Police say father tossed 4 children to their deaths

BAYOU LA BATRE, ALA. — A day after reporting his four young children missing, a shrimp fisherman broke down and confessed that he threw them off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, authorities said Wednesday.

Lam Luong, 37, was charged with four counts of capital murder, and divers searched the murky waters for the bodies of the youngsters, who ranged in age from 4 months to 3 years.

Luong had a drug habit and had argued with his wife, Ngoc Phan, before taking the children, said Phan’s brother-in-law, Kam Phengsisomboun.

Luong’s girlfriend figured into the couple’s argument on Sunday and Monday, family members and police said.

Authorities said they thought Luong then drove Monday to the two-lane Dauphin Island bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, stopped at the highest part of the span and threw the youngsters over the side.

Luong and his wife reported the children missing Monday. He initially told police that he had given the kids to his girlfriend and that she failed to return them, investigators and family members said. He later changed his story.

Missing and presumed dead were 4-month-old Danny Luong; 1-year-old Lindsey Luong; 2-year-old Hannah Luong; and 3-year-old Ryan Phan. Ryan is not the man’s biological child, but Luong reared him from infancy, authorities said.