Irvine woman killed by her 36-year-old son on UCI campus in apparent murder-suicide, officials say
Irvine CA December 15, 2022
An Irvine woman was killed when her son threw her off a multi-story building at UC Irvine’s campus in an apparent murder-suicide, officials said Wednesday.
77-year-old Thao Thai Nguyen’s body was found on campus around 4 p.m. Tuesday and authorities were investigating her death as a homicide, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Scott Steinle said. Her cause of death is pending an autopsy, Steinle said.
Nguyen was the mother of Andrew Nguyen Doan, 36, whom police identified as the suspect in her death, according to Irvine Police spokesperson Sgt. Karie Davies. It appeared the man died by suicide, and his cause of death was “external trauma,” Steinle said.
“The investigation has determined Doan picked up Nguyen and threw her off the landing of a multi-story building. Doan then jumped from the same landing to his death,” Irvine police said in a Wednesday night news release.
UC Irvine police had been called to Social Science Plaza B on Pereira Drive, at 3:52 p.m. Tuesday after receiving emergency calls about two bodies on the ground outside a multi-story building, campus police said.
Additional circumstances surrounding the deaths, or motive in the apparent crime, were not immediately provided.
Doan studied biological sciences at UC Irvine between 2017 and 2019 but did not graduate, according to campus spokesperson Tom Vasich. Nguyen had no affiliation with the university, Vasich said.
Michael Bertin, who lived on the same block of Gillman Street in Irvine as Nguyen and Doan, called the 36-year-old “a troubled young man.”
A long-term neighbor of the two, Bertin said Doan was Nguyen’s son.
The University Park neighborhood knew Nguyen as “Theresa” and remembered her as kind but withdrawn, Bertin said. Nguyen also took in boarders, he added.
Nguyen could often be seen gardening in her front lawn, but Bertin could not recall the last time he saw Doan. Bertin said he didn’t recall seeing any altercations or arguments between Nguyen and Doan.
“(Doan) had demons,” Bertin said. “It’s a horrible thing.”
In 2020, Doan pleaded guilty to one count of felony sexual battery, according to court records. The battery occurred in 2019 at a mental hospital and the victim was Doan’s roommate, Orange County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Kimberly Edds said.
In the sexual battery case, Nguyen posted $100,000 bail for Doan, court records indicated. Doan was later sentenced to 156 days in jail. He also spent three years on formal probation, which ended in July.
No other suspects are being sought in the deaths, Davies said.
Anyone experiencing or at risk of domestic violence can obtain help by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts or struggling with mental health issues, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 (or just by dialing 988) to speak with a counselor.
