Garden Grove man is guilty of murder, assaults
A Garden Grove car salesman was convicted Tuesday of murdering a descendant of the founder of the Montessori schools and sexually assaulting three other teenage girls.
Jonathan Phong Khanh Tran, 22, faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced May 1.
Tran was convicted in the 2004 slaying of Hanna Denise Montessori, a 15-year-old runaway working as a prostitute whom he picked up near Harbor Boulevard and 5th Street, prosecutors said. She was the great-great-granddaughter of Maria Montessori, an Italian educator who founded the Montessori method of teaching.
During the investigation, Tran was tied to the sexual assaults of three other girls in the area.
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