recalled telling Rop Do, 72, who immigrated from Vietnam a few months ago to be closer to her family, including her adult grandchildren.

Now, the Garden Grove man can’t help but think that someone who knew about the jewelry--a recent Mother’s Day gift--is responsible for Do’s death. The slight woman was found bound and gagged Wednesday afternoon and had been fatally beaten inside her Fountain Valley home.

Police haven’t revealed a motive in the case and no suspects have been identified.

Violent crimes are rare in this community. The city recorded two homicides in 1998. Residents consider the neatly kept neighborhood safe, which is why many on Thursday expressed shock at the killing.

“Nothing really ever happens around here,” said Garth Dufield, 67, as he took a short break from playing solitaire on his personal computer.

Phan said his aunt was having trouble adjusting to her new lifestyle in America and had talked about returning to Vietnam in October.

Do’s daughter and grandchildren were making funeral arrangements Thursday, Phan said.

The woman, a diabetic who neighbors said rarely left her front porch, lived with her daughter, her 19-year-old grandson and her 22-year-old granddaughter in a rented tract home in the 11500 block of Iris Avenue. The grandmother was the only one home during the attack, police said.

Do was found about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when her grandson returned from school and discovered her in the bedroom bound, gagged and beaten. The teen called police. Paramedics transported the woman to a local hospital, where she died.

“It’s just so sad,” Phan said.