Ky Rants - College Student Stabbed 107 Times by Stepdad

**Episode Transcription

Hey LaMs Ky here, back with another Ky Rants.

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On August 7th, a 21-year-old engineering student named Angelina Tran tried to protect her mother from abuse at the hands of her stepfather, only to be met with a horrific end.

Angelina Tran, described as an “incredible daughter, a cherished friend, and above all, a perfect girlfriend” who “excelled in her studies, with just one more year remaining at the University of Washington,” became her mom’s hero in her final moments. On the morning of August 7, 2023, she awoke to the sound of a scuffle. She jumped out of bed to see what was going on and saw her stepfather, 54 year old Nghiep Kein Chau, repeatedly assaulting her mother; namely punching her in the head and face “about 15 times.” Horrified and determined to protect her mother, Angelina rushed to intervene.

At around 4:55am, Seattle police arrived on the scene at 31st Avenue South in Beacon Hill following a distressing call. When they got there and entered the premisis, they were met with Chau walking down the stairs holding a “large bloody fixed-blade kitchen style knife which he dropped when ordered to do so by officers.”

Once they secured Chau, police went about looking around the house. This is when they found the “stabbed and obviously deceased body” of Angelina “lying on her back on the floor of the kitchen.”

Angelina Tran

Chau was arrested and read his miranda rights through a translator. Chau, through the same translator, admitted what he’d done. As he was being handcuffed, he allegedly said, “I killed somebody.” He told investigators that the fight, and subsequent murder happened after he got back from urgent care and him and his wife started arguing “about money in the living room area on the top floor” and he punched her in her face because she pissed him off.

During the investigation, police found that the house had surveillance video. When they went through the recordings, they saw everything that happened.

“Based on my review of the video available, Nghiep stabbed Angelina at least 107 times in the torso, using both the knife that he was carrying when confronted by arresting officers, and a separate meat cleaver style knife that he obtained from a kitchen drawer. Angelina held on to Nghiep in an attempt to keep him from going after [her mother] and eventually they both fell to the ground. Once on the ground, Angelina continued to try and fight Nghiep off, and at times turned her back toward him, resulting in her getting stabbed in the back.”

Chau stabbed Angelina “over and over again, at times taking a break for several moments” and before going back to stabbing her.

Chau home during the investigation

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There’s also evidence that he went and changed his clothes during the attack.

“Nghiep said he was cold because he was covered in blood. Nghiep changed clothing and then elected a different knife from the drawer” and then he allegedly went back to stabbing Angelina.

In a probable cause document, it was written, “Nghiep explained that he thought [his wife] would divorce him and take his money” — even though she “never said this to him, but he thought it to be true.”

Chau was book on first degree murder and King County prosecutors sought a high bail because he travels back and forth between the US and Vietname and that it “appears that the defendant has significant financial resources. Although the defendant’s criminal history is limited to a fishing violation from 2006, these facts demonstrate irrational and extreme violent tendencies sufficient to justify bail in the amount of $5,000,000.”

Chau was booked on August 7, 2023 and held on the $5 million bail. He appeared in court on Sept 5 and plead not guilty.

This was actually Angelina’s stepfather; he’d been in a 19 year relationship with her mother before marrying her in 2022.

If you or a loved one are a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential assistance from trained advocates or go to https://www.thehotline.org/. They are available 24/7 and can help in more than 170 different languages.

Anyways, that’s it for Ky’s Rant today.

I’ll see y’all later, bye.

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