Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

By The Associated Press
BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (AP) - Authorities are searching coastal waters today for the bodies of four children after police said they were thrown off a coastal Alabama bridge by their father. He is charged with four counts of capital murder.

Bayou La Batre Detective Scott Riva said 37-year-old Lam Luong of Irvington confessed last night to driving to the Dauphin Island bridge, stopping and tossing the youngsters off the span, which is as high as 80 feet above the water in places.

Riva said at least three boats are being used in the search and the Coast Guard is sending another boat and a helicopter. Riva said, "it's been a nightmare."

Missing and presumed dead were 4-month-old Danny Luong; 1-year-old Lindsey Luong; 2-year-old Hannah Luong; and 3-year-old Ryan Phan.

Luong is jailed in Mobile.

Police said Luong reported the children missing Monday. He reportedly told authorities that a woman who had the children failed to return them to him.

http://www.wnct.com/midatlantic/nct/news/region.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2008-01-09-0017.html

ACKKKKKKKKK!!! When will the madness end  :sad:

Horrendous.  Simply horrendous.

The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.)
 
January 10, 2008 Thursday
 
Father threw children from bridge, police say

A day after reporting his four young children were missing, a shrimp fisherman broke down and confessed that he threw them off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, authorities said Wednesday.

Lam Luong, 37, was charged with four counts of capital murder, and divers searched the murky waters for the bodies of the youngsters, who ranged in age from a few months to 3 years.

Luong had a drug habit and had argued with his wife, Ngoc Phan, before taking the children, said Phan's brother-in-law, Kam Phengsisomboun.

Luong's girlfriend, who was living in a hotel in nearby Gulfport, Miss., figured into the couple's argument Sunday and then on Monday morning, family members and police said.

Authorities said they believe Luong drove Monday to the two-lane Dauphin Island bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, stopped at the highest part of the span, and threw the youngsters over the side.

Luong and his wife reported the children missing Monday. He initially told police that he had given them to his girlfriend and that she had failed to return them, investigators and family members said.

But authorities said they found holes in his account, and he later changed his story.

Missing and presumed dead were 4-month-old Danny Luong; 1-year-old Lindsey Luong; 2-year-old Hannah Luong; and 3-year-old Ryan Phan. Phan is not the man's biological child, but Luong raised him from infancy, authorities said.

About 70 people in boats and helicopters searched water as deep as 55 feet. The search area covered 100 square miles because the current might have swept the children away, Sheriff Sam Cochran said.

The search was called off late Wednesday afternoon when dense fog rolled in, completely obscuring the bridge. It was to resume in the morning, weather permitting.

Luong was scheduled to appear in court today.

Luong came to Alabama from Vietnam in 1984 and worked as a shrimper, Phengsisomboun said.

The couple lived with Phan's mother at Bayou La Batre, a fishing village 20 miles southwest of Mobile with a large Southeast Asian community.

The family initially feared he had traded the children to support his drug habit, Phengsisomboun said. Luong had a crack habit and had run through an insurance settlement from an auto accident, he said. 
 
Lam Luong, 37, is accused of killing his four young children after arguing with his wife.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:726421717&start=1

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hovers just south of the Dauphin Island Bridge in South Mobile County, Ala. Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008. Search crews in boats resumed looking Thursday for the bodies of four young children while a judge considered bond for their father, who is accused of throwing them from an 80-foot coastal bridge.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1150515~Father_Denies_He_Dropped_4_Off_Bridge.html

pix

Body Of 1 Of 4 Kids Thrown Off Bridge Found

http://www.local6.com/news/15036424/detail.html?rss=orlpn&psp=news
POSTED: 2:56 pm EST January 12, 2008

MOBILE, Ala. -- Authorities in Alabama said a duck hunter found the body of one of four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge by their father.

The father, Lam Luong, has been charged with capital murder in the deaths. A search of waterways for the children began Tuesday.

Authorities said the discovery gives hope that the other three bodies will be recovered. A chaplain informed the children's family of the discovery this morning.

Earlier this week, a district attorney said the father had confessed to investigators that he had thrown the children off the bridge after an argument with his wife. But the father later recanted and claimed two Asian women took the children Monday and never returned them.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

I think an Alabama jury will vote to fry him.

Search on Alabama Coast Finds Body of 2nd of 4 Missing Children

Published: January 14, 2008

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The body of a 3-year-old boy was recovered Sunday in the search for four young siblings who might have been thrown from a coastal bridge by their father, the authorities said.

The body was found by two men looking for oysters about five miles west of the Dauphin Island bridge, a three-mile structure over the Intracoastal Waterway that connects Mobile to Dauphin Island, said Sheriff Sam Cochran of Mobile County. The body of the 3-year-old’s infant brother was found Saturday by a duck hunter about two miles west of the bridge, the authorities said.

Sheriff Cochran said the remaining two bodies might be in the same area or might have been swept westward by the current. The search, which will resume Monday and is expected to be concentrated on the marshes along the shore, was being expanded toward Pascagoula, Miss., to the west.

As the search was conducted by helicopter and airplane, airboats also shuttled volunteers into the shallow, boggy shoreline. Some walked hand in hand, upending logs and probing debris left by the high tide.

Mr. Luong, a shrimp boat worker who lives in Irvington, Ala., was being held without bail on four counts of capital murder.

District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said Mr. Luong, 37, had confessed to throwing the children — Ryan Phan, 3; Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months — off the bridge after arguing with his wife.

Mr. Luong later recanted, saying two Asian women had taken the children and had not returned them. A witness saw him on the bridge with the children, and another saw him leave the area without them, the police said.

Mr. Luong’s appointed lawyer, Joe Kulakowski, attempted to meet with him on Sunday but said he was unable to arrange it with jail officials. Mr. Kulakowski said he planned to ask the court on Monday to appoint a Vietnamese interpreter to help him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/us/14bodies.html?ref=us

This is about as sick as you can get........he reportedly says he "wants to be more famous than the 911 hijackers" 

I would put money on it

Kids thrown off US bridge still missing

January 15, 2008 - 11:45AM

http://news.theage.com.au/kids-thrown-off-us-bridge-still-missing/20080115-1m1t.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322887,00.html

Police: Third Child's Body Found in Search for Kids Allegedly Thrown Off Bridge by Father
BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. —  Police found a third body in a Mississippi bayou Tuesday in the search for young children allegedly tossed from a bridge by their father.

The father, 37-year-old Lam Luong, is being held without bond at Mobile, Ala., on four capital murder charges. A judge approved the appointment of a translator on Tuesday.

The body was found by a Mississippi marine resources crew near Pascagoula, said Kate Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Mobile County Sheriff's Department.

The identity was not immediately confirmed but police believe it is one of the children.

On Monday, family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil near bayou docks where the bodies of two of the four children were brought after being found near shore over the weekend.

The children's mother, 23-year-old Kieu Phan, wept as she joined others in the candlelight service on the Alabama Gulf coast.

The bodies of a 3-year-old and his 4-month-old brother were recovered over the weekend. The third child's body was found near the Chevron Refinery in Pascagoula, Miss., according to police.

Luong, a shrimp boat worker, moved the family back to the bayou area after living for about two years in Hinesville, Ga.

I just can't imagine what would drive a father to throw his kids off a bridge....to make that decision 4 times in a row.
This case, and the case in Hawaii.....both are just so awful. It really breaks your heart.

Body Found May Be Last Ala. Bridge Child

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A body believed to be the last of four children who were allegedly tossed from a coastal Alabama bridge by their father was recovered, authorities said.

The body of an Asian child was found Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana by boaters who contacted Coast Guard officials, who then took the body to Venice, La., Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said.

Authorities in Alabama will not be able to confirm whether the body is that of Hannah Luong, 2, until they get it back, Cochran said. But they ended the search of Alabama and Mississippi coastal waters based on the body's recovery.

"We believe — and hopefully — this will be the body of 2-year-old Hannah and that we'll able to bring closure to the family in this stage," Cochran said.

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau in New Orleans said the crew of the Crystal Lynn first spotted the body and contacted the Coast Guard, which was unable to find it during an aerial sweep of the waters.

A second boat saw it, leading to the recovery about 5.5 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River, she said. The Coast Guard said the body was found about 100 miles from the coastal Alabama bridge.

The search began Jan. 8 after prosecutors said the father broke down and confessed to driving the children to the two-lane bridge and throwing them into the waters.

Lam Luong, a native of Vietnam, later recanted, claiming two Asian women took the children and never returned them. Luong, 37, is being held without bond in isolation at a jail on capital murder charges.

The bodies of the three other children have already been found.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jc9E7RRBYrk0zhFlkZfLra35mVhAD8UA8RHG0

**UPDATE ..... CONFIRMED
POINTE A LA HACHE, La. (AP) — The body of a child found in Gulf of Mexico waters off Louisiana has been identified as the last of four young children allegedly tossed from a coastal Alabama bridge by their father.
The Plaquemines Parish coroner's office confirmed that the body was that of 2-year-old Hannah Luong. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported the confirmation on its website.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-22-bridgedeaths_N.htm

case summary to date
http://wkrg.com/news/article/latest_update_children_thrown_from_bridge2/9090/

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

The photo of the memorial, with the water in the background, the cross and the stuffed animals moved me to tears.  Bless the little children.  I pray they are in a better place...

Bridge death daddy Lam Luong says he wants to die; then changes mind and keeps not guilty plea

November 13, 2008 4:27 PM

MOBILE, Ala. -- Lam Luong, the man accused of tossing his 4 children off the Dauphin Island Bridge in January, told a psychologist that he wanted to be executed for his crimes, a judge announced today in Mobile.

But just as quickly, Luong, 38, changed his mind and informed the court that he was sticking with his not guilty plea and wanted to go on with his trial, slated for March.
 
Circuit Judge Charles Graddick also denied the defense team's request to fund a trip to Vietnam in search of relatives to explain what they have described as Luong's wretched early childhood :roll: as the son of an black American G.I. and a Vietnamese mother. Graddick said a video conference call would suffice as well.
http://blog.al.com/live/2008/11/bridge_death_daddy_luong.html

Defense calls no witnesses in Ala. bridge deaths
3/18/2009, 3:58 p.m. CDT
By GARRY MITCHELL
The Associated Press   

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — After the defense called no witnesses, a judge scheduled closing arguments to open Thursday morning in the trial of a man accused of killing four young children by tossing them from an Alabama coastal bridge.

Defense attorney Arthur Powell said he could not discuss the decision to not call any witnesses for 38-year-old Lam Luong at his murder trial. Luong also declined to testify when Judge Charles Graddick gave him the opportunity on the third day of trial testimony.

If Luong is convicted, jurors will deliberate on a recommended penalty and have two choices: either death or life in prison without parole — but the judge isn't bound by the jury's recommendation.


Prosecutors rested the state's case Wednesday afternoon after forensics testimony about autopsies on the four children, whose bodies were recovered within weeks of the Jan. 7, 2008 bridge tragedy.

Earlier, the jurors heard testimony on the discovery of the bodies.

Commercial fisherman Ricky Brown testified that he had his video camera on to record rough weather off the Louisiana coast when he spotted an object bobbing in the Gulf of Mexico. Brown told the jurors he pulled his boat closer and recognized a child's body that the Coast Guard had alerted fishermen to help find.

Brown had come upon the last missing body of the four children.

"I took this video to record how I felt that day. It was a bad feeling," said Brown of Vancleave, Miss.

He said he had hoped a jury would one day view his video.

He got that wish Wednesday.

As 50-70 mph winds churned the Gulf, the little body of 2-year-old Hannah Luong was recovered on Jan. 20, 2008, just over 5 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Prosecutors also called as witnesses two Mobile County duck hunters — John J. Sprinkle and Leon Ladnier — and Mississippi Marine Officer Scott Chatom, who found the bodies of the other three children on separate shorelines from Bayou La Batre to near Pascagoula, Miss.

Luong, a Vietnamese refugee and part-time shrimp boat worker from Irvington, appeared to look down and away from the overhead screens as jurors viewed photographs of the children taken at the watery sites where they were found during the two-week search of shorelines from Mobile to Texas.

Luong, who pleaded not guilty, is accused of throwing Hannah, Ryan Phan, 3, Lindsey Luong, 1, and Danny Luong, 4 months, off the Dauphin Island bridge into the cold Mississippi Sound after arguing with his common-law wife, 23-year-old Kieu Phan. Ryan was fathered by another man but the others were their children, authorities said. But Luong raised Ryan from infancy.

Earlier witnesses testified that they saw Luong on the two-lane bridge next to a parked van on the morning the children disappeared.

Police also testified that Luong had a 16-year cocaine addiction that his family partly blamed for the deaths.

Luong came to the U.S. from Vietnam when he was 14 years old and never became a U.S. citizen.

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-42/123740274796250.xml&storylist=alabamanews

Alabama Dad Lam Luong Convicted By Jury For Throwing Kids Off Bridge

Lam Luong, the Albama dad, who is accused of throwing his four children off a bridge in Alabama in January 2008 has been convicted by the Jury. The sentencing begins on Friday, March 20 when the jurors will decide whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Luong had pleaded guilty to capital murder on March 5, 2009.
http://www.xomba.com/alabama_dad_lam_luong_convicted_jury_throwing_kids_off_bridge

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sentenced to death for killing 4 children MOBILE (AP) — A jobless shrimper who killed four young children by casting them from the top of an 80-foot-high bridge was sentenced to death by a jury Friday in a crime witnesses said followed an argument with the victims’ mother.
http://www.daylife.com/article/0gys2a8cbI4VK?q=Lam+Luong
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
updated 8:06 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 20, 2009
MOBILE, Ala. - A jobless shrimper who killed four young children by throwing them off  an 80-foot-high Alabama bridge was sentenced to death by a jury Friday.

The jury deliberated for about an hour before recommending that Lam Luong be executed. He was convicted Thursday of capital murder, which is the only charge in Alabama in which a death sentence is possible.

Circuit Judge Charles Graddick, who presided over the weeklong trial, was not bound by the jury's decision. The court said a sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 30.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29805761/

Father Who Threw 4 Children Off Bridge Sentenced to Death
Thursday, April 30, 2009 

 MOBILE, Ala. —  A judge ordered a death sentence Thursday for a Vietnamese refugee convicted of murdering four young children by tossing them from an 80-foot-high bridge on the Alabama coast.

Circuit Judge Charles Graddick handed down the death sentence to Lam Luong and said he would order prison officials to show Luong photographs of the four children each day he is on death row.

Luong, 38, was convicted in March of killing the children on Jan. 7, 2008. The unemployed shrimper was accused of dropping the four from atop the Dauphin Island Bridge after an argument with their mother, Kieu Phan, 23.

Click here to see photos.

Luong, who was Phan's common-law husband, fathered three of the victims — Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months. Ryan Phan, 3, was Phan's child with another man.

At his sentencing, Luong looked toward his wife and, through an interpreter, apologized.

His attorneys urged Judge Graddick to sentence Luong to life in prison without parole, the only alternative to the death sentence under his capital murder conviction. They said he was addicted to drugs and depressed.

But Graddick said the aggravating circumstances were too great. He said the children, during their fall from the bridge, must have felt "sheer terror" and were alive when they hit the water.

The jury that convicted Luong last month also recommended the death sentence.

An appeal is automatic under Alabama's death penalty law.

Luong, who once entered a guilty plea but later retracted it, did not testify at his trial or during a later sentencing phase.

During the trial, the children's mother testified that Luong had a girlfriend, abused drugs and didn't find a job when the family returned to the Bayou La Batre area. They had temporarily relocated to Georgia after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast in 2005.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518497,00.html

Got to love the part about the photos ! Judge Graddick once said about murderers
"fry them till their eyeballs pop out " ::MonkeyCool::

This case has haunted me to no end and I wanted to share this photo with you all....

Thank you for sharing such a beautiful picture.