Imagine a charming home nestled in the picturesque vineyards of Santa Rosa, California, where you’d least expect a terrible crime to happen. Initially, even the emergency responders believed that the death of 94-year-old Sy Van Nguyen in his own house was a peaceful goodbye. However, the situation soon changed dramatically when it became much darker.
After a few days of his death, the old man’s passing was classified as a “murder”, and that shocked most of his family. Nguyen passed away on August 11th at his home on River Road — located about 65 miles north of San Francisco.
At first, his loved ones were informed that it looked like he had a peaceful end. However, doubts began to creep in as time passed, particularly for Nguyen’s son. The son felt compelled to check the videos from the cameras in his dad’s bedroom.
This choice uncovered a story that, according to the police, involves some shocking family betrayal.
The video, as per the sergeant of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office (Juan Valencia), showed the 71-year-old son-in-law (Khanh Trong Tran) of the 94-year-old man. One can clearly see him choking the older man with a plastic bag and even a pillow at the same time, to make sure he stops breathing. “As he’s reviewing it, he saw the suspect basically grab a plastic bag and a pillow, put it over the victim’s face, suffocating him on camera,” Valencia told ABC affiliate KGO.
Tran wasn’t exactly hiding in plain sight. Despite living in his place on Nguyen’s land, it didn’t take long for the deputies to track him down. They found him hanging around a car on Marlow Road in Santa Rosa a few hours later.
He fessed up to what he’d done when they started asking questions.
His reason? He was “tired of providing” for his wife’s dad.
‘Tired of providing’: 94-year-old man’s death at hilltop vineyard home appeared natural until surveillance video showed it was ‘cold malice murder,’ cops say https://t.co/R3vqyEvY0q
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) August 20, 2025
To him, it was just “a straight-up, cold malice murder.”
The case shook the sleepy vineyard neighborhood, where Tran, who some neighbors called “Ken,” had seemed like a regular, even helpful, presence. According to neighbor Rod Burglund, who used to make wine from Tran’s grapes, “Ken was always doing his own thing, a walking acquaintance. I made wine from his grapes one year. To me, he seemed like an above-board kind of guy.”
It was said of Nguyen that he was a man who mostly kept to himself.
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Locals are shaken by the contrast between his lonely presence and the shocking violence that claimed his life. Tran is currently being held without bond at the Sonoma County Jail on a murder charge. September 15 is the date of his court appearance.
At first, many thought it was just a sad case of someone passing away naturally. Still, this crime tale has stretched beyond Sonoma’s vineyards, as a reminder that even in the most serene places, evil can sneak into a life without warning.
