Episode 271: Huong Nguyen

The First Degree

Alexis Linkletter and Jac Vanek

Society & Culture, News, True Crime

4.5 • 10K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On March 13, 2020, 42-year-old Huong Helene Nguyen is reported missing to the New Orleans Police Department. By 8:10 p.m. that day, the authorities discover her body less than a mile from her home. Huong’s killer shot her multiple times, shoved her body into the trunk of her own car, drove the car to a remote parking lot, and abandoned it. Investigators interview Huong’s family members and friends, but it seems as though no strong leads turn up. A week later, on March 20, Huong’s funeral services are held. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only a limited number of Huong’s immediate family can attend. But Huong’s younger brother whom she lived with, 37-year-old Hoa Phong Nguyen, is conspicuously absent. Hours later, the NOPD announces that they have a warrant for Hoa’s arrest. He is being charged with his sister’s murder — and he’s on the run. In episode 271, Jac and Alexis examine the complicated path that the Nguyen family is forced to take as they navigate the physical and emotional loss of two children.

Transcript

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0:00.0	First degree, first degree, first degree, first degree, first degree, first degree, the first degree.
0:09.0	Get on the news, get on the crater, get on the faces.
0:13.0	These things are supposed to happen in movies, not in real life.
0:22.0	I just knew that was a worst case scenario, no matter how much I tried to reframe it online.
0:26.0	And I'm just broke down crying and I hit the floor and to sob uncontrollably.
0:32.0	I just feel like that she out of fear didn't want to bother anyone, that she didn't say anything.
0:37.0	And I wish she would have, I really wish she would have.
0:40.0	But I never would have guessed a million years ago would have been her own brother.
0:46.0	Welcome to the first degree, the TrueCram podcast that you might end up on.
0:49.0	My name is Jack Vanick. I'm sitting here with Alexis Linkletter.
0:52.0	Oh my gosh, it's a day.
0:54.0	I started out with the wrong intro, but we're here. We're doing it. What's up?
0:58.0	What's up?
0:59.0	What's up? Alexis looks like Voldemort, which I really love.
1:02.0	Hey, the contrast is off on my camera.
1:04.0	It's not a natural glow that I have. It's very situational.
1:10.0	And also our lighting in our office is really weird.
1:12.0	We have like these LED strips everywhere.
1:14.0	It's just not conducive to like perfect lighting.
1:18.0	Yeah, looking glowy. I mean, you do look glowy.
1:20.0	It reminds me of a saying of my old Myspace pictures where you'd contrast your face out so much.
1:25.0	You didn't have a nose, aka Voldemort.
	...

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