Bay Area man who reported family missing likely killed them, police say

NEWS | BAY AREA & STATE

Bay Area man who reported family missing likely killed them, police say

By Katie Dowd
March 5, 2024



San Pablo police believe 40-year-old Tho Ly and her mother, 74-year-old Que Tran, were killed by Ly’s husband in September 2023.
San Pablo police believe 40-year-old Tho Ly and her mother, 74-year-old Que Tran, were killed by Ly’s husband in September 2023.
San Pablo Police Department/Handout

A Bay Area man who reported his family missing in September is likely responsible for their deaths, San Pablo police said Monday.

According to police, Phuc Vo, 40, reported his wife and mother-in-law missing on Sept. 13. When he spoke with detectives, he allegedly said they’d left their home on the 1900 block of Sutter Avenue about a week prior because of an argument. His wife, Tho Ly, 40, and her mother Que Tran, 74, took Ly’s 2017 Honda Fit to stay with family in Southern California, Vo allegedly told police.

As police tracked down leads on the missing women, they said Vo’s “information could not be corroborated.” Detectives began to suspect Vo’s retelling of events had “inconsistencies,” and said they saw Vo driving his wife’s missing Honda. In December, the car was found in Oakland.

Now believing Vo “had direct involvement in the disappearance and murders of Tho Ly and Que Tran,” San Pablo police obtained an arrest warrant. Vo was taken into custody at his Sutter Avenue home on Feb. 29 and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility. He is set to be charged with two counts of murder by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. An arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson from the district attorney’s office told SFGATE.

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