| For Immediate Release Case # 11CF2700 October 7, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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MAN ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MURDERING FIANCÉ BY SHOOTING HER IN HEAD AFTER ARGUMENT OVER ANOTHER WOMAN
SANTA ANA – A man has been arrested on charges of murdering his fiancé by shooting her in the head after an argument over the defendant’s other girlfriend. Philip Ngoc Nguyen, 25, Fountain Valley, is charged with one felony count of murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a firearm and the personal use of a firearm causing death. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in state prison. Nguyen is being held on $1 million bail and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
In February 2011, Nguyen is accused of living with his parents in his parent’s Fountain Valley trailer. The defendant and his new fiancé, Uyennie Ton, had been a couple for approximately three years. Ton discovered around this time that Nguyen had been having a sexual relationship with another woman, but the defendant is accused proposing to the victim and agreeing to end the relationship.
On Feb. 25, 2011, only a few days after proposing to Ton, Nguyen is accused of calling the other woman and asking her to come to his home that night for sex. The woman declined.
Following the phone call with the other woman, Nguyen is accused of getting into a verbal argument with the victim in his bedroom. He is accused of murdering the victim by shooting her in the head.
Nguyen’s sleeping mother awoke to the sound of the gunshot and called 911 to report that Ton had committed suicide.
The Fountain Valley Police Department (FVPD) responded to the scene and investigated this case. Based on the victim’s injuries, it was determined in the investigation that suicide was not a possibility.
Nguyen was arrested yesterday, Oct. 6, 2011, by FVPD.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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