Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘The Curse’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Homicide Hunter: American Detective,’ the primary focus is on the double homicide of a Vietnamese couple — Huong Ly and Long Nguyen — in Arlington, Texas, in the summer of 2012. As the detectives dug deeper into the killings, they uncovered a murder-for-hire plot motivated by money, as Huong and Long owed a large sum of money to someone powerful. All the intricate details of the case are covered in the documentary, with insightful interviews from the couple’s loved ones and the officials who helped solve it.
Huong Ly and Long Nguyen Were Found Dead In Their Home During a Welfare Check
In 2000, Huong Ly and her husband, Long Nguyen, relocated to the States from Vietnam in search of a fresh start and a bright future, alongside their family. Not long after, the couple established a commercial sewing business in Arlington, Texas, making their son-in-law, Chau Tran, its face. Throughout the following decade, business boomed, and they landed a contract with Disney. Although their business began drying up in 2011, Huong and Long stuck together and tried to weather the storm. Around 7:30 am on June 10, 2012, the authorities received a call from the couple’s son-in-law, Chau, who asked them to conduct a welfare check on them as he couldn’t get in touch with them.
After entering their apartment in the 3600 block of Waverly Drive in Arlington, the officers found the remains of 63-year-old Huong and 72-year-old Long inside a small closet in the bedroom. They noticed signs of struggle and bloodstains in various areas of the house. The deceased couple was bound with duct tape and had severe blunt force injuries. The autopsy revealed that they actually died of suffocation from the duct tape wrapped around their heads. The crime scene had several pieces of evidence, including drug paraphernalia and a blue bandana wrapped around a beer bottle, indicating gang involvement. They also collected a partially smoked marijuana cigarette with DNA evidence, which was entered into a larger database.
Huong Ly and Long Nguyen’s Case Was Cracked Open a Few Years Later
During the investigation, the authorities interviewed Chau Tran, who told them that the family celebrated Long Nguyen’s birthday the night prior to the murder. Since Chau was one of the beneficiaries of the couple’s $1 million life insurance policies, they spoke with him again a few days later. However, since his alibi was corroborated by several family members, he was eliminated from the pool of potential suspects. Despite the DNA evidence collected from the crime scene, the detectives were led to a dead end due to a lack of leads. However, the case was cracked open nearly three and a half years later, on October 12, 2015, when they linked Willie Guillory to the double homicide of Huong Ly and Long Nguyen through the DNA evidence found on the marijuana cigarette found at the crime scene.
In August 2013, Willie was arrested for stealing a horse, before which he was not on CODIS. Thus, he was not connected to the murders in the earlier phase of the investigation. In October 2015, he was arrested for a parole violation in connection with the animal theft charge when he became a potential suspect in the case. After getting extradited to Arlington, the saliva sample taken from him confirmed that his DNA was present on the cigarette paper. As the detectives confronted him with the evidence against him, Willie admitted that his uncle, Bobby Guillory, was hired by a woman named Dephne Wright to scare Huong and Long.
An Accomplice Implicated Two Other Individuals During a Chilling Confession
It turned out that Huong and Long had turned to Dephne, a Houston-based spiritual advisor, when they believed that their business was cursed and wanted to get rid of it. They sent their son-in-law, Chau, to meet and pay her to remove the alleged curse. Despite paying her a huge sum of money, the couple’s business saw no financial improvement. As Chau requested more help from Dephne, he ended up amassing a debt of about $280,000. During his confession, Willie also told the detectives that he heard Dephne tell his uncle that she wanted the couple dead if they didn’t pay up the money that they owed her. Thus, on the night of June 9, 2012, Bobby, accompanied by Willie, drove all the way from Houston to Arlington for the job.
Willie claimed that one of the couple’s family members had provided Dephne with a key to their apartment. After entering with that key while Huong and Long were outside, his uncle allegedly brought a bandana and drug paraphernalia to stage the crime scene. According to Willie, he beat the couple as soon as they entered the home, while his uncle bound them with duct tape. After the shocking confession, Willie was arrested and charged with capital murder. The police also arrested Bobby Guillory and charged him with two counts of capital murder. Bobby told the detectives that Dephne hired him to collect $10,000 from the couple and that their deaths were accidental. “I didn’t really want to hurt no one. When I put that tape, I was scared, I really was. I know what I did,” Bobby stated.
Bobby also revealed that Chau Tran had given Dephne the keys to their home. Following the chilling revelations, the detectives executed a search warrant on Dephne’s home, where she lived with her husband and children. Eventually, she was arrested for the double homicide. Refusing to speak to the investigators, she demanded an attorney. In order to gain immunity from prosecution, Chau cooperated with the police and claimed that his family was scared of owing money to Dephne, given her supposed supernatural powers. He told the detectives that Huong was ready to sacrifice herself so that her life insurance could pay off her debt.
Dephne Wright is Currently Incarcerated at a Texas Prison
In September 2018, Bobby James Guillory was convicted of capital murder for his involvement in the crimes against Huong Ly and Long Nguyen. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As for Willie Guillory, he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and received a 20-year imprisonment sentence. During the 2019 trial of Dephne Wright, the prosecution told the jury that Huong Ly and Long Nguyen paid the defendant thousands of dollars for her spiritual services so as to improve their sewing business.
They highlighted that her motive behind the killings was to gain the couple’s life insurance policies to regain the amount that they owed her. On August 30, 2019, she was finally found guilty of capital murder and solicitation of capital murder in connection with the couple’s deaths. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As of today, the 53-year-old killer is serving her sentence at the TDCJ Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
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