A Texas Man Didn’t Want His Wife to Leave Him. So, He Killed Her With a Nail Gun.
Tran's wife was trying to leave an abusive relationship, but he didn't want that and killed her.
Sept. 12 2023, Published 11:02 a.m. ET
A Texas man bludgeoned his wife to death with a nail gun and now he will spend 40 years in prison in connection with her murder, according to authorities.
On Jan. 10, 2022, deputies responded to a home in Cypress after receiving a 911 call, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Once at the scene, police found 49-year-old My Thai Dang lying in a pool of her own blood, apparently beaten to death with a heavy pneumatic nail gun. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers said they also found 65-year-old Lam Ngoc Tran at the scene, who seemed to have shot himself with the nail gun several times in an attempt to kill himself after murdering his wife.
Authorities said they found “goodbye” texts to loved ones on his phone, which he reportedly sent before his suicide attempt.
Tran pleaded guilty to murder earlier this year in exchange for letting a judge decide his punishment after a pre-sentence investigation, officials said.
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- His wife told him she was leaving, that is when he opened fire on the victim
On Sept. 7, a judge sentenced Tran to 40 years in prison for his involvement in Dang’s murder.
In a statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said, "This is a horrible murder, and it reinforces that the most dangerous time for a battered spouse is when they are trying to leave the relationship. This woman was trying to get away from an abusive husband, and the only reason she is dead is because he could not stand to lose control of her."
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Dang emigrated from Vietnam to Minnesota and then moved to Houston to marry Tran, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Magill said. The couple worked together at a plant that manufactures HVAC equipment.
"They had been married six or seven years and things had escalated into a cycle of domestic violence," Magill said. "They were scheduled for a hearing for a protective order the very next day, and his response was that if he couldn’t be with her, no one would."
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