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Officers follow leads in homicides

Authorities still searching for suspect in Thursday’s quadruple killing near Conover.

Alan Rogers | Hickory Daily Record

A photo of Melanie Saephan, Pauline Chao and Cody Saechao was taped to a post as part of a makeshift memorial outside the home where they, and their mother, were murdered Thursday.

The suspect

Officers are searching for a suspect described as an Asian male between 5-feet 4 inches to 5-feet 8 inches tall and in his late teens to early 20s. He has a stocky build and coal-black hair. He was wearing a royal blue hooded sweatshirt with a backpack and dark regular fit jeans.

He was seen getting into and leaving in a black newer model 4-door sedan with out-of-state plates. Witnesses said the license plate began with the letter P and ended in 244 with a red white and blue background.

Anyone with information about the suspect or the crime is asked to contact the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office at (828) 464-3112.

MIEN CULTURE

Brian Tzeo left his native Laos in the early 1980s while he was a high school student. He and his family are Mien, said Mike Mai Cai, a family friend.

The origins of the Iu Mien, or Mien, can be traced back to 2000 B.C. in northern China. In the late 19th century, the Mien tribe migrated to the highlands of Laos, living in small, matrilineal communities as subsistence farmers.

The Mien were the only hill tribe group in Laos with a written language. While the writing uses Chinese characters, the words are Mien. Most Mien and all women were illiterate, but a significant number of males learned the Chinese script and kept records of births and ceremonies. Few historical records documenting Mien culture exist. Instead, the Mien rely on oral traditions, myths and legends, practicing a religion that combines elements of Taoism, animism and ancestor worship.

Beginning in the 1950s, Mien communities in Laos were disrupted by French colonial powers and the “secret war” in Laos, America’s largest covert military operation during the Vietnam War. The U.S. Air Force dubbed the Mien an “efficient friendly force.” Because of this alliance, the Laotian Communist government targeted the Mien for revenge after the war’s end. The Mien were forced to flee to Thailand, where they were confined in border camps with inadequate shelter, sanitation and food.

In 1979, after obtaining refugee status, the first Mien began to arrive in the United States. However, unlike many other Asian refugees, they lacked exposure to formal education and paid labor, leading to a difficult transition.

Approximately 35,000 to 40,000 Mien currently reside in the United States, with significant Mien communities in Northern California.

— Source: PBS.org

DEVELOPMENTS

Catawba County authorities receive call at 7:30 a.m. Thursday about a stranger and possible assault in a home on Gristmill Drive in the Bunker Hill area.

Catawba County Schools lockdown Lyle Creek Elementary, Bunker Hill High, Riverbend Middle and Oxford Elementary as authorities began a door-to-door manhunt for the killer.

Schools’ lockdown ends Thursday afternoon.

The victims are identified as Lisa Phan, the mother; Melanie, 20; Pauline, 18; and Cody, 4. The husband and father is Brian Tzeo and is not a suspect.

Detectives find a handgun under a bush near the crime scene.

Detectives discover two stolen cars with engines running in the Gristmill Drive subdivision and think the suspect has left the area.

A memorial fund is set up at Peoples Bank to pay for the funeral expenses of the four slain family members.

Police released two sketches Friday of the man they think committed the crime.

Police move a mobile command center back the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office on Friday.

Police comb the neighborhood Saturday, working to find out why two stolen cars were abandoned in the vicinity and determine if the cars are related to the killings.

Autopsies are being conducted on the victims’ bodies at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: March 15, 2009

CONOVER - White wicker tables serve as a memorial altar on the front porch of the home where four family members were brutally attacked and killed Thursday morning.

A steady rain fell Saturday at the home on Gristmill Drive in the Bunker Hill area where the killings happened two days ago. The makeshift altar was the only sign of the violence.

Lisa Saephan and her three children, 20-year-old Melanie, 18-year-old Pauline and 3-year-old Cody, were found dead in their home in a subdivision near Conover after 7:30 a.m.

Brian Tzeo, Saephan's husband and the children's father, was at work in Statesville when his family was killed. He has been ruled out as a suspect and has been cooperating with investigators.

"I can't stop thinking about them," Tzeo said. "I've been holding and carrying around family pictures and crying. I don't know if I will ever get over this pain."

The family home that had once been filled with bustling activity was empty and the blinds were closed Saturday.

The scent of apples and cinnamon lingered on the front porch and wafted up from the two candles that burned on the altar all night in honor of the family. Four full bottles of water sat beside four bowls containing rice, an egg and a piece of meat. A bowl of fried fish sat amid cookies, lollypops, candy and incense sticks strewn across the tabletop.

The mobile command center that had been parked on the street in front of the home for two days was missing Saturday. The home's front door, porch railings and back door were smudged black from powder investigators used to dust the surfaces for fingerprints. The yellow crime scene tape that had cordoned off the house was gone.

Flowers and posters covered with photographs of the family members adorned the stop sign at the end of the street and the mailbox in front of the family home.

Burned candles and wax drippings littered the sidewalk and driveway, left behind from a vigil held in remembrance and support of the slain family.

Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman said his officers will be in the neighborhood and surrounding area tonight, working to find out why two stolen cars were abandoned with their engines running in the vicinity. They are working to determine if the stolen vehicles were related to the killings in some way.

Officers also will be following up on leads and using their composite sketch of the suspect to try and track him down.

Autopsies are being conducted on the victims' bodies at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Medical examiners are working to determine if the victims were killed with the same gun and knife or if there are multiple murder weapons, said Huffman.

Forensic specialists also are working to process crime scene evidence, including DNA and a handgun found under a bush about two blocks from the scene.

The investigation completed in the days following a crime is often vital to solving it, and Huffman is confident in the work his investigators have done so far.

"I think we did very well in the first 48 hours," he said.

Those wishing to contribute to the Saephan-Chao family funeral fund may do so at any Peoples Bank in the next 60 days.