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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Top cop answers the question on everyone's mind after a mother was bashed, stripped and kidnapped in front of her kids before she was burned alive
A high-profile detective has revealed the investigation into the gruesome murder of a mother could be hampered by terrified witnesses being too scared to speak out. Thi Kim Tran, 45, was grabbed at gunpoint from her Bankstown home, in southwest Sydney, by a group of five masked intruders on April 17 at about 10.30pm. She was forced to strip in her driveway and dragged to a waiting SUV while her eight-year-old son was bashed with a baseball bat and left for dead. Tran's body was found in the burnt-out vehicle near Beverly Hills, about 6km from her home, an hour later. Former Victoria Police homicide detective Charlie Bezzina told Daily Mail Australia the case was a shock to him and 'off the Richter Scale'. '(Australians) are not used to that level of crime and I say that because it involves assaults allegedly on children. Of all the cases I've dealt with, I've never had that,' he said. Police said on April 22 that their inquiries found Ms Tran and her children were 'likely targeted' due to her partner, Tung Nguyen's involvement in a criminal network. When asked why the investigation has taken so long, with no arrests made since that revelation, Mr Bezzina said witnesses may be too afraid of the alleged assailants. 'Any investigations undertaken into the underworld becomes very, very difficult because of a "cone of silence",' he said, a reference to prohibiting communication. '(The incident) sends a very clear message to all that the offenders have got no scruples which would send even more fear to anyone who might assist police.' It's believed a Vietnamese drug cartel messaged Mr Nguyen ransom countdown messages 20 minutes, 10 minutes and five minutes before Ms Tran's body was set alight. 'It's unclear if he was out of service range or what, but he didn't receive them,' a police source told The Daily Telegraph. Mr Bezzina said a cartel's alleged involvement could mean the murder was also a 'broader warning' to other criminals that the group is 'not to be messed with'. The former detective said those allegedly involved could also have fled the country which will further complicate the investigation. 'More often than not, the people who may well be involved depart overseas (if) the police get a whiff of who they (are),' he said. 'The problem is, in the early stages of investigation, (detectives) may have no idea to be able to put an alert on any points of departure.' NSW Police Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi has previously revealed a gang was behind the savage murder. He said officers believed there was a 'conflict' between Mr Nguyen and 'upper echelons' of the organised crime network. 'This woman and her children were in no means involved or had knowledge of what their partner or their father was up to,' Det Supt Doueihi said. Mr Nguyen has been assisting investigators and has not been charged in relation to Ms Tran's death. Det Supt Doueihi alleged Mr Nguyen had worked for the organised crime group for 'several months' before the attack. He was previously known to police for minor drug-related offences, he said. Mr Bezzina warned there is a 'high possibility' the case might not be solved, claiming police 'can't really rely upon information coming forth'. 'But police won't be disheartened by that,' he said. 'They will just soldier on and continue as best they can. They will be going all out given the endless nature of this case.' Victoria Police executed a search warrant in April last year at an alleged drug lab in Springdallah, a rural Victorian town almost 1,000km from the Bankstown home. Officers seized items consistent with the manufacture of prohibited drugs and the property has been a key part of the investigation, sources said. They claimed a group of men had burst into a farmhouse on the property where drugs were being manufactured just weeks before Ms Tran's death, looking for Mr Nguyen. Mr Bezzina said the intelligence on the alleged lab was a 'positive sign'. 'It's a hard slog, especially dealing with these type of group of criminals,' he added. 'But the potential is always there (for police) to be able to solve it. They'll never give up.'
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Bombshell claims emerge after Bankstown mum was kidnapped from her home and brutally murdered
Kidnappers who abducted a mother and shot her dead before leaving her in a burnt-out car had sent her husband countdown messages leading up to her execution. Thi Kim Tran, 45, was abducted at gunpoint from her Bankstown home, in Sydney 's south-west, on April 17, hours after she finished working at a nail salon. The mother-of-two was forced to strip naked in her driveway before a group of five masked intruders dragged her into an SUV about 10.30pm and drove away. The couple's eight-year-old son was also bashed with a baseball bat and left for dead, while their eldest son, 15, was left traumatised by the attack. The eight-year-old boy woke from a coma two weeks after the attack, in which he suffered severe head injuries. Ms Tran's body was found in a burning vehicle in nearby Beverly Hills, about 6km from her home, an hour later. Police believe the group of men who kidnapped Ms Tran had been pursuing her husband, Tung Nguyen, for weeks before turning their attention to his loved ones. Detectives are investigating if Ms Tran's kidnapping and murder were part of a ploy to force Mr Nguyen into paying a drug debt, T he Daily Telegraph revealed. 'There are conflicting reports as to how much was owed, anywhere between seven kilograms (worth roughly $1.2 million) and 70 kilograms (worth as much as $8 million),' a police source told The Daily Telegraph. It's alleged a Vietnamese drug cartel had messaged Mr Nguyen ransom countdown messages 20 minutes, 10 minutes and five minutes before stripping Ms Tran and setting her body alight. 'It's unclear if he was out of service range or what, but he didn't receive them,' the police source said. Investigators are working to find whether Ms Tran was shot in the head before the SUV fire. A bullet casing was discovered on the floor of the burnt-out vehicle, but forensic pathologists have been unable to confirm if there were bullet wounds on Ms Tran's charred remains. 'You'd expect we'd be able to say definitively one way or the other, but we can't,' the source said. NSW Police Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi earlier aired allegations that a gang was behind the murder in a press conference. He said officers believed there was a 'conflict' between Mr Nguyen and 'upper echelons' of the organised crime network. 'This woman and her children were in no means involved or had knowledge of what their partner or their father was up to,' Superintendent Doueihi said. Mr Nguyen has been assisting investigators and has not been charged in relation to Ms Tran's death. Superintendent Doueihi alleged Mr Nguyen had worked for the organised crime group for 'several months' before the attack. He was previously known to police for minor drug-related offences. The crime network Mr Nguyen was involved in allegedly manufactured. methamphetamine. A property in Springdallah, a rural Victorian town almost 1,000km away from the Bankstown home, was a key part of the investigation. The police source claimed a group of men had burst into a farmhouse on the property where drugs were being manufactured just weeks before Ms Tran's death. They were looking for Mr Nguyen. 'They broke in and beat up the workers who were there, so they'd been looking for him for some time,' the source said. Victoria Police raided the alleged drug lab in Springdallah as part of a collaboration with NSW Police Homicide Squad's Strike Force Bushfield. An associate of Mr Nguyen committed suicide in the weeks after Ms Tran's murder. However, police believe the man's death at a home in Balmain was due to the breakdown of a personal relationship, rather than guilt over the mother's death. Ms Tran's coworkers recalled her being 'happy and normal' as she finished work on the day of her death. As the Easter long weekend approached, she'd been excited to take extra days off and spend quality time with her children.
