San Pablo Man sentenced to having killed his wife and mother-in-law

Martinez – After having deliberated for less than a day, a jury of Contra Costa condemned Tuesday a man from San Pablo, 41, of the murder of his wife and his mother -in -law, a verdict likely to send him behind Bars for life.

The jury recognized Phuc Vo guilty of first degree murder in the death of that Tran, his mother-in-law, and a second degree murder in the death of the wife. The jurors also found him guilty of special circumstances which make him eligible for an automatic lifespan without difficulty from prison in prison.

VO reported that Ly and Tran lacked in September 2023, saying that they had simply disappeared after he and Ly argued on finances. Last March, he was arrested and accused of murder.

Prosecutors accused the VO of emptying Tran and Ly in the Oakland estuary. While Tran’s body was found, Ly’s remains were not.

The accusation theory is that VO killed Ly in a room in their House in San Pablo, picked up Tran in a household in the seniors in Oakland, brought it back to San Pablo and also killed it. He may have hidden the bodies in a freezer he bought on Craigslist later, where DNA with “limited support” was found, according to the authorities.

After the killings, he went to Vietnam to meet a new woman whom he planned to marry and on Facebook had announced as a “funny father”, according to the authorities.

During a trial which ended last week, the assistant prosecutor of Contra Costa, Mary Knox, presented evidence that VO took measures to hide the killings by renovating his house, hiding things from the victims, Published Ly’s car in East bay and on the police on several occasions. Although he did all this, there was one blatant thing he had not done, said Knox.

“Phuc Vo essentially put no effort to find the Tho or the Tran,” said Knox. “It was because he knew they were dead.”

The investigation, ironically, started when VO called the San Pablo police to report his wife and mother-in-law. The authorities have reported but did not follow for weeks because VO reported that the two women had gladly left the region together. But homicide investigators were assigned to the case after a woman called the police to repot her suspicion of unfair play, according to a testimony to the VO trial.

The investigation led to several VO interviews, excavations of his renovated house in San Pablo and an examination of digital evidence in the bay region, demonstrating the steps that VO has taken to move the car of his wife and Hide the evidence. The investigators also traveled to Vietnam, where they locate the woman who would be the mistress of VO.

In an interview, the woman – who did not testify during the VO trial – admitted to being in an extramarital case and said that she was pregnant with VO’s child but had lost the baby earlier. She denied that the two planned to marry, despite a detective presenting her photos dressed in wedding outfits to announce their commitment, the authorities said.

During the trial, VO’s lawyer argued that the case was circumstantial and that the authorities supported fragile evidence to resolve the mystery.

Tran had been struck in death and was dressed in underwear of his daughter, the authorities said. Ly had complained to friends of the threat before with a knife, according to the testimony of the trial.

David Debolt contributed to this report.

Originally published: February 18, 2025 at 5:18 p.m. PST