Trial ordered for Rosemead man accused of killing, burying mother in El Monte

POMONA — A judge Friday ruled there was sufficient evidence to order a Rosemead man to stand trial on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death nine years ago and burying her body in the backyard of their El Monte home.
John Huynh, 27, is accused of murdering his mother, 48-year-old Hong Phuong, between June and July of 2002 at the condominium they shared at the time in the 9400 block of Cortada Street. He was 18 at the time of the alleged slaying.
According to testimony at Huynh’s preliminary hearing in Pomona Superior Court, Huynh kept his mother’s body on her bed for three days before hiring a day laborer to dig a hole in the backyard he would use as a grave.
The killing remained a secret for nearly nine years until Huynh showed up at the Alhambra Police Department on May 20, confessed to the killing and led detectives to his mother’s body, investigators testified.
“He told me that he killed his mother … approximately nine years ago,” Alhambra police Detective Corey Fukumoto said, recalling meeting with Huynh after he voluntarily showed up at the Alhambra police station.
“He said he stabbed her several times in the neck with a kitchen knife and slit her wrists,” Fukumoto said.
Huynh looked worried as he was led into court. He remained silent throughout the proceeding.
Forensic Anthropologist Elizabeth Miller testified about the state of Phuong’s skeletal remains when they were unearthed earlier this year.
“I found evidence of cut marks on vertebrae, both lower arms and the chin,” she said.
Detective James Charles of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau gave insight into the alleged motive.
“He said she had been nagging him, and he was just basically tired of her nagging,” Charles said under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Valenzuela.
Huynh admitted retrieving a knife from the kitchen, then bringing it upstairs where he fatally attacked his mother, the detective testified.
He then laid his mother on a bed, where he kept her body for three days, Charles said, periodically checking her pulse to make sure she was dead.
He then enlisted an unwitting accomplice in the alleged murder plot, officials said.
“He had gone down to Home Depot and hired a day laborer to dig the hole for him,” Charles said.
The body was wrapped in a blanket and trash bags before being placed in the grave.
Charles testified that Huynh admitted cleaning blood from the carpet and burned the portion of the mattress stained with his mother’s blood. He told friends and family members his mother had returned to Vietnam.
After his sudden confession earlier this year, Huynh agreed to go with detectives to his former home and pointed out to them where he buried the body, investigators said.
Huynh’s defense attorney, Rayford Fountaincq, said his client was responding well to treatments for mental illness in jail and was in a clear state of mind to proceed with the trial.
However, he questioned detectives about Huynh’s state of mind at the time of his confession.
Fountain asked Fukumoto if Huynh appeared to be intoxicated when he came to the Alhambra police station to confess.
“He appeared slightly mentally ill,” the detective responded. “He was very emotional. He was crying, talking in a very low tone, then he’d suddenly start screaming.”
Charles testified that when he interviewed Huynh later in the day, he was crying and upset, but not shouting.
After listening to the evidence, Pomona Superior Court Judge Mike Camacho found there was sufficient evidence presented to order a murder trial for Huynh and set an arraignment date of Aug. 12. He’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
If convicted as charged, Huynh could face life in prison with the possibility of parole.

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