Suspects in Conover slayings dead; father could face charges

Drugs and robbery motivated the grisly slayings of four members of a family in their home last week and authorities say the father and mother were part of a drug trafficking ring.

At a press conference Wednesday morning, Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman said $160,000 to $200,000 worth of heroin or opium was taken from the home after the killings. He thinks drugs were the reason for the murders.

"We don't know if it was a hit, but there were some drugs in the house," Huffman said. "There were some items in the house that would indicate trafficking. We don't think this was random at all."

Lisa Phan, 40, and her three children — 20-year-old Melanie, 18-year-old Pauline and 4-year-old Cody — were killed at their home near Conover on March 12.

Catawba County Chief Deputy Coy Reid said the vicious crime has been emotionally tough on investigators because it involved women and a young child.

He said Cody was found at the breakfast table with his hand still in his cereal bowl.

"We see a lot of bad stuff, but not like this," Reid said. His face flushed and he started to choke up as he recalled the scene, "Especially with his little fingers in the bowl."

Authorities named the suspect as Chiew Chan Saevang, 37. They said he killed himself and his girlfriend, Yer Yang, 40, after sheriff's deputies spotted their BMW 325 and gave chase late Tuesday on Interstate 15 in Utah. The car crashed and caught fire, and deputies who pulled them from the wreckage found them dead.

Investigators have said Lisa Phan's husband and the children's father, Brian Tzeo, was at work in Statesville when his family was killed.

On Wednesday, Reid said no charges are expected against Tzeo in his family's deaths, but the investigation could lead to drug charges.

Asked if the family's slaying was related to drug trafficking, Reid said "Yes," but declined to elaborate.
Authorities said Tzeo knew the suspect.

"There was some drug distribution that came out of that house," SBI spokesman Dave Call said at the news conference.

He said investigators believed Tzeo would receive shipments of opium from Thailand, which he would convert to heroin. Yang would then take the drugs to Saevang in Wisconsin, where he lived. Saevang then sold them. Call said they believed Tzeo recently received a shipment from Thailand.

"The information we have suggests the father was a drug distributor," Reid said. "He has cooperated with us. And we're not at liberty to talk about that right now. It's an ongoing investigation."

Saevang was arrested in 2004 in Hickory for drug trafficking opium. He was convicted and served 46 months in federal prison and was released in 2007.

Huffman said Yang was involved in the drug trafficking, but it is not clear if she took part in the murders. Authorities said they think this is a nationwide drug network, but as of yet no gang connections have been found.

The news that Saevang and Yang were killed in Utah ended the manhunt and lifted a burden from the Asian community, Huffman said.

"This is the culmination of a six-day operation. 'America's Most Wanted' gave us some really solid leads and we followed up on them."

Investigators in North Carolina learned of the deaths as they prepared arrest warrants for Saevang for murder in the North Carolina slayings and for Yang for accessory after the fact to murder. Both also were being charged with conspiracy to sell opium.

Huffman said he and Capt. Roy Brown were in the sheriff's office at 2 a.m. Wednesday gathering information about the sighting, pursuit and death of the suspects in Utah.

In Utah, Washington County officials said the green BMW was spotted there seven minutes after a national alert went out from North Carolina investigators, who had learned Saevang might have been driving through the state headed toward California.

Sheriff's deputies tried to stop the vehicle around 11:20 p.m. After a high-speed chase, the BMW hit another car, then drove up an embankment and stopped on a hillside.

The car caught fire while deputies were approaching it. Reid said officials with the Washington County, Utah, Sheriff's Office said Saevang fatally shot Yang, and then turned the gun on himself.

Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said Wednesday that the Utah medical examiner will determine the cause of death, likely in the next week or so.

Reid said Yang was from Long View, in Catawba County.

The suspects' deaths leave many questions about the slayings unanswered.

"It's like trying to put together a big puzzle," Reid said. "They could've finished the rest of the pieces.
We still have a lot to tie up and finish in the investigation."

Investigators who searched the slain family's home last week seized a clear plastic bag containing a "suspected controlled substance." They also took away cash, computers, cell phones, a knife and a pistol.

Authorities found the victims after a friend of Pauline's called 911 Thursday morning, screaming and sobbing as she told the operator Pauline had just been pulled into her home and stabbed by a man.

The friend had picked up Pauline for school that morning, but they went back after the friend said she had seen a suspicious man outside the house.

Tzeo has said he and his wife had separated and that he had an affair ,but they were still living together and trying to work things out.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.