Victims’ Family: ‘We Need Your Help’

Friends and relatives of a Westminster woman and daughter found slain in their home late last week tearfully pleaded Tuesday for the public’s help.

Ha Jade Smith, 52, known as Miss Ha, a well-known fortuneteller in the Vietnamese community, and Anita Nhi Vo, 23, a student at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, were found stabbed to death late Friday. Smith ran her fortunetelling business from her home in the 9600 block of Bird Avenue.

“We need your help to find out the one who killed our family members,” said Loan Ngo, Smith’s sister, who flew from Canada with another sister, Nguyet Phan-Ngo.

Flanked by friends and attorney Bruce Bridgman, Loan Ngo, 42, Nguyet Phan-Ngo, 58, and another sister, Amy Quang Ngo, 59, announced a $10,000 reward at a news conference at Bridgman’s office in Fountain Valley.

Vo’s former boyfriend, Dung Nguyen, 28, contributed $5,000, and the rest came from an anonymous donor.

During the emotional news conference, Ngo held Smith’s dog, Midi. The white Pomeranian limped and wore a tag that read “Mama loves you.”

While the sisters pleaded for help, Quang Ngo, from St. Louis, sobbed and then collapsed. She was taken to a hospital.

Nguyen, who remained friends with Vo after their six-year relationship ended, spoke softly and intently at the news conference.

“Knowing they were two helpless women murdered in such a savage way, I think that anyone with a conscience would step forward to help,” he said.

Bridgman’s firm is managing the reward and trying to obtain emergency visas for three other siblings of Smith in Vietnam.

Nguyen said he thought something was awry Friday evening when he arrived at the home to drop off some food. After looking though the backyard gate, he said he noticed Midi was limping.

He then jumped over the back fence and looked through the windows.

“Things were turned upside down and stuff was ransacked,” he said.

Nguyen said he then called police.

Because there was no forced entry, police have said it was likely the pair knew their killers.

“The house was very secure. We had to break into it to get in,” said Sgt. Jim Kingsmill, with the property crimes unit.

The double slaying was the third time the victims were targeted, Kingsmill said. Smith’s home was burglarized in February 2001 and Smith was robbed there the next month. Each time, jewelry was taken.

Police have not determined whether anything was taken the night of the slayings, he said.

Before arriving in the United States 17 years ago, Smith fled from Vietnam to Cambodia on foot and lived in a refugee camp in Thailand, Loan Ngo said.

“She got malaria trying to get away. But she covered Anita so mosquitoes wouldn’t bite her,” the sister said.

Smith was unmarried and struggled on her own for years to make a better life for her herself and her daughter, Loan Ngo said.

Loan Ngo said she was not close to her sister but stayed in touch through Vo. Phan-Ngo said she had not seen Smith in about 10 years.

Cal State Fullerton professor Son-Kim Vo, who teaches Vietnamese culture, said Smith was well-known in the community. Her services were advertised in Vietnamese-language newspapers, she said.

Friends and teachers described Anita Vo as a fashionable, kind and sweet girl with ambition.

Nguyen, who lives about three miles from Smith, said Vo often modeled in Vietnamese fashion shows, worked as a manicurist at one time and seemed happy.

“She really liked traveling ... and talked about having her own business one day,” he said.

C.J La Mer, a speech professor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, described her as intelligent and highly articulate.

“We’re devastated,” she said. “Anita had an incredible sense of style and grace about her.”