GUILTY PA - Vu, 31, & Viet Huynh, 28, found slain in Schuylkill River, 27 Aug 2014

[O'Really]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20140828_Police___quot_Drug_nexus_quot__in_abductions_of_three_men__killing_of_two.html

Vietnamese drug gang crime.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.csnphilly.com/article/gang-ties-abduction-murder-case

Police have narrowed their search for the suspects who killed two brothers -- slitting their throats before dumping their bodies in the Schuylkill River -- and critically injured another man over a $100,000 debt...

Authorities learned of the barbaric crime Wednesday morning when the surviving victim, 23-year-old Thanh Voong, climbed from the banks of the Schuylkill River and began screaming for help around 4 a.m...

The suspects were holding the brothers -- both in their late 20s and originally from Vietnam -- captive after they gambled away $100,000, which they were given to buy drugs, according to reports. Voong showed up at the house with $40,000 to pay off the debt, but it was not enough to satisfy the suspects, police said.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/2...rown_in_river_in_August_appears_in_court.html

Thanh Voong, the man who on Aug. 27 survived being bound, stabbed eight times and thrown into the Schuylkill with two men who died, appeared in court yesterday looking relatively healthy.

Voong, whose age has been given as 23 and 19, testified at a preliminary hearing as the victim of an Aug. 9 beating and attempted abduction on League Street near Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia. He pointed to Henry M. Le, 34, of Bailey's Run Lane, Springfield, Delaware County; and Nam Phan, 20, of South Malin Road, Broomall, as the men who used their car to block his BMW shortly after 10:40 p.m...

After the hearing, the attorneys were tight-lipped about whether the Aug. 9 incident was related to the Aug. 27 slayings, for which no one has been arrested.

 

[colette]

From OkieGranny's link: The reason Voong survived:

Both had been stabbed multiple times, as had Voong, who managed to get out of the river because his feet were not anchored.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/2...ust_appears_in_court.html#md88EMMlwLCYozoz.99

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/survivor-testifies-about-2-friends-stabbed-bound-drowned/

Tam Le, 41, faces a double-murder trial after a judge at Tuesday’s preliminary hearing upheld murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and other charges for trial...

Le held his head in his hands as he listened, presumably for the first time, to the statement his wife gave police during his several months on the lam... She said her husband told her about the river killings and was stunned when she told him based on news reports that one man had survived. “Tam got real pale and was getting real nervous and saying he couldn’t believe someone survived,” Bich Vo testified. “He then told me that he couldn’t return to Philadelphia because the cops would be looking for him.”

She said she thought the debt stemmed from $20,000 to $30,000 worth of used appliances her husband had sold the brothers. Le was on parole in a New York manslaughter case when the Huynh brothers were killed, Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron said.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

The trial for Tam Le is currently underway.

Accused killer takes stand in deaths of brothers beaten, dumped in Schuylkill - November 22nd

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161123_Accused_killer_takes_stand_in_deaths_of_brothers_beaten__dumped_in_Schuylkill.html

Tam Minh Le, 44, accused of participating two years ago in beating and blindfolding three men in his Southwest Philadelphia garage and later throwing them into the Schuylkill to die, testified Tuesday that he, too, was a victim.

Le took the stand in his own defense at his double-homicide trial and told a Common Pleas Court jury that he had been tied up in his garage, and that he was put, along with the other three men, in the back of a van and driven around.

Before dawn on Aug. 27, 2014, just north of the rowing grandstands on Kelly Drive, the other three men were repeatedly stabbed, then thrown into the river. The bodies of brothers Vu "Kevin" Huynh, 31, and Viet Huynh, 28, weighted down with buckets of tar, were found that morning in the river.

"I never killed them. I never touched them," Le testified under questioning by his attorney, Daniel Conner.

Survivor of 2014 homicide attempt that resulted in death of two brothers testifies - November 14th

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161115_Survivor_of_2014_homicide_attempt_that_resulted_in_death_of_two_brothers_testifies.html

After he and two friends were lured to Southwest Philadelphia, beaten, tied up, and blindfolded with duct tape, Tan Voong testified Monday, they were put inside a van and driven near the rowing grandstands on Kelly Drive.

When the van stopped, Voong, 24, told the Common Pleas Court jury that will decide in the double-homicide trial of Tam Minh Le, he was pulled out and forced to walk toward the Schuylkill.

"I felt sand on my feet. Next thing I know, I felt like something stabbing me. I fell to the ground," and before long he was forced into the river, he said.

"Luckily, the water wasn't deep," he said. Although blindfolded, he managed to reach the concrete wall that lines the river there, and rest his head against it to keep from drowning. The chain his attackers had used to bind his feet came loose.

He heard his friends - brothers Vu "Kevin" Huynh, 31, and Viet Huynh, 28 - scream, followed by the splash they made when they were tossed into the river.

"It's done," Le told his accomplices, Voong testified. Then, Voong heard the van leave.

Le is the only person on trial for the slayings. Authorities have not identified the other suspects.

Murder trial begins of man accused of stabbing, dumping bodies in Schuylkill - November 10th

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Prosecutor: I tried to imagine terror of homicide victims dumped in Schuylkill

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161201_Prosecutor__I_tried_to_imagine_terror_of_homicide_victims_dumped_in_Schuylkill.html

A prosecutor went to a parking lot on Kelly Drive, just north of the Schuylkill River rowing grandstands, to imagine what it was like for three men to be repeatedly stabbed there and dumped into the water two years ago, he said Wednesday.

"What must it have felt like to be on your knees?" Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron asked a Common Pleas Court jury in his closing argument. "They can't see. They can't talk."

At the double-homicide trial of defendant Tam Minh Le, 44, prosecutors told jurors that Le is guilty - not just beyond reasonable doubt, but beyond all doubt - of first-degree murder in the brothers' slayings and of the attempted murder of their friend.

Defense attorney Daniel Conner told jurors in his closing argument Wednesday that his client has been made a scapegoat.

The jury will begin deliberations Thursday morning.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Prosecutor: I tried to imagine terror of homicide victims dumped in Schuylkill

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161201_Prosecutor__I_tried_to_imagine_terror_of_homicide_victims_dumped_in_Schuylkill.html

Updated:

The Commons Pleas Court jury on Thursday quickly convicted Tam Minh Le of all counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and kidnapping. The panel must now decide if Le deserves the death penalty or should be sentenced to life in prison.

 

[Tulessa]

Thanks so much JWBS! Off to see if I can find some links on youtube!

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Philly jury imposes death in Schuylkill double murder

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161210_Death_sentence_for_Schuylkill_double_murder.html

A jury Friday sentenced a Southwest Philadelphia man to death by lethal injection in the horrific 2014 slayings of two brothers who were beaten, stabbed, then dumped into the Schuylkill.

Tam Minh Le showed no reaction when the foreman announced the decision. His sister sobbed in the courtroom gallery. One female juror appeared to wipe away tears.

After the jury left the courtroom, Le was asked if he wanted to speak. "I don't have anything to say," he quietly said.

"May God have mercy on your soul in His infinite goodness," Judge Steven Geroff told Le before pronouncing two death sentences on him.

 

[Chi83]

Awful.

Philly jury imposes death in Schuylkill double murder

Philly jury imposes death in Schuylkill double murder