Triple Murder in Garden Grove

Unread post by **Midnight** » May 31st, 2006, 6:24 pm

Leads In Garden Grove Triple Homicide

POSTED: 7:52 am PDT May 30, 2006
UPDATED: 4:45 pm PDT May 31, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- Police revealed Wednesday that three members of a Garden Grove family were stabbed to death, but a motive for the Memorial Day weekend crime remains elusive and they asked for the public's help.

Video: Press Conference

Phong H. Le, 30, and his wife, Trish Dawn Lam, 25, lived in the home along with their year-old daughter and Lam's 6-year-old son, Tommy, from another relationship.

The infant was found crawling around in the two-story home in the 8700 block of Summercrest Circle when officers arrived around 7 p.m. Monday to conduct a welfare check. Lam's co-workers had become concerned when she failed to show up.

The baby, who was dehydrated and had been beaten or perhaps kicked, was treated at a hospital, then placed in protective custody, police said.

"All three of our victims were stabbed to death," Garden Grove police Lt. Dennis Ellsworth told reporters. "There was no signs of forced entry into the residence.

"We're not sure of the possibility that the victims may have know who the killers were," he said. "And what we are doing today is asking for the public's help with any information on leads that may help us solve this heinous crime."

The lieutenant called it "one of the most horrific crimes that we've investigated in many years. In talking to some of the police officers at the scene, it was one of the most horrific scenes that they've had to investigate."

Ellsworth said he does not know if the background of Le, a former gang member whose photo reveals a teardrop tattoo next to his eye, has anything to do with why the family was targeted.

"There was an arrest, but it was many, many, many years ago and we don't know if that even had anything to play with" the killings, he said.

Le, who served a four-year sentence for robbery starting in 1994 and then spent an additional two years in prison for destroying jail property, was found dead in the upstairs home office.

The bodies of his wife and her son were found in separate bedrooms, also on the second floor, investigators said.

Police believe the couple's baby "was assaulted by one or more of the suspects," Lt. Mike Handfield said Tuesday. "Basically we think this infant was left for dead."

Asked if a small surveillance camera mounted outside the garage had revealed any clues as to who visited the home just before the family was killed, Ellsworth said, "We're not releasing any specific details on whether there was video or anything like that."

Ellsworth said police cannot be certain if there was one or multiple attackers, but the fact that there was no sign of a forced entry led them to believe the victims knew their killers.

"It looks like they took some time in the house, it wasn't like they went in and left right away," Ellsworth said. "From what we can gather so far, they probably spent some time in the house before they did leave and it occurred some time over that weekend."

Police do not have "any specific information on whether anything was taken or not," Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth asked that anyone with information on the crime call 714-741- 5704.
Copyright 2006 by NBC4.tv. City News Service contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Unread post by **Midnight** » May 31st, 2006, 6:26 pm

I heard the guy was a gang member and that he just got out of prison. I wonder where he was from? It was terrible what they did to his family though.

Unread post by **nipset** » June 13th, 2006, 12:27 am

another thing i heard was it was a botched robbery...

one of my homegirls is their neighbors... lot of homies went to the vigil.

Unread post by **Christina Marie** » June 13th, 2006, 1:18 am

That is fu*ked up!!! AND the baby had been beaten. WTF!!!!!