New details released in San Pablo double murder case

Amy Larson
·2 min read

SAN PABLO, Calif. (KRON) — Disturbing details are coming to light about a San Pablo missing persons case that turned into a double murder investigation.

Tho Ngoc Ly, 40, and her mother, 75-year-old Que Tran, vanished on September 6, 2023. They were reported missing to police by Ly’s husband, Phuc Vo, seven days later.

Vo told police that his family had an argument at home on September 6 and the two women left. Vo told police that his wife and mother-in-law drove away in their 2017 Honda Fit, were headed to Southern California, and never returned to the Bay Area.

Ly and Vo are parents of two young children.

Tho Ngoc Ly
Tho Ngoc Ly (Image via SPPD)

As investigators searched for the two missing women, detectives realized the husband’s story wasn’t adding up, the San Pablo Police Department said.

Investigators said there was no evidence to confirm Ly and Tran’s whereabouts nor well-being.

On Dec. 5, 2023, detectives spotted Vo driving in his wife’s Honda Fit around Oakland. But Vo had told police that the car was still missing, police said.

Surveillance video shows Vo driving and re-parking his missing wife’s Honda Fit around Oakland, police said. (SPPD image)
Surveillance video shows Vo driving and re-parking his missing wife’s Honda Fit around Oakland, police said. (SPPD image)

When detectives continued to question Vo, they determined that his actions and behavior did not match up to what he was telling them, according to SPPD Officer Peggy Chou.

In Oakland, “he was actually seen entering the car, and driving off … moving the car and parking it in a different location,” Chou told KRON4.

Police arrested the husband on February 29, and Contra Costa County prosecutors filed murder charges against Vo on Monday.

Phuc Vo
Phuc Vo is seen in a mugshot released by San Pablo police.

The bodies of Ly and her mother are still missing, police said, and the 40-year-old husband is not cooperating. “He has not been forthcoming with information to help investigators follow up on leads,” Chou said.

Officers served a search warrant on the family’s Sutter Avenue home, which is also the victims’ last known location. Evidence gathered from the home indicates that Vo was behind the disappearance and murders of the two women, police said.

“We are working very hard to follow leads … to find out what happened and really bring closure,” Chou said.

The two children are now left without a mother and grandmother. They currently staying with extended family members, police said. Their father remains in custody at Martinez Detention Facility.

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