It’s A Cambodian Conundrum No Murder Weapon, Witnesses In Killing

Detectives still haven’t found the murder weapon, the missing jewelry or any witness to the Feb. 25 shooting of Academy Award winner Haing S. Ngor.

Nonetheless, three alleged gang members stand charged with killing and robbing the Cambodian expatriate who won an Oscar in 1984 for his supporting role in “The Killing Fields.”

Court-appointed lawyers for the accused claim the young men are being railroaded for crimes they did not commit. A preliminary hearing, in which a judge will decide if enough evidence exists to warrant a trial, is scheduled for July 15.

“I don’t know if the case will get thrown out, but there’s a chance,” said public defender Steve Schoenfield, who represents 19-year-old Tak Sun Tan.

The prosecutor and police admit their case against Tan, Jason Chan, 18, and Indra Lim, 19, is based on circumstantial evidence and witnesses who saw the defendants loitering in the neighborhood.

“It’s not the strongest case in the world, believe me,” said homicide Detective John Garcia. “But I believe these are the right guys. Trust me, a whole lot of hours went into this.”

Ngor, 55, was a political activist with plenty of friends and a like number of enemies. As the trial of his alleged killers approaches, his murder remains a puzzle with many missing pieces.

Initially police doubted robbery was involved. They found nearly $3,000 in his jacket, and his Mercedes-Benz was not taken.

As weeks went by, Garcia and his partner, Bert Luper of the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division, interviewed scores of Ngor’s relatives, friends and community leaders.

The local Cambodian community was both tight-lipped and up in arms. Was Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, from which Ngor escaped in 1980, extending a murderous hand?

Then, in April, three alleged members of the Oriental Lazyboys, a Chinatown street gang that specializes in carjackings and home-invasion robberies, were arrested for Ngor’s murder. Chan and Lim were already in custody on an unrelated robbery charge.

The motive? Simple street crime, police said.

But they haven’t found Ngor’s Rolex watch or a gold necklace he was believed to be wearing when he was shot point-blank. Nor have they found the handgun used to kill him.

Schoenfield and Joy Wolinsky, who represents Lim, say witness statements are contradictory. Chan’s attorney did not return phone calls.

Some, including two neighbors interviewed by The Associated Press, say they heard a car speed north up the alley immediately after hearing two gun shots. Others told police the three men were on foot.

No witnesses to the shooting have been found, Wolinsky said.

“These kids were out there that night smoking dope. They don’t deny it,” she said. “This is where my client lived. These kids keep insisting that they did not do it.” Their families would not comment.

Detective Garcia remains unmoved.

“How many defense attorneys do you know who are going to say, ‘Yeah, the police have my client in a hard spot?’ The attorneys are doing their job,” Garcia said.

Wolinsky and Schoenfield claim police, eager to close a high-profile case, have ignored leads that might exonerate their clients.

Ngor, a gynecologist, fled Cambodia in 1980, after losing his wife, his parents, and most of his siblings to a four-year genocide of intellectuals by the Communist Khmer Rouge.

In “The Killing Fields,” Ngor portrayed tortured and imprisoned Dith Pran, a translator for Sydney Schanberg, then a New York Times war correspondent. The role mirrored Ngor’s own life.

Ngor hated the Khmer Rouge. He missed no opportunity to say so. Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly blamed the rebels for Ngor’s death.

Others have speculated that Ngor’s Cambodian investments, including a hotel development and several real estate holdings, got him killed.